When In Rome

I wrote six pages in my journal about The Vatican. Six.  I'm trying to pick and choose my favorite moments for this blog.  We met our tour guide on the street, her name is Roberta. She was sweet, and she was knowledgeable, and she was hilarious: we could not have asked for more from her. The Museum is astounding - we cracked a joke that what we learned was that for years The Pope were just a bunch of greedy men who collected awesome things and now we got to enjoy them!

The floors were made up of beautiful mosaics, and even though they placed leaves over the unmentionables of the statues, the art was astounding.  We passed a sculpture of Hercules that was just made up of the torso. The Pope had commissioned Michelangelo to complete the sculpture, but he refused saying that it was perfection as it was.  When he painted The Sistine chapel, he used the body of the sculpture as the body of Christ during the last judgement combined with the head of Apollo.

The crowds were insane. I've never seen so many people in my life. Roberta said it was a slow day...I can't imagine a busy day! She advised us to just push and smile and follow her as closely as we could. Which we totally did.

These beautiful handwoven tapestries told the story of Christ's life. The detail in such ancient pieces of art was astounding.  It was truly a breathtaking tour.  Across the hall from these tapestries hung newer tapestries of a Pope's life (I can't remember which one), but he commissioned them to be made to honor him...apparently he thought he was as important Jesus. PUH-lease!

This ceiling was flat, the 3-D effect was done completely with shadowing and painting! Phenomenal! It was amazing to see all of the art that has been collecting for centuries and centuries.

From the Vatican Museum, we went straight to the Sistine chapel.  No pictures are allowed in there, but they could never do it justice anyway.  It was sad because many of the tourists were not respecting the rules and the sanctity of the chapel.  It is supposed to be a place of silence, but every 5 minutes or so a guard would have to get on the microphone and say "Silencio!" I was frustrated and Catholicism isn't even my faith.  The holiness of the place we were standing was palpable though.  To stand on that floor, looking up at the ceiling, and thinking, "My foot is on the very floor Michelangelo stood on" was an experience beyond comparison.

After the chapel we sneaked through a few back stairways to reach St. Peter's Basilica.  This was my favorite stop all day. In the church, nothing is painted.  Everything is tiny mosaic tiles placed perfectly to create the art and scenery.  The sheer size of the building is astounding!

If you look towards the top of the second picture you can see Latin letters. Roberta told us that those letters alone are 6 feet tall. That should help with some perspective.  That depiction of Christ above this paragraph? All tiny tiles, not one bit of paint.  This building truly put everything else I'd seen that day to shame.  To think it was built centuries ago is unfathomable for me!

The Basilica is built on top of St. Peter's tomb and is three stories.  The basement is where all of the Popes are buried - the crypts.  The middle is all that remains of the pillars of the original church which was destroyed during the crusades.  The third story is what we visit and see today.  Standing in the church Amanda said, "It is so beautiful in here I could just cry."  It really was that overwhelmingly powerful.

During the tour, Roberta asked us if we were Catholic. We said no, and she said, "How can I help you?"  She was concerned for our souls! She seemed a little less concerned when we did assure her that we were at least Christians.

I was able to buy my Mom a rosary. The line was insane and it was so hot, but it was the only place in all of Vatican City and Rome that the Pope and his people go to bless rosaries, the only Pope sanctioned place to buy a rosary if you will, so the wait was worth it.

After we left the Basilica we went out on to the square where the Pope addresses his people every week.

Another super cool thing we learned is that The Vatican is guarded by Swiss guards. In the 15th century they were the best army in the world and the tradition has stuck even through modern day.  It is a two year service agreement, and when their time is done they can choose to stay at the Vatican as citizens or return to Switzerland.  As a result of this, there are a few small children in the city. Not many though.

After the tour Muaro took us back to the ship and we feel in to bed exhausted.  It was a marathon of a few days, but the memories that were created are irreplaceable.