Italy Trip 2004
(Sept 21st - Oct 3rd)
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2004
Used the Metro (subway) today. It was just as busy as the Underground in London. Unfortunately, it's not as well organized. Unlike the Underground, people entering and exiting the stations clash (just like in Toronto). The stations are not well maintained, with both the stations and trains full of graffiti.
After a quick ride of the metro and a short walk, we arrived at Vatican City. The main square is a large, open area. There are two fountains and an obelisk within the main walls, with St. Peter Basilica at the west end. The Spanish Guards can be seen at certain building entrances.
St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. It's definitely quite a site to behold. Unfortunately, it's hard to take pictures inside due to its size and low amount of light.
After entering St. Peter's, we were approached by a tour guide letting us know she was providing a free English tour. We couldn't turn that down. She took us around most of the inside of the Basilica and was quite entertaining to listen to.
Michelangelo's Piata was the main attraction inside. With the large amount of people crowding around, there wasn't time to get a good picture.
At the end of the tour, the guide provided an option to take a paid tour of the Vatican Museum. Since we enjoyed the tour at St. Peter's we took her up on the offer. Since the Vatican Museum is huge, she concentrated the 2.5 hour tour to show the galleries which were directly related to the paintings in the Sistine Chapel.
The Pinecone Garden.
Roman sculptures.
A balcony at a higher floor provided a nice view on the immediate area.
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Sculptures and other thing we passed by.
The sculpture has glass eyes.
The tapestry room. The ceiling of the room is painted to give an effect of it being carved. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the effect was outstanding.
The map room was quite an eye catcher. The walls were covered in tapestries of maps, while the ceiling was filled with paintings. A window in the room provided a view of the Vatican Gardens.
The Raphael Rooms were jaw dropping. See for yourself.
Our next stop was the one we were all waiting for, The Sistine Chapel. We you enter the chapel, everyone is forced in to the center. Guards surround the room, making sure everyone stays quite and no pictures are taken. I wasn't going to let that stop me.
The staircase leaving the Vatican Museum.
After the tour, we returned to the main square.
We decided to climb the dome of St. Peter's.
I was disappointed after our elevator ride only took us to a high point inside the chapel. I had heard about a long climb of stairs and expected a great view of the city. It was still cool inside the dome, as you really got a good sense of scale. The letters around the dome are taller than me.
BINGO! We found the stairs to the outer part of the dome. There are 320 stairs to climb in a relatively cramped staircase. A window on the way up provided a nice view.
Here's one of the more open areas of the stair case, about halfway up.
When we got to the top, we knew the climb was worth it.
After spending a little bit of time at the top, we made our way down. The sculptures line the base of the dome.
Our guide told us this would be a great time to return to St. Peter's since there wouldn't be as many people. She was right. I had time to take some better pictures.
The underground tombs are also accessible from within St. Peter's. The low light and lack of flat surfaces to place the camera on resulted in dark pictures.
We left Vatican City and headed back to Rome for dinner. We had to cross the water to get back to central Rome.
We found the #1 pizzeria listed in my Rome book. They make thin crust pizzas which are baked in a stone oven. It was quite good.
Took a walk to Trevi Fountain at night. It was incredibly crowded, so I couldn't take the quality of pictures that I wanted. I decided not to take any.
Went back to the hotel to call it an early night. Tomorrow .... Pompeii..
