I arrived in Rome yesterday, twenty-nine years after my first visit. Back then I was traveling as one of a group of 40 high school students on my first trip to Europe. Thanks to a comedy of errors, our tour group arrived in Rome after 36 hours of travel from California. It was almost midnight here. We were beyond tired. Our luggage didn't arrive. It was dark. The bus that was supposed to take us from the airport to our hotel had left without us.

Yet the next morning we were all up bright and early to spend our first day exploring the center of Western Civilization. After three days in the city, I hated the place. Old. Dirty. Noisy. Stinky. Chaotic. Confusing. And worst of all, no one spoke English. I never wanted to see another word ending in a vowel. I realize now that my reaction was a combination of exhaustion, jet lag and culture shock.

Today I'm leading my own groups through Rome. Over the years I've grown to love this mess of a city, and look forward to one or more annual visits. I slide into the flow of life here -- the crowded subways, chaotic streets and passionate people, like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes. Two-thousand-year old ruins appear like familiar friends. I know their stories, I know their tricks, and I know a great little gelato place nearby. As I step out into the glow of a warm Mediterranean evening I smile and whisper Ciao, Bella.

The Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel, is joining a host of other museums in offering late evening hours. Beginning July 24, the Vatican Museum will be open from 7:00pm to 11:00pm. At the moment this is being publicized as a temporary experiment by the Vatican, but if the test is successful they plan to make the late openings permanent. Not all of the museum will be open during the evening hours, but the main attractions will be available.

Tourists drawn by Michelangelo's frescos in the Sistine Chapel have made the Vatican Museum among the most crowded in Europe. Snaking around the wall that divides the Vatican City from Rome, the security line for entry to the Museum can stretch for up to half a mile, with wait times exceeding two hours. I have complained long and loud to many of my past groups about the Vatican's limited hours, and how that forces visitors into a very narrow time window. It makes the museum more crowded than it needs to be, and visits far less enjoyable than they should be.

Assuming a set number of people plan to visit the museum on any given day, extending the hours should spread the load out, meaning less visitors in the museum at any one time. Hopefully this marks a new attitude by the Vatican towards making the museum more user friendly. Now if they would just bring back the short cut from the Raphael Rooms to the Sistine Chapel, instead of forcing everybody to walk up and down hundreds of stairs and through miles of modern art that they're not interested in . . .

You can book tickets for small group, guided tours for the Vatican Museums as well as tickets that will let you skip the line.