The REAL reason I'm here!

I came to Rome out of a love for art. I've seem many great works of art over the years, but the one thing I've always wanted to see (well, at least since college) is the Sistine Chapel. That's why I'm in Rome and not in Paris or Hawaii (the next 2 places I hope to go). So on my first full day in Rome I headed straight to the Vatican Museum as soon as I'd had some coffee (Caffe Americano).

The line to get in was around the block. I waited as patiently as I possibly could under the circumstances. Once I got in, I hurried past all of the other amazing exhibits and followed the signs to the Sistine Chapel which is normally one of the last things seen by visitors to the museum. Down hallways, twisting and turning, down and then up again, I followed the signs through the vast labrynth. Then there it was! I have no photos because none are allowed there. But that's okay because none could convey the absolute perfection of Michelangelo's design and the emotion that I felt at seeing this masterpiece. I had heard that the chapel was small, but I was unprepared for just how small. In the pictures it looks so large because of the masterful way that Michelangelo created the illusion of space. There was The Last Judgement, the Creation of Adam, the Delphic Sibyl... All of those wonderful panels I knew so well. It was an experience beyond description. I saw the Chapel twice that day, going back before I left the museum after circling back through all of the other fine exhibits.

After the Sistine Chapel, my favorite part of the museum was the Sculpture collection. It is unbelievable! There are literally hundreds!! ...heads, torsos animals, emperors, popes. Just room after room. Here are a few pictures from that section. This one shows the beautiful ceiling and pillars:

Some of the sculpture was outdoors around a small 'piazza'.

This one I doctored up a bit because I like the agonized face and twisted torso. So do most people. It's part of a quite famous piece.

While browsing the sculpture, we were actually walking on this amazing mosaic floor:

The Vatican Museum is huge and the art collection vast. All of the walls and ceilings are decorated in high style. This is one of my favorite rooms:

The colors were absolutely stunning. Here is a quiet corner in this same room:

Here is a ceiling panel I was especially fond of...

It's rather surrealistic, don't you think?

One thing I really admired about the musem was that there were very few barriers. Hardly any velvet ropes, no 'Do Not Touch' signs. They had these small wooded stool-type chairs scattered about for folks to rest on that, by our standards, definitely qualified as antiques. It was rather incredible.

Another thing I noticed: In the section just before the Sistine Chapel there was a sizeable collection of modern religious art. Now keep in mind that we're near the end of the tour and everyone has been in the museum for several hours most likely and they'e just a few more twists and stairs away from the famous Sistine Chapel, so they hurry by 'this modern stuff''. I did the same thing the first time through. The second time through, however, I realized that I had walked right past two paintings by Salvador Dali! So I stopped to take a better look at what was there. You don't get into the Vatican collection unless SOMEBODY thinks you're good!

After the Vatican Museum, I went to St Peter's to see Michelangelo's Pieta. Just the Piazza and the outside of the building are awesome enough and I spent a good deal of time there oohing and ahing and taking plenty of pictures. Then I went inside... There is no way that I can describe this to you that could possibly convey the absolute majesty of this structure! I was stunned! First, it's huge - massive! And decorated with the most glorious and incredible sculptures I have ever seen. Just unbelievable!! Then, of course, there's Michelangelo's dome!

Here is a photo. Compared to the real thing it's like looking at a bubble gum comic...

As you can probably tell, I'm a Michelangelo fan (as well as Salvador Dali - go figure). Today I hunted down the Moses at the tomb of Pope Julius II. The building it's in is so off the beaten path and so ordinary looking, I never would have found it without my map and a strong desire to see it. I don't want to disgust you with an overuse of superlatives so I'll just say that it was well worth the hunt. If you have never read 'The Agony and the Ecstasy' by Irving Stone, I highly recommend it! It's a biographical novel about Michelangelo and the times in which he lived and created. It's really a great story and provides a lot of insight into his work.

That's it! Had some totally yummy rigatoni with bacon (who knew?) for dinner. The service deteriorated markedly when I ordered a Heineken with my meal instead of wine. (How do you say faux pas in Italian?) How pedestrian of me! Ciao!