Visiting the Vatican

This morning, we were ready for a full day ahead... heading to the Vatican. After breakfast, we took the metrorail and then a bus to the Vatican. 

Riding to the Vatican!

Our tour was scheduled at 1 pm.  We did some light shopping (where we quickly discovered one size fits all does not actually fit all!). We walked down the streets to people watch and window shop. As we walked down one of the streets, a man was loudly singing in his home and you could hear it through the streets. Susan loved this and captured some video of it below. 

We had a great lunch at Bianco's Vespette e Forchette, which was just across the street from where we were meeting our tour group. We opted for pizza, salad, soup - maybe I should call this blog pizzaing across Italy! 

Such a cute place inside!

We selected to sit inside but kind of outside!

We meet up with the tour group (Italy With Us) for a 1 pm tour. Our tour guide, Manuela, took us through the Vatican Museum, where we encountered lots of statues and tapestries and art and discovered that Bacchus - god of wine has body hair on his statue!

Pictures from the Vatican Museum

After the museums, we went to the Sistine Chapel. This was what I was waiting for... imagine Michelangelo was there painting in the same space as I stood admiring his work. It was definitely a masterpiece. The Creation of Adam had always been at the front and center of any art history I have studied and seeing it in person was indescribable.  I took my headset off to be completely present (well I might have been too present because they were calling my name through the earpiece and I had no idea). I arrived back to meet with the team a little late. Oops! 

Picture stolen from wiki because you can't take pictures in the Sistine Chapel!

Next, we headed to St. Peter's Basilica. It is the world's largest church (for interior; when including exterior, there is a church in Africa that was built slightly bigger than St. Peter's). It's size is beyond scale of any other church I have been in. When you first enter, you see La Pieta (again by Michelangelo) on the right. Another work of art that leaves you feeling at piece and you see what an incredible sculptor he was. 

La Pieta by Michaelangelo

There were many tributes to past popes and lots of chapels. The main canopy in the middle is a site to see! The floors, the ceiling, the dome, the walls - all was impressive. We were told that much of it was recycled from places like the Colosseum and other sites around Rome.  We went down into the Grotto were the popes are placed after death.  We also found out the both Pope Benedict and Pope Francis live within the Vatican walls. 

Canopy in the middle

After the tour, we did a little shopping in a store run by the nuns. Got a few postcards to mail from the Vatican (which had its own post office and the mail does not go through Italy but I believe Switzerland). Sierra and I decided to climb up into the dome (It was a great idea and I believe my friend Grace suggested it). Keep in mind we had been going nonstop since about 9 am. We opted for the elevator option over only steps but that only reduced stair count from 500 down to 300. The elevator gets you so you can look in the dome. The inside images of the dome are mosaic tiles. It was neat to see up close.  Susan went to mail postcards and then headed down to relax a bit. 

The dome is all mosaic!  Wow!

We climbed and climbed and climbed up those steps to get to the top of the dome. The steps were often like a circular staircase making us dizzy and then there were sections that were slanted and you had to walk with your body at an angle. We finally made it to the top. The site was unreal. A full view of Vatican City, Rome and its surrounding area. We got up there around 6 pm so it wasn't too hot and we were able to take some nice pictures. 

View from the top of the Dome

We took the steps all the way down (legs took a while to stop shaking! But I was glad that I had been working out prior to going so I recovered easily). 

Top left and bottom left is the view from the top and then on the top right is a view from the ground. 

We met back up with Susan who was hanging out at in the piazza and went in search of gelato. The place suggested - Old Bridge gelato - was already closed so we found a different place. Again gelato was never in short supply!  We enjoyed our gelato while we waited for the metrorail back to the hotel.

View of St. Peter's as the sun was setting

We found a dinner place within walking distance to our hotel - Taverna Rossini. We dined on seafood risotto, pizza, and salad... don't judge that we had two pizzas in one day - Sierra and I shared and we love pizza! It was a wonderful meal and we had the sweetest waitress. 

Dinner out at Taverna Rossini

Also little did we know that tomorrow is an Italian holiday so everyone was touring the Vatican today!