 |
| Courtyard at Vatican Museum |
Okay, so today (day 2 in Rome) was a big day. Lots to do, only a day to squeeze it in. First up, the Vatican. We were told it would take 30 minutes from our hotel, by foot, to walk to the Vatican. Maybe this was true, Rome is rather small compared to New York. Turns out when we asked the desk clerk in the morning he told us a different story...more like an hour or more and we had about 36 minutes! A quick adjustment, hop on the bus, transfer to the metro and a short run up several flights of ancient steps and we were at the back door to the Vatican Museum. Crazy long lines and we were able to avoid them thanks to a reservation made four days prior.
 |
| Notice the tiny cat in the jug! |
On this epic tour of stolen artifacts, taken in the name of His Holiness, was Egypt! All of these were claimed by the Roman army when they went out to conquer, brought back as trophies to show their city how great Rome was. Lots of statues of ancient Egyptian gods, temple guardians, and some columns, then Greek statues and so forth, then bits and pieces of other ancient Mediterranean cultures like the Babylonians. Stunning how much the church claimed from the city as being necessary for their collection, fortunately many pieces were in great repair including the famous
Laocoön. Good or bad, the church did preserve these treasures for us to see today.
 |
| Laocoön |
 |
| All mosaic floor and a giant bird bath...or something |
Leaving the masses of marble, plaster, and granite, we ventured further into the sea of tourists. Down several halls of epic paintings, maps, and frescoes. The volume was starting to go beyond epic at this point as even the ceilings were laid out with paintings, the floors were heavily detailed with mosaics, and what free space was present was due only to a necessary window to let light in. We finally get about half way at this point, which is where the great masterworks of Raphael were. I believe the Pope intended to conceal all traces of the previous Pope, which is rather amusing. Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to paint his libraries, of which Raphael and his students managed to completely cover in some of the most outstanding depictions found in nearly any museum...at least in the first two rooms. The following rooms were less and less interesting, partly because his students started to do more of the work, and partly because we started to glaze...it was too much to take in amidst elbows, stomped toes, and a plethora of languages being spoke/shouted/whispered in every direction.
 |
| "Map Room" (hallway) to Raphael's Works |
 |
| Closeup of Raphael painting |
 |
| One of many Raphael rooms - tourists included! |
 |
| Ceiling of Sistine Chapel, and God's ass |
Down, away from Raphael's masterworks (he only did an alter in Florence before doing the Vatican), through more halls of partially restored work of Raphael, up some stairs again and we were in the modern art section. So thoroughly polished off we were at this point that we became sheeople ("bAA!") and rode the wave toward Michaelangelo's masterwork, the Sistine Chapel, the Pope's private chapel (thanks for sharing with the hordes dude!). Here was everything we had read about in textbooks, from the divine spark, to the story of Adam and Eve, to other, less well known pieces like the divine ascension from Earth (Hell) to Heaven. The ceiling was covered in story board layouts of the Bible and many many saints. Michaelangelo did not want the commission but he was "convinced" by the Pope to do it in spite of him being a sculptor, however he agreed only to do it his way. The end result is way more saints, way more storied depictions, and a 4 years of slave labor to produce the interior decoration. From painted curtains at the bottom to God's ass (Honestly, he's in purple robes, look!) at the top, this was a one-two punch to our eyes. Please! No more art! Mercy!
 |
| Dome with a view |
We crept away from the guards yelling "SILENCE!" and "NO PICTURES!!" (they even forced people to delete them on the spot). Down some stairs, outside, and now in a line to go take an elevator to the room of Saint Peter's basilica where we would walk about 300 more steps to the top of the dome. Impressive, but not nearly as impressive as Florence's dome. I suspect because it was not in the center of Rome so the only real landmark that could be easily identified was the Pantheon's roof. Looking around Vatican City, however, you saw some treats, like a beautiful palace, lovely parks, and the Pope's ice skating rink.
Down from the dome, but still on the roof it felt like something was amiss. We were not charged for some sight or the pleasure of touching a lucky statue...or something...anything! We quickly realized a missed opportunity of having a souvenir Pope hat, a giant foam finger of God or Adam...something. We just didn't walk far enough onto the roof. There was not only a St. Peter's souvenir shop, but also a concession, built right into the roof! Well done Pope.
 |
| St. Mark's Basilica - Altar area |
Down some more stairs and we were dumped into the belly of the church. Slathered in marble, mosaics, gold leaf, and commissioned (and stolen) treasures, the interior was something to behold. Every square inch had the most beautiful and colorful marble seen. Just imagine what ancient Rome looked like with this nicely distributed amongst the buildings! Anyway, the church is enormous, but it is designed to feel smaller in size. The altar is made from the pillars of Solomon's Temple and the top made from the melted bronze of the Pantheon ceiling, all super-sized to make it feel closer from the nose bleed seats. Walking around you see cool things like dead Popes (think Madame Tussaud), Charlemagne's coronation spot, a 640oz Big Gulp of holy water, and Michaelangelo's Pieta. This last one is a bit unusual in that the depiction is of dead Jesus, but appears quite life like. Unfortunately it is behind many inches of bullet proof glass thanks to some
mentally challenged geologist with a hammer and some spare time.
 |
| Detail of Main Dome - all mosaic, no paint here! |
 |
| Madame Tussaud's Pope |
Tired yet? We were. Over five hours had passed and we had more or less seen everything except for Peter's tomb. Whatever, good enough. We wandered outside the front doors, past more marble stuff, past the Pope's main stage, jumbotron TVs, seats for 10,000+, another Egyptian obelisk with a cross slapped on top, many many columns and...we were free at last! And starved for a lunch 3 hours overdue.
We had few options as restaurants were closing before dinner and no idea how to find a place we planned to eat since the streets don't have names when you want them. Magically we turned left down a sketchy side street and pow, restaurant city. We were actually at the corner of the place we wanted to eat, and it was oddly open! Nice, simple, good service, tasty food. Home run. Sated and not sure what to do next we spent the rest of the day roaming.
 |
| Piazza Navona artist |
East to Piazza Navona, home of street artists, entertainers, and afternoon drinkers. Many people were here walking about, enjoying the scene. We continued further east where we tripped over the Pantheon. Beautiful from the outside, amazingly still standing (thank you Christianity) although bereft of marble and bronze. The inside is actually still a church, still in use today! Over to one side is a sign reading "Here Lies Raphael" and over to the other side is an altar placed unceremoniously in front of what probably had a diety. The Pan(many)theo(god)n was once home to all of the gods of ancient civilization, and was brilliantly built by the craftsmen of Rome, the dome open at the top, yet nearly perfectly circular, about 143m in circumference. When we walked outside and around back, we noted there was actually a large portion of the Pantheon not open to the public, some of which covered in glass. Not sure what that was about...high end office space?
 |
| Pantheon interior |
 |
| "Pope-wear! Dress like the Pope!" |
From here we strolled south, through the Pope-wear fashion district, where you could get the latest in religious vestment trends (we were in Pentecost season). Unfortunately it was too late for the stores to be open, but they surely would let you try these on if you were curious about changing your career.
The day not nearly done, the sun had set, and we were miles from home. Why let us walk south some more and into Campo di Fiore! Smaller than Piazza Navona, but laid out the same with the same type of enterprising individuals, we actually stayed a while to listen to a talented musician play his guitar (and reap in the Euros). Not quite sure where dinner would be as it wasn't planned, we wandered around for quite a while before coming full circle to a place down a side street called Moderna. This place looked great on the outside, was moderately priced, and the food seemed compelling. Two seats, some wine, truffled risotto, and octopus soup later we were done for the day. Oddly the wait staff was not done with us. They insisted on ignoring us and all but two other tables in the restaurant. At least one of these tables was Italian and even they looked annoyed! While the very well attired double date next to us carried on over expensive wines, we had enough waiting for the day - 45 minutes to get the attention of a waiter three times and another 30 minutes waiting for the check to be processed, some energy was summoned from the smallest of toes and took control. Apparently in Italy it is more important to bus a table than to wait on customers. Maybe wait service will never make sense but we were finally permitted to leave after forcing money on them.
 |
| Octopus Soup |
Stumble...stumble...stubmle...smbulte...zzzzz. We passed out after stumbling home to our hotel after midnight. Perhaps our longest day in Italy after the flight here, certainly the most packed full of ROS, and definitely the most exhausting.
No comments:
Post a Comment