Vatican City

At long last, we made it to day 3 in  Rome and the Vatican City.  Phew. I'm tired just recounting those three days in Rome. How about you? And to think, we have another 11 days of cruise ports to cover.

The trip to the Vatican was nothing short of chaotic. Every person in the country of Rome, I believe, decided to go to the Vatican the day we did. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

I had arranged for a tour through the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.  Mom really wanted to see all three and we felt it was easier to just schedule a tour and be done with it. Part of the deal with the tour was "early entry". Meaning you get to skip all the lines and go straight in.

The morning was beautiful. Not too hot yet, but it promised to be a sunny, warm day in Rome.  When we left the hotel, Mom, Mike, Bev and I took a taxi. Billie and Dan took the train because they had bought the three day pass. My words to them when they left was "meet us at the entrance." I had no way of knowing, and neither did they, that there were a couple of entrances. Too many in fact.

To make matters worse I didn't realize until too late our tickets actually said to meet at the tour company's office.  Had I read the ticket none of the next two hours would have happened.

We have the taxi drop us off at St. Peter's Square. We, read me, thought that was where the entrance was. Well it was, to the basilica.  We were going into the museum. We asked a couple of people who directed us to the right, then take a left and follow the side walk. 

The "side walk" followed along the wall of Vatican City.  We walked, easily, another half of mile to get into the entrance to the museum. There was no one there. A few folks in the long line of people with no reservations. But now, we had to figure out how to meet up with our tour guide. AND how we were going to find Billie and Dan. 

I reread the tickets, cussed a little, and realized we had to meet at the tour office. BACK the way we came, asked a few folks, and we arrived at the tour office. I was convinced Billie and Dan were never going to find us.


Entrance into the Vatican Museum, sans people

Our tour was at 9am.  The Pope, and his people, decided to not open the museum until 9:30, so we had about an hour to wait. Which was a good thing because we couldn't find Billie and Dan.

Mike and I had a map and we knew which train station they were going to get off on. If they followed the main road out of the train station they'd walk right by us. Yah, you know that didn't happen.

We later found out they had gotten on the train going the wrong way and had to back track. Once they got off the train they went straight to the front of St. Peter's Square. Because in their mind, like mine, that was where we'd be meeting.

Mike and I stood out on the street corner for an hour looking for them. I walked up to the entrance once, and Mike did. No Billie and Dan.

It was time for our tour to begin, so I shrugged my shoulders and wished I would have pushed more for them to go with us in the cab. Oh well, I thought. They are going to miss out.

We trudged to the entrance with our tour guide and as we were about to cross the street into what had now become HOARDS of people, there they were! What are the odds?

We stood in this mass of people for 30 minutes and waited for the doors to open. It was 9:45 so we knew they'd open soon.

We waited...and we waited...and we waited. 

All the tour guides were chatting with one another asking if they knew what was what.  Nope, none of them knew. Our tour guide, bless her, kept telling us this was very unusual and it never happened.

Eventually a Vatican guard came by and told all of us to take their tours to the back of the line.

Um, say what?

So with much anxiety and unsuredness our tour guide, Sarah I think her name was, walked us another quarter of mile to the BACK of the line. By this time I swear we had walked all the way around the Vatican City. 

As you can imagine there were a lot of very unhappy people in the tour groups. There was NO organization. Buses were coming and dropping groups off and they would walk right past us and all the way to the beginning.  It made no sense to any of us.  One guy in our tour group was quite the prickly pear and kept badgering poor Sarah about letting other groups go in front of us.  Finally I asked him what he expected her to do. She was doing her best, and could tell she was completely beside her self.

An hour or so later, the line started to move. S-L-O-W-L-Y. But it was moving. Mr. Prickly Pear kept badgering Sarah. Groups kept moving in front of us, but eventually we saw the light of day.

Then we found out that all those groups who "went in front of us" were mostly student groups and they had a completely different entrance they were going in..one with no line. So there Mr. Prickly Pear...

I really wish I had taken a photo of the hoards of people. It was unbelieveable.

Once inside, we figured out where Disney learned about faking people out and having them "think" they were at the entrance, but in fact, they were just inside the doors and had to go through ANOTHER line.

With chaos being the theme of the day, we got inside. Sarah, the tour guide, asked us to wait and she'd go get the tickets.  While we were waiting she did point out the restrooms and they were the last ones for the entire tour. So off Bev and I went.

By the time we got back, Sarah was handing out our tickets and we entered. Then we saw this.

 Let the climbing begin.  We had to take his massive circular ramp to the top where we would be starting the tour. Eventually, somehow, we worked our way down.

Once to the top, we popped out on this is beautiful garden area that was like a little piazza.  This was our immediate view.  Nice huh? And totally worth the wait.

We stood in the shade for about 20 minutes while Sarah told us the history of the Vatican City, some history of the museum and what the next hour and half would hold for us.  We walked to another part of the garden and she pointed out the Sistine Chapel.

It wasn't much to look at from the outside. But we were in for a treat when we saw the inside. More on that later.

We eventually worked our way into Pine Cone Square.  It has a real name but because of this huge pine cone in the center, it was what everyone called it.

I can't even tell you what she said about this area. By this time I was exhausted and just wanted to sit.  We worked our way past this massive globe thingy - it spun - and then sat on some stairs while she explained more about the opulence that was the Vatican art collection.  She wasn't kidding either.

Once inside the actual museum, honestly, there were just too many people and too many things to see. So much incredible art. The statues, the tapestries, the ceilings, the art on the wall...just so incredible.

Every statue, every art piece, every thing in this museum has a story behind it. A history that extends so far back that at times its staggering to imagine.

Apollo Belvedere in Vatican museum

The Laocoon. One of the most famous pieces. The depth of emotion seen on the faces is amazing.

I have no idea what these were, but I loved their little faces.

Lion in the gallery of animals

One of the amazing ceilings in the museum.

There were so many hallways, galleries, statues, etc that I couldn't remember them all. That bowl in the middle was carved out of a single piece of marble.

The mosaic floor was spectacular. They moved this floor piece by piece from the original place the found it. Could you imagine? Talk about a massive "paint by numbers" exercise.

More beautiful ceilings.

Statue of Artemis. Those things hanging off her aren't boobies but testicles. Gross.

This ceiling had a 3-D look to it. The camera couldn't really capture it well enough.

 After an overwhelming amount of details, history, and pieces of work, we finished with the museum and found ourselves in the Sistine Chapel.

You aren't "allowed" to take photos in the chapel. A Japanese company paid to have the chapel cleaned and with that they purchased all the rights for photos. That contract ended years ago, but I think to avoid ruining the art they've kept the no photos thing. People using a flash could damage the art.  Those of us who can take photos without a flash, however...

I used Dan to hide my photo taking, and still got busted by a guard. "Madame! No photos!".  DOH.  But no lightening strike hit me, so I feel pretty good about getting these photos.

This famous part of the ceiling you'd think was huge. But if you look at the full ceiling you'll see it's quite small in comparison.

We and about a thousand of our closest friends were shuffled through the chapel. It was kinda sad to me. By the time we got there I was exhausted and I don't think I was able to appreciate it as much as I would have liked. That and all the people.  It was wall to wall people. Sorta took the sanctity out of the chapel.

Then we moved on to the basilica. Again, I wish I had about 30 minutes to rest, or have lunch or something. Cuz by the time we got there, while I was still in awe, I was pooped and my feet hurt. Still, St. Peter's Basilica is a sight that I won't soon forget.

Its very hard to capture just how HUGE this place is. It is the largest church in the world and I would believe it.

St. Peter's is considered one of the best examples of Renaissance art, and while I'm no expert, I'd say it must be. St. Peter is actually buried here and was killed on this very ground.

La Pieta is likely one of the most famous of Michangelo's works.

 La Pieta was one of the many statues I wanted to see in the basilica. It is breathtaking. When you think that this was carved in marble. The flow of Mary's gown, the expression on her face, all just fascinates me.  It is the ONLY piece that's signed by Michangelo too. His pride got to him when he overheard someone say it was done by another artist. He went and put his name on the sash Mary's wearing.

Those letters at the top there, while I don't know what it says, I do know that each letter is 2 meters tall - what's that about 5 feet tall?

Behind the altar is the stain glass of the holy spirit. Just enough light comes through to make it glow.

I can't remember who this saint was, but if you rubbed his feet you were promised good luck. So we rubbed his foot.

 And then there was the Swiss Guard who protects the Vatican. They are much like the guards in London - no expression, no blinking, no responding to people, no nothing.  Their uniforms were designed by Michangelo himself and have been around for centuries.

According to Wikipedia, "Recruits to the guards must be Catholic, single males with Swiss citizenship who have completed basic training with the Swiss military and can obtain certificates of good conduct. Recruits must have a professional degree or high school diploma and must be between 19 and 30 years of age and at least 5 ft 8.5 in tall. Qualified candidates must apply to serve. If accepted, new guards are sworn on May 6 every year in the San Damaso Courtyard in the Vatican (May 6 is the anniversary of the Sack of Rome).

And thus ended the longest day ever, (and the longest blog ever) visit to the Vatican.  Phew.