We were up bright and early the next day.
Our Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica tour began at 7:30am.
The time difference was kicking in.
Huzbend was awake at 1:30am that morning.
Mikey was up at 5:00am.
Not sure about Katie, but I woke a few times and was able to get back to sleep after reading a bit.
We all converged in one room to eat our grocery store breakfast.
The fortified chocolate pudding that I thought was yogurt was really good, by the way.
We headed out to the metro and made our way to the Vatican.
There it is!
We arrived a bit early for our tour, so we chilled out at the entrance to the Vatican Museum.
Unexpectedly, we were assaulted by mosquitos while waiting.
Who knew there were mosquitos at the Vatican?
I guess the pope might have.
We found our tour guide and hopped in line for our early entry into the museum.
As we waited, our guide, Deborah, gave us the low down on the Sistine Chapel.
You see, you are not allowed to talk or take pictures in the chapel.
She wanted to make sure we understood the history and significance of what we were going to see.
The doors soon opened, and we were ushered into the museum.
Our tour group was small.
Just us and another family of three from Mexico.
Our tour allowed us entry one hour prior to regular operating hours and we essentially had the museum to ourselves.
There is a giant pinecone fountain - Fontana delle Pigna - in the courtyard.
This is just the beginning of the weirdness that is the Vatican Museum.
It's FILLED with a hodge podge of old, old art.
This fountain alone is made up of a variety of ancient Roman art taken from all over; the pinecone from near the Pantheon, the base from some baths, the peacocks from a villa, etc.
There is something the Vatican is NOT shy about, and that is flaunting that it can just take stuff and show how super powerful and rich it is.
Portions of Vatican City are walled off and lifted above Rome which surrounds it.
Here's a view from one of the elevated parts.
We're about to enter the museum proper.
Another thing the Vatican doesn't lack for - dramatic roomscapes that take your breath away.
Mikey's "This is pretty cool" face.
Say hello to Laocoon and his sons. Sadly, they are being devoured by snakes.
You can read more about the story and this statue here.
Interesting tidbit: This statue was unearthed in 1506 and Laocoon was missing his right arm. Artists argued how the statue should be restored. Michelangelo thought the arm should be bent back based on the dynamic action of the overall composition. Others thought the arm should be extended out.
The others won the argument, and the arm was replaced to be extended upwards.
In 1906 a bent arm was discovered near the original location of the excavation of the statue.
Believe it or not, the arm fit the statue.
Michelangelo was right.
They fixed it.
There were A LOT of statues in the Vatican Museum.
Whole rooms full of them.
Here is one half of the "Hall of Animals".
The kids missed Ralph.
This statue is a good boy.
The thing I liked best about it was the lazy sit.
Art is everywhere in the Vatican Museum.
Even on the floors.
This is just a small portion of a mosaic that was taken piece by piece from an ancient Roman bathhouse and reconstructed here.
In the center of this round room was a giant red marble bathtub that used to belong to Nero.
I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of the bathtub.
A great example of the vibe.
Gold. Painted ceilings. Ancient statuary. Mosaic floor.
The last bit of the museum we wandered through was a very long hallway.
The first half of the hallway was covered with giant tapestries.
The second half was the Gallery of Maps.
The hall is filled with giant frescoes of every section of Italy.
Family photo time.
We essentially had this space all to ourselves.
Our next visit was to the papal apartments.
This is where old popes lived.
This is a large wall painting of the battle between Constantine I and Maxentius.
These apartments were also home to some very famous paintings by Raphael (aka Raffaello).
Like this one, called "The School of Athens" that you've probably seen before.
Let me tell you, this is SO much more impressive in person.
I didn't realize how big it was. It takes up an entire large wall.
We took a break for a bit before heading on to our next highlight....
(Definitely click on that link. It's the official website and it allows you to take a 360-degree tour)
Sorry. No photos allowed.
Sadly, we didn't quite make it in time to enter the chapel with no other people there.
It was busy, but not so busy that you couldn't move around.
You are not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel.
A woman got reprimanded while we were in there.
It was also supposed to be quiet, but there were lots of people talking when we entered.
That ended quickly when the guards asked everyone to lower their voices.
All hushed.
Despite the people surrounding me, I was hit with the fact that I was standing
IN the Sistine Chapel. In Vatican City. In Italy. Staring at the work of THE Michelangelo.
It was literally RIGHT THERE.
I know that sounds stupid.
But it's what I felt.
Some tears leaked out and the tour guide put her hand on my shoulder, before walking away to give us 15 minutes to gape at the paintings.
Yes, it feels smaller than you think it should.
It's not a grandiose chamber.
It's not much bigger than an elementary school gym but with a MUCH higher ceiling.
The pictures are waaaaay up there and hard to see in detail.
It was time to move on to St. Peter's Basilica.
We exited out a side door only accessible to tour groups and made our way down these super fancy stairs and out into St. Peter's Square.
Here is St. Peter's along with Mikey and his awesome sunglasses.
It's hard to get a grasp of how big St. Peter's actually is from photos like the one above.
Here's a better representation.
The circle are people standing in front of the entrance to the building.
Once we got up in front of the basilica, we could look out over St. Peter's Square.
We had to wait for our tour guide to get us some headsets.
The inside is VERY large and for all the tour groups to hear, the guides would have to shout.
That's not the best. Especially when there are masses happening inside, as there was this day.
Hence, the headsets.
As we waited, birds flitted back and forth over our heads.
Welcome to St. Peter's.
Named as such because it is built over top of the tomb of Saint Peter.
Yep. That Saint Peter. He of the 12 Apostles.
As the story goes, Nero blamed the Great Fire of Rome on Christians and came up with many nasty ways to persecute them for it. Peter was in Rome at the time and was caught up in the effort.
He was crucified upside down (by choice, not by direction).
"Pretty snazzy in here."
As soon as you enter, and recatch your breath from the astonishing size of the place, you can look to your right and see one of Michelangelo's famous statues...The Pieta.
Sadly, back in 1972, some guy jumped over the barrier and smashed the statue with a hammer.
Ever since then, it's been protected with glass.
If you're patient, you can get up close to it with no one in your way to truly take it in.
This is astonishingly easy to do because everyone is standing back taking photos with their phones/cameras.
I found this phenomenon very strange. It happened multiple times this trip (especially when we visited David).
I guess I was ruining a lot of people's pictures, but what the heck.
We were standing there RIGHT IN FRONT OF this amazing piece of art and no one wanted to get close to look deeply at it? Weird.
Our tour continued.
We paid a visit to a mummified pope.
I guess preserved would be a better word.
He wasn't all shrunken and wrinkly.
He looked like he just died.
He was on display in a glass case.
I thought it would be weird to take a picture of him.
Before reaching the altar of the church, you reach the dome of St. Peter's, built by none other than Michelangelo. Yep, he was a jack of all trades.
The dome hovers over the Vatican Necropolis where St. Peter is thought to be buried.
It is surrounded by four large sculptures of Saints.
Over the opening to the Necropolis and the high altar of St. Peters is Bernini's Baldachin.
It's a baroque bronze canopy of astonishing detail.
Past the canopy, you'll see the back of St. Peter's and what you would assume was an altar.
It is, but it's not the main altar. That lives under the canopy.
This is the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter.
It's a rather old but fancy chair surrounded by bronze finery sculpted by Bernini.
And if you didn't get enough Bernini, here's a monument he constructed for Pope Alexander VII.
Bernini was quite old at the time, 80 I think, so he and his assistants worked on it.
The most fascinating part of this is the bronze sculpture of winged death covered with a marble cloth.
It's to remind us that death comes for us all.
We took a detour down into the Vatican Grottoes, a vast underground graveyard containing the remains of popes, saints and some secular monarchs.
One last view of the enormity of St. Peter's before we headed out.
We said goodbye and thanked our tour guide.
She snapped a picture of us melting in the sun before she left.
We decided to stop in the Vatican gift shop before we left.
It was a little two room hole in the wall, literally, run by some nuns.
There were all sort of religious knick-knacks including yearly calendars full of pictures of
the current pope, Francis.
We heard the word "pope" so many times during that morning tour.
The Italian word for "pope" is "papa".
When Italians say the words "the pope" in English it comes out as
"the pope-uh".
So much more musical.
It became our preferred way to say the words.
One last picture of us with St. Peters in the background.
There is a wide processional boulevard that approaches St. Peter's Square called the Via de Concilliazione.
The boulevard is filled with souvenir stalls, restaurants, cafes and such.
But, it's also full of pickpockets, scammers and a few street beggars.
We'd heard about the risk of petty crime in Italy and especially in Rome.
We tried to prepare as much as we could.
I had a locking purse, our phones were attached with wires or lanyards, we had secret stashes of euros and were always alert and on the lookout for scams. We made sure Katie and Mikey were aware as well.
One scam is initiated by an ultra-friendly person trying to get you to try on a bracelet.
Once you put that bracelet on - either by choice or they slip it on you before you can say no - they demand that you pay for it and create a scene.
Another is the scammer will create a distraction so that it's easier for their partner to pick your pocket.
Examples, include holding up a cold water bottle, scarves to wear into churches, trinkets, paintings. You name it.
Walking down this boulevard, a bracelet scammer tried to get Huzbend to stop with a "Hey! Africa alright!" while holding out bracelets. Next target was me. "Hey, lady, you need tickets to the Vatican?"
It was like running a gauntlet.
Our first stop after the Vatican, was lunch.
We ate at a gluten free restaurant called MamaEat.
It was pretty much nuclear hot at this point in the day.
We ordered some beverages.
I got myself some Italian Fanta.
Not anything like the Fanta here AT ALL.
It actually tasted like fizzy orange juice and had less fake orange color.
It became my beverage of choice for the rest of the trip.
Well, besides, water.
Here is Katie showing off her Vatican souvenir.
It's an Archangel St. Michael pendant.
According to Katie, St. Michael is the best because he wears armor, has fabulous hair, carries a sword and is always stepping on demons.
Everyone ordered pizza.
Even Katie.
I ordered an eggplant parm sandwich, but it never came out.
I just ate Katie's leftover pizza.
Her crust was a bit doughy and she didn't eat very much.
Mikey declared this the best pizza he had ever eaten.
Mind you, it was only our first day in Italy.
At the end of the meal, Katie was able to partake in some gluten free tiramisu.
She was super happy.
After lunch, we were feeling pepped up and ready to explore.
We decided to walk to a gluten free grocery store and bakery that we had found online.
A nifty little tidbit to share with you about Rome.
They have free drinking water fountains throughout the city.
Here is one such fountain.
They are all over the place and come in VERY handy when it's super hot out.
According to the kids, the water tasted "okay".
It was better than nothing.
We made it to the Celiachiamo Lab.
The store was cool. I mean, it was air conditioned.
We grabbed some packages of gluten free goodies like donuts and cookies for Katie to try.
We steered clear of the bakery items as there were definitely pistachios all over them.
Pistachios are a no-no for Katie.
All in all, the store was not worth it.
It was too far out of our way, and it completely wiped us out.
We were trying to hold out until dinner that night at 7:30.
Italians eat dinner late.
We hiked our way over to the Castel Sant'Angelo and hid from the sun under some trees that had noisy green parrot-like birds in them.
We decided to enter the Castle to see if we could find a cool place to chill out, relax and recover.
Originally built as a tomb for the Emperor Hadrian and his family, the function and layout of the building changed throughout its many years.
Now it houses displays, a museum and a cafe at the top.
Although we did have to walk up this ramp, at least it was indoors and coolish.
Looking at the old Roman parts of the castle.
We made it to the top and found a breezy bench to collapse on.
It was so hot and we were so tired.
The jet lag had finally caught up to us.
The view was nice.
When it wasn't obscured by pigeons.
Huzbend bought some icy cold water from the cafe which made a huge difference.
We decided that it was best to head back to the hotel and skip our dinner reservation.
We were just way too hot and tired, and we had to reserve some energy for the next day's adventures.
Hooray for refrigerated water!
Oh yeah, and the shady castle.
The castle is located right next to the Tiber River.
After making a few wrong turns out of the park the castle was in, we headed to the nearest Metro station.
Cool Italian trees.
They look fake.
Had to take a picture of the manhole covers.
Around this time, Mikey had discovered how hilarious it was to add "Outback Steakhouse" in a ridiculous faux Australian accent to anything he was talking about at the moment.
It really was funny.
Or maybe it was the jet lag.
We made it back to the hotel by late afternoon.
It was SO hot and we collapsed in our rooms.
Huzbend called and cancelled our dinner reservation.
This is what Katie did for a few hours.
Tomorrow was going to be another early day and we wouldn't be able to take advantage of the hotel breakfast. We had to head out to the grocery store to get more breakfast options.
We picked up some rosemary chips and gluten free muffins for Katie, focaccia for Mikey, more kefir for Huzbend and pudding for me.
On the way back from the grocery store we stopped to get some gelato for dinner.
There was a shop right next to our hotel.
They had plenty of gluten and dairy free options to try.
We had to be a bit cautious with the nuts - mostly just pistachios.
Mikey got a 100% vegan chocolate fondant flavor along with some strawberry sorbet.
He liked it just a little bit.
Huzbend, though not too happy about having gelato for dinner, thought it was yummy too.
We headed back to our rooms to shower and hit the hay.
BUT not before watching Italian dubbed anime and cartoons.
Here's one Katie liked called Pucca.
After that there was this really weird short called Catman.
It was so weird you couldn't not watch it.
Then, there was a REALLY bad show about a boy who had a friend dolphin and an octopus was the bad guy. I believe it was called Flipper and Lopaka. SO BAD.
Soon it was lights out.
