So Much To Catch Up On!

Wow! Time seriously flies over here!! I can't believe how fast every day goes! I am not even sure what the best way to do this is! Ha So I will just start with a more detailed version of last Thursday's adventure to the Vatican then do another post on the weekend in Toscana (Tuscany)! How does that sound? Works for me so I sure hope it does for all of you!!

Thursday morning started off later than planned as I mentioned but we rescheduled things and ended up getting to spend some time exploring around the Vatican City. It's a neat little place. There are walls around the entire thing that show the borders. However, you wouldn't even know that's what they were because everything around it seems so elegant.

After getting everything figured out Kate and I decided it would be good to eat because we knew we wouldn't make it until after 4:00 when the tour was scheduled to be over! A quick snack and some juice at a local caffe where we sat outside was just what we needed. Then we did some wandering and ended up back at the meeting point to begin our journey.

Once our group was assembled it was off with Jannette our tour guide who has an art history degree and studied at AUR where I am at. She came over to study here for a semester and ended up staying for 6 years! Who knows where this trip may take me!

Anyways more about the tour! The museums are amazing! They say that walking through them is over 7 km long by the time you reach the Sistine Chapel! Walking in Rome is great exercise that's for dang sure! Also another fun fact that I may have mentioned before is they say if a person were to look at every piece of artwork in the Vatican museums for 60 seconds it would take them roughly 12 years to view them all! To say we did the quick tour in just about 3 hours is definitely an understatement! I hope to go back there at some point on my trip and just walk through myself to enjoy some of the rooms a little more! There is so much artwork it is mind blowing!

By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel which doesn't allow any photography we were so overwhelmed by all the other artwork it took a minute to settle in at the chapel. They also say that the most harmful thing on to the Fresco's is human breath and the carbon monoxide we breathe. Too bad they can't figure out how to prevent that! The chapel is gorgeous!

After we stood in the chapel and took it all in, we ventured through to the front of the Basilica. This was where our tour ended. Jannette gave us plenty of options to continue on with our own activities which for Kate and I included climbing St. Peter's dome, and also attending mass at 5:00. What a beautiful ceremony!

Enjoy the pictures from Thursday! There is more to come about the weekend!

Street headed to the Vatican

Our first tour of the dome on our tour!

The newest addition to the art of the museums! 

Lots of my pictures are of ceilings! All of the artwork on the ceilings is flat, but made to look three dimensional with the curved ceiling! 

This was built after the Pantheon's architecture. 

They aren't sure how this was even made as it is the hardest type of material to carve out of! 

Walking into another corridor! 

The tapestries are beautiful! Supposedly with this one if you walk up close to it and walk away from it looking into Jesus' eyes they follow you if you have sinned. It's kind of crazy all the myths that come along with this! 

Another ceiling! The gold seen here is real gold! 

Looking into the parking lot behind the scenes out one of the few windows through out the museum. 

Sorry this one is blurry it was mid walking with lots of people behind me! 

Looking down the steps after leaving the museum!

Holy water anyone?

This was the steps we climbed all the way to the top! 

Inside the Basilica! Anyone know the difference between a chiesa, duomo and basilica? 

Walking around the top level before going outside! And believe it or not I am learning a few things here! A chiesa is a church. A duomo is shaped more like an egg and a basilica is laid out with a cross like pattern. 

Kate and I at the top after our hike! 

Looking into St. Peter's square from the very top!

I know we weren't supposed to take pictures during mass but it hadn't begun yet! This alter is beautiful! 

About as close as I will ever be to standing near the Pope's alter that he only uses at Christmas and Easter. 

Ciao St. Peter's! See you next time! 

Of the almost 300 pictures I took I tried to pick the best! I am going to go back to the basilica and take more as we were worn out after our day! Its so much information to take in all at once! But definitely a must do on a trip to Rome!