Next in Rome was a day at the Vatican!
We arrived at St. Peter's Square and it was awesome to behold such a famous place. Then we were able to chat with three priests from around the world: Burundi, Thailand, and Scotland. It was a warm welcome to such a holy site for 1 billion people.
After we figured out how to enter the Vatican Museums, we got the student discount and had zero lines! Take that annoying tour guide people harassing us all the way in about "1.5 hour lines."
Anyhoo, the Vatican grounds and museums were awesome, here are a few of our faves:
So many of my favorite and most famous pieces of art I have studied were housed in the Vatican Museums; apparently the Vatican has the largest religious art collection in the world.
We then got to see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel which was beautiful but you are not allowed to take photographs. Sorry!
Then on to St. Peter's Basilica itself. One word: BREATHTAKING. Not only was it the biggest church I have ever seen; it was gorgeous! It has a long nave with a huge dome and an awesome baldacchino. It also had huge amazing sculptures by Bernini and the famous Pieta by Michelangelo. Definitely a must see if you visit Rome. I also strongly recommend following a secret path: follow the tour groups instead of individual people when you leave the Sistine Chapel if you do this you can cut straight to enter the St.Peter's, otherwise you have to exit and return all the way outside and back in.
It was beautiful and very much a must see in Rome. Probably our favorite place in our whole trip.
After the Vatican, we found a nice dinner and then stumbled on this main shopping area. We then got delicious Nutella gelato and sat down to eat it on some big steps. They turned out to be famous Spanish steps where lots of people hang out or meet friends and is one of the most famous gathering places in Rome.
We arrived at St. Peter's Square and it was awesome to behold such a famous place. Then we were able to chat with three priests from around the world: Burundi, Thailand, and Scotland. It was a warm welcome to such a holy site for 1 billion people.
After we figured out how to enter the Vatican Museums, we got the student discount and had zero lines! Take that annoying tour guide people harassing us all the way in about "1.5 hour lines."
Anyhoo, the Vatican grounds and museums were awesome, here are a few of our faves:
We then got to see Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel which was beautiful but you are not allowed to take photographs. Sorry!
Then on to St. Peter's Basilica itself. One word: BREATHTAKING. Not only was it the biggest church I have ever seen; it was gorgeous! It has a long nave with a huge dome and an awesome baldacchino. It also had huge amazing sculptures by Bernini and the famous Pieta by Michelangelo. Definitely a must see if you visit Rome. I also strongly recommend following a secret path: follow the tour groups instead of individual people when you leave the Sistine Chapel if you do this you can cut straight to enter the St.Peter's, otherwise you have to exit and return all the way outside and back in.
It was beautiful and very much a must see in Rome. Probably our favorite place in our whole trip.
Then we walked down to Castel Sant' Angelo and along the river.
After the Vatican, we found a nice dinner and then stumbled on this main shopping area. We then got delicious Nutella gelato and sat down to eat it on some big steps. They turned out to be famous Spanish steps where lots of people hang out or meet friends and is one of the most famous gathering places in Rome.
It was a great day and we saw so many cool things! Rome continues tomorrow!
Thanks for sharing all the fun pictures!!
ReplyDelete