Today we got an early start as our plan was to go to Vatican City. We arrived to the Vatican Museum at 7:30 and were among the first in line without reservations when they opened at 9AM. This was great advice we followed from several people I talked to before coming who have seen lines of people waiting up to 3 hours to just get in. It was also neat being among the first in as the museum because it was not as crowded as it would be, later that day. We saw about half of the museum, but wanted to make sure and be among some of the first to see the Sistine Chapel so we took a short cut and skipped a bit of the museum.
As many of you know the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo and took a long time to actually finish. I was taken aback when I first walked into the chapel! It is unbelievable and the ceiling comes alive. It is by far one of the best pieces of artwork I have ever seen! First of all, I can’t believe someone could paint all of that, and second I’m blown away that he was able to paint that on the ceiling. It was not too crowded and I was able to start at one end of the chapel and walk backwards while looking up and admiring it all. I also loved sitting on each side and just observing the small details found everywhere.
It was amazing and I’m glad I got to see it. Because of its current condition and color fading you’re not allowed to take any pictures and I almost enjoyed that because it made you just take it all in and enjoy it while you were there.
After exiting the Sistine chapel there is only a small portion of the museum and then you are at the end. My initial thought was:” GREAT! We can go do something else.” I admit openly I do not have any formal art history background other than playing the game Masterpiece with my family. I’m sure if I knew more I would care more, but because I don’t…I don’t. So…when Jessica said, “We can’t go yet! I haven’t seen the Rafael room!” I was less than enthusiastic. I would have had no problem going back to that particular room, but that required us to go back through the now REALLY crowded museum.
We probably saw about half of the museum before seeing the Sistine Chapel and in the process of trying to get to the particular room we not only saw the other half, but the first half of the museum we had already seen. Again I had no direct problem with this other than the fact that Jessica is a much bigger art connoisseur than me and still enjoyed taking her time through the rooms we had already been in. Thankfully Becky got out her video camera to keep me entertained as I gave a fake tour of different paintings and where I could be found in them and why I had these particular paintings “commissioned”. When we left Jessica and we openly agreed we would NOT be venturing to the Louvre together. It was still fun and cool to see, but just REALLY long.
After, we went around Vatican City to St. Peter’s Basilica. Again…unbelievable! I couldn’t believe how big and ornate it was. And how old it was! We went in and I loved the statue of “la pieta” by Michelangelo. It is of the Savior in the arms of His mother Mary after his crucifixion on the cross. It is very moving and put a very real touch on the thoughts and feelings of Mary and helped me to realize some of the thoughts and feelings she might have gone through during this time. It was my favorite thing in St. Peter’s Basilica because it was very moving.
Afterwards we went out to St. Peter’s Square that was set up for a huge Service being held this Sunday where they were the Catholic Church was going to be “Sainting” several individuals. It looked like an outside version of General Conference. We just sat for awhile on the steps of the square by the columns and rested while throwing pretzel crumbs to the pigeons. Milo scared Jessica pretty bad as she was throwing some pretzels to these pigeons and one got really close. It was hilarious! We visited with these two guys from Texas who were in town because the one’s cousin was being “Sainted”. They explained to us that 8,000 or Australians were in town because of his cousin because she is the first Catholic to be “Sainted” from Australia…so that was pretty cool!
We then headed to Saint Angelo Castle. It was less impressive than some of the other castles we’ve been to, but was still cool to go to the top where we had a great view of the whole city and had a really cool statue at the top. I can still remember how sore my legs were at this point and knew we still had a lot of walking ahead of us!
We next went to Piazza Navona. At the Plaza there were amazing street performers and I got the most amazing tasting Gelato I have EVER had in my life! IT WAS SOOO good! We watched several of the performances and the sun began to set and there was the most amazing sunset behind this old church that cast this ambient glow on everything!
The Pantheon was only a few blocks away and when we arrived the amazing sunset still lit up the sky. The Pantheon is neat because it has this great open-aired-oculus in the center of the dome. (Big open circle that never closes) There was this visiting gospel choir that was very serene to listen to and really set a nice mood in the Pantheon. The oculus is an architectural masterpiece because they were able to leave the center open while not having the dome cave in without a center cap. Although nothing can really compare in size to St. Peter’s Basilica, but I loved the Pantheon more because of the atmosphere.
We then finished off our sightseeing adventure by visiting the famous Trevi Fountain. I of course cast my coin in wishing for something special I can NOT share or else it will not come true! Legend goes that if you toss a coin into the fountain over your shoulder with your back to the fountain it will come true. So cross your fingers for me that my wish will come true!
After Trevi fountain we walked back to the part of town where our hotel was and ate dinner at this great little authentic Italian restaurant. I ordered some great Tortellini with a delicious tomato salad…and by that it was just two tomatoes cut up and put on a plate. It was good with a bit of oil though. We ate, walked back the girls, and called it a night.
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