| Jul 11, 2006 - Vatican City
| OK. Where to start.
Well...we got up at the crack of dawn(or so it felt like) to beat the crowds at the Vatican. Well it turns out that we shouldn't have bothered. Apparently everyone else thought the same thing and the line was about 1 kilometer long and it had doubled behind us by the time 9am rolled around(opening) time.
So we made it inside around 10am and strolled through the museums trying to make our way to THE art museum of Vatican City. After about 2 hours of taking pictures of the vaticans vast collections of Egyptian and roman sculpture we made it to Raphael's Apartments.
Yes this was more like it and I could feel us edging closer to the big one!
These rooms designed and decorated by THE Raphael were absolutely mind numbing. Stanza della Segnatura was hte best of the four rooms with the famous "School of Athens" where Raphael actually depicts the famous philosophers all standing in the same plaza and üaints them with the faces of other famous artists. For example Plato looks like Leonardo Da Vinci and after sneaking a peak at the work Michelangelo was doing at the same time in the Sistine Chapel, he included Heraclitus on the steps with Michelangelo's face.
Ok then we came to the Cappela Sistina(Sistine Chapel) and it ws well worth the 2 hopur walk and 2 hour wait in the huge que outside tog et there. What an amazing place although the hundreds of not so discrete tourists making heaps of noise and taking poictures it was tainted only a little. After gazing around for a while we decided that you must be allowed to take pictures cos everyone was. So we decided to get some picutres and yes I have the best one of all. Unlike everbody else who buys copies of the panel where God creates Adam, I will have a picture of the real thing. You'll have to come and visit me if you want to see it cos I'm not putting it on the web. Its for me!
Also just as captivating was the wall that is covered with Michelangelos fresco of the "Last Judgement". This work depicts Jesus seperating the souls into heaven and Hell and is really awesome.
Well we took our photos and then somebody actually got in to trouble near where we were so we decided we had enough pics and thought we'd move on.
After the Sistine Chapel we had lunch and left for Basilica di San Pietro- St Peter's Basilica.
The piazza of St. peters is awesome with its columns that curl around the outside and the fountains and obelisk in the centre. We rested for a while then joined the line. Once we got through we made our way up to the front of the enormous church, the biggest in the world and went inside. First we went into the crypt wher all the popes are buried. Yes we did get to see the tomb of Pope John Paul II. We also got to see the shrine that marks the resting place of THE St. Peter who was crucified on Vatican Hill. His reall tomb is actually buried far underneath this shrine. Even if you aren't a Christian,. the history of this place is amazing.
Well when we'd wondered uip through the crypt, the Swiss Guards quickly let us know that we could't go back the way we'd come so we had to go back outside and around again to go back into the chapel. The sheer size of this church is amazing especially with the sculptures that are just enormous. We stared up in awe at Michelangelo's Dome and decided we needed a closer look. So we took the elevator and climbed the 350 or so steps up to the cupola of St. Peters where not only did we get a great close up of the mozaics and paintings of the cupola but a great view of Rome as well.
After this we were in a daze and decided that we were too tired to stay in town for the carnival at the Castle. We needed our sleep because tomorrow we were going to Ancient Rome! |
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