Rome: The Vatican

Tuesday's plan was rather simple - visit the Vatican. We were up early once again and after another quick breakfast we hopped on the metro. The stop for the Vatican was about five stations away - a fairly quick trip. When we started walking to the Vatican, I noticed that there were many more tourists than there were in the center of Rome on the previous day, and an increased number of people trying to sell guided tours of the Vatican. We already had our entrance tickets to the museum and were going to use Rick Steve's audio tour for St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel (this blog is turning into an advertisement for Rick Steves!).

Our first stop was St. Peter's Basilica. First we had to stand in a line to got through security. During the course of this trip, we went through a lot of metal detectors, at airports and all museum. It is sad that they are even necessary. Once though security, we entered the basilica (which is different than a cathedral) and began our audio tour. This tour lasted about 45 minutes. St. Peter's Basilica had a lot more meaning to those visitors that were Catholic, but the statues and decorations were amazing to look at for people of all faiths and beliefs. I even touched the foot of St. Peter, which is supposed to bring you good luck, or something. Because it was so dark, many of my photos didn't turn out very good, even with a flash. This photo of me is very "Photoshopped".

After we were done here, we decided to take the walk to the top of the dome. There are approximately 300 steps to the top of the dome, and even in the cold, everyone worked up a sweat. The higher you get, the narrower the passageway, as can be seen by the photo of me leaning into the wall. I'm not posing for the photo, the staircase really forced you to lean, duck and generally watch your every step. Once at the top (not the fake top), you have a 360 degree view of Rome. If it hadn't been foggy and smoggy, the view would have been even better. I took many photos and even a short movie,which I'll post later. We then headed down, making a stop at the gift store, located on the roof of the basilica.

It was lunch time and we were hungry, so we walked outside the Vatican where we were quickly approached by a man trying to get us to his restaurant. We figured it was as good as any, so we followed him a block away and sat outside. The food was good, but somehow the bill was more than we expected, even though we ordered the special. They add funny charges for tax, service or whatever. Once done eating, we made the long walk to the entrance of the Vatican museum. The museum consists of many museums, covering Roman, Greek, Chinese and many more cultures. Most of the rooms we walked though pretty fast. Most of the statues and paintings looked just like the ones we saw last year in Greece. Plus, if you follow the winding maze of hallways, you eventually make it to the Sistine Chapel, the highlight of the tour.

For some reason I was drawing a blank on the significance of the Sistine Chapel until I entered the room and remembered that this was the famous chapel ceiling painted by Michelangelo. If it weren't for the audio tour, one might spend 10 minutes in this beautifully painted room. But Rick Steves has you sit down and he spends 30 minutes explaining the meaning of each painting, and pointing out details that you would not notice without a guide or book. He spent about five minutes explaining The Last Judgment, which was painted several years after the ceiling. This room was very crowded, especially when a large tour group came through. I'd hate to be there in the summer, during the busier time of year.

Once we exited the chapel, we wandered around, looking at a few more rooms and getting a quick snack. It was actually getting late in the day, close to closing time. We walked back to the metro station and headed to our hotel. After a short break, we walked around the streets, in the rain, looking for a place to eat. We ended up at a cafe right outside our hotel. They were extremely nice there. I had vegetable lasagna and a beer, and we all ended up getting desert afterwards. Each desert came with a bonus, smaller desert treat. I had the teramesu, and it just melted in my mouth.

Back at the hotel, it was time to pack up, because we were checking out in the morning and taking the train to Florence.