Europe Day 21: Vatican City and Beyond

May 4 took us on our first Metro ride in Rome over to Vatican City, a tiny independent country containing the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.  Thongs of people crowd St. Peter's courtyard Wednesday mornings to hear the Pope speak; I had intentionally made our Vatican Museum reservations for that morning in order to avoid the crowds.  After the slight confusion of following the very crowds we were trying to avoid to St. Peter's instead of the Vatican, we found the right spot and enjoyed the relative quiet of the beautiful museum. 

St. Peter's with the crowds gathering to see the Pope.

I really enjoyed the Vatican Museum - so many different types of art, from paintings to mummies to Michelangelo's ever-famous (and non-photographable - boo) Sistine Chapel. 

Many pieces like this were created for (and removed from) early churches

Faberge Eggs display

Peaking through a window into the Vatican gardens with St. Peter's in the background

Amazing that these mummies survived this long!

We took a break in the courtyard to have lunch, then went back in for more...

Hieroglyphics

The building itself was museum enough, regardless of what it contained

Now THAT'S a big head!

And that is a big...bowl?

 

Oh yes, we had to capture the big foot too!

We hoped that wasn't what the guy looked like in real life.

After we crinked our necks staring up at the Sistine Chapel for a while, we took the small side door out that led over to St. Peter's.  This is a not-well-known trick (thanks Rick Steves!) that saved us HOURS of waiting in line to get into St. Peter's - we didn't realize just how much it saved us until we were leaving and wondered what in the world that ridiculously long line wrapping out the courtyard and down the street was.  Anyway, St. Peter's was rathar glorious in its own right - huge and richly decorated, including work by Michelangelo and Bernini.  It has been dubbed the "richest and grandest church on earth"!

 Then, since we could, we climbed up to the dome.  The "first stop" was inside the top of the dome.  It was very cool to walk around that high up and peer down at the church floor.  It was also neat to see some of the mosaic work so close up!

 Then we kept climbing up and out for great views of the city.

St. Peter's courtyard, which was filled with people to see the Pope earlier in the day.

Heading back down.

 After St. Peter's we walked over to Castel Sant'Angelo, which is full of history.  Ancient Rome allowed no tombs inside its walls, so Hadrian grabbed the best land outside the city walls and across the river and built a mausoleum (tomb).  Emperors were buried there for 100 years.  It was then built out and used as a fortress, palace, and prison throughout the years, and was eventually connected to the Vatican via an elevated corridor so that threatened popes could take refuge there if needed.

Ponte Sant'Angelo

"Sant'Angelo" means Holy Angel, thus named for the Archangel Michael who appeared to Pope Gregory the Great in 590 and sheathed his sword to signal the end of the plague.

I would not want to get hit with one of those concrete-looking balls!

After touring the Castle, we took a quick cab ride (our feet were tired) back to the Spanish Steps area and met up with my second cousins Dominque and Dawn for dinner.  Crazy that we happened to be in Rome at the same time, but we had a fabulous time catching up and laughing over good food and then a great gelato place they'd found.  Really good evening.  Then Bryan and I walked back by the Trevi Fountain to see the spectacle at night, and then it was back to the room to crash after another wonderful day!!

Another neat fountain we saw on our way back.

 We're so blessed with everything we got to see and experience on this trip...such good memories!