5th day - the Vatican Museum!

Wednesday, 02/24/99 - Up by 7:30, breakfast at the hotel, and left by 9. We changed another $100 at the cambio office near the train station, then took the metro to Vatican City and walked to the Vatican museum. I think it may be impossible to see all of the museum in one day, but we went through most of it, and stopped at the Sistine Chapel twice. Photos are not allowed there but there are so many pictures of it that it doesn’t really matter. I just stood there and stared up. Couldn’t take it all in. Stared and stared until Randy gently suggested I should let someone else have a chance. Stared some more, then finally (sigh) had to move on.  

There are rooms and rooms and more rooms of artwork, covering centuries of artistic styles. We did not care much for the modern art, although it hardly seemed fair to display them anywhere near works by Michelangelo and Raphael. Actually, the works in the Raphael rooms were not his best work, and they were displayed very high up, in a way that made it difficult to really see and appreciate them.

One of the courtyards had some wonderful ancient sculptures, like the Belvedere Apollo. I don't know if photos were allowed there although I tried to take a few. It didn't matter, none of my pics turned out. Apparently my hand was shaking; probably just overcome with the thrill of seeing these famous works. I could hardly believe I was standing in front of these legendary statues! 

All of the ceilings were painted, even the hallways!

Some were painted to look like sculptures overhead. I just kept walking around and staring, although I did use a CD player for a description of the more important works.

And we were able to see the Pieta by Michelangelo. It’s in the main church and is as wonderful as we imagined it. How beautiful! Another place to just stop and stare, trying to sear it into my memory forever. I couldn't believe I was standing in front of it. If I had a bucket list, this would be on it. I could have stood there for hours.

Personally, though, I couldn't help thinking that I would display it differently. The background is made of gorgeous dark marble and while that makes for a very luxurious setting, it does not really show off the beautiful lines and cool surfaces of the Pieta. Just my thought, and they didn't ask me. 

Well, eventually we had to leave. So we walked around the outside, where were street markets were set up, selling everything from jewelry to underwear. We didn’t get anything there but we did go into a store and bought some kind of alcohol in a cute star bottle and some olive oil. By then we were hungry; I got lasagna, Randy had cannelloni (pasta with egg, cheese and olive oil), plus some beer, soda, and one of those hollow bread rolls. We continued shopping near the train station, where Randy bought 2 pairs of shoes and I bought a purse.

Then we went to the Spanish Steps. There were a lot of people there. We climbed the steps and went into the church awhile, and when we came out, Randy bought a line drawing from an artist. We walked down a street with some very nice stores and looked at some of the jewelry stores. There were a few people on the sidewalks who were dressed as statues, standing immobile and  hoping for contributions. At a very small store we bought two pieces of Venetian glass, one for Mom and one for Leah, and a small statue of Davis for Krista. The proprietor worked very slowly and very carefully; he wrapped each item in paper, selected just the right size box for the item, wrapped the box in paper, carefully folded the paper edges down around the box, and finally stuck on the store’s seals. Then he picked up the next piece and did it all over again! We were not in a hurry so was enjoyable just watching him. Later we found a shop that sold good leather items and Randy bought a jacket. The saleslady there was an older woman, originally from Egypt, who had learned English by watching American movies for years. As we left the store, she warned us to be careful of the pickpockets in the area. Time to eat again, so we found a pizzeria and got a pizza with prosciutto ham, a sandwich of salami and cheese, and 1/2 liter of white wine. We stopped at a store and got a few chocolates for dessert, then went to see the Trevi fountain at night. We sat there awhile and learned that although marble seats will transfer the heat right out of you, they will never get warm; they just keeps taking heat away! There are always a lot of people at the Trevi fountain and it is always full of coins. While we were there we watched a woman walk around the fountain, trailing a piece of string in the water.  At the edge of the fountain she quietly lifted the string and removed the magnet attached to it, as well as all of the coins it had picked up. Next we took the metro to see the Pyramid of Caius Cestius. It started raining so we headed back, but we got off one stop early and ended up a long way from the hotel. We eventually got back to the terminal, bought some soda, and called it a day by 10 pm.