We waited till Monday to see the Vatican thinking that perhaps the crowds would be less since the weekenders would be leaving roma already. hmmm... well there was a mass this morning, so of cours the Vatican was closed all morning till 1PM!
In any case, the line were huge. We wer told we would miss the lines by taking the tour. THAT is a load of crap! What a waste of money - except that I learned so much from the tour guide herself. You still wait in the lines, the only difference is that you pay more and get to learns some cool things. Paid 35 Euros for the tour. Try to get it cheaper!
The Sistine Chapel is the private chapel for us of the POPE only. Exept when there s a need for a new POPE to be elected then the cardinals are inside until they vote a nw POPE ; which is where you see the smoke out of the window - white when the POPE is elected, black when the POPE passes away.
This chapel was painted by Michael Angelo which took 6 years. The ceiling is all painted with the illusion of collumns. It is painted with the stories from Genesis. One wall is the "Judgement Day"... one side is the story of Moses - old testament, the other side Jesus - New testament. It was very moving. No pictures allowed here, but I snuck some in.
FYI - the famous picture with the fingers by Angelo, is the creation of Adam by GOD. It depicts God's finger giving life to ADAM. Stunning.
The Vatican museum has SO many great works by Raphael, Da Vinci, Michel Angelo... wow... I have tones of pictures!
The ST Peters Basillica, was just sw striking. It brought me to me knees it was SO beautiful everywhere I turned or looked. The famous marble statue by Michael Angelo, of Jesus and Mary - was inspiring. He did this at the age of 20. There was mosiacs so fine that you would think they are paintings and not tiles of marble.
The Vatican is it's own country. Designed and architected by Michael Angelo in full. It was once part of Roma. However when Roma was declared part of Italy as a whole, the Pope disagreed at the time. So The POpe stayed in the Vatican walls and would not become part of Italy. Mossolini being Catholic himself, did not force the acceptance of the POPE. Hence the Vatican till this day is the smallest country in the world. Being only 2KM in size. However it has the biggest museum, and the biggest Catholic Church. It is technically illegal for a Christian Church to be bigger than St Peters Basillica. There is a list of the sizes of all big churches.
I missed out on going to the top, as I had no cash on me and it was extra. Briel was also waiting for 45 min outside, so I skipped the Popes Burial Catacombs. I guess I will have to have my wish and one day return to Roma.
Overall, Briel and I agree we LOVE Roma. We could seriously live in the wonderful city. Except we have no friends or family here.
It is the most wonderful city in Europe and perhaps the world. We think - I will let you know if during our travels we change our minds!
Ciao for now!
