One Short day in Vatican City

    Going in to this trip, I was nervous about how we would plan activities and what we would end up doing with all of our time. I should not have worried at all because we are always finding new things to explore and places to go! Today we made our way over to the Vatican. Vatican city is actually considered a City State, and is the smallest independent state in the world! It's always where our pal the Pope likes to spend his time. This morning we hopped on the metro, which dropped us off just a little bit outside of the Vatican. The streets just outside the walled city were crazy! There were guides everywhere that were trying their hardest to sell us tickets or touring information. They were incredibly pushy and made some fun claims to try and get our attention. "If you go there, you wait for two hours! Come with me!" It was quite absurd, but I was fascinated by it for reasons that are quite unknown. 

    I had heard that the Vatican can be crazy busy and full of lines, but I don't think it was that bad today. The main tourist season in Italy is usually the summer months, so we were lucky to arrive right before those. Upon entering Vatican City we made our way over to a line to get in to see St. Peter's Basilica. Entry into the Basilica was free, but we had to wait in line to go through security. Fortunately the line moved quickly and the view while we waited was gorgeous. It was incredibly sunny today. St. Peter's was amazing. The whole interior is huge and is decked out in a lot of beautiful architecture and artwork. It was very crowded with tourists that were all doing their best to get some good photos. Right in the center of the room was a beautiful pavilion like structure called a baldacchino. It was actually created by Bernini! It was also crazy to think that this is also thought to be the burial sight of Peter himself (hence the name of the Basilica). 

    We also happened to be in the basilica right when they were having a service. As a procession of priest and other Catholic clergy I am not too familiar came through chanting prayers and waving the thurible, I found myself in the terrifying position of standing between the service and crowd of tourists. It was like a stampede as people came running over to snag a photo. I found myself at the front, which while it was cool to snap a good photo, it was a nightmare to try and get out of there! Fortunately while everyone was distracted I managed to explore more of the church, including the basement where there were tombs for many of the different popes. I'm kicking myself because I wish I had researched more about the basilica before going, because now that I am reading about it I realize how much I still managed to miss despite spending so much time wandering about. It's crazy to think about how much history is contained there!

Front view of the Basilica. It' so huge, you can't even really see the dome from the ground view

I still have a kink in my neck from looking up so much

The services taking place and Bernini's baldacchino

Another view of the baldacchino, because I love it so much

    After exploring the inside of the church, we made our way out to St. Peter's Piazza. This area was huge, and also has so much to be seen! We stopped briefly by a little exhibit that had ancient texts that have been preserved and presented. There were some that dated back to just a few years after the death of Christ. It was amazing! We walked through pretty quickly because we were anxious to explore further.

Statues, statues, everywhere

There are fountains all over Rome similar to this that provide water for drinking. I think they're brilliant

Enjoying the view from the Piazza

    A lot of exploring makes you hungry! Our little group made our way over to a restaurant just a few blocks away from the Vatican. We had to travel out a bit before we found a place that offered food for prices that we were willing to pay. Just like most tourist attractions, things get quite expensive. The place that we found was actually quite quaint, and our waitress was ridiculously nice. She spoke excellent English and pulled us in with her winning personality. We ate inside (something we don't actually do very often) and the meal was great. Once again I found myself ordering pizza, trying a basil pizza this time around. We were also quite thrilled because for the first time we were offered bread as an appetizer with authentic olive oil and basaltic vinegar to dip it in! We were all over that! And of course we can't have a meal without following it up with gelato. We had to visit a few different places to find the right prices for that as well, but discovered a delicious new location. There were also some random people that work for the Coca-Cola company that were handing out baby cans of Coke Zero for free. This trip I have been ridiculously in love with Coke, which is weird if you know me because I'm not typically the biggest fan. Just like in Mexico, they use real sugar in their coke here, so I've been loving it. I jumped in and got a delicious soda. And then I came back for seconds, and may have convinced Dallin to grab me a third.....I've got a problem.

Amy and I, ready for food

Bread and oil

I loved how our restaurant even looked like stereotypical Rome

So pretty and so delicious

Free baby sized Cokes! I must be taking after Mom after all :)

   After our many adventures with lunch and treats we went to see The Vatican Museum. We were so confused for most of the morning because we could not see any signs that would tell us where the Sistine Chapel was. We had planned to see St. Peter's Basilica and then the Vatican Museum, and hoped we would eventually stumble upon the chapel during our journeying. Then we became too nervous to ask about the chapel in the fear that we had totally gotten mixed up and the chapel wasn't even in the Vatican. It was quite the crisis. We waited in a line to get into the Vatican Museum that lies just outside of St. Peter's Piazza, and fortunately that line went by quickly as well. When we got inside and paid for entrance we finally realized that the Sistine Chapel is actually part of the Vatican Museum. Aha! We all went different pretty quickly so we could go about the museum.
    One word to describe the Vatican Museum: Huge. I didn't know what to expect from the museum as I had not really heard too much about it, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many things there were to see there! It was housed in a very large structure that was bursting with old Roman works of art. There were frescos, sculptures, paintings, and anything else you could think of hiding in those walls. It was pretty funny because there were signs everywhere pointing you towards the Sistine Chapel. The way the museum was set up made it so that in order to get to the chapel, you essentially had to walk through everything else first. It's a brilliant move, and it's not something I really minded too much because there was just so much to see! Besides ancient Roman works there were even some wonderful works by Rodin, Van Gogh, and Matisse! Suddenly all the knowledge from two college Humanities courses came back to my brain and I started geeking out. It was so amazing!
    And then I came to the Sistine Chapel. Wow. Wow. Wow. I was initially surprised because I had thought that the chapel would be found in something like a cathedral. However, the museum just sort of wrapped around and melded with the chapel. The chapel was also smaller than I had anticipated, but the beautiful Frescos painted by the Michelangelo were fantastic! I was blown away! The chapel was incredibly busy and packed with tourists that were all gawking up at the gorgeous depiction of The Last Judgement. There were rules that enforced silence, though with that many people the whispers still created quite a bit of noise (photography also was not allowed). Despite the packed nature and the general lack of quiet, I still found myself entranced and filled with a calmness. I felt so overwhelmed by the spirit of the place, and all that the images depicted concerning God. I know that my own faith differs a bit from Catholic beliefs, but I still felt so much peace standing in that holy place.
 

A few pictures of the exhibits inside the Vatican Museum 

On the roof of the museum with a view of St. Peter's Dome 

    By this point I think that everyone was absolutely exhausted. We met up at our assigned meeting place after the museum and all collapsed on a bench. The girls decided to go back to the B&B and I was going to go as well when Dallin said that we should try to go back to see La Boca della Verita. I don't really understand it, but I have been dying to go and see this! The ironic thing is that I didn't even know that it existed until a few days ago. I haven't even seen Roman Holiday, the film that helped it gain some fame. But the moment I read about it I have felt drawn to it and really wanted to see. I think the girls think me peculiar for wanting to see it so bad. Dallin has been incredibly nice and supportive about it, and I was excited when he said he wanted to go back to see it with me. The church where the Boca is located was going to close in an hour and was pretty far from where we were, but he and I accepted the challenge and flew across town! A few metro transfers a couple blocks of speed walking and we arrived at the church of Santa Maria where the face resides. There was a small line of people waiting, but we eventually got our turn to stick our hands in that mouth. Dallin had mentioned that he was going to say, “I am telling a lie” to see if the Boca would implode from the paradox. When my turn came, I panicked and said that as well. Fortunately my hand is still intact and the boca survived as well. We then explored the church and even walked down into the crypt. We paid 1 Euro to see the crypt, which was actually just one room that smelled pretty damp, but it was still fun! They even let us a take a photo! How nice.

Hello again Mr. Boca!

Exploring a crypt (most of which is actually featured here...)

My souvenir (and our B&B keys that I am also kind of fond of)

Our view as we made our way back home

 
 When When we returned to the Bed and Breakfast around six, we found that the girls had all fallen asleep. Dallin and I sat around for a little while, but when the girls continued to sleep we decided to go and grab some dinner. We ordered some pizzas to go from a pretty cheap restaurant that is just down the road, and ate it in the B&B. The rest of the night was pretty relaxed, which I think we all needed very badly. We have been so busy and seen so much, but it’s also good to rest a little as well. I feel so blessed to be here and though I don’t want to feel like I’ve wasted any time, it’s good to just sit and take it all in as well.

Eating in tonight