Day 11

Today was our day to see the Vatican as well as our free day in Rome. We were up bright and early because our group had tickets that let us in before the Vatican actually opened to the public. We got there by a bus and 2 tubes and a very short walk. Our guide met us outside and had headsets for everyone (since there were about 45 of us). The tour started off on the right foot and then moved on to the left. Only kidding. It did start off right though because our tour guide was a really funny guy, cracking jokes before we even arrived at the Vatican. We had the place to ourselves for the first half hour or so, with plenty of space to enjoy all the paintings, tapestries, sculptures etc.

Matt taking over... indeed the corridor leading up to the Sistine Chapel was very impressive.  Neither Tracey or I are ones to spend hours speculating on art but everything was quite impressive and seeing the change in artist styles during the Renaissance was very interesting.  It was at this time the painters started adding 3 dimensions to their paintings and more perspective.  On one tapestry how one character was standing on a stone slab changed when viewed from the left then from the right.  As stated quite impressive but the Sistine Chapel was next.  This chapel is famous for the painted ceiling done by Michaelangio (the sculpter/painter...not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle).  Aside from the enormous scale of the painting which shows God’s creation of the planets down to the last judgement the real impressive point of it all was that this was Michaelangio’s very first fresco painting.  The art of fresco painting is that the section of wall is freshly plastered and is painted while the plaster is still wet which makes the painting essentially part of the wall and VERY long lasting (aka the fresco paintings in Pompeii).  It’s a shame we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the chapel but flash from cameras can damage fresco paintings and they don’t take chances.

From there we entered the Vatican itself.  The Vatican is the largest church in the world and also has the largest marble floor in the world.  Ornate, huge and awe inspiring are effective descriptive terms but one really has to see it.  The Vatican is also adorned with several fantastic paintings but when you approach them you realize they are actually mosaics not paintings.  This church was built to last.  Definitely check out some of the pictures I took of the inside but it definitely gets my recommendation should you ever venture to Rome.  Apparently the marble just outside of the Vatican was recycled from the Collosseum.

Next up was lunch.  I love lunch and in London I was recommended a place just around the corner from the Collosseum we would not spend a fortune at.  Turned out a number of our group had the same recommendation as we stumbled upon them leaving the metro station and headed there together.  Tracey had some tasty ravoli and I had the first genuinely delicious pizza in Italy cooked in a wood fired oven.  Still doesn’t quite match up to Windsor but damned close.

From lunch we ventured to the Collosseum.  Both Tracey and I were surprised by how much of it was intact.  There is a small section of marble seating remaining but most impressive was the network of construction underneath the arena floor.  The floor itself does not remain but under it was corridors and rooms that I’m sure the animals were stored and moved through.  Very modern in design in many respects and imagining oneself being on the battlefield there was a very humbling experience.

At this point we were pretty tired and had seen alot of the main sights on our walking tour two days before so we briefly walked down the road for some photo opportunities and then made our way back to the campsite.  I made us some chicken tikka masala for dinner with rice and we both consumed a large tub of icecream for dessert (icecream in Italy is fantastic!).  Tomorrow we head to Venice!