Every book that we had looked through has said that the lines for the Vatican are HORRIBLY long, so as we were making our way over there, people kept asking us if we wanted tours, saying that we would get to skip all the lines and get straight in. Blah blah blah. It sounded like it would be a good idea, as we only had one day in Rome, and didn't want to spend it waiting in line. So, we paid the 40 freakin' euro to get the tour. Only to walk up to the museum with the group and see NO ONE. There was no friggin' line!!!! UGH! Suffice it to say, I was quite angry. It just seems wrong to con someone like that on a tour of the frickin' VATICAN!!!!....ugh.....anyway.
Jackie and her pretty yellow sticker, which we had to wear to mark us as stupid tourists who got conned into a tour. Ugh.
So, the tour was pretty cool, although it took a lot longer than perhaps I would have preferred. Oh well. We saw WAAAAAAY too much for me to try and narrate the whole tour, so here are a few shots.
On to the Sistine Chapel- which first of all, you can't get to without seeing the ENTIRE Vatican museum. Not that we weren't going to see it anyway, but just throwing that out there for anyone who may go to Rome in the future and just wants to see the Sistine Chapel- can't do it! lol.
Ok, so now we're going to take a sidebar to talk about Michaelangelo. I'm just going to say this, and know that there is no other way to put this that completely describes this guy: Michaelangelo was a BADASS. To expand on this concept, let's talk about his work on the Sistine Chapel. The Pope who commissioned Michaelangelo was kind of a jerkface. He and Michaelangelo didn't get along at all. But Mikey (as our tour guide affectionately referred to him as, lol) did it anyway, because you can't really say no to the Pope. The Pope really liked Michaelangelo's work, as a SCULPTOR. He commissioned him to PAINT the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel knowing that Mikey knew nothing about fresco painting. But, Mikey was a fast learner, so he soon mastered the tecnique and the ceiling turned out PERFECT. And then Michaelangelo put a few elements into the ceiling to spite the Pope- he painted a scene of God from behind knowing that the Pope would have to see God's butt every time he looked up when delivering mass. Also, he painted two different children giving old men who coincidentally (or not) looked like the jerkface Pope the old version of "the bird", which is a fist with the thumb sticking out between two fingers. He also painted a church official who demanded that he paint over some of the nudity in the chapel in the lowest part of hell in the Last Judgment with a snake biting off his you-know-what. LOL. Seriously, this guy didn't take crap from ANYBODY. Awesome. :)
Speaking of the Sistine Chapel, you are technically not supposed to take pictures at all, not even those without flash. This is because when the Japanese paid to have the ceiling restored, they got the rights to it. So, at first, we were trying to be really sneaky about taking pictures.
Here is my first failed attempt at a sneak attack.
But, then everyone else was bold-facedly taking pictures. The security folks kept saying "No photos" very apathetically, and they weren't actually making anyone put away cameras or anything. I personally believe that they Italians are ticked off about the whole Japan thing, and they allow pictures without flash as their way of sticking it to the Japanese for taking away rights to THEIR masterpiece. However, they DO attack anyone who is STUPID enough to take a picture with flash. Understandable. I mean, is it REALLY that hard to turn the flash off? NO. And they really make an example of anyone who does, by immediately escorting them out of the Chapel.
After the Chapel, it was on to the Basilica of St. Peter. Keep in mind, that there are NO paintings in St. Peter's. Anything that looks like a painting, is actually a mosaic. CRAZY.
La Pieta by Michaelangelo- the only piece he ever signed and dated.
The tomb of St. Peter.
The Vatican was fun! (except for the getting ripped off on the tour part, but oh well!) Next, we headed to the Colosseum!
For more pictures from our Vatican adventure check out my Picasa album- and try to identify the two celebrity look alikes from the museum!
Stay tuned for part II of our day in Roma!
Ciao!
No comments:
Post a Comment