Guidebooks are like rabbits. As soon as you book a trip, you get one for yourself. After a week, one more has appeared, given to you by a well-meaning friend. By the time you pack for the trip, you find yourself with no room for clothes among the dozens of guidebooks you've accumulated.

One such book we had in our possession was called Rome Secrets. A wonderful-looking book, it had an incredibly nice textured cover, and a minimalist page layout supposedly containing “secrets” pulled together from travel buffs from every walk of life. The problem was that the book was 6 years old, though we didn't know that at the time.

One of the “secrets” it suggested was being one of the first in line for the Vatican Museum, and upon entering, running all the way to the end to visit the Sistine Chapel in absolute peace. So our second day in Rome, that's what we did.

We woke at the crack of dawn, went and got cappuccino and some incredible danishes at a café called La Florentine, and got ourselves to the Vatican by 8am. We were one of the first 10 people in line for regular admission, though we saw across the way an ominously long line at the group tour entrance.

Turns out, groups can enter the museum an hour before regular admission. Still, we figured that no self-respecting group tour could take less than an hour browsing the massive collection of pieces leading up to the grand finale of the Sistine Chapel.

So when the doors opened, we bolted. We pushed our way past the crowds at the front stairs, slipped through the crowds looking at the statues and sculptures. Ran through the less-crowded Room of Maps, and finally slipped into complete silence in the Pius galleries. But still we hurried, through the empty and awe-inspiring Raphael Rooms, past the deserted Borgia Apartments.

Nearing the Sistine Chapel, we were beaming. We did it! We beat the crowds to the chapel and would have a good 30 minutes all to ourselves. Lying on the floor staring up, no one else talking, no errant flashbulbs to distract us… it was going to be wonderful!

But as soon as we turned the corner into the chapel itself, our hopes quickly vanished. Since the publishing of our “Secrets” book, every tour group in western Europe had gotten wind of the trick. It was packed from wall to wall with Japanese, German and American tourist groups. We enjoyed our 20 minutes in the crowded Sistine Chapel, but upon returning to the now-packed Raphael Rooms, we knew we should have spent our morning time here, in the equally nice but not-as-famous areas. Looking at religious opulence loses a little something when you have to wade through throngs of absent-minded gawkers to see it.