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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.
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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.