Mediterranean Trip - Part 3

The last part...

I've had two posts (actually 3, but whatever) before this about my trip last year to the Mediterranean. This is the last of them and will chronicle my journeys to Rome and Vatican City.
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When we got off the boat in Civittavecchia, we stayed in another hotel in Rome. It was on the far other side of the city from where we stayed the first time. It was closer to the Vatican, because that was where we were to go the next day. I forgot my camera when we went, so I used Mom's. I'm not sure if the pictures in the post are mine or hers, but that's beside the point.
It was a really really cool thing to see. There was so much history crammed into a space of barely .2 square miles. That's teeny. And there were just so many things that you've always seen in books or wherever.
We went to the Vatican museum (Musei Vaticani) where we got tickets into all of the tours and went through security. [Vatican City is actually a country. It is the only country in the world that does not require a passport to enter.] So we got in and started touring through what seemed like miles of corridors filled with statues and historical things. Eventually it opened into a courtyard that had the "Vatican Pinecone" and lots more famous statues. [The Vatican Pinecone is (I think) Bernini's creation. It's a huge pinecone made of copper, but it's turned green by now, of course. Dante gave reference to it in The Inferno, in reference to something really ugly. It was one of the less beautiful things there, I will say.] After all the museums, we went through the Sistine Chapel museum, which was filled with a lot more art, lots of which were by Rafael and Michelangelo. Then it opened into the Sistine Chapel [bottom left - the big square-ish part towards the top], one of the most prolific works of art of all time. They don't let you take pictures or talk in there, but it was truly beatiful. And HUGE. All of the paintings seemed life-size, but they were way up there, so they were really much bigger. Lots of wellknown glimpses of art are in there, like the one where God's and Adam's fingers are almost touching, and the wall on the far end that shows, in a sense, heaven and hell. I can't think if they have names or not, but they're definitely recognizable. It's got to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Speaking of what I saw, we also saw...the Pope. We were there at about five o'clock, and they were having Mass at St. Peter's Bascilica, so we went in. There was standing room only, so stand we did. We stood on the right side where the choir sits. They were singing in Latin, so I didn't know what on earth they were singing, but we were right there next to the baritones, and one of them moved his book over so we could read off it...very nice of him, but we couldn't read it. I hummed, though.

Then we looked up towards the front and there was the Pope (Benedict XVI, or Papa Bendetto XVI, in Italian. That name made me giggle.) in his white robe and little hat thing...just kind of standing there. He didn't say anything. As far as I ever saw, he was just standing there.

After we were there for a while, we decided it was time to find some dinner, so we left. On the way out, I accidentally dropped my water bottle. Of course, everything else was silent, and the water was icy. It rolled about five feet and a Swiss Guard in the vicinity looked at me kind of mean. I picked it up, muttered a "scuzie", and went on my way. So across Italy, on televisions or hundreds of Catholics, they hear a big THUNK. Yeah, that was me.

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After we saw Vatican City, we stayed a last night at the hotel and then flew back. Seeing the sign after customs that said "WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" was a sight to behold. Of course, we then had to drive home. It was good to be back, but great to have gone.

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[NOTE: I found a good picture of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Click here to see it.]