Italy 8 - a visit to the Vatican

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Our last visit of the holiday was to the the Vatican Museum and St Pauls basilica. We had bought tickets earlier on the internet something which was worthwhile doing when we saw the length of the queue snaking its way around the building at 8 am in the morning. The extra few euros paid were forgotten when we skipped the line and walked straight up to the pay desk where we exchanged our vouchers for tickets. After a coffee we wandered into the museum which originated somewhere between 1503 and 1513 opened to the public by Pope Julius the second in the hope that the collection would promote knowledge of art history and culture to the masses. The buildings were rambling and we raced initially to the Sistine Chapel to get there before the masses arrived. I had hoped to soak in the atmosphere quietly however felt rather disappointed feeling that the painters had had an off day. It did not inspire me - perhaps this was because the building had ceased to function as a chapel and in some way had lost its integrity. Perhaps with an altar and altarpiece in place it would have felt more of a sacred space. The one thing that did impress me were the beautifully sculptured and painted ceilings particularly in the map room. Endless rooms contained display cases full of ceramics. jewelled Faberge Easter eggs and jewellery, gifts from heads of state to various popes and walls covered with tapestries. In a basement we found a collection of carriages , all black and sombre and all worthy of a funeral procession, the popes collection of 1920/1930's automobiles which looked like something one would see Al Capone riding in. They would not looked amiss in Chicago. The highlight of the tour was most certainly the Map Room - if you see nothing else head for that one room.

Upon leaving we walked to St Peters sitting in its huge square .Yet again the numbers of people queueing to enter made the whole thing feel depressing. The interior was dark and uninviting and the sheer numbers of visitors made it impossible to see anything without being pushed and shoved. Any attempt to visit the grave of Pope John Paul was thwarted by the crush inside . We gave up and went for lunch. After lunch we were lucky enough to walk into the street and see the Italian equivalent of the Red Arrows fly past trailing plumes of red, white and green smoke to celebrate 150 years since the unification of Italy.

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