Tired and Ripped off in Rome

Wednesday 28^th May

We decided to do the tour of the Vatican this morning because the crowds would be less due to everyone being at the Pope’s blessing in St Peters square. Well if everyone was in the square, then where did all the people come from in the Vatican? We had booked a tour so didn’t have to wait in line, but inside the Vatican the crowds were just unreal. According to our tour guide there has been a resurgence of interest in the church under the new Pope and crowds have been huge since he was appointed. She said they would expect to see 100,000 people in the square this morning!

The entrance to the Vatican with the Vatican coat of arms
- Michelangelo on the left and Raphael on the right.

Our first view of St Peter's Basilica

 We are glad we did the tour with a guide as she took us to see the main items in the museum. On our own it might have taken forever and we would probably miss something. The statues and tapestries were just stunning and we really enjoyed Raphael’s rooms and the gallery of maps – just incredible works of art. The frescoes on the walls and ceilings throughout many rooms in the museum were just beautiful. Far too many to take pictures of. Also some of the floors had wonderful mosaics in them.

Apollo

Laocoon and his two sons - Laocoon was a man who said
'beware of Greeks bearing gifts' relating to the Trojan horse.
He was thought to be a prophet and he and his sons were executed
- they should have listened. The rest is history.

Just some of the fresco work on the ceilings.

This gilded bronze statue of Heracles was found in 1864
beneath the courtyard of the Palazzo Pio Righetti.
It was lying horizontally in a trench and covered by a slab of travertine.
The statue had been struck by lightning and, following the Roman custom,
had been granted a ritual burial.
The statue is dated to between the end of the 1^st
and the beginning of the 3^rdcentury A.D.

Just one of the floor mosaics.

A section of one of the 16th century tapestries.
How many people, how many years?

One of the maps in the map room
- commissioned in 1580 by Pope Gregory XIII

Looking the length of the map gallery.

One of Raphael's frescoes.

The ceiling in one of Raphael's rooms.

This figure (appears in Raphael's large painting above)
 is Michelangelo writing poetry.

And the fellow in the black hat is Raphael himself
- apparently they were not allowed to sign their art works
and this was their way of doing so.

Beautiful marble top on this table
 - looks like Dahlia quilt pattern. 

OF course the final piece de resistance in the Vatican is the Sistine Chapel. It was standing room only in the chapel – packed in like sardines. By the time we got here we were desperate to sit down but there were no seats and they were trying to move people through as quickly as possible. No photos were allowed in here so you just had to stand and try to absorb it all. It really is an amazing piece of work and incredible to think of the actual execution of the paintings.

We finally left the museum and headed directly for lunch. Tired and desperate to sit down we made the mistake of heading for the nearest restaurant and ordering food without looking at the menu and therefore not aware of the cost. Ripped off mightily – and it wasn't even nice!

 

Waiting in line for tickets to the museum.

Yet another flavour of Italian uniform - he saluted someone
who drove through is a car so must be something official,
 not just dress-ups.

We finally visited St Peters square (which is not square) and looked at the lines of people waiting to go into the Basilica. We had already decided not to go in so we saved ourselves a very long wait. By now we were both totally worn out so we headed back to the hotel on very crowded metro trains. I have decided that Italian men are very rude when it comes to the metro – they are the first to push their way on to the trains and will grab any vacant seats – no notion of giving up seats for the old ladies.

St Peters square - looks empty but that is because
they are all in a queue  that goes right around the square waiting to go to the Basilica
- you can see them behind Rob in the photo below.

Just some of the crowd of people in the area.
Along this road there were many Africans selling handbags,
scarves, sunglasses, etc. etc.
Again it was amazing to see the road clear when there was sight of the police.