"We once were lost, but now we're found"

On Friday, Kristen and I woke up and took the metro to the Spanish steps. Piazza Spagna was full of people and men trying to sell roses. One of them gave me a rose after I said I didn't want it. He then came back a minute later asking me for money for the rose so I gave it back to him immediately! Kristen and I were looking for a place to get food so we could have a picnic on the steps. All we could find were a bunch of really expensive shops and things we couldn't afford. Finally, we came across a cafe where you could get food to go. I got a sandwich and 1/4 pineapple. The pineapple was delicious and I wasn't even charged for it!  

Spanish Steps

After the picnic, we went back to the metro to go to Vatican City. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. It has its own police, firemen, grocery stores, currency with the Pope's face on it, etc. They are totally self-sufficient. The currency is very valuable. $5 worth of Pope money is worth about $700 (don't quote me on that one). The only way to get into the actual country is to have a visa and the only way to get a visa is basically if you know someone.  The population is only around 1,000 people but on average 14,000 people come to visit every day. I was one of the 14,000 on Friday and we decided to take a tour. That was probably one of the smartest decisions of the trip. Our tour guide has been giving tours for 9 years and knows so much. If we went through it alone, we would have not have appreciated the art and not have understood the importance of everything. The Vatican Museum is full of artwork. If you spent one minute looking at every piece, it would take 11 years to go through the entire museum. Our tour started off in the courtyard. Where we saw the same piece of artwork that was in Trinity College in Dublin. It is called a sphere within a sphere. The courtyard was surrounded by buildings that held the museum. Here our tour guide explained the Sistine Chapel because you aren't allowed to talk once you get inside. The ceiling took Michelangelo four years to complete. It is a fresco which means fresh paint and he would  therefore have to paint on wet plaster. Michelangelo suffered a lot of back pain and neck pain throughout the process. He was reluctant to paint the ceiling but really had no choice because the Pope wanted him and only him to do it. Down the middle of the ceiling depicts biblical scenes in chronological order. The Sistine Chapel is also home to the Last Judgment by Michelangelo. This painting depicts hell on the right lower corner and Jesus with Mary in the upper center. Around Jesus are martyrs and in their hands are how they were killed. The Last Judgment is probably my all time favorite painting. I couldn't stop looking at it when I was in the Sistine Chapel. 

Sphere within a Sphere 

The Courtyard

We then went into the museum. The first room was full of hundreds of busts. Next, we looked at a bunch of statutes. The statute of Apollo was outside and that was the inspiration for Michelangelo. 

busts

Apollo 

 There were rooms full of painted ceilings, mosaic floors that were over 1,000 years old, drapes that were used when deciding who would be the Pope (they would keep noise in), more statutes, Nero's bathtub made of a precious stone that is all accounted for around the world (the same that was used in the Roman forum), a room full of painted maps from 500 years ago that were extremely accurate, a true Greek statute that inspired Michelangelo's bodies in the Sistine Chapel. 

First statute of the Vatican Museums

Greek original- Michelangelo's inspiration

Nero's "bathtub"

Room full of draperies

After going through the art gallery, we went through the living quarters of old popes.We saw 3 rooms of Raphael originals or Raphael inspired. The first room was created by his students and the colors were much more dull. The second room was entirely Raphael with his famous School of Athens painting. The final room was a mixture of Raphael and his students. The difference between the second and third room was that when Raphael was working on the third room, he saw Michelangelo's work in the Sistine Chapel and therefore he started making his people's bodies look like those of Michelangelo (more manly and muscular). Raphael didn't like Michelangelo but after he saw the Sistine Chapel, he respected him as an artist. 

Raphael's School of Athens

We finally got to the Sistine Chapel! It was amazing. Words cannot describe being there. We saw the most famous paintings in the world and they were all in one room. Not only that, but this is also where the Pope is elected! There were tons of people in the Chapel and police kept on yelling "No foto, SHHHH". The Chapel was recently restored because it is the Pope's personal chapel where he would hold masses. All the smoke from the candles would put sot on the ceiling. We were only suppose to be in the Chapel for 15 minutes before our tour continued. However, Kristen and I lost track of time and our group left us. We tried putting our headphones back on to hear the group but couldn't hear a thing. We had no idea where our group went to. We left the Chapel and went the wrong direction through the museum. Instead of going to St. Peter's Basilica we went through more art galleries. We then decided to go back through the Chapel and out another door that was guarded by a guard. He luckily let us to through and get to the Basilica. We couldn't find our group anywhere so we just decided to enjoy ourselves and spend time in the Church. It was also incredible. 

After leaving the Basilica, we were standing in the square and our tour guide walked passed us on her way to the car. Hence, "we were once lost, but now we're found" in the Vatican of course. Our tour guide told us about the Swiss guard protecting the city and showed us where the Pope comes out after being elected on the balcony. She also showed us where the Pope lives. I am pretty sure he was there because his lights were on and I bet the Pope wouldn't waste electricity like that. Vatican City was amazing and it made me even more proud to be a Christian! 

St. Peter's Basilica 

Pope's apartment is the top right three windows

St. Peter's Basilica

Afterwards, we got gelato and looked for a place to get food. Kristen and I split a pizza, pasta and fries. We then got more gelato. We finally learned from my uncle that it you need to get desert first! 


Saturday was a travel day. We got up at 5:00am, took a train to Pisa, flew from Pisa to Edinburgh, then took a bus to Aberdeen. We finally made it home at 8:00 pm. 


Cin Cin!