Day 2 in Rome: Vatican City

We started out the day with breakfast at the hotel; because all we eat here is carbs (pizza and pasta...yum) and gelato, I had granola and yogurt, but italian yogurt is GROSS. It doesn't have any sugar and is really milky, in case you were curious-ew. Anyways, then we took a quick bus ride out to Vatican City.

Seeing the Vatican was the thing I was looking forward to most about Italy, and it did not disappoint.

 

(the sun was in our eyes haha-super attractive)

We started out in the museum galleries and saw lots of beautiful paintings dating hundreds of years ago. My favorites were the Renaissance paintings of different scenes from the Bible--it's so amazing to see the famous scenes depicted in such great detail. I also enjoyed learning a lot of stories about the different popes and saints (which Nick definitely helped with since he grew up going to Catholic school). After the dozens of different painting galleries, we saw rooms filled with stone busts and statues and tons of historical artifacts from ancient Egypt to ancient Rome to basically ancient everywhere (except, obviously, America since our history, which I do love, isn't even history compared to this). Artwork was everywhere: on the ceilings, all four walls, and even the floors. 

Everything was great, until we had been touring for FOUR HOURS with no breaks, and Micah and I were wearing sandals, so our feet hurt SO BAD. No matter how many passive aggressive comments I made about stopping to rest (which I'm sure everyone enjoyed), Nick and Mukul insisted on seeing EVERY piece of artwork in the probably 80+ rooms (some of which were huge). 

After even they got tired, which I think literally took centuries, we went into the Raphael rooms and were BLOWN AWAY by all the beautiful, and incredibly busy, murals that covered the huge walls and ceilings. Finally, the moment came that we had all been anticipating, and we had definitely saved the best for last; we entered the Sistene Chapel and saw all the Michelangelo paintings. I definitely thought it was 

beautiful, but I wish we had gotten to see it without so many tourists inside talking (they were supposed to be silent).

(Raphael Room Wall)

When we finished touring the museum, we took a much-needed break for lunch. We all couldn't even make it to a restaurant because we had been walking so long (around 8 am to 4pm nonstop), so we took a break on the Vatican wall and regained energy, then went to a little cafe for lunch. 

After lunch, we went and saw St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church of Christendom. This church was definitely the most beautiful place I have ever seen and will probably ever see. I teared up a few times because it was so glorious. 

Finally, we decided to take it easy and rest for awhile, so we rested on a wall near the Castle San Angelo (from Angels and Demons), which also was right on the river:

Finally, we just ate dinner and went to sit on the Trevi fountain and relax for awhile at night, complete with gelato of course. Rome is wonderful but I do miss everyone at home! Hope summer in d-town/southlake/austin/wherever is great!