Just Another Day in Paradise!: Rome Italy Day 4 (Vatican City)

Friday, January 20, 2023 – Vatican City Day

We had a 5 hour tour scheduled for the Vatican City at 8:00am so we had to bypass breakfast this day to give us plenty of time to figure out the metro system and get to our meeting point. We had pre booked the entire tour which included St Peter’s Basilica, Climbing the steps to the top of the St Peter’s dome, the crypt underneath the Basilica, the Vatican museums, and Sistine Chapel. So happy we chose to do the complete tour. I would have been sad to miss anything that we did. We toured the grounds first. Our guide Chiara was so awesome. We all fell in love with her. She kept calling us her friends from Utah and would constantly pick on Adam, always making sure she knew where he was and making sure he knew where his Eve was Haha!) She pointed out where the Pope usually lives and his bedroom window but that the current Pope didn’t want to live in such a lavish place so he moved to a little studio in a smaller palace. She pointed out the window of where the Pope speaks from and the chimney on Sistine chapel where the smoke comes from when voting in a new pope. Inside St Peter’s Dome we climbed 551 steps to the very top. The dome is the highest point in Rome and offers fantastic views of the city. It was well worth the climb. After the climb we toured St Peter’s Basilica, which was amazing. The entire thing was mosaic art from wall to wall and ceiling. After the Basilica we went down to the Crypt (no pictures were allowed) and saw where Peter is buried, along with numerous (91) other Popes. After the Basilica we got an hour break to eat and rest before the 2^nd part of the tour where we toured the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. The Museum consists of 4 miles and 26 different museums. It was so fascinating. There was a museum for statues, for tapestries, for maps, dedicated to animals, to certain saints. We only saw a small portion of what these museums contain, and it was a ton. So much to see and take in. Couldn’t take pictures fast enough. Again, I could not imagine this place during busy season. Our guide says the people are hurried through like cattle. It is said, that there are so many pieces of art in Vatican City that if you looked at each piece for 10 seconds each, it would take 5 years to look at them all. Adam favorite story that we heard while touring was that a thousand years ago a pope decided that the penis's on the statues made people have bad thoughts so we had them all cut off. Then a few hundred years after that, a pope went through and had fig leaves but on most of them. Now, the pope today has asked that all the penis's be added back on. Apparently, there are several totes full in the basement. Haha!

The Sistine Chapel was beautiful. There are no pictures or talking allowed, so our guide told us all about the paintings and art and Michelangelo before we entered so we had a better understanding of what we were seeing and then we were on our own. The ceiling is unbelievable. We bought a puzzle of the ceiling just so we could have a picture of it. After the tour, we were free to spend as much time there as we wanted.

Afterwards, we walked the streets, grabbed a bite and made our way to the Castel Sant’ Angelo. Which was a huge ancient castle. This was pretty cool. The lower levels were the castle part and it was cool to see trap doors, a mote, and draw bridges but the upper level was living quarter for the family and it just got weird with lots of naked paintings and stuff, which weren't tastefully done like in the Vatican. After the castle, we crossed the St Angelo Bridge. Which is a massive bridge with 12 life size statues of angels lining each side. We made our way back to the hotel and while Ryan and Jenni went to bed, Adam and I walked down the street a couple blocks and got Gelato. We tucked ourselves in to bed a little later than usual. That night, Adam’s heart went into A Fib. (One of my biggest fears was something happening to Adam’s heart while in a different country) but it ended up just being mild and we were able to control it with extra meds. However, it’s hard to sleep after so much excitement that the next morning we slept through our alarm.

Waiting for Ryan and Jenni in the hotel Lobby. Ready for another full day exploring Rome.

First time using the metro, by the end of our trip we were pros.

This terminal was sooo far underground

Waiting on the platform for our train to arrive.

They love Christmas. You could still still Christmas lights and decorations everywhere.

Passetto di Borgo. Passage that links Vatican City with Castel Sant' Angelo. On at least two occations it served as an escape route for Popes in danger.

Beautiful sunrise while waiting for our tour guide and to go through security...again in to Vatican City.

Vatican City. The worlds smallest country. It is a country within a country. Thank goodness for Adam's panoramic pictures. He was taking them all week and they turned out awesome!

St Peters Square and ancient Egyptian obelisk. This is where the Pope blesses people.

St Peter's Basilica

St Peters Basilica and Dome

Vatican Obelisk

Sistine Chapel. Brown building in the very back. This is where the crowds stand and look up to see if it's white or grey smoke. The chimney is portable and only there on voting days.

Apostolic Palace. Which is usually the official residence of the Pope. But the new pope resides in a small palace because he wanted something a little less lavish.

The Popes bedroom window is the 2nd from the right and his office is the corner. The new pope still uses this window when he blesses the crowds.

Where the new Pope Francis lives. We knew the pope was there by the Swiss guard outside his door.

More of the Basilica

This is the window that a pope uses when they are first introduced as the new pope.

Swiss Guard.

The Swiss guard are residences in Vatican City. There are only about 800 residence in Vatican with the pope, guards, government and church officials.

Walking around the backside to get to the Dome.

We climbed 220 steps to get to the bottom part of the dome.

Made it!! Those that didn't want to climb the first half could take an elevator and the climb the next, but we wanted to experience it all!

Roof of the sistine chapel

Ceiling of the Basilica

Halfway up

Mosaics

Looking down in the Basilica

and up to the dome.

The second climb was 331 steps and would gradually get thinner and tighter and slant inward as we climbed through the dome.

Just when we'd think we made it, there would be another set to climb, steeper and thinner than the first.

Oh, but was it worth it!!!

The Basilica is the highest point in Rome and the view was spectacular.

I spy the humongous museum...again and Colosseum.

Looking down at the Governors Palace

Looking up at the very tip top of the dome.

Heading back down. I told Adam to walk slow, so I could take a picture, so he started to walk in slow motion. Haha!

And then he got stuck because the walls were so thin. Haha!

More Steps!

Potty break. Adam and I both came out with pictures of the bathroom. The girls never had toilet seats to sit on, we had to squat.

Some of the mens were just in the floor, they had to aim.

And then to turn on the water we had to step on the peddle. During one bathroom break, days before, Adam came out with soap on his hands and said the faucet didn't work. Jenni then came out and told him that there was a peddle on the ground. Haha!

To the halfway point again. We were up at the very top of the dome, where the fence is.

St Peters Basilica. EVERYTHING in the Basilica is Mosaic. All the floors, ceilings and walls.

St Peters Baldacchino. This is a large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy.

Michelangelo's Pieta'

His most famous statue that he sculpted at just 23 years old.

Our tour guide said that during busy season, you can't get within 50 feet of this because of the crowds. We were able to get right up to the glass.

The Pope John Paul's tomb.

91 popes are buried here at St Peter's Basilica but most of them are underneath the church in the crypt with Peter but John Paul was such a popular pope that traffic got too busy in the crypt so they moved him upstairs. His spot remained empty until a week before we got there when Pope Benedict died and was buried there.

This is Pope John XXIII actual body preserved in wax.

This guy was such a trooper, his back was hurting him but it didn't slow him down a bit...just needed to find things to lean on every once in while...another reason our guide kept tabs on him:)

The circles in the middle of the floor were awesome. They showed how small other churches were compared to the Basilica by the markings on the floor. Norte Dam could fit inside St Peters Basilica.

The Popes Alter. Peter is buried underneath where the candles are. We were able to go down inside the crypt but couldn't take pictures.

There were setting up chairs and preparing the alter for a special meeting the Pope was holding that Sunday.

St Peter. Up until a few years ago (covid) people could touch his foot and prayer for blessing but it has become so tarnished they stop letting people touch it.

Heading down to the Crypt.

After our St Peters Basilica Tour. We had an hour break and met our group at the Vatican Museum.

As we walked out of the Basilica, we saw the changing of the Swiss guards.

Pretty Cool!

We stopped by the Vatican Post Office and mailed the girls a post card.

It got here about two weeks later.

We grabbed some slices of pizza (they call it take away instead of take out) and ate it as we walked to the Museum Entrance.

Leaving Peters Square

We had to walk out and around the edge of Vatican City to the Museum. These tall walls surround the entire city/country.

Museum Entrance.

Bramante Staricase (Momo Staircase) built by Scala Elicoidale Momo in 1505

These stairs provided a cool optical illusion.

Vatican Gardens with views of the Dome.

The hall of busts

The tour continually went from indoor to outdoors and then in again!

Pio-Clementino museum.

Laocoon and his Sons. One of the most famous statues at Vatican

The hall of animals

Hercules of the Theatre of Pompey.

This was an ancient bath that was so big they built the room around it.

The floor is mosaic and was transferred to the Vatican from another location.

This is a tomb that is made of red marble. This tomb is now priceless because the red marble can not be found anymore.

The hall of tapestry's. All depicting a time in Christs life.

This is not embossed, it was painted to look 3D. The entire hall was lined with these type of paintings.

Look at this ceiling!

Mosaic floor. I told Adam in our next house, we're doing mosaic flooring because apparently, it lasts thousands of years. After the Museums we had time to visit the Sistine chapel on our own. It was awesome. Michalango was so talented.