Rome, Day 3 (a.k.a. The Vatican Death March)

We had a relaxed morning today, catching up on sleep and laundry. John and I both looked at the map of Rome and thought that it would take us about half an hour to walk to the Vatican, so we set out an hour before our 1:00 pm ticket reservation. At 12:25, I looked at my watch and realized that we were only halfway there, so we switched from "brisk stroll" to "forced march" pace, and made it to the museum right on time. We didn't have time to stop for coffee, or even to refill our water bottles!

First stop was the cafeteria, as Matt needed his coffee and we all needed to sit and rest our feet. After our drinks (the Vatican only sells Pepsi, so I didn't get the Coke Light I was hoping for), we started our tour of the museums.

We began with a trip through the Pinocoteca (Painting Gallery). Here is a photo of a couple of frescoes from Melozzo da Forli's Musician Angels:




This is another museum where there's simply too much to take in in one visit. Here are some random photos of artwork, ceilings, and floors:

Belvedere Apollo (2nd century AD):


Molossi Dog (3rd century BC):


Floor detail:


Coffin made for Constantine's family


Random room:


Ceiling detail:


Ceiling detail:


Raphael Rooms ceiling detail (Room of the Immaculate Conception


Raphael Rooms vertical panorama:


The Sistine Chapel was absolutely amazing, and we spent some time there sitting on a bench admiring the ceiling. The guard kept calling out in a loud voice: "Silence!" and "No photo no video." It was wall-to-wall people.

We finally left the chapel and bought some overpriced gelato across the street. It cost us 18 Euros, and wasn't particularly good gelato, but boy did it taste good! We figured out the flaw in our frozen water-bottle plan today: on indoor days, the ice doesn't melt, leaving us with nothing to drink until we find a water fountain.

Here we are headed back to the basilica:



Saint Peter's Basilica:








By the time we got to the basilica, they had already closed off the front part (including the dome) for the 5:00 mass. We stuck around long enough to listen to some organ & choir music, then started the long hike home. I finally got my daily Coke Light on the way back. We contemplated having pizza for dinner, but none of the pizza places were open yet (6:10), so we went back to the grocery store.

For tonight's dinner, we had pappardelle with ragu (John had pesto on his), and chicken drumsticks baked with powdered garlic and salt (the only spices I found in the kitchen). Delicious!

After the miles and miles of walking, I was too tired to contemplate going down the 68 stairs from the apartment to the Internet point down the street, which is why you're probably reading two days' blogs at once.