Vatican City and Rome, Italy

We had the best intentions of getting up at 7 and getting going early. I just kept hitting the snooze button on my iPod until 8:30 and then it took even longer to get Sam up. I think all these days of nonstop walking are wearing us out. We didn’t get out the door until 10 and then we had our pastry from the bar across the street. We took the bus to Vatican City and got there around 11 just in time to wait in line for two hours to get into the Vatican Museum. We were behind a Brazilian Tour group, so Sam learned a lot from their guide since he speaks Portuguese. I read my Rick Steve’s Tour book info on the museum and then we talked to some men from London and Germany. We thought it was very interesting how much they knew about American politics.
The Vatican Museum was incredible. They have so much ancient art that you can’t take it all in. There are three long hallways just filled with Roman statues. They do have an Egyptian Mummy that I can’t wait to show Gavin a picture of. There is an enormous hallway filled with tapestries depicting Christ. We go to see Raphael’s School of Athens, which is one of my personal favorites. It filled an entire wall and not a wall that you or I would have in our house. Think of the house of a Pope. The museum ends in the Sistine Chapel. This made the two hours in line well worth it. Sam and I spent about a half hour in there and got sore necks from looking up for so long. It really is the most magnificent piece of Art that I have ever seen.
After the museum we climbed Michelangelo’s Dome. I could have skipped this one, but Sam insisted. The view really was great but man my legs are sore. This is the third thing we have climbed in less than a week. It was really crowded at the top, just like the museum. The Vatican was closed yesterday because of New Years and is closed on Sundays, so everyone visiting Rome was in Vatican City today.
We ended our tour with St. Peter’s Basilica. We were there for mass and it smelled wonderful with the incense burning. The singing and preaching added a nice ambiance while we were there. The church is beyond explanation. It is the most ornate, the largest, and the grandest. It is actually the largest church in Christendom. Everything was on such a large scale. Peter is buried there and scientists say that it may very well be Peter. Michelangelo’s Pieta is there and even behind the bullet proof glass is very beautiful. This one was actually smaller that I imagined, or it may have been that the church just dwarfed it.
We got out of St. Peter’s Square after six and we were exhausted and starving. Luckily there is plenty of pizza around. After our bus trip back to the train station, which is close to our hotel, we got more pizza. I got one with potato and cheese, recommended by Jeremiah Sparks, which was actually really good. There is no sauce. When we got back to our hotel the owner was there and offered us a bigger room for our last night here. We gladly accepted and will be able to spread out a bit. We are doing laundry right now which is much needed after a week. Two loads cost us 14 Euro.