Day 24 - Vatican City

 Friday, June 7, 2013

Today we toured the Vatican and Castel Sant' Angelo, which is a huge castle right on the Tiber River, dating from the 2nd century A.D.  What a day!  Our feet are killing us!

We started off reserving our tour of the Vatican Museum online, then stopping at a little computer store to print out the voucher.  We rode the Metro to Vatican City.  Just a little mention here - all of the buses and Metros that we've gotten onto or off of at the Termini Station, which is the same place as the train station, have been crammed full of people.  We saw a bus go by where the people inside actually had their faces pressed up against the windows of the doors.  That's one thing about Rome - there is no lack of people everywhere!
From the Metro we walked down the street to St. Peter's Basilica, which is the biggest church in the world, and more than two football fields long.  It is huge!

St. Peter's Square with Obelisk & St. Peter's Basilica

The Obelisk is an ancient Egyption monument that Nero brought to Rome and set up in his circus, which is now St. Peter's Square.  Peter was killed there by the Romans and buried in the site of St. Peter's Basilica.  So we have a pre-Christian monument set up by an anti-Christian gracing the biggest center of Christianity.  Ironic.
 
We waited almost an hour to get through security. Then the line moved fast.  We saw the door that is opened by the Pope once every 25 years after three knocks with a mallot.   We walked into the church.  Wow!  There is an altar in the center with a huge wooden canopy, carved by Bernini.  The dome was done by Michelangelo.  He also did the Pieta in the corner (mother Mary and her son Jesus after his death).  There were so many people crowded around it that we couldn't get close enough for a good photo.

Inside the Basilica

The Pieta (Cope in the Museum Made from a Cast)

Another area off the main nave had the body of a past pope lying there!  Peter's bones are supposed to be buried under the altar - if you pay extra you can take a tour down there.  We just looked through a grate and couldn't see much of Peter's resting place.

Pope John XXIII, Dead Since 1963

Then it was off to the Vatican Museum for our tour time of 11:30.  We presented our voucher to the ticket window and found that I had mistakenly signed up for the reduced child rate!  I don't know how I didn't notice.  Thankfully, the man gave us tickets anyway.
We headed first to the Sistine Chapel.  We had to go through a whole bunch of the museum's rooms on the way, and we were part of a huge mass of people thronging the halls.  We really couldn't stop to look at anything even if we had wanted to. 
The Sistine Chapel is amazing.  But crowded.  The guards kept trying to shush everybody, but it didn't work too well.  We found a seat in the corner so we could look up for awhile.
The rest of the museum was huge.  There were so many icons, paintings, statues, relics, etc. that it's kind of a blur in my mind.  I remember the part where we ate in the cafeteria though.

Cross-Shaped Box Containing Fragments of Jesus' Cross

After leaving the Vatican, we walked down the street to the Castel Sant' Angelo.  Originally built in 130 AD as a mausoleum for Hadrian, it's been used as the Pope's residence, a prison, and a fortress.  There's an amazing view of Rome from the highest ramparts.

View Toward Vatican City from Castel Sant' Angelo

Turret on Castel Sant' Angelo

Ballista (big Crossbow) in Castel Sant' Angelo

 
We came  home earlier today than normal so we could stop at the grocery store on our way home.  We loaded up on groceries to last through Sunday and carried them back to our apartment.  I'm glad to be home!