Kate goes some places: Travel Break: Rome (Part 2, the Vatican)

Day 3

Welcome to the Vatican!

Rome continued with a trip to the Vatican, the smallest independent nation in the world, at just less than one square kilometer. That being the case, the Vatican certainly has the most impressive art per square kilometer of any country in the world. Considering that the Vatican is so small, it's quite ironic then that one of the words that kept coming to my mind throughout our visit was: BIG! Indeed, the Vatican museum is really quite overwhelming and walking through the massive rooms, which are loaded with priceless, beautiful art from their floors to their extremely high, painted ceilings, you feel very very small. The entire museum is really a work of art. The walls, ceilings, floors, are all incredible. Everywhere you look there is something breathtaking. And this is coming from someone who is by no means an art fanatic. But it is really impossible not to be impressed by the Vatican museum. I'd heard from friends visiting the museum, that the walk to the Sistine Chapel, is extremely long, and indeed it was. But the rooms we walked through on the way to the chapel had so much to look at that I honestly did not feel impatient to reach the Sistine Chapel. Indeed, the walk to the Chapel included several works of art, that even I, in my complete lack of knowledge of art, had seen pictures of. (On another more cynical note, seeing this museum makes it very difficult for me to sympathize with any of the Catholic church's supposed budgetary issues).

A painting famous enough that I recognize it!

Wow. Ceiling.

Another ceiling

So many sculptures...

Eventually, after winding through countless passages of sculptures and paintings, we ended up looking at what is possibly the most famous ceiling in the world: that of the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel really is amazing. I can't even begin to fathom how it was painted entirely by one man. The entire thing is just painted with huge amazing paintings. How Michelangelo managed to paint the ceiling laying on his back is entirely beyond me. On another note, it is forbidden to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel. Originally I planned on respecting this rule, as I assumed it was something about preserving the art or something noble and important like that. Instead, the Vatican sold the rights to all photos of the Sistine Chapel to a business in Japan. So I feel a little less bad about the photos I am posting below, despite the fact that I probably committed a sin in the Sistine Chapel, which really can't be good.

The Creation of Adam. With my head poking over.

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Walls of the Sistine Chapel

And when you've seen the Sistine Chapel, the museum's done, right? Not by a long shot. After the Sistine Chapel, we spent a little longer looking at famous sculptures, a really impressive and beautiful courtyard, with a cool bronze spinning ball and what we assume is a giant pinecone. Me and a few friends finished the museum with an exhibit on Mesopotamian art, which was pretty neat. There were a lot of pots and strange masks, which I liked.

Augustus

Courtyard and funny bronze ball

Giant Pinecone. Or perhaps an artichoke.

Mesopotamia

After the museum we all ate lunch, which included bruschetta, mozzarella, bread, pizza, and more delicious Italian stuff that I'd never had before. I even tried something with eggplant, which I normally don't like, but this was all breaded and covered in spices so I actually liked it.
After lunch we went to St. Peter's Basilica, which can really only be described in one word: wow! The outside is obviously something I've seen on the news, in movies, and in books, so that was awesome to see. And it's gaurded by the Swiss guard, who have very interesting outfits, to say the least. And on the inside, the Basilica big. Indeed, it's the biggest cathedral in the world, and it's really impressive and filled with even more famous art, like the Pieta, which is a sculpture of Mary holding the crucified Jesus. The basilica is really huge, with so much to see. Again, it made me feel very small. Inside, is the tomb of St. Peter, which is certainly pretty amazing, as well as a giant altar made by Bernini. But wow, the Catholics really know how to do churches. Everywhere I looked there was something else to see. I feel like I could have spent a year in the Basilica and still not seen everything there was to see. After spending some time in the Basilica itself, we went and visited the Papal Tombs, where the Popes of the past are laid to rest. Among the popes there are St. Peter and John Paul II. There were tons of people of John Paul II's grave and many of them were praying and crying. I didn't realize quite how beloved of a pope he was.

St. Peter's Basilica

Outside of the Basilica

Swiss Gaurd.

The Pieta

St. Peter's Basilica: Shiny and Impressive

Sadly, I don't think a photo can capture quite how big the Basilica is.

St. Peter's Tomb

After visiting the Vatican, me and a few others found our own way home. Naturally, we stopped for gelato, today I tried the cappuccino. On our way, we found the Castel St. Angelo, which is a really beautiful fort type thing with a bridge across the river of statues of angels. It was sunset as we crossed so it was extra beautiful. There were also some strange street performers, that we later saw in other places around Rome. These were people dressed up as Egyptian mummies that just... stand there. They're wearing masks and giant gold sheets, so I really don't get what's so special about them. They confused them. Finally, that night we took a walk to see some of the sites at night. The Trevi Fountain and the Piazza Navona were both really cool at night. And also, we discovered that Rome has tons of fountains with DRINKABLE water all over the city. That was really cool.