Tessily: Roma: Day 2, part 1

My group woke up bright and early to get ready and look our best for Vatican City. There is a minor dress code at the Vatican where you cannot have your shoulders exposed and short skirts and shorts are not recommended. BY no means was I going to be breaking this dress code in the middle of winter, but if you are not motivated to dress up when you visit a place of holy worship then I can't help you there. We took the metro to the Vatican City, because the Italians were smart enough to put a metro stop at every main tourist attraction in Rome. I took over 300 pictures in Rome because everything I saw was worth a thousand words. I could listen to a tour guide talk about the history of Rome forever. The outsides of the buildings alone were breathtaking and walking into St. Peter's Basilica was by far my favorite part of weekend. We paid for a tour guide inside the church and it was worth every penny. The history behind the doors (one is broken down and rebuilt every time a new Pope is appointed) is fascinating not to mention I saw the Pieta and the countless Bernini sculptures. PAUSE. I saw freaking Bernini sculptures & THE PIETA ... I am dying they were incredible- so shiny so delicate, so much movement, it was insane. Lets move on. The most surprising thing I was not expecting to see were the embalmed bodies of past Popes (cool?) and the altar with Bernini's baldacchino. The twisted columns of the alter were so unexpected from the traditional ones you see in Rome. I fell in love.

PIETA... WHAAAAT

Embalmed Pope... looking good.

So beautiful inside of St. Peter's Basillica

After St. Peter's Basillica we took a short panini and gelato break, said the phrase,” when in Rome" about a hundred times, and made our way over to the Vatican Museums. There are so many sections to see it was not possible to do the entire museum in one day... but I think seeing the Sistine Chapel, Raphael's rooms, the Pinacoteca (picture gallery), and the maps room was not too shabby for one day. First we went to the Pinacoteca which was absolutely stunning and filled with massive room sized paintings. The gallery started out with pre-renaissance art and progressed into tapestries and renaissance portraits. Insert nerdy art obsessed comment here. Then we moved on to the maps room, which is a huge hall, covered in ancient maps of Europe. Not only could I not stop staring at the walls in the Vatican Museum, but also by the end my neck hurt from staring at the ceilings so long. Every room was decked out in art and detailing from floor to ceiling. If my Great Aunt Linda deserves to live anywhere... it is where the gold trim and chubby marble cherubs flow (we just need to clean up her mouth before we take her to the Vatican.)

Lunch

Gelatoo

Outside of the Vatican Museum.

The beginning of my obsession with ceilings

Embalmed Pope #2

If you cannot tell by now Val and I are dating... Standing in front of a map of Italy

This is for you mom & motivation for any bathroom renovations.

Hands down, the best part of the Vatican Museum was the Sistine Chapel. I had heard horror stories about how packed it gets and how you can hardly move through it, so I was a little worried. However, I am traveling during the tourism off-season and I apparently attract creepy Italian security guards like it is my job so naturally I had the best time. When we walked into the Sistine chapel (of course) it was beautiful and overwhelming, which is how I describe everything, but I swear it's true. We sat down and stared at half of the ceiling for thirty minutes. Then we stretched our necks and moved to the next section because it is so massive you cannot see it all from one point. This is when I sat next to a group of security guards who were apparently tired and slacking off in the corner. We asked them what happened to a small section of the ceiling that was broken off and they explained in some rough broken English that shrapnel from a war had shaken the entire building and destroyed a small section of the ceiling. While we were sitting there chatting about America and where we were from I noticed that people were taking pictures in the room. This is strictly forbidden by about 700 signs as you walk into the chapel, and I asked the security guards why they were not protecting the art?! They apparently were not worried about their jobs and said they didn't mind they just hate getting flash in their eyes and told me that I could take as many pictures as I wanted. So while sitting on a bench next to five security guards I took as many pictures as possible in the very sacred Sistine Chapel. Even though I was at peace with not taking a single picture, I took it as a divine intervention from Michelangelo himself that I was granted permission and snapped away.

*Sorry I have been so busy with midterms and traveling, but I am going to try and post everyday this week and through the weekend!