Today started off with probably the highlight of Rome. We went to the Vatican. It was AMAZING! You start out by entering the museum vatacani, with tight security. The experience seemed so odd to me because I can never imagine having to do that to enter a temple in Salt Lake. After that our guide Antonella took us through the Vatican pope hall museum. It has all these ancient artifacts of previous popes. It’s where the cardinals stay when they have conclave. Mainly it’s full of old statues and vases, with their “bits” as Antonella puts it, missing or covered in yellow fig leaves due to a new material of plaster. The amazing things were the floors filled with lapis lazuli and marble. They had tapestries from the Sistine chapel that they no longer use but there are 40 nuns who dedicate their life to keeping the tapestries clean and in good condition… also they are filled with silver and gold threads… cheap.
Next was the Sistine Chapel. I walked in and got teary. It was so beautiful and not what you expect from pictures and movies. The ceiling itself by Michelangelo was stunning. It took him many years working every night and day by candlelight at the age of 70 or so. He had to stand to paint it and therefore got sick when he would sit to write or anything. They found some of his original sketches when they refinished it because his method of preservology, ha, was a glue. Good one genius. He volunteered to pay for all the materials to paint it, which came back to cause him pain because the blue paint needed lapis lazuli to be blue, so he created a mixture of glass and lapis to seem not as blue. The ceilings triangles are women who gave birth to important religious men. The inner rectangles are the creation and sins of man. I loved the Adam being made by God. The cracks in the ceiling and composition are so well done and make it so authentic and real to me. The large panels are the life of Christ done by famous artists of their day. My favorite was the passing of the keys to Peter, it used a new perspective. The chapel was actually tiny to my envisioned mind. The last judgment on the wall also by Michelangelo is stunning blue because this time he made the pope pay for the lapis. He painted the heavens, hell, and pergatory with nudes. Jesus reigns in the middle with Mary pure beside him. He is surrounded by saints, one of them being Michelangelo in the skin of one of them… if you see it you’ll understand. When he painted these nudes, a cardinal came in and told him that was blasphemous and should be in a brothel, and that the church does not approve of nudity. Michelangelo didn’t care and said, cardinal how do you know what a brothel should look like. Ha ha… So needless to say the nudes stayed and Mikey painted his face into one of the hell bodies with a snake biting his “bit.” Truly a masterpiece though. The guards just yell at you to stop talking, yet they talk and yell in 12 languages to stop talking, a bit hypocritical.
We continued on to St. Peters Basilica. You walk in and cannot stop looking up and forward. The scale is gigantic! Just the letters on the wall that are the spoken words of god to peter are 6 feet tall! That’s bigger than I am. Off to the right is the pieta by Michelangelo. This is the figurine of Mary holding her son after he has been crucified. She looks so delicate and young and so horrified. The Christ figure is just laying there helpless and it brings you to tears. It’s beautiful! Off to the side are these two huge angels by Bernini where you get the water to “cross” yourself, I forget what that’s called, but they were like 8 feet tall and so real. They also have two spaces where they lay the popes bodies for display. They embalm them, take a death mask, and then leave their casket in the hall for everyone to look at. It honestly was a bit terrifying. At the front where the alter is there is a huge huge black canopy. The pope wanted it to clarify where exactly the alter was because the building is so huge itself. It was black and gold and had lots of honeybees. Behind the alter lies a beautiful stained glass window with a dove signifying the trinity. The gold and gotty gloriousness is what I refer to it as. There was also a statue which you touch the feet and are blessed. I don’t recall the name of it but it was fun to pretend to be catholic for a minute. I can’t even begin to describe the details and greatness of the building. So, look at pictures, and try to imagine.
After this we decided to climb the dome. You have to pay 7 euro, but it honestly was worth it. You are layered in between the two domes with about 2 feet to stand and move and climb. The view from the inside of the dome was beautiful too. You don’t realize the beauty and detail and craftsmanship till you are up there. It’s incredibly high. After that you go into a tiny hallway to climb approximately 360 stairs to the cupola. Once you get there through all that and tiny spaces, you get to the top and see these incredible incredible views of Rome. Every little thing you can see. It felt like being on top of the world! (Or the tallest dome of the largest cathedral) I just wish the city wasn’t so smoggy so I could get better pictures.
We played in the square for a long time, the columns were beautiful, the obelisk was grand, and the statues were even better. Words can’t really describe how this all works and looks, so.. go experience it.
Next was our attempt to go see the Pantheon. We, meaning I and Megan, decided to just walk to the designated place. Everyone else wanted the metro cause it was so hot. Well 4 hours later and after anger and fighting and many failed attempts at street finding, we finally got there. Thanks to me and Megan sitting down and figuring it out instead of just pretending to know. By this point in time I had blisters on my legs, sunburned, headache, and feet on fire. Not pleasant times for me. We finally made it and it was worth it. Like I said before you just turn a corner and there it is… The oculus and dome are the largest original ceilings left, made of concrete and coffered. It was actually rather small, but the height of the dome is the radius of the whole floor. Raphaels tomb was off to the left, small, simple and decorated with metal doves. Mass was about to happen so church music started playing. It was beautiful to be able to feel what it was like to actually attend a mass, which tomorrow we are. Needless to say… beautiful.
Next, gelato break. This time I got coconut and melon. Loved coconut, not so much melon. I am on such a coconut fix these days… eh, oh well, it’s good. Then we headed back because I had had it and needed shade and water. We finally arrived back, walked in, sat down and fell asleep immediately while other went to the pool. I took a bath, my favorite, and Megan came to our room to go to dinner. We waited an hour for the shuttle to come but then met up with Mallory, Becca, and Whitney. We went to this little place I don’t even know what it’s called and had pizza. The pizza was a very thin crusted piece of crap. I expected much better, it’s probably because the Italian cheese was far too strong for me. Our waiter was a sweetheart and really tried to make us feel comfortable, so he gave us free shots on the house. Obviously we don’t drink, so we pretended to and shoved it into our already existing cans. Just the smell of it gave me a headache. Way way too strong smelling to ever be able to drink, not that I would. After this pretend drunken episode to not make him feel bad we retorted to a taxi to get back, and here we are. Buonanotte! Hope for cooler days and better nights.
Next was the Sistine Chapel. I walked in and got teary. It was so beautiful and not what you expect from pictures and movies. The ceiling itself by Michelangelo was stunning. It took him many years working every night and day by candlelight at the age of 70 or so. He had to stand to paint it and therefore got sick when he would sit to write or anything. They found some of his original sketches when they refinished it because his method of preservology, ha, was a glue. Good one genius. He volunteered to pay for all the materials to paint it, which came back to cause him pain because the blue paint needed lapis lazuli to be blue, so he created a mixture of glass and lapis to seem not as blue. The ceilings triangles are women who gave birth to important religious men. The inner rectangles are the creation and sins of man. I loved the Adam being made by God. The cracks in the ceiling and composition are so well done and make it so authentic and real to me. The large panels are the life of Christ done by famous artists of their day. My favorite was the passing of the keys to Peter, it used a new perspective. The chapel was actually tiny to my envisioned mind. The last judgment on the wall also by Michelangelo is stunning blue because this time he made the pope pay for the lapis. He painted the heavens, hell, and pergatory with nudes. Jesus reigns in the middle with Mary pure beside him. He is surrounded by saints, one of them being Michelangelo in the skin of one of them… if you see it you’ll understand. When he painted these nudes, a cardinal came in and told him that was blasphemous and should be in a brothel, and that the church does not approve of nudity. Michelangelo didn’t care and said, cardinal how do you know what a brothel should look like. Ha ha… So needless to say the nudes stayed and Mikey painted his face into one of the hell bodies with a snake biting his “bit.” Truly a masterpiece though. The guards just yell at you to stop talking, yet they talk and yell in 12 languages to stop talking, a bit hypocritical.
We continued on to St. Peters Basilica. You walk in and cannot stop looking up and forward. The scale is gigantic! Just the letters on the wall that are the spoken words of god to peter are 6 feet tall! That’s bigger than I am. Off to the right is the pieta by Michelangelo. This is the figurine of Mary holding her son after he has been crucified. She looks so delicate and young and so horrified. The Christ figure is just laying there helpless and it brings you to tears. It’s beautiful! Off to the side are these two huge angels by Bernini where you get the water to “cross” yourself, I forget what that’s called, but they were like 8 feet tall and so real. They also have two spaces where they lay the popes bodies for display. They embalm them, take a death mask, and then leave their casket in the hall for everyone to look at. It honestly was a bit terrifying. At the front where the alter is there is a huge huge black canopy. The pope wanted it to clarify where exactly the alter was because the building is so huge itself. It was black and gold and had lots of honeybees. Behind the alter lies a beautiful stained glass window with a dove signifying the trinity. The gold and gotty gloriousness is what I refer to it as. There was also a statue which you touch the feet and are blessed. I don’t recall the name of it but it was fun to pretend to be catholic for a minute. I can’t even begin to describe the details and greatness of the building. So, look at pictures, and try to imagine.
After this we decided to climb the dome. You have to pay 7 euro, but it honestly was worth it. You are layered in between the two domes with about 2 feet to stand and move and climb. The view from the inside of the dome was beautiful too. You don’t realize the beauty and detail and craftsmanship till you are up there. It’s incredibly high. After that you go into a tiny hallway to climb approximately 360 stairs to the cupola. Once you get there through all that and tiny spaces, you get to the top and see these incredible incredible views of Rome. Every little thing you can see. It felt like being on top of the world! (Or the tallest dome of the largest cathedral) I just wish the city wasn’t so smoggy so I could get better pictures.
We played in the square for a long time, the columns were beautiful, the obelisk was grand, and the statues were even better. Words can’t really describe how this all works and looks, so.. go experience it.
Next was our attempt to go see the Pantheon. We, meaning I and Megan, decided to just walk to the designated place. Everyone else wanted the metro cause it was so hot. Well 4 hours later and after anger and fighting and many failed attempts at street finding, we finally got there. Thanks to me and Megan sitting down and figuring it out instead of just pretending to know. By this point in time I had blisters on my legs, sunburned, headache, and feet on fire. Not pleasant times for me. We finally made it and it was worth it. Like I said before you just turn a corner and there it is… The oculus and dome are the largest original ceilings left, made of concrete and coffered. It was actually rather small, but the height of the dome is the radius of the whole floor. Raphaels tomb was off to the left, small, simple and decorated with metal doves. Mass was about to happen so church music started playing. It was beautiful to be able to feel what it was like to actually attend a mass, which tomorrow we are. Needless to say… beautiful.
Next, gelato break. This time I got coconut and melon. Loved coconut, not so much melon. I am on such a coconut fix these days… eh, oh well, it’s good. Then we headed back because I had had it and needed shade and water. We finally arrived back, walked in, sat down and fell asleep immediately while other went to the pool. I took a bath, my favorite, and Megan came to our room to go to dinner. We waited an hour for the shuttle to come but then met up with Mallory, Becca, and Whitney. We went to this little place I don’t even know what it’s called and had pizza. The pizza was a very thin crusted piece of crap. I expected much better, it’s probably because the Italian cheese was far too strong for me. Our waiter was a sweetheart and really tried to make us feel comfortable, so he gave us free shots on the house. Obviously we don’t drink, so we pretended to and shoved it into our already existing cans. Just the smell of it gave me a headache. Way way too strong smelling to ever be able to drink, not that I would. After this pretend drunken episode to not make him feel bad we retorted to a taxi to get back, and here we are. Buonanotte! Hope for cooler days and better nights.
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