August 9, 2006
After grabbing a breakfast of croissants and coffee at the hostel we ventured out in the late morning to see the Vatican. We had heard epic tales of the lines to get into St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum, where the Sistine Chapel can be found, and were advised to go as early as possible, but neither my brother or I can be bothered to wake up before 9:00 am during a vacation.
Approaching the Vatican, we saw a immense amount of foot traffic that consisted of tourists, nuns, priests and other visitors to the world's smallest country. After wandering around the main plaza of the city for a while we decided to tackle the museum. An hour and a half later of bypassing street vendors touting fake Gucci purses and gypsy beggars weaving through the crowd, we made it into the museum.
Though not as expansive as the Louvre, the museum is still packed with works of art ranging from Egyptian sculptures to 16th century Flemish tapestries. Rooms decorated by Raphael and his students were definitely a sight to see.
The highlight of the museum was the Sistine Chapel. Now, for some reason I mistakenly thought that the chapel was a dome-like structure, perhaps because of the chapel's proximity to St. Peter's Dome; however, this was no dome. This was a masterpiece laid out on the walls of a large, rectangular room with an expansive ceiling. On one wall was the painting of the Last Judgment where a beardless Jesus, whose face was modeled after the face of a statue of Apollo, oversees the rising of souls to heaven and the damning of others to hell. Saints surround the savior and demons torture the damned souls below. The ceiling of the chapel is also incredible, depicting the creation of man, the garden of Eden and other events from the Old Testament.
Hiro and I must have gawked at everything in the chapel for at least a half an hour. Though visitors were not allowed to take photos, many sneaked a shot here or there and I now wish I had taken at least one discreet photo from the hip. However, it was more than enough just to see the chapel with my own eyes.
After exiting the museum, we saw that the line to enter St. Peter's Basilica was a little bit shorter than it was earlier in the morning so we hopped in line. After passing through metal detectors and security guards, we saw that the line divided into two. Not sure which of the lines headed into the interior of the church, we picked one and found that we were being lead into the Tomb of the Popes, and that the other headed to the cupola of the basilica We entered the grottoes underneath the basilica and walked passed numerous tombs of various popes, including John Paul II.
Once we exited the tomb, we found the actual entrance into the basilica, which was a set of huge doors that we noticed earlier from the line, but didn't enter thinking that we were in the line for the appropriate entrance. Anyway, we walked in and found ourselves inside what is probably the largest church on the planet.
Since everything in the church is so huge (the statues, altars, etc.), the church itself seem deceiving small. That is, until I compared the size of other tourists and their surroundings. However, the awe that I felt from seeing the Sistine Chapel was still overwhelming and its vivid colors and amazing artwork made it difficult for me to greatly appreciate the dark interior and solemness of the basilica. Still, it was hard not to be impressed by the church itself.
Satisfied with the Vatican, Hiro and I headed back to the hostel, taking a moment to rest at the Piazza Navona, a famed public square. After getting back to the hostel, we headed out to eat at a restaurant called Dodo, recommended by fellow hostelers, a few blocks away but it was full. We ended up at the restaurant just around the corner from our hostel and we enjoyed some pizza, pasta and bruschetta.