Parent note: Guest blogger today!!)
Today started off with an early start, with every one waking up around 7:00 am this morning. Our plan for the day was to visit the Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel, the St. Peter’s Basilica, get lunch and explore some of the vibrant city.
We all first arrived at the metro system to head to Vatican City—usually we walk places, however, it would have taken around 2 hours to get there— for about a 15 metro ride. It was MacClain’s first time in a metro and it was a very interesting and exciting experience for him. Furthermore, the metro was extremely busy with crowds of people entering and exiting the metro at very stop, this made the family-specifically Kayla—worried that we all wouldn’t be able to fit, especially since MacClain was on the very edge of door way. (Parent note: the metro car was stuffed full when we got there, and our crew was in the back of a mass trying to board. I was also a little concerned we wouldn't all make it on, but our crew pushed and shoved and jammed themselves in like Italian pros!). After a 5 minute walk, we finally arrived and saw a wall surrounding the Vatican that towered over all the surrounding structures. We entered the Museum and got through security around 9:30, got into our same group system we’ve had on our last two trips(MacClain and Griffin; Connor and Kayla; Matt, Jen and Gage) and started exploring the sublime museum.
The museum was full of marvelous and elaborate work that displayed a well-rounded mix of Ancient Roman, Renaissance, and some modern art. One of the only paintings Connor said was cool, was one of a stream of water flowing down a valley. Rather than describing the amazing sights, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
(Parent note: special thanks to the Rick Steve's audio guide for providing great narration along the way!)
At the end of the museum, there were three rooms, in which previous popes originally lived and slept. These room’s walls were covered in murals designed by Raphael and mostly painted by his students, portraying wars, ancient times, Christianity and other religious motifs, the pope—of that time— and even a self portrait of Raphael himself.
Next, was the Sistine Chapel, which we weren’t allowed to take pictures of while we were inside.
Thus, we sadly didn’t get any pictures ;)
The Sistine chapel is a large corridor filled with murals along the walls and ceiling, painted by Michelangelo. Looking up, you would see murals depicting the sorts of the Bible in chronological order, including but not limited to, creation of light and water, creation of Adam and Eve, and the flood.
The most famous of these is the Creation of Adam, this photo is found in the center of the ceiling and depicts God and Adam outstretching their hands to touch fingers, though Adams’s finger is not all the way extended but God’s is. This represents that although God is always outstretched giving one the opportunity to choose salvation, it is Adam, or the people, who must make the choice, to outstretch their finger to do so. Overall the touching of their fingers respecting the birth of Adam and the moment we were created though the hands of God. Additionally, this image also illustrates the advances in medicine and knowledge made during the Renaissance, with God being portrayed within an astonishing painting of the anatomy of the brain, also representing how God gave Adam the gist of intellect. And the front wall repented the last judgement and included the saved and sinful, and Michelangelo himself represented as flayed ghostly figure, lamenting his attitude as unclear as to where and what is fate is in the scheme of his judgement by God.
We all then decided to go eat at a nearby pasta restaurant (parent note: guess who researched and found it?!?), that was highly recommend to us (parent note: by yelp). Although the line for it took us around 30 minutes to get through, it was definitely worth the wait. After eating, we started towards the St. Peter’s Basilica. However, after looking at the line, which circled all of St. Peter’s Square, we took some pictures and headed instead towards a old castle. (Parent note: with plans to return to St. Peter's early on some future day.). While we didn’t go inside, the surrounding area, which was made up of bridges and parks was beautiful. We lingered around and rested there for about half an hour before Jen, Matt and Gage took the metro back to the Airbnb, and Connor, Kayla, MacClain and Griffin decided to walk back and enjoy more of the fabulous city.
When everyone eventually returned home, there was an extremely beautiful sunset that could be seen just outside our Airbnb window. (Parent note: some of us enjoyed a happy hour with a glass of wine while we enjoyed the sunset.). Later that night, we sat/laid down to watch Shrek 2 and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. And drank champagne to celebrate Kayla getting hired to Eagan Highschool!
Tune in for tomorrow's blog, as we explore more of Rome!
-MacClain
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