Rome – Day 4
Day 4 in Rome began with a 4 hour tour of the Vatican City, which is its own country. It even has its own radio station and postage stamps.
We got a very personalized tour with a well educated Italian woman who really knew her stuff. The tour consisted of the 3 of us and 2 ladies from Canada. Our tour guide showed us through the 20 different museums in the Vatican, which were comprised of paintings, sculptures and tapestries from every era by the most famous artists, such as Raphael and Michelangelo. The most notable work of art was the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel that Michelangelo painted, which took him over 4 years to complete.
The amount of security to get into the Vatican City was crazy. Long lines, metal detectors and a very strict dress code. While cameras were allowed, bare shoulders and bare knees were not. However, we came dressed appropriately and were not one of the few turned away at the door. There was a strong police presence in various rooms of the Vatican, including the Sistine Chapel, where they ran around shooshing everyone, as well as removing cameras from click-happy fingers because in this very sacred room, pictures are not allowed.
It was surreal to take a minute and stare up at this masterpiece, which has been around since 1512. Even though the tour felt like an eternity surrounded by foreigners pushing, shoving and unnecessarily breathing on you, Michelangelo made it well worth the wait.
The last stop on this never-ending tour was St. Peter’s Bascilica, the largest church in the world. The artwork in this church was breathtaking and it was amazing to see how many bodies of Popes, Kings and Queens are entoumbed within the walls of the bascilica (and beneath it in St. Peter’s case).
When the tour finally wrapped, we got a cab and headed towards our appartment to change into clothing that revealed our shoulders/knees and then we were off to get some lunch. We had yet another tasty appetizer of bruschetta, along with gnocchi marinara and spaghetti bolognese.
