Vatican City

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I watched a Bruce Willis movie, “The Last Boyscout,” in Italian last night. I didn’t know Bruce could speak Italian 😉 Good stuff. I also endured the worst shower and internet hassle (trying to reserve the Florence hostel) ever—avoid Globetrotter Gulliver’s house in Rome if you have the chance… my experience was by no means the worst I saw at that place. Anyways:

I write this entry on the train from Rome to Florence at 9pm after a full day of walking in the Vatican city. My heels are bruised and burning. I may take a break tomorrow instead of hitting Pisa, we’ll see what my feet think in the morning 

The Vatican is, without a doubt, the most densely packed collection of masterworks in the world. They estimate that if someone were to spend 60 seconds on each piece in the museums, it would take them a solid 12 years to go through them. And that doesn’t even count the Bascilica. If the Louvre actually has more, I’ll asplode.

Just like yesterday, I took a tour primarily to skip the line to get in (2 ½ hours this time). The tour was good, although by the end I was getting tired of slow people holding up the group. We rushed through to spend most of the time on some major rooms whose names I can’t remember now but which included the Vatican Hill itself, a plaza of important sculptures, Constantine’s Sarcophagi, a drapery room with amazing paintings on the ceiling that look extremely 3d, an amazing collection of maps, the personal rooms of some Popes, rooms painted by Raphael, and finally the Sistine Chapel itself. The Sistine Chapel was obviously amazing, but did not allow photos. Apparently Nippon TV in Japan sponsored a 100mil restoration in exchange for the sole rights to video and photography in that room for some period of time. All I know is that I’m tired of hearing “no pho to no pho to” 

After the tour, I decided to go back through the museum to see as much as I could before 6pm (4 hours later). I actually fell asleep on a bench in the museum for an hour (shocked they let me do that) and then decided I needed some food for MENERGY, so I spent an entirely unreasonable amount for cafeteria food inside the museums. I then continued on to some room of sculpture, Egyptian and early Christian art, Papal and star-studying paraphernalia, Raphael’s Transfiguration and works by Leonardo daVinci, and much more I’m not remembering right now. I took a million photos, most of which I won’t upload here.

I then continued on to St. Peter’s Bascilica, which is far larger than was fair for my feet. After a bit of milling in the HUGE courtyard outside, I headed in. Yay for a dress code, boo for “no pho to” . I did snatch a shot of the guard for the place though, whose dress was quite the sight. I started with a tour of the tombs of previous Popes, which of course did not allow photos but was very impressive. There was a large group of people in front of John Paul II’s tomb, which makes sense. I then milled in the Bascilica itself, which was huge on the inside to the point of ridiculousness. But it, of course, was beautiful. And the acoustics were great, as they were holding mass in a part of the Bascilica I couldn’t access, and even though it was quite a distance away I could hear the music impeccably.

A couple of overpriced souvenirs later, and I’m on my way to Firenze. Here’s hoping the next place has REAL INTERNET so I can upload movies (finally) and take care of things back home for a bit. Ciao!

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