Skip to main content

Vatican Museum

We enjoyed lunch on our own and some shopping before meeting our local guide, Antonio, for the beginning of our guided tour.

We began with the Vatican Museum - well, parts of it. The place is HUGE. Everywhere you turned, there was another beautifulstatue, painting, etc. From floor to ceiling the place was impressive.

We began in the Courtyard (one of them), then stopped at the staue of Apollo, which Michaelangelo used the face of as inspiration for Christ's face in his "Last Judgement". Antonio told us about how they made the staues and differences between Greek and Roman sculpture.

We walked down a hallway of tapestries. Raphael painted what he wanted these to look like (on cardboard) and sent them to the factory for production. Using the finest silks and materials, the replicated his visions and produced stunning floor to ceiling tapestries. The ceilings in this hall were painted with lots of shadowing - giving the illusion of sculpture on the ceiling - but were simply paintings. They reminded some of us of cameos - but on a much larger scale.

Off to the Sistine Chapel - No words we write can accurately describe this room. Speechless....

We then left the Museum and entered St. Peter's Basilica. The largest Catholic church in the world was truly enormous! Again, nearly every inch was covered by some work of art. The altar and marble canopy alone were a marvel to see (and we got the surprise of seeing what must have been an "altar boy" standing on the altar to check the feet-high candlesticks).

The group walked and walked, we saw some of the most impressive works of art in history, we enjoyed learning from Antonio as well as Allyson and we were nothing if not impressed. BUT, we battled crowds throughout the tour. Keeping up with Antonio was sometimes tough as our iterest was drawn to so many works through the tour. We did not even cover half the ground available and still saw so much. Even after all that walking about 6 of the group stayed behind with Allyson hoping to climb the 500+ steps to the dome in the Basilica and check out even more!

We'll enjoy dinner in our hotel and an early wake-up tomorrow as we head to Florence. everyone sends their love to family and friends back home (you were in our thoughts and prayers today as we shared time with the Pope and in the most famous church in the entire world.

Comments

Unknown said…
This is very good information.i think it's useful advice. really nice blog. keep it up!!!
vatican museums

tickets

Popular posts from this blog

Barcelona - Dos

Day two in Barcelona has been fantastic! Jose gave us lots of information on the artist Gaudi - not born here but arrived in 1852 to attend the university.  His artistic style and influence can be seen across the city. We stopped at Park Guell which was an amazing outdoor area Gaudi designed near the home he lived in.  Inspired by nature, fairy tales and classical legends the park is beautiful.  With its kissing benches, 'candy house', salamander and plaza with the longest bench in the world it is a work of art in itself. Some of us made the walk up to the top where the three crosses are - and found even more breathtaking views of the city. From there we headed back downtown for a short walk to La Sagrada Familia cathedral.  Design by Gaudi and still not yet finished, it is very unique and ornate.  Just walking around the outside, Jose had enough informatiion to share about its intricacies that it took some time.  The line for entrance was nearly wrapped around the ch

Cordoba

First our morning started with an alarm - or a lack of one; as Mary Jane and Pat's room never received a wakeup call.  So everyone else was on the bus ready to go when they finally got a knock on the door.  What troopers they were, though!  In 15 minutes they were on the bus with everyone and not long after they were able to laugh at the 'chaos' of it all. Our local guide Isabel was just delightful - and clearly has a love for her city.  She tells us that filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is from here as we begin our walk. First we go through the old Jewish center.  Nearly all of the city's buildings are white-washed (originally by the women we hear). We stop at an old Jewish synagogue and learn some history of the area.  Then we stop at the statue of a famous rabbi ( can you name him ?) which legend is that by rubbing his foot and then touching your own head you will get taller and wiser.  most of us did that - some hoping for extra height, others for a bit of wisdom!

2011: Day 4 - Vienna

Another great day! We had a 6am wake up call - but it paid off! Our tour director, Robert, secured the first reservations of the day at Shronbrunn Palace - which meant we were the only guests in the Palace for the most part. We went room to room with our own local guide, Gabi, for a nearly private tour! A one-of-a-kind experience for sure. The Palace and Gardens were beautiful. 1,441 rooms and acres and acres of grounds. We learned about Mary Theresa (and all of her 16 children). This was the summer palace for the Hapsburg dynasty. We then switched gears and went to see modern art at KunstHausWien - what a creative artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser was. And a man who epitomized eco-friendly living and work. A very different experience after our tour of the Palace. Next was a driving tour of some of the city's monuments, etc. with a stop for lunch along the way. We ended with a walking tour to additional historic spots and a tour of the downtown palace - the winter residence of the