It finally arrived! Shawn’s bag was delivered to our room while we were out sightseeing.
On to other exciting things for the day. We had pre-booked our time slot to enter the Vatican Museums, and glad we did. We sailed right past a huge line of people waiting to get in. (Pro-tip #2, don’t go during the crowds of Holy Week either like we did)
Another WOW day, as we spent five hours touring the museums and the Sistine Chapel. Saw amazing art from Rafael, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, and Salvador Dali to name a few. We started noticing most of the statues with nudity had a fig-leaf plastered over the naughty bits, and then noticed that each fig leaf was the same. Research proved us correct that at one time, the Vatican had folks who’s official job was to Cover up Every Penis with a Fig-Leaf! They did this with the paintings too! LOL… I wonder what the life of a Vatican Sausage-Shrouder was like, or how you fell in to that job?
After that we went to see the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks. This order used the bones of several thousand monks to decorate and create structures. Sorry, just internet pics for this, as no pics allowed in the crypts. Creepy and fascinating at the same time.
Finally we hauled our aching feet back toward the hotel, and stopped by the Pantheon. Of course with aching feet, we stopped for a couple of beers at a cafe overlooking the square and Pantheon. This is the tomb for the painter Rafael, and many others. Amazing to see the world’s largest dome built with concrete but no rebar or other reinforcing material, and it’s still standing.
Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow morning, but in the afternoon we’re getting out of Rome and heading south to Naples to see our friends Heather and Rich. Stay tuned for more!
Beautiful Walk along the Tiber River on the way to Vatican City:
Circumnavigating the huge Vatican City walls looking for the Museum Entrance:
We made it! Got in and settled with our audio guides. Took a picture with St. Peters Basilica behind us.
The sculptures and artwork on the walls are awesome, but don’t forget to look up at the ceilings too! Took this in the Gallery of Maps:
Rooms and rooms of amazing frescos by Rafael:
For fun, poorly imitating statues in the galleries: (notice the sausage-shrouds in picture 2)
Wheres Waldo? Shawn in front of the Pantheon:
The fact on the fig leaves placing very interesting lol. The art work must be spectacular !!!!!
Pics just don’t do the art Justice! We figure we only saw 5% of what the museums hold. Most isn’t open to the public. Awesome though!