Med Trip - June 2

We woke to a threat of rain. After a quick breakfast we walked along the Tiber River to Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica, which took about 35 minutes. Just as we were arriving, we hit a cloud burst and got soaked. We met up with our tour guide at 8:30 and toured the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters. There was a constant sea of people inside. Each guide had some item the would raise up above the crowd so you could find where they were. Ours had a scarf on a stick. She was an art expert and was extremely knowledgable. Going from gallery to gallery there was renaissance art everywhere, some with ancient Egyptian and Italian sculptures along the sides, and ceilings covered with paintings. One gallery had large tapestries designed by artist Raphael, who used gold and silver thread to make the images stand out. One had Jesus, with eyes that seemed to follow you from any angle. Some ceiling paintings looked 3D even though they weren't. It was almost over whelming, but due to the crowds and sheer volume, you had to move along at a reasonable clip, not even looking at some of it. I hate to say it but large groups of Chinese were particularly bad at taking over an area and pushing and shoving their way to the prime viewing positions. After the museums, we entered the Sistine Chapel. It is a still functioning chapel so could be closed at any time if the Pope decides to hold mass or some event for dignitaries. It was a large room and the ceiling, painted by Michelangelo by standing on scaffolding and painting for hours above his head, at the threatened insistence of the pope, moved through history from the creation to the flood, David and Goliath, etc to the final entrance into heaven or hell. One side of the room captured images of Jesus's life, and the other side images of Moses's life. The room was wall-to-wall people with some seating along the walls. We had 15 minutes to take it all in. Officials kept telling people to keep moving if you did not get out of the people flow and stand in the middle or luck into an empty seat. The no photography rule was strictly enforced. People were asked to respect that this was a sacred place and not to talk. (You were not allowed in with shorts or uncovered shoulders). Every few minutes a voice would drone, chastising the crowd for noise and telling people to shhh. I don't know what was more annoying, the overcrowding and noisy disrespect, (a lady beside me sat on a seat and was checking her email), or the officials pushing us along. A young Chinese couple even tried to take a selfie! After this, we toured the basilica, which was also amazing. Our tour ended after almost 3 hours, and we had to pay 8 euros each for the privilege of taking an elevator, then climbing 315 more steps to reach the top of the dome. The Vatican charges for everything, and overcharges for most.
After this and wandering around St. Peter's square, which was set up for a special service the next day to recognize some Bishops, we went for lunch. Lunch and dinner always seemed to come down to a choice between pasta or pizza. Today it was lasagna. The lasagna here has very thin, soft lasagna noodles that seem to melt in your mouth. There were perhaps 5 or more layers. The best though was BIL, who was very thirsty and ordered a one litre glass of beer. It was huge, but he managed to finish, with sister's help. The sky turned sunny, and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, visiting the Spanish Steps, which were fenced off for repairs, the Trevi Fountain, which was extremely crowded, the Pantheon, an ancient Roman temple to all the gods of Rome, several other first century monuments and finally back to our apartment so Jo and BIL could rest their swollen limbs. We walked almost 20 kilometres! I am beginning to detest all the stupid selfie sticks everywhere. There were men that should know better walking around with these sticks, taking selfies of every ancient monument in sight. Even young pre-teens had these monstrosities. It seems so self-absorbed to me to feel the need to prominently have your face in front of everything you take a picture of. Ok, rant over.
Our plan was to return to the Trevi Fountain area for dinner and to see the sights at night, but we lost enthusiasm for this after happy hour, so we ate locally. Since dinner usually begins after 8 PM, there is often only time for one glass of wine before bedtime. Our neighbourhood was always hopping with young people. We wanted to try a pizzeria around the corner, but when we got there at 8:30PM, it was packed, and had a long lineup on the sidewalk. We walked there after dinner at about 11 o'clock and it was still lined up.




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