Vatican City

By Friday of my week in Italy, I was worn out and my feet hurt. But I would not let that stop me. My first activity of the day was to go to visit the National Museum of Rome. There I saw more Roman statues, and more to my liking, mosaics and frescos. There were some impressive examples of both. In the 19^th century, the remains of a villa once owned by Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus, was discovered outside of Rome. It included a room that still contained its frescos. The room was moved to the museum where it was set-up as it was originally. The frescos were of plants and animals. It was beautiful and one of my favorite part of my trip.

Fresco from Livia's villa

After a quick lunch, I jumped on the Metro and headed towards the Vatican City. Before I had left, I had bought a ticket online for the Vatican Museum. I wanted to go early so that I could see St. Peter’s Basilica before my scheduled entrance into the museum. But when I arrived the line was so long that it wound around the square and I did not want to wait an hour to get in, nor had time to. So I decided that I would take some pictures and then go to the museum and try again later. As I was walking around, I was approached about a tour of the museum that would allow mean I would not have to wait in line to see St. Peter’s. After some consideration, I decided to join the tour. In a group of twenty we were led to the museum and given an excellent tour by an American art historian. The tour was wonderful because the tour provided information and a background on the Sistine Chapel, otherwise, I would have had no clue as to what I was looking at since there was no information on any of the collection pieces inside. After two hours and seeing multiple collections and the Sistine Chapel, I left the tour as it headed to St. Peter’s in order to see more of the museum. I stayed for another hour or so looking at collections not covered by the tour and then I headed to St. Peter’s Basilica. Even without the tour, I was able to go directly into the basilica and should you ever visit the Vatican City, let me give you a hint that will save you time. If you plan on visiting the Vatican Museum, do not stand in line to see the basilica. Go to the museum and see everything that you want to ending in the Sistine Chapel. At the back of the Sistine Chapel is a door that gives you access directly to the basilica. St. Peter’s Basilica is a beautiful gigantic church covered in gold. I strolled through the church and the crowd looking at everything. However, I was not able to get too close to the alter because the Pope was performing a service and security kept people pretty far back. Yes, I did see the Pope, or I think it was the Pope. I was so far away that he looked more like an ant. When I left the basilica, I head to the crypt. I saw Pope John Paul II’s grave, stilled covered with flowers, and I saw through a glass pane the grave of St. Peter.

St. Peter's Basilica

By this time, it was the late afternoon and so I decided to walk back across the river so that I could get a picture of Castel Sant’Angelo (the round castle with an angel on top). I caught a bus back to the hotel, picked up dinner at a grocery store and went to bed. The next day I had to get up early to go to Pompeii.

Castel Sant'Angelo