Day 4: From Rome to Florence

Sistine Chapel... Michelangelo... Visitors to Sistine chapel or any domes in Italy, bring an mirror with you. It could save your neck from wrecking..
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Time for the world famous Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.

It was Monday morning around 8am when we left for Vatican museum.  The Termini Station was packed with streams of people.  We were literally sandwiched between people, rubbing against each other in order to get into the subway..  The presence of the armed policemen alarmed me tremendously, not of pickpocket but of terrorism.  Man! I sure have lived in the States for too long.  For some reason we had totally forgotten about the danger of pickpocket until we were reminded by one of the police.  My niece quickly held on to her money pouch while I put my backpack on the front.  Either our Asian face were very conspicuous among the crowd or we just appeared such an easy target, my niece's money pouch was indeed being pulled as soon as we got on the train.  But thankfully, nothing was stolen.  Or else, we would have spent the rest of our trip at the Malaysia Embassy where I would have to deal with the unpleasant INEFFICIENCY of my country's governmental departments.

Right there (Sistine Chapel), the time seemed to have stood still.

Sistine Chapel... Michelangelo...
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Vatican City: It was an unbelievable sight: there was already a 2km long of a queue awaiting us at the entrance of Vatican Museum.  My heart sank deep.  (Reader of this blog, please please do make a reservation ahead of time for this museum.)

We got in after a painful 2-1/2-hour of standing in line.  I have watched at least 2 DVDs of documentary on Vatican city prior to this trip.  None of those can prepare me to see what was before me.  I was in awe and speechless at the ceiling after ceiling filled with frescoes or paintings.  We fast paced through halls after halls of paintings, sculptures, and artifacts dated thousands of years back, until we reached the unparalleled sublimity of Sistine Chapel.  The ceiling that is filled with Michelangelo's paintings drawn by his angelic hands.  I don't know why.  Right there, the time seemed to have stood still.  A sense of sacredness and also sadness overwhelmed me.  I didn't have enough time to study/enjoy it.  Nothing can bring me back to Rome, but this one.   Even so, the sight of these biblical/religious paintings/frescoes on the ceiling has quinsted my thirst for art.  I can live peacefully even if I don't visit another art museum for the rest of  my life now that I have seen it.  Michelangelo was NOT confident for this task when he was commissioned by one of the Popes in his time as he saw himself more of a sculptor than a painter.  Personally, his masterly understanding of the human anatomy and movement in his paintings touches my soul more than anyone else's and more than his sculptures.  The poem below would explain Michelangelo's 4 years of mental suffering from the undertaking.

One of my favorite sculptures.. A caring dad gently holding his baby.. A replica. The original one is in Greek.
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"This comes from dangling from the ceiling–

I'm goitered like a Lombard cat

(or wherever else their throats grow fat)–

it's my belly that's beyond concealing,

Christ's resurrection.... it is a piece of cloth... thread by thread these characters are woven into the piece of cloth...
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it hands beneath my chin like peeling.

My beard points skyward, I seem a bat

upon its back, I've breasts and splat!

On my face the paint's congealing.

Inside Vatican Museum.. ceiling after ceiling is filled with various kind of fresco.....
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Loins concertina'd in my gut,

I drop an arse as counterweight

and move without the help of eyes.

Like a skinned martyr I abut

Vatican museum.
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on air, and, wrinkled, show my fat.

Bow-like, I strain toward the skies.

No wonder then I size

things crookedly; I'm on all fours.

one of the ceilings in Vatican museum.
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Bent blowpipes send their darts off-course.

Defend my labor's cause,

good Giovanni, from all strictures:

I live in hell and paint its pictures."

one of the ceilings in Vatican museum.
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Michelangelo Buonarroti

http://www.michelangelo.com/buon/bio-index2.html - a website about him...

We rushed back to our hostel to grab our backpack before catching our train to Florence.  I tried REAL hard to shake off the regret of the time constraint that prevented me from soaking myself in Michelangelo's painting .  I found myself repeating this statement internally for the rest of the trip, "It is okay, Hannah.  You can come back again" and then found myself answering, "Yes, I will be back."

Biblical story was depicted, thread by thread woven together, on a big piece of cloth. Amazing.
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The train ride to Florence was not as beautiful as I have dreamed/heard of.  Tuscany, here we come..........

It was dusk when we got to Florence.  The train station is a bit old, dirty, and definitely 4 or 5 times smaller than that in Rome.

I had heard a lot of positive things about the hostel we were going to stay for the next four days.  It located across the station and two streets down on the right of Via Nazionale.  I was kind of looking forward to seeing it.  Was I surprised to see the hostel?  Yes, I was.  So was my niece.

stunning painting. Vatican museum.
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It is a three-storey building with almost all its walls either being signed by its temporary tenants/backpackers or painted with modern arts..  Besides, sculptures are placed at nearly every corner on the ground floor.  Six computers with flat screen monitors are in the hallway next to the staircase and adjacent to the reception desk.  Each tenant is given a distinct username and password at checked-in time.  These username and password prevent outsiders from using the Internet and also limit the tenants to a duration of 30 minutes per use and 1 hour max per day.  There are also four vending machines for bottled waters, fruits, snacks, and even microwavable Italian cuisines at a very decent price..  For example, a 1Liter bottled water costs between 3 and 3.50 Euro at the kiosk on the street, you pay 1 Euro here.  It also provides a microwave, hot water, laundromat, and a few luggage storage rooms for those who already check out for the day.  Each tenant has his/her own locker in the room, clean tower, clean and wrinkle free bed linen, and a blanket.  Each room comes with a sink and/or bathroom depending the price you pay.  It has a spacious cafeteria where it serves FREE continental buffet style of breakfast (which is very yummy) and a comfortable outdoor garden for people to hang around and make friends.  The owner of this hostel must be an experienced backpackers.  Anything I can think of to make my traveling economical, you name it, it provides them all.  I learned a new business concept: Hostel management.  (Among the three hostels we stayed in, this is the cheapest and yet the best one.)

one of the ceilings in Vatican museum.
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We had a good dinner in one of the restaurants nearby where we stayed.  I ordered a dish with boar; my niece ordered spaghetti with mussels.  The best dinner we had in our entire trip.. yum yummy...