Inside the Vatican Museum
The Trevi Fountain at night
Day 15: Thursday, April 19, 2007
Vatican City
Vatican City is the smallest country in the world; it's total area is just over 100 acres. However, the line to get into Vatican City had to be one of the longest in the world. We showed up at about 9:00 and waited in a line that wrapped its way around the Vatican walls. Luckily it moved fairly quickly and we were inside in just over an hour.
We spent the next few hours meandering through the halls of the Vatican Museum en route to the Sistine Chapel. Along the way we saw huge frescoes that covered the walls and ceilings in nearly every room. We finally reached the Sistine Chapel and it was worth the walk. Michelangelo's works covered nearly every square inch and we stood in amazement for about 30 minutes. The most impressive was the "Last Judgment" piece the covered one of the end walls. It showed Jesus welcoming the good souls to Heaven and banishing the bad ones to Hades.
After exiting the museum, we grabbed a quick lunch. Courtney and Shea had sandwiches but Caitlin, Tommy and Nick went the adventurous route and tried kabobs (more properly, Döner kebabs). A döner kabob is a wrap filled with meat, vegetables and some kind of spicy sauce. They were good.
Next up was St. Peter's Basilica, which was amazing. It's the largest church in the world and we wandered around the cavernous spaces looking at endless monuments to Popes. Underneath the building is the Crypt which houses the remains of all the Popes. There were several people kneeling and praying around the tomb of Pope John Paul II, recently deceased.
We emerged back into the daylight and caught a bus back to our hotel. The girls were scheduled to get massages at the hotel spa, so Tommy and Nick went and met up with Eric, who had just arrived in Rome from Bologna. The entire group met back up again at the Trevi Fountain. It was nighttime now and the fountain was illuminated from every angle giving it an eerie and magical appearance. After spending some time at the fountain, we found an overpriced restaurant for dinner. The food wasn't the worst we've had, but it also wasn't the best.
We decided to call it a night so Eric and Caitlin split off to the hostel they were staying at and the rest of us made the 1½ mile trek back to our hotel. Our legs were in dire need of some rest after that one.