Italy Day 8: Rome

I think we walked twenty miles today.  We started early, getting up at 5:45 a.m. and ate breakfast at our hotel as soon as it opened.  We walked to the Spanish Steps and caught the metro to the St. Peter's Basilica stop.  Then we walked another few blocks to meet up with our tour group.  Our tour left at 7:35 with our tour guide, Jeb.  We started out walking another several blocks to the Vatican. 

A view of the Vatican wall

The Vatican museum doesn't open until 9:30, but tour groups can start going in at 8:00.  While we were waiting to go in, our tour guide told us all about the Sistene Chapel.  There is absolutely no talking inside the Sistene Chapel, so he gave us the scoop ahead of time.  Once we got into the Vatican Museum, we went straight to the Sistene Chapel.  There were a few other tour groups, but it wasn't too crowded which was so nice.  We had about 20 minutes inside the chapel to really enjoy it and to take it all in.  Of course, there were no photographs allowed, but it was amazing.  Truly an unmatched work of art.

The entrance to the Vatican Museum

After the Sistene Chapel, we spent another couple of hours seeing the highlights of the Vatican Museum.  It is enormous and we could have spent days wandering through the vast collections.  There were so many cool artifacts, art, and even the building itself is amazing.  I especially loved the ceilings.

Ceiling in the Gallery of the Maps

Spiral staircase in the Vatican Museum

This was a courtyard inside the vatican.

A strange painting with a long history by Leonardo de Vinci

Raphael's The Transfiguration

Ancient Roman bronze pinecone statue in the courtyard

Sculpture hall with ancient Roman sculptures

Belvedere Apollo

Laokoon, a Greek sculpture from around 28 BC

Sala Rotunda

Entrance to the Egyptian wing

School of Athens by Raphael

We passed back through the Sistene Chapel on our way out of the Vatican Museum.  It was completely packed and we had to weave carefully through the crowds.  I was so glad we got to enjoy it earlier when it was far less crowded.

The last part of our tour was the Basilica.  Even though David and I had gone in the previous day, it was still amazing the second time through.  We learned a few different things from our tour guide.

These doors are only opened every 25 years, last opened in the year 2000.  The faithful are supposed to make a pilgrimage to Rome in the jubilee years and walk through the doors.

A view of St. Peter's Square from the steps of the Basilica

The balcony that the Pope comes out on

Swiss Guards at the Vatican

We showed these pictures to Ben when we got home and told him if he complained about wearing church clothes, we would make him wear this outfit instead.  

We finished our tour about noon.  It was excellent and we were glad we had paid the money for a tour.  We wanted to climb the dome, but they said it was closed and would reopen at 1:00.  We decided to wait around, so we walked around the Basilica a little more and then rested our poor tired feet on a bench for a while.  Around 12:45 we noticed that the Basilica was emptying out--they weren't letting anyone else in.  We asked again and were told that the Basilica--including the dome--was now closed for the rest of the day due to some sort of meeting or mass.  So, that was a bit of wasted time, but oh well.  We had to walk all the way around the walls of the Vatican to retrieve our backpack, which we had to check as we entered the museum.  After that, we found a little place for lunch.  I had a calzone and David had pizza.  The sun was finally out--it was a lovely day.

We rode the metro a few stops and got off at Piazza Barbarini and saw the Fountain of the Triton.

From there, it was only a few blocks walk to the Pantheon.

It was incredible!  And huge!

We went inside and listened to our Rick Steve's audio tour.

Amazing to think that the know-how on how to build a dome like this was lost for thousands of years.

Yes, that is an open hole in the top.  I was glad the sun was streaming in instead of the rain that we had had most other days.  

Our next stop was Santa Maria Della Minerva.

Inside is Michealangelo's statue of the Resurrected Christ.  We were so lucky because the church opened for afternoon hours at 4:00 p.m., but then closed again that day at 4:30 for a special meeting, and we just happened to be there during that half hour window.

Outside of the church was Bernini's elephant statue.

Next we stopped at the area sacra, an area of ancient Roman ruins where Julius Caesar was stabbed.

We made a stop at the Chiea del Gesu, which our guidebook called the Grandmother of all Baroque churches.

It was very elaborate and guilded inside.

Piazza de Campidogilo, designed by Michealangelo, was our next stop.

Statue of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius

A view of a monument honoring the unification of Italy

Behind Piazza Campidogilo, we had a view of the Roman Forum and lots of cool ancient Roman ruins.

It was so beautiful walking through the city.

We climbed up this monument and had a great view.

The evening light made everything glow.

Watching the sun set over amazing Italian cities is not something I ever got tired of.

We made our way to the Coliseum.  The sky was the most awesome shade of blue.

We couldn't stop trying to catch the awesomeness of this place with our camera.

From the coliseum, we caught the metro back up to Piazza Barbarini and walked a few blocks to the Trevi Fountain.  We could hear the loud rushing water before we could even see it.  It was so beautiful--I could have stayed for hours.  Lots of fun people watching.  David wasn't so keen on it--too noisy and crowded for him.  

Tradition says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi fountain that you will return to Rome.  We each took turns tossing a coin.  Actually, I enthusiastically tossed one, so David decided he better toss one too, teasingly grumbling about what another trip to Italy would cost.

We stopped and got some quick food on the way home that we ate while we walked back to our hotel.  We basically collapsed when we got back to our hotel around 9:00 p.m.  So much walking!  We were exhausted--but what an amazing day!