Il Vaticano: Che maraviglioso!

Buon giorno. First, we'd like to apoligize for the exreme delay in updating the blog. We've been busy with school work. Now we are on Spring Break, but the last few weeks we have both had a lot of projects, papers, and then midterms in almost every class. So, we haven't been doing a whole lot around the city and what we have done, we've neglected to blog about because we've been so preoccupied. We have quite a bit to say now, though! Ellen and I heard that everyone was getting upset that we haven't added anything new... sorry to disappoint guys, I suppose everyone is living vicaiously though us. Anyway, to the good stuff.


On Friday Ellen and I met up with Emilie and Elizabeth (Ellen's sister and her friend who are visiting) to see the Vatican. Ellen and I had not actually been in the Museums or the Basilica yet because we figured we would wait to go with some company from home. So, we arrived at about 9am and already after 15 minutes of being open a line had formed from the entrance to the museum stretching along the Vatican walls about half way around the city. We waited anyway and the line moved quickly. The inside is enourmous. Each section is connected but there are really several museums focusing on different things. We visited the roman art, egyptian artifacts, the halls of paintings, the Sistine Chapel, and some other areas as well. The Sistine Chapel was gorgeous. Everyone stands in a large crowd and just stares in awe at the walls covered in art. You cannot take photos inside so sorry sports fans, no photos here.

We did see a lot of other great things, though. The paintings that stretched huge hallways and large rooms were equally amazing. The museums seemed to never end.

The egyptian museum was very cool and supposedly it is one of the best in the world. We saw a mummified woman with skin and nails still intact. One eye socekt was a larger hole than the other and the information suggested that her brain was probably pulled out through her eye.





The roman art section contained mostly statues. We had a lot of fun looking at these. Many of them had a leaf covering their private parts but a lot of these seemed to be added later. It didn't match at all. We took several fun pictures with the statues.









After walking around the museum for a little over three hours, and still having not seen everything, we decided we should get to the Basilica soon. We walked over to the Piazza di San Pietro, another photo op, and then got in line again to enter here. This line moved quickly too. Once we were in the doorway of the Basilica we decided to wait in another line to go up into the dome (cupola). This took a while and cost 4 euro but was worth every cent. We took the stairs scaling 300-some steps to the first viewpoint. Where the flat ceiling ends and the dome begins there is a ledge inside of the dome around the circumfrence. This is where we walked first. From here you have a better view of the artwork inside the dome and a great view of the Basilica from above. After looking around for a bit, we began to leave and noticed a small staircase. What's this? we wondered and not knowing began to climb up.



After one strait flight of stairs we reached a spiral staircase that was labeled entrata (entrance), and still unsure of what we were doing continued upward... and upward... and upward... and upward. We figured out while ascending that we were climbing up through the dome to it's peak! The stairs became increasingly narrow and switched between straitaways (with the walls curving inward toward you) and spiral steps leading higher with no handrailing. It was actually quite scary. Ellen started to get a little frightened. The climb is long and difficult too. There's no warning about it and it's a one way route. Once you start you have to go all the way up in order to come back down. It would be very difficult to just turn around because the amount of space is so small. You'd really have trouble squeezing two people by through some of the staircases. We eventually came to a spiral staircase with just a rope hanging down the middle and no center pole or rail along the outside. It was 6th grade gym class all over again. I never could climb that rope very well. Like an anxious gym teacher, the Pope started blowing a whistle at us from behind, hands firmly placed on his hips (just joking!). We all thought, why not trust our lives to an old rope dangling from who knows what and just grab ahold as we made our way up some tiny steps. It was fine, of course, and very much so worth it. We got to the top and found ourselves at the top of the main dome of St. Peter's! There is a balcony outside that has amazing views of the city. A rail lines the edges and you can look over to see everything. The floor you are walking on is slightly slanted, though, which is a bit scary. After circling around the walkway, we returned down, back into the dome to get to the bottom.



Then we walked around the Basilica, which was absolutely amazing. I'm having trouble putting to words what we saw. The pictures will do the work. We saw The Pieta as well, which is behind glass and unfortunately you can only view it from the front. It was still beautiful. Lastly we went into the tombs underneath St. Peter's where the Popes and St. Peter are burried. No pictures here either. We didn't have a problem with this rule when we encountered it; it would be disrespectful to be snapping pictures at some things. We finished by about 4:30. That was our Vatican Adventure. Afterwards we were walking to our next destination (Castel San Angelo/Mausoleum of Hadrian) when we came across the filming of a music video on the street. With the Vatican in the background a group of dancers and one male vocalist sang about Jesus' birthday. Keep your eye out for the video because they sang in English. It wasn't our typical birthday song, but the chorus was "Happy Birthday Jesus, Happy Birthday Jesus," over and over and it was stuck in our heads for a while. It was pretty funny to see. In the evening we took our guests to a few other spots that Ellen and I enjoy. I hope you like the pictures.