Vatican bus left at 9am and by 9:45, and some running around looking for the people with the passes, we were entering the Vatican Museum. First, we saw the Egyptian Sarcophagi, a series of statutes, then the animal room, then the other statue room. It was quite overwhelming to see all of the works of art, but the best was yet to come.
The tension started growing as we neared the Sistine chapel. First, it was the room dedicated to Constantine and the Catholic Faith, then was the Rafael room, followed by the Sistine chapel. It was louder and louder as we neared and the crowd completely disrespected the polizia. So much for quiet, well dressed and subdued... LOL!
We walked over to the main gift shop where Vicky bought a rosary for her mother and I bought multiple rosaries for a few friends and my Aunt.
On to St Peters, which as you all know, went swimmingly, to start (see previous blog post). Probably the most picturesque church in all of Christendom, and we were standing in it. I held my breath and took it all in.
The first thing I did was walk over to the holy water and make sure to dip my ring and the rosaries. Vicky found a Polish priest to bless her Mothers rosary and we proceeded to find our own corner to explore.
I took over 200 pictures. After the photo fest, all I did was contemplate the magnitude of where I was... After about 2 hours, we went downstairs and explored the grotto which holds the crypts of the past popes. That was our most serene time in St Peters the entire day, with the exception of the large group of the Asians that decided to tour the grotto (Can you imagine walking into a Buddhist monastery and speaking in loud voices?). Speaking of...
The most surprising thing that I noticed this day was the lack of respect of the tourists in the Vatican. I could not believe how many people visit this place of worship and choose to hurry up and push through the crowd, with no regard to those that truly enjoy to look at every inch of this magnanimous structure. I can only hope that future generations can remember what this place means to the history of modern civilization and learn to respect it a little.
After the Vatican, we took the Roma Christiana Bus back to Campo de Fiori for another cold beer and walked around Trastevere looking for a Rick Steves restaurant. We ran into Beerland and had Duff Beer (Nelson and mine was in honor of our friends April and Charlie)
After Beerland, we fund Dar Poeta, which definitely lived up to Rick's review. We thoroughly enjoyed the late lunch.
More later...
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Location:Vatican City
We are all loving the post and reading them. Angie told me she wished you had an anonymous post. She's tried several times to post a message.
ReplyDeleteWe missed you guys last night, but we are so happy you are enjoying your trip!