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Having spent so long at the Vatican yesterday we didn't manage to visit St Peter's basilica, so we went today instead. Getting there was nice and straightforward taking much the same route as yesterday. We approached the basilica from via de porta angelica in what is basically a straight line from the station entering piazza San Pietro from the side. We immediately joined the long line that was snaking around two thirds of the perimeter of the piazza to enter the basilica. It didn't take long to get in as it was just a queue to get through security and as such was constantly moving, taking us about 30 minutes in total. 

The first thing we decided to do was visit the cupola. We opted for the lift tickets which you can get for 7 Euros as apposed to the 5 euro tickets where you have to climb an extra 200 steps. After the lift you do have to climb a further 300 steps and as you approach the top of the dome the space gets a bit narrow so not ideal if you're a bit claustrophobic. once at the top the 360 degree view is spectacular, with views as far as the eye can see taking in sights such as the piazza below, the pantheon, castle Sant'Angelo and Vatican city itself including the pope's private residence. We stayed up there for about an hour before heading back down to explore the basilica itself.

The basilica is as breathtaking as the view above containing works of art by Bernini and Michaelangelo to name a couple. We spent quite a while looking at the sculptures and painted domes, spotting some of the completed Bernini statues for which we saw the practice models in the Vatican yesterday. On exiting the basilica we saw a couple of Swiss guards (private guards to the Vatican) in their colourful uniforms. We took some photos around the piazza and then feeling a bit weary headed back to the hotel.

We bought takeaway pizza today from another well reviewed local pizzeria (pizzeria del secolo). The pizza was sold by weight so we chose a few different flavours including potato pizza, fresh tomato basil and mozzarella pizza and game and mushroom pizza, which we ate back at the hotel. At around 8 we headed back out to take a few night time photos, first of the basilica where there were bats flying around and secondly at the colesseo. We had an ice cream from the same gelateria we had visited when at the colesseo on Saturday. Arrived back at Termini around 11 stopped in at the supermarket there for a couple of beers only to find they weren't allowed to sell them after 10pm, never mind. Got back to the hotel just after 11. Last day in Rome tomorrow before we travel to Sorrento!

Got up a bit late, after our late-night pizza! I went down Starbucks to get tea and, despite having to relay my order several times to different people, managed to get two teas and chocolatines. They still seem incapable of leaving any room for milk, despite being asked!

Got all of our stuff packed up, and toddled down to check out. Had a two dollar bill for the local phone calls (the pizza) - last of the big spenders! Made our way down to the car park to retrieve the hire car - a fairly easy-going walk downhill from Van Ness Avenue to O’Farrell. A friendly parking attendant helped us out, with the pay machine and indicated where the lifts were, and we were away! As we drove out of San Francisco, we happened to pass the car rental offices and, low and behold - a massive queue. No surprise there really! Poor things.

Left San Francisco via the Bay Bridge, which has some intermittent views, but the walls were too high to see over most of the time. The route east was painless and we reached Berkeley easily. Used the SatNav to locate some parking, but found one on our own, just opposite the US Post Office. It was $2.50 for the first two hours, which seems reasonable. Interestingly, there was the ongoing protest outside the post office, to say no to the privatisation of the post office. Quite interesting, given the same question being raised back home. It turns out that the building is being sold, rather than the actual service, but people want to preserve the historic building.

We began to have a little wander, nipping into the post office to buy some stamps. We then found the high street, almost immediately stopping to buy an ice cream from Papa John’s Ice-Creams - we thought we’d start lunch with dessert. Tempted by the promise of a scoop for a dollar, we both had one! Ben had choc’ chip and chocolate, in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone and I had avocado and ube (sweet potato and yam apparently) in a small cone - I’ll be honest; I picked mine for the colours! As the ice cream dripped down our hands, we pottered on. Went in a couple of bookshops, looking for an American Atlas and eventually happened upon a deli, where we bought some huge sandwiches - roast chicken and cheese, which we kept to eat a bit later.

Having returned to the car, we drove out of Berkeley, passing through the University. We were trying to find a renowned beauty spot called Grizzly Peak, but it turned out to be elusive. We drove around for at least an hour, suffering from the distinct lack of British brown signposts to send us in the right direction. Eventually, happened upon Lakeview car park. Sounded promising… But not a real view of the lake, more of a car park. Sat and ate our sandwiches in view of a very symmetrical portaloo! The sandwiches were very nice, however!

Drove on, seeing some spectacular scenery. Ironically, all the places you can stop along the way have views of nothing but trees, whereas you can only drive past the fantastic panoramas! They need a bit of National Trust input!

Travelled on towards Yosemite and our motel in Mariposa. As we went, we couldn’t help but stop along one of the straight, seemingly never-ending roads, with barely any cars. There was nothing to see for miles, apart from pistachio trees and wheat. Stood in the road for photos! The whole journey didn’t take as long as we might have expected and we arrived in Mariposa. Check-in was easy and we had ourselves a room with two queen beds - room for a party! Had a little sloth around and then headed to the Miner’s Inn restaurant. An hour later and we were stuffed. We shared potato skins as a starter, although there were four, which was quite vast, and then I had meatloaf and Ben had southern fried chicken. We were baffled as to why the main courses came with either soup or salad and opted for salad, as a lighter choice! Nevertheless, the portions were massive and we didn’t eat it all. Good value at $45, but huge! How do American people manage this?

So today we decided to have a go at another of the walking tours that we found online. We got up a bit later as breakfast was being served until 10.30. Eventually set off around 11. The starting point for the tour was piazza del quirinale so we decided to walk there from the hotel. On the way we passed the via del quattro fontane which basically was a cross roads with the statues and fountains carved into the corner of each building. Arriving at piazza del quirinale we found out it was the home of the Italian president, and that on Sunday mornings they opened for tours - the only day of the week! Our luck was soon quashed however when we found out you needed to pre-book and there weren't any tickets left. The tours were scheduled to last 2.5 hours however so I'm not sure we were really up for it. 

From there we made our way down to the Trevi fountain which unfortunately was drained and clad in scaffolding for restoration work. We moved on relatively quickly to the next stop on our tour, the Spanish steps. We actually approached from the top which gave a nice view down over the steps and the piazza below. It was hot and sunny again today so we joined the small group of people sitting on the steps - in the shade, watching people in the piazza below. It was very busy with lots of people refilling water bottles in the fountain which we later learned had only recently reopened after restoration work. 

We temporarily abandoned the tour to go and visit the piazza del popolo which was a little further along the via del babuino (home to many designer shops, Chanel, Armani etc). Along the way we bought a slab of potato pizza sold by weight by way of lunch. The piazza del popolo was very quiet but is home to a nice fountain and Egyptian obelisk. We took a few photos before picking up our tour. 

We wandered along some back streets until we reached the mauseleo Augusto, the precursor to castle Sant'Angelo that we had already visited. It was a ruin and surrounded by a tall railing, so not much to see. We also went into the nearby museum ara pacis home to the large arc of peace which was very grand. Feeling tired we headed towards the last stop on the tour which was a piazza designed by Bernini. When we arrived we realised we had already passed through on Monday walking home. We caught the metro back to Termini and went back to the hotel to cool down.

In the evening we went to a nearby pizzeria and followed it up with a gelateria for dessert. Tomorrow we have timed tickets for the Vatican!