This morning we jumped on the metro to head to the worlds smallest country…the Vatican City!! Our first stop was the Vatican Museums home of the ‘Sistine Chapel’!!
The que was long – winding around the corners of the walls of the Vatican. Lucky for us this que did move quickly and before we knew it we were inside the buildings!!
This museum was HUGE!! Had different rooms inside, one containing Greek Antiques, A Map Gallery, a Tapestry Gallery.
Before heading to the ‘Sistine Chapel’ you were able to walk through the old apartments of the pervious Popes with paintings by Raphael all over the walls including his masterpiece ‘School of Athens’ and ‘Disputation on the Sacrament’. All very amazing!!
Soon enough we headed into the fanous ‘Sistine Chapel’. You all know the story, but still it was amazing to be in such a massive building with such a famous pieces of art!! It was also cool to see Michelangelo’s ‘Creation’ (taking four years to complete) and ‘Last Judgement’ (which he came back and did 24 years later).
It was also a challenge getting a snapshot of this building – but Jax was cunning and we walked away with some fantastic shots inside which we’ll post once we sort through our thousands of photos!!
Soon we found oursleves in back in the Vatican City – it was amazing!! The city has its own Post Office, Radio station, Newspaper and Army of Swiss Guards!! We sat in the famous St Peters Square and ate our packed lunch looking at St Peters Basilicaand the balcony that the Pope always seems to be on!! Sadly we were told that the Pope was on summer vacation (who knew…the Pope has holidays aswell!!), so our Pope spotting days were over.
We did decide to head inside St Peters Basilica, where we had to cover up even in the hot Rome heat. Inside was amazing – the biggest cathedral we had ever seen!! Inside was Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ statue (done when he was 23 and the only work to carry his signature) and also desinging the dome (at the age of 72). Inside also was the beautified body of the last Pope, in a glass casket – which was random to see!! All in all this was amazing!!
The day didnt stop there – Jax grabbed one of our guide books and headed back to our hostel…on foot!! We walked the same trail that the newly elected Pope walks to this day (some of the streets very small and dingy!!) On the way back we walked past what locals call the ‘wedding cake’…and huge building that provided quite cool views over the city!! Finally we made it back to our hostel in the east of Rome.
We got down to 3 euro today (after paying for the museum) but finally got money out…phew!!
That night we attended a FREE Pasta Party at the hostel before hitting the sack after a massive day in Rome…we just another massive one planned for tommorrow…
