Italy Vacation - Day 6

It's raining, it's pouring...but we're not staying in today, we have an appointment at the Vatican!

They almost made me check my camera at the front door, but I snuck past unnoticed.  Just in case, we decided to leave the good camera in the backpack and just shoot pics today with the iphone.  It's good that we still got pictures of things, but sad because the quality just isn't there.

We visited the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Basilica & St Peters Square this morning.    I couldn't keep my eyes off the ceilings, floors and shutters.  All were immaculate, ornate and gorgeous!

Let's start off discussing the ceilings....Whoa!  I'm not really sure what to say about them.  You could stare at them for weeks and weeks and still notice something new with each glance.  They were ornate to say the least.  Way, way over the top!  (no pun intended)

This was an awesome hall.  Besides the ceiling which is amazing, the walls were lined with huge maps of Italy's different regions and parts of Europe.  I could just imagine the Pope and different heads of state, Kings even, in times past walking around this massive hall looking over these maps and discussing strategies.

This is an original wood ceiling.  Most of the ceilings in the other rooms have long been replaced by the more ornate paintings and gold accents.  Not that this ceiling isn't ornate, don't get me wrong...I find that I prefer this ceiling over the others.

We found the museum to be very interesting.  They had stuff from all over Europe.  Tapestries, Paintings, Papal art, sculptures, Egyptian artifacts, etc.  The variety was huge and fun to see.  Each room we walked through was a sight for the eyes.  We were pleasantly surprised at the extent of artifacts we were able to see.

An Egyptian mummy, along with canopic jars (that's where the organs are kept).  We took this picture for Luke.  It possess all the necessary gross out elements that he's into these days!  ps...he was thrilled to see it!

This was an interesting item.  It's showing how plaster casts were made using a wire skeleton, bundled sticks and straw, then plaster over the top.  Very neat to see the process.

Ok, onto the window shutters.  A-MA-ZING!!!

One of the many fantastic shutters we saw.  They are so ornate.  It just blows my mind to think that someone actually carved this.  I just have never seen anything like it.  Amazing!

these shutters were painted

Moving onto the floors...WOW! is all I can say.  It seemed like each floor got better and better.  The patterns, colors and overall appeal was a masterpiece in itself.  I can't imagine the painstaking hours that went into laying such floors.  The rooms in these buildings aren't small either.

The Sistine Chapel

The museum has many corridors to explore, but they all funnel together and end or culminate rather at the Sistine Chapel.  No photos allowed here, at all...they were watching like hawks.  We sat on the bench along the left hand wall.  Trent had downloaded a narration about the Chapel prior to our visit.  I'm so glad he did because we learned a lot more about the rooms creation and history than we would have otherwise.  Michelangelo was pure genius!  It took him 4 years to paint the ceiling and another 6 years to complete the wall behind the altar.  Also, something I didn't know was that he didn't paint on his back like I thought.  He painted standing up, reaching over his head!  He also told the Pope he'd only take on the project if he had complete artistic freedom, and it was granted.  We stayed in the chapel for a long time just taking in all that is there.  It's truly a masterpiece, one that I feel privileged to have seen for myself.

St. Peter's Basilica

The author Georgina Masson wrote: "Only gradually does it dawn upon us - as we watch people draw near to this or that monument, strangely they appear to shrink; they are, of course, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. This in its turn overwhelms us."

I could not say it better myself.  We were speechless as we entered.  

The entire interior is lavishly decorated with marble, reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. The basilica contains a large number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered outstanding artworks. There are also a number of sculptures in niches and chapels, including Michelangelo's Pieta. The central feature is a baldachin, or canopy over the Papal Altar, designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini. The sanctuary culminates in a sculptural ensemble, also by Bernini, and containing the symbolic Chair of St. Peter.

The Swiss Guard

view of the dome

Bernini's canopy.  It stands under the dome and above an altar.  It is 98 ft tall!  Their are other altars in the church, but this is the one the Pope uses if he's giving mass.  The catacombs or where the remains of St. Peter lie are directly in front of this too.  It's all gated off and we couldn't get a decent photo, but it looks just like it does in the movies (hee hee, we are a Tom Hanks lovin' family!)

St. Peter's Chair

 After this, we hiked up to the top of the cupola to get a better view of the dome & Rome.  It was a lot of steps and we had to take a few breathers on the way up.  The passageways were narrow and Trent had to keep his head ducked most of the time.  The view was well worth it though.  Very stunning to see all of Rome laid out before you.

St. Peter's Square

A few more mosaics.  These are closeups of mosaics from the dome itself.

As we stepped out onto St. Peter's Square it began to rain again...and very quickly escalated to a downpour.  We had to run to the safety of the columns for shelter.

After the Vatican we ate sandwiches from a street vendor and tried to stay out of the rain.  I had the best pork sandwich of the entire trip...perfecto!  After drying off we went on a night walk to see the city sights all lit up.  We got ripped off at dinner too.  They charged us 4 euros, that's $6, for an extra plate!  Yikes!

Did you know that the ice cream cone was invented in Italy?  Those Italians sure know how to make a treat!

**Vatican hot chocolate...0