Anyway, back to Rome...Day 4 was the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel and a few other stops later in the afternoon. We again were taking advantage of our tour packages and had a guided tour for the morning that included a guided walk through the Vatican courtyard, museum, and into the Sistine Chapel. It certainly pays to go with a guided group as the line to get into the Vatican is VERY long and wraps around the city walls. If you are with a group, you skip all that and basically go right in. Once inside, it is a bit like a slow cattle drive - you keep moving and there isn't much time or space to really stop and admire all the items on display for more than a few moments. But, we had been prepared for that, so it was sort of expected. The first area is the outdoor courtyard. Here, there are large illustrations of the Sistine Chapel and the guide used these to point out interesting things to notice for when we did get to that part of the tour.
Our guide then took us through the museum - what is essentially a series of huge corridors. Some of the 'rooms' were full of statues, urns, pieces of art from various time periods and from different Popes. As you moved through, you could not forget to look up - all the ceilings were elaborately painted and one corridor flowed into the next. Several of the areas were adorned with huge tapestries. And when I say huge, I do mean big!!! Floor to ceiling, many feet long, and some extremely old!
This statue is special because it has the glass eyes that were actually quite common in statues, but are rarely still seen in preserved statues these days.
This is one of the huge tapestries hanging behind the kids - no pictures would truly show their magnificent size and artistry!
All the ceilings throughout the museum area were this elaborate or more - room after room...
Not the best picture, but you can see the door of one room leading to the next, each unique in style and features!
From here, we entered the famed Sistine Chapel painted by Michaelangelo - it truly leaves you speechless. When you walk in you can actually hear the intake of air of the people around you as they gaze up. Of course, no pictures are allowed here and it is supposed to be silent and the guards are often shushing the crowd, but still the people murmur and point and look for all the little details and 'special' features Michaelangelo included in the minute details of each part and scene. Truly an incredible sight!
Following our time there, our tour group was taken to a popular shop where many of the special gifts of the Roman Catholic faith are sold - rosaries, crucifixes, etc. From the street outside the shop, we had a view of St. Peters Basilica where we would visit later in our trip and go inside.
After our tour was over, we set off to feed the two hungry beasts and work our way over to get a closer look at Piazza del Popolo and back into Villa Borghese park.
Kyla striking a pose...no surprise there :)
Brendan's favorite place...anywhere there is food!
It was a great day and we still have a few days to go!
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