Rome Day 2 Part 2

After touring the Vatican Museum, we went through the Sistine chapel. It was so cool. It was a holy day so we were supposed to be quiet. Our tour guide spoke to us at length in the garden before entering and they had set up pictures of the paintings so the tour guides could talk their tours through what they would see ahead of time.  We commented on how it was strange to be there after hearing about it forever. You have to keep moving around the room to get a good view of the ceiling and the side panels. We left the room from the side the Pope would enter through. 

After the Sistine Chapel, we went into St Peter’s Basilica. It was breath taking. I know I’ve been to a few large cathedrals and large mosques, but this was the largest church I can remember being in. It was HUGE. A lot of the tourist parts in the Vatican have one way foot traffic only so we ended up doing a few laps so we could see as much of the church as possible. On our way out to meet the group again, we got stuck waiting for a procession of altar boys and clergymen of increasing rank until the Arch Bishop came through and was followed by more altar boys. (I heard someone whisper it was the Arch Bishop, I am not sure). He made the sign of the cross at all of us, so maybe we got blessed too? 

As a group, we went out of the church to the big piazza where the Papal Masses are held. There was one the day before and the chairs were set up. People were lining up to get into the Basilica and our tour guide Cinthia said they would be waiting at least an hour and a half. We had a minute to shop at a store and I picked out a rosary to bring home to Grandma Eva. The store offered to bless your purchase in the church and deliver it to your hotel later. I took advantage of that and the bag came back sealed with tape, which I’m afraid to open.

After the Vatican, we drove over to the Roman Forum & Coliseum. The Coliseum was also super crowded but we bypassed some of the line by being with a tour. Mom & I climbed up to the second level via stairs that were not remotely level. 

After the Coliseum, we headed back to the hotel and found a restaurant to have late leisurely lunch. 

After regrouping after lunch, we walked to the Villa Borghese to see the museum. We took our time walking there and walked through the park where the museum is. There were SO many rules at the museum. We had to surrender our bags so they gave us little plastic bags to hold our valuables. The building is really cool. The top floor is mostly paintings and the first floor is mostly sculptures. A lot of the paintings got redundant so many Virgin Mary’s with Bambino. So many. The sculptures were really incredible. We opted out of the audio tour and there was very little for markings. 

At that point we had walked 8 miles so we hopped in a cab and came back to the hotel. We had a snack at the bar and went to bed early.