"It's a present..."

The Vatican: no cripples allowed

Yesterday was Vatican City day; we hustled to get to the Vatican Museums entrance even though we live quite close, but managed (with some resentful hustling) to get there on time.
The Vatican Museums were full of a lot of stuff the papal empire had gotten through their conquests... which meant a lot of really old Greek and Roman sculpture, and stuff from the Egyptian empire (including a fully preserved mummy... she had a cloth over her right eye and the placard reasoned that this was probably how her brain was removed... yikes!). We saw a lot of sculputre and paintings with dogs, which shows that they have always been loyal and friendly (except for the one that tried to bite me today). We also saw the Raphael rooms, which had The School of Athens- much bigger than I thought it would be. And we saw a HUGE basin in the middle of one room that turned out to be the emporer Nero's bathtub- badass!

Statuesque

School of Athens

Nero's bathtub

From there it was the Sistine Chapel. Apart from the guards, who yelled ALL the time to be quiet and stay off the steps and not take pictures, it was wonderful. I do like Michelangelo more as a sculptor than a painter, but it is pretty incredible. We snuck some pictures, too :).

After the Sistine Chapel we went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is the church. It was basically the most beautiful church I had ever seen, and I think the most beautiful church in the world. It is crazy how rich the Catholic Church must be; everything is solid marble and gold. The altar was designed by Bernini and is gigantic, and Michelangelo's Pietà is in there. This is what I had been waiting the whole trip for, because I think it is the most incredible sculpture in the whole world. However, a few years ago (I think the 1970s), some guy tried to take a hatchet to it and destroy it, so it's behind a huge thick pane of glass, and far away, which meant I couldn't see the detail and get right up close to it, which was really a shame. Still amazing though. Stupid guy.

The Pieta, behind glass

After seeing the inside of St. Peter's we climbed the 520 or so steps to the dome itself and looked out over all of Rome. It was absolutely gorgeous.

View from the top

After a nap and dinner (steak for Jacob, Nutella crèpe for me... I am getting fat as hell on this trip), we went to meet Andrew and Kristin in Piazza de Santa Maria in Trastevere. We had some drinks with them and got to see them again, which was really nice.

This morning we went to Galleria Borghese, one of the best art museums in the world. It is really weird to be able to see/touch stuff that is 2000 years old, but it is there. Also there are two fabulous statues by Bernini (among many others): The Rape of Persephone and Apollo and Daphne. The first depicts Pluto bringing Persephone down to the underworld, and the second depicts the moment Apollo touches Daphne and she turns into a tree-- INSANE. They rival the Pieta for beauty and detail. We also saw some Caravaggios among others, no big deal.

Apollo and Daphne (from online; no pictures were allowed)

After a lunch of more pasta and great potatoes, we went to see the Spanish Steps (unimpressive, especially as they were doing renovation work on the obelisk) and the Trevi Fountain (ridiculously huge and beautiful). There is a tradition that says if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, it means you will return to Rome one day, and so we both did.

After that we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment for a three hour nap. Now we are going to eat dinner and watch the sun set over the Tiber River :) We are not here for much longer and this is the most beautiful place I have ever been (although Paris and Venice definitely rival it), and it will be sad to leave. However, I am ready to go home; aside from missing my family and dog and bed and bathtub, if I stay here much longer I won't be able to fit through the airplane doors.

Arrivederci!