Oh no, it's Friday the 13th! Let's go to the Vatican! we're up at 6:30 & go to breakie at the hotel. It's a very nice spread, with fruit, cereal, scrambled eggs, bacon (warm ham actually), bread & good coffee & juices. Off we go to the metro & a ride across the Tiber River to the Vatican & a nice long line of those damn' tourists. And of course, the hawkers trying to get you to go with them for a guided tour & jump the line. But we're not interested and in about 30 minutes, we're in. We buy our tickets & go on our own to see it all. Cami is a great "tour guide" and this is her speciality anyway, so off we go to this overwhelming museum. Lots of Egyptian artifacts from many dynasties, Roman sculptures in hall after hall. Many Etruscan treasures from 700-200 BC. they pre-dated the Romans. Then lunch in the museum cafe-sandwiches & chips..a nice break. Now down the corridor & follow the signs to the Sistine Chapel & of course it is amazing! But there are way too many people in this room! The ceiling is the Michelangelo project, with the rest done by other painters, but is also exquisite. On to the gift shop for some postcards & the use of the Vatican Post Office. out of this area & over to the very large "Church"..St Peter's Basilica. Once again, a line to get in, but not too bad and more hawkers. It's an enormous structure! There must be 20,000 people in here & there's still room. Many sculptures, mosaics, frescos and designed by Michelangelo--who else? You just have to stand there & take it all in..quite unbelievable. Out of the church & into St Peter's Square & more fountains & cobbles. A quick stop for some good Roman water from one of the many fountains in the city. And how about some gelato!!! back on the metro for a ride & walk to the hotel & discuss supper plans. We stroll down our street, looking at many restaurants & bars, but stop at the "Taverna Flavia". It turns out to be wonderful! Our waiter brings us a glass of bubbly & we toast the day! Next is the wine, beer & anti-pasta..wow! Then we order our main meals..pasta! It not only is excellent, but has some good local flavor & great old pics on the wall of famous people who had eaten there. Now a walk back to the room & some snoozin'.
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Fortunately, we missed Pope John Paul's Beatification ceremony by one week. . .thousands of people were sleeping in the piazza. But there were still large banners celebrating PJPII in the piazza of St. Peter's,
I began my study of roman sculptured feet in the Vatican museum. They really wore gladiator sandals, as did many of the sore-footed, blistered girlie tourists.
The courtyard in the Vatican museum features some of the most important sculptures in the world: the athlete cleaning himseslf, the Laocoon, and some Etruscan-inspired sarcophagi.
We saw some Greek amphora that I missed in 2009. The famous Oedipus with the Sphinx and Achilles and Ajax urns. So amazing, to quote KK:)
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