A Visit to Vatican City

We spent our first full day in Italy touring the Vatican.  Technically, Vatican City is its own country, so we are counting that as another country visited. :)  We decided to hire a guide, and Silvia came highly recommended by three families here in Brussels.  She was terrific and really added to the experience.  We would have walked around having no idea what we were seeing.  It was totally worth it.

This is the former entrance to the Vatican Museum.  It has been replaced with a more modern entrance equipped with metal detectors and security.  It definitely doesn't fit in with the rest of the buildings, but with thousands of visitors each day you can understand why it was necessary/

Our first view of Vatican City with St. Peter's Basilica to the left.

Since no talking is allowed in the Sistine Chapel, Silvia explained the different aspects of the frescoes painted on the ceiling, as well as The Last Judgement painted behind the alter, in a courtyard outside. 

Touring the Vatican Museum.  

The statue of Apollo...when Michelangelo painted the image of Jesus in The Last Judgement he used the face of Apollo as his inspiration.

The face of this statue was the inspiration for the face of God in the famous section of the ceiling where God is giving life to Adam.  You know the one where their fingers are almost touching.

In the background, you can see the crest with the keys and crown.  This is the symbol for the Vatican.  Thomas was very good at locating it everywhere.

Just outside of a dome in the museum that is similar to the one in the Pantheon.

Hercules!  And, he is Thomas' favorite.  Unfortunately, the picture focused on Hercules and not the kids.  Darn photographer!

Looking down into the Coutryard of the "Pigna".  It is named after a 4 meter pinecone statue not pictured in this photo.

This painting on this ceiling is actually 2D, but it looks 3D.  It was pretty remarkable.

When we look at the marble statues, they are usually all white, but when they were originally carved, they were painted with eyes.  The eyes of this statue remained because the eyes were made of glass.  I prefer the statues without eyes because these two creeped me out!

A statue of the old fisherman caught my eye because most statues were made to represent bodily perfection.  This man was clearly made to show his age.  They know he was a fisherman because he basket is filled with fish. 

The hall of maps was completed in 1583.  The regions of Italy were frescoed into some 40 maps.  The colors were amazing and only overshadowed a bit by the magnificent ceiling!

Peeking into the Papal apartment.  The kids could see the Swiss guards pacing back and forth.  The Swiss guard is the official guard for the Pope.

Michelangelo finished the Pietà when he was just 24 years old.  My grandma had this statue when I was little.  I never imagined I would see it in person.  It is housed inside St. Peter's Basilica.

This is the simple resting place of Pope John Paul II.  He did not want a grand site.  This prayer area is just past the Pietà on the right side of the Basilica.

St. Peter's is MASSIVE!  I wonder what it would be like to visit the church of all Catholic churches when you are only 9 and 11?  You'll have to ask these two!

The amazing dome

This alter lies over the burial site of St. Peter...or so they believe.

There are mummified Popes in the Basilica.  This Pope was originally resting where Pope John Paul II is now lying.  He had to be moved.  I guess he knows where he rates. :)

You are allowed to take pictures in St. Peter's Basilica because everything is marble and all of the paintings are actually mosaics.  Can you believe it?  Look at this mosiac.  It was amazing!

The kids and Silvia

We decided to climb to the top of the dome.  The Vastines are actually trying to stand upright...it's the walls that are leaning.

The best view of Rome!

A shot after we decended the dome.  We were waaay up there!

St. Peter

After leaving Vatican City, it was 3:00 and we were starving.   One of the things we tend to do here is seek out Hard Rock Cafe.  Chris was really against this when we first got here, but now that we have that need for a good old American meal, he doesn't fight it too much.  Hands down, this was our best meal in Rome.  Maybe it was because we thought we were actually starving to death. :)

Off to the Pantheon.  This dome is something to see.  It is still unknown how the Romans built a dome in that time completely out of concrete.

We noticed a lot of lights and activity going on and realized they were shooting a movie.  I was pretty excited to see Adrien Brody.  I love a celebrity sighting!

The dome of the Pantheon

The Victor Emmanuel II monument

The beautiful sites along our walk.  I'm just in awe of how OLD everything is!

The obligatory shot with Caesar!

After Vatican City and after the Pantheon, we decided to walk to the Colosseum...because we just hadn't walked enough I guess.  Ha!  And, it was gorgeous at night!  We had planned to actually wait and see it on Wednesday, but Thomas just could not wait one more day. :)

Everyone had to touch it!

This end had to be reinforced...because it's really old you know...It was built in 80 A.D.  Crazy!!!

Finally, a couple of iPhone pictures.  This was taken when we were standing up in the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica.

And, a panoramic shot from the top of the dome.

Tomorrow, we are off to Palatine Hill, The Roman Forum, and the Colosseum (officially).  See you then!

Until next time,
Wendy