Day 3 in the Eternal City begins in the Vatican City!
Sunday we woke up rather early so that we could go to the smallest nation in the world, otherwise known as the Vatican City, before the giant crowds that turn up for the free day on the last Sunday of the month. Stacy and Britt turned out to be tired because our roommate, Nick from Wheaton, IL, had brought a girl (whom we've nicknamed "Hannah the Hostel Whore") back to the hostel at 3 am and they proceeded to make quite a lot of noise. They even went to take a shower and she apparently fell twice causing loud thuds. I have to say that I was the lucky one who slept through it all, but Brittany and Stacy suffered through it. Britt had it a little easier than Stacy because she had her iPod to listen to, but Stacy was exposed to Nick and Hannah raw without any distraction, especially since her bed was literally a meter from Nick's. I have to say, it is not classy to bring a girl back to your 8 bed dorm room and proceed to make a lot of noise with a girl. Not classy at all. Hannah, however, was classy and said goodbye to Nick by saying "Good luck on all your future endeavors."
Needless to say, we laughed about the situation all the way on the subway to the Vatican. Our first stop (after security) was St. Peter's Basilica. Although I resembled a lot of churches that we had seen before in Europe, it was massive and had a lot of beautiful things in it. Here is the tour:
St. Peter's Square
Michelangelo's Pieta which he carved at age 25.
Bernini's giant canopy in the center of the basilica
(In case you are looking for gift ideas for me, Bernini is my new favorite sculptor.)
Alexander VII's Monument by Bernini featuring the figures of Justice, Truth, Chastity, and Prudence.
After spending time in the Basilica our next stop was the Vatican Museum in order to see the Sistine Chapel. The line, however, was just outrageous and it was already 11; entrance stops at 12:30. Brittany and Stacy got in line and I found a friendly police officer to ask if we would get in if we were at the end of the line. She said that we would have time and it turns out we were only waiting for about 30 minutes.
Everybody waiting in line.
Once we got into the museum (for free) we began our walk through it. They really leave you no freewill and you have to basically queue through the whole museum in order to see the Sistine Chapel. We, along with hundreds of our closest friends, snaked through the museum for a long while, seeing everything that the Vatican has acquired through years of ruling the Roman Catholic Empire, which is a lot. Actually, if you just spend one minute in front of every piece in the museum you would be there for fourteen year. One of the big attractions, besides the Chapel, is Raphael's School of Athens, depicting Raphael's contemporaries as the Classical thinkers.
Hall of Maps
School of Athens
And then we finally reached Michelangelo's famous masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing, but I was expecting more natural light in there. I loved looking at the art but I wish I was alone, instead of crowded in with bunches of tourists, so I could take it all in. And photography was prohibited in the chapel but, of course, that didn't stop anyone. People were literally holding their cameras up snapping away and the security guards were doing nothing about it, not that I'm complaining.
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
You can see (from left) the Creation of Adam and Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit and being banished from the Garden of Eden.
Creation of Adam
Christ giving the keys to St. Peter, illustrating the transfer of power to the Pope.
And that's the Vatican City! After going through literally four gift shops on our way out, we found a nice restaurant where we could sit outside and got some lunch in the Italian sunshine. I got the Spaghetti Carbonara, which was delicious, and the three of us split a tiramisu.
Sharing some tiramisu.
what an attractive photo of me. not.
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