Day 43

On our last day in Rome, we got up and took the bus to a different metro station which was closer to Saint Peter's. The bus took its time getting there, and an even longer time getting to the metro, but at least we'd managed to find seats while we waited. We then took the metro to Saint Peter's and got off, whereupon Nick announced that he was hungry. Nick being a vegetarian, we had to look for a while to find a place that had suitable food, but eventually stumbled upon an organic sandwich shop called Fa Bio. The guys at the shop were friendly and spoke excellent English, so we were able to acquire some good information on the Musei Vaticani.

After eating, we left and walked towards the Vatican. Then we saw a line. This was the Mother of All Lines, the kind of line you only see in Hell or at government institutions. At least a thousand people were in the line; it went down one side of the Vatican, turned a corner, went down another side, then turned another corner and went down yet another side, ending up by Saint Peter's Square. We walked around Saint Peter's Square a bit, but saw how incredibly long the other line to get in the Basilica was and decided against getting in it. Instead, we turned around and joined the Mother of All Lines.

Three and a half hours later, we were some of the last people let in. This was great, but it also meant that we had only two and a half hours to see everything in a museum where it would take years to properly contemplate each object. Anyway, Erin and I raced through the Museum, staring at rooms crammed with old maps, globes, and tapestries, along with some incredible ancient Greek mosaics. It's impossible to understand the artistry and the brightness of the mosaics until you see one in its full glory in person. After shoving our way through the crowds (aided by our skinniness and elbows that should be registered as lethal weapons), we arrived in the Sistine Chapel.

It was glorious. If I could meet any painter, past or present, I would want to meet Michelangelo and thank him for creating something so magnificent. My favorite of the ceiling pieces wasn't actually The Creation, although that's what everyone thinks of when they think about the Sistine Chapel. My favorite was God Dividing the Light from Darkness, which is placed next to a painting of God creating plants and earth. The latter painting is, like the rest, a masterwork of creativity and skill, although in that one, all the creativity and skill seems to have been dedicated to lovingly rendering God's butt. I, having the sense of humor of a five-year-old, continued to snicker at that as Erin and I left the Chapel.

We got turned around and wound up near the entrance before we figured out where Raphael's School of Athens was located, and so had to turn around and sprint back through all the rooms we'd already been through in order to see it before the Museum closed. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the Pieta or Moses Descending the Mount, as those are located in Saint Peter's Basilica, but hopefully my throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain will assure a future return to Rome where I can stare at them to my heart's content.

We left the Vatican and went out to dinner, where I had a wonderful four-cheese fettuccine and gelato for dessert. Then we returned for the last time to the hostel, where I repacked my backpack and went to sleep, primed for the next day's journey to Dublin.

Pictures:

Saint Peter's Square. The obelisk to the left is where, according to conspiracy theorists, either fragments of the cross on which Christ was crucified or the spear the soldier Longinus used to pierce Christ's side are hidden.

Another view of the square and the dome.

A Vatican courtyard, and no, I'm not sure why there's a giant metal ball in it.

The crazy awesome ancient Greek mosaics I mentioned.

An extremely long hallway where every inch of the ceiling was covered in paint.