Rome-Part 2 Vatican City

Saturday morning, we headed to Vatican City. It was about a 7 minute walk from our hotel. We learned later that Vatican City is it's own country. The Pope runs all the religious and political matters. So this makes 9 countries that we have been to.

Our first stop was St. Peter's Basilica. This church is in the location of the apostle Peter's upside down crucifixion. His tomb is under the main altar. I never knew the Catholic church worshiped him so much.

The exterior is completely amazing! Standing in front of it I could not believe it was just a church. St. Peter's Square has a ring of columns around it. The ring opens up to the main street in Vatican. It is suppose to represent that the church has open arms and will welcome anyone. On the top of the columns there are 140 10 feet statues of different saints. In the picture above, we are standing on the steps in front of the basilica. The Square is behind us. Do you see the huge columns and the saints on top?

In the middle of the square is this obelisk. It came from Egypt and is over 2,000 years old! Behind you can see the actual church. The dome on top of the basilica was designed by Michelangelo.

Here is a close up of the top of the church.

After checking out the outside of the church, we got in line to go inside. The line really didn't take too long. When we finally made it inside, it was truly a WOW moment. Here is the video from our first step inside:

One of the main attraction in this church is Michelangelo's Pieta. It is a statue of Mary holding the Son after the Crucifixion. Truly, breathtaking. We later learned that this statue use to be in the middle of the Basilica without any protection. Then one day some crazy Hungarian man climbed on in with a hammer and scream "I am Jesus and this is not my mother." Then he started attacking Mary with his hammer. Pieces of the statue flew all over. Many tourist picked up a piece for a souvenir. It took 5 years to get all the pieces back and the statue back intact. Now it is behind bullet-proof glass.

After spending our time in the church, we headed up to the top of the dome. We paid the extra 2 euros to take the elevator up instead of walk over 500 stairs. We walked around the inside of the dome. It was an amazing view.

Here is the view of Rome from the dome.

Here is a closer view of the dome. Pretty incredible! Just think at how old this is!

When we were done with the Basilica, we headed over to the Vatican Museum. This is the 2nd largest museum in the world. On our way over there, a lady stopped us and tried to sell us tickets to a guided tour of the museum. We wouldn't have to wait in the hour line to get in. We wouldn't have to try to find our way around a maze like museum. We wouldn't be confused as to what we were talking about. We would have a lot of fun and laughs...okay, she sold us. And let me tell you, it was worth it! We learned so much on this tour. Here are a few of the fun facts:

1. Captain Jack Sparrow is in the Vatican.
2. Bill Clinton is also in the Vatican. Steve didn't snap a pic of it. But there was a statue that looks exactly like him.
3. It was uncommon for artists to sign their work. When the Pieta was revealed, the crowd didn't believe that it Michelangelo's work. It was too good to be. He overheard this. So that night he broke into the chapel and carved his name on Mary's sash. We could see this on the duplicate in the museum. It wasn't behind bullet-proof glass. :)
4. Michelangelo was forced to paint the ceiling on the Sistine Chapel. He didn't like painting. He much preferred to sculpt. But the pope asked him to do it. They had an argument in the pope's office. Michelangelo can out of the office with the imprint of the pope's ring on his cheek. The pope won.
5. Michelangelo painted some interesting things in the ceiling for the pope. First, he painted God's naked bottom right were the pope would be staring during mass. His response, God was busy creating the world so that is why he is facing the opposite direction. Second, a little boy on the ceiling is "Flipping the Birdie." It is in a dark corner so the pope didn't see it right off. Third, Michelangelo puts the pope's second hand man in hell in the painting. This man told the pope that Michelangelo had painted everything naked. Michelangelo was than sent to repaint them with clothes. Thus this clerk was going to hell. He also had a snake wrapped around him and biting him in a not so pleasant part. Ummm...I think Michelangelo won.
6. Da Vinci was caught by the pope dissecting a dead human body in his room in the middle of the night. This was against the law and he was kicked out and never allowed back in.

Here is a little slide show of the museum. It was amazing! I really have a new appreciation for art. I can only imagine how hard it would be to sculpt marble and paint ceilings and sew tapestry. Simply amazing! I'm glad we went in!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After our tour, it was time for lunch. We found a little stand and had a panini. We also grabbed an Italian Ice. The boys really liked those.

Then we headed to our hop on hop off bus to get to another part of Rome. We sat up top. The boys thought this was neat, esp Zack.


We got off the bus and went to the Cappucin Crypt. This was another church that had bones in it. We thought it would be a lot like the one we saw in Hallstatt. The one there was peaceful and not at all gruesome while we were in it. This was a totally different experience. They had used real bones to make everything. The bone chandelier really freaked me out. They had also put bones back together to make a body and then put those dark black robes on them. Then they made a scythe out of bones for them to hold. It looked more like a horror movie than a church. We got out of there pretty dang fast. CREEPY!!!

From here, we walked over to the Baths of Diocletian to find out that the church we go through to get to there was having a wedding. So we couldn't go in. Rome must be the place to get married. I can't tell you how many brides and grooms we saw. There was a cool waterfall in front of the church.

From here jumped back on the bus to get to another part of town. Watch for more pics from our night walk.