Clueless in Vatican City

St. Peter's Basilica
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I awoke this morning realizing it was friday (friday the 13th!) and the last day before the real weekend crowds would flood Rome. Perhaps it would be the best day to check out Vatican City. I took the metro all the way to Vatican City, the smallest nation in the world. When I got off at Ottaviano I followed the immense crowd to St. Peter's Basilica. In front of the Basilica was a huge square surrounded on both sides with a walkway of columns. A tall obelisk statue dominated the center of the square. Then there was a line. A long line. It snaked in an around one of the walkways and then through a metal detector and x-ray machine. Our last stop before entering the basilica was a clothing checkpoint. You were allowed into the church only if your shoulders, belly and the majority of your legs were covered. I loved how they saved this for last. Potentially, you could be forced through the entire line to find out you couldn't enter because you were wearing a tank top. Glad that wasn't me.

The ornate ceiling inside St. Peter's
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I walked into the basilica not too sure what to expect. I have little knowledge or interest in the Christian religion and was worried most of what I was seeing would go right over my head. I was right for the most part. I definitely still appreciated the incredible marble statues and classic paintings and rich decor, but I really had no idea what I was looking at. Very beautiful though.

As I left St. Peter's, I immediately noticed the lines of military men surrounding the square. They seemed to be casually ushering people out of the area. I overheard someone explain that President Bush was in town and had scheduled a conference with the Pope for this very same day. What a mess this caused. For awhile no one was allowed to enter the area surrounding St. Peter's (you could leave though), but the military weren't telling people why. People were confused and frustrated. Luckily, I was on my way out and able to head down to the Vatican with yet another horde of tourists.

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The Vatican was humongous! Since I was most excited to see Michaelangelo's famous ceiling, I began following the signs to the Sistine Chapel, thinking it would be close by and easy to get to. Wrong. To get to the chapel, the museum had cleverly planned a path that seemed to guide you through the entire museum. I walked past tapestries and tombs, statues and stained glass, paintings and portraits until finally I made it to the Sistine Chapel. It was a large open room, packed with people. I barely noticed the crowd however as I stared upward. The incredible artwork filled the entire ceiling and a wall, and was much larger, and higher, than I expected. I recognized a few of the painted bible scenes, the creation of man and Adam and Eve, but the I wasn't sure about the rest of the them. I managed to sneak a picture though, and I was quite proud of this little victory over the museum. That's what they get for forcing culture on me and making me see the entire museum! Ha!

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
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After finally finding an exit, I took the metro back to my hostel. On the way, I got off at Spagna to check out the Spanish Steps. They  were almost completely blanketed in people. And other than the idea that they'd probably look pretty cool without a bunch of tourists sitting on them, I wasn't sure why the steps are so famous. Whatevs. I joined the crowd and sat down for awhile before continuing home.

Back at the hostel I met Carri-Ann and Joel from Canada. They were in their third week of a seven week trip around Europe. They had already been to Amsterdam, Prague, Berlin, Venice, Florence and a slew of cities I can't even remember. Two days ago, Carri-Ann tells me, she accidentally erased all their pictures from the past three weeks. Ouch. I felt so bad for her. After discovering we had been to some of the same places, especially Burano and Murano, she asked if she could have some of my pics. Seems they've spent the last few days collecting pictures from other travellers in the hopes of recreating the trip. Smart idea. We made plans to meet later and look over my week's worth of photos. I was getting hungry.

Kinda cool exit of the Vatican Museum
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I found a market down the street and bought some mozzerella, crackers and apples for dinner. Yum. I ate whilst typing at a nearby internet cafe. Apparently, surfing the net can be quite exhausting, so I headed back to my room, climbed up to my top bunk and waited for sleep. We were situated on a small but fairly busy street and to keep the room from getting too stuffy, the window was almost always open. As I fell asleep I could hear mopeds, piano music, and an accordian being played down the alley. It kept me up for awhile, but it was so Italian I didn't mind a bit.