Move Over Heidi...: The Vatican

As a catholic and catholic school attendee, going to Vatican is kind of a big deal. The only thing bigger might be to go to Croatia and do the whole Medjagori pilgrimage- which isn't necessarily out of the realm of possibilities considering our location. Any who, it was pretty impressive and the thing that surprised me the most was the amount of art in its galleries. The weather held out for us until the end which was nice as we were at times going in and out of buildings.
For those of you who don't know, the Vatican is its own independent state and surrounded by a huge wall. Here is one of the entrances to the museum. FYI, go with a tour group or you can wait for hours in a line to get in.

After you go through endless security, you go into a courtyard area to learn about the Sistine Chapel. They do this because no one is to take pictures or video and it is supposed to be silent once inside the Sistine Chapel. Of course it is not, but the security looks very serious and mean. In the courtyard they take you through the story of how Michelangelo came to pain the ceiling and then how he was asked back to The Judgement Painting on the altar wall.

This is a picture of The Judgment (ofc ourse this is just a poster in the courtyard). This painting is huge and takes up an entire wall. It took Michelangelo 6 years to complete. I liked it better than the ceiling which took him 4 years and is the story of Genesis from his point of view.

There is very long hallway that connects the palaces and displays a ton of art from tapestries to statues and mosaics. Check out the ceiling on this one...

After the gallery, you enter into a series of "apartments" that were painted by period painters. One of which was Raphael. This is an amazing painting of his take on a conversation between Plato and Aristotle. Their faces are those of famous painters.

He also painted an entire apartment from bottom all the way to the top. It was amazing!

After the Sistine Chapel, which was much different than I had envisioned, comes this very old hall as you make your way to the Basillica of St. Peter.

St. Peter's is absolutely ridiculous! I wasn't ready for it being so magestic and amazing. This is just the front entry area, before you enter.

Oh yes, and there are Cardinals everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Quick story...so my husband was Mr. Photography and lagged behind the group quite a lot (it was a little annoying at times but very much worth it). Well we were going through the doors and I was looking back for him to make sure he was there and I smacked right into a Cardinal. Yep, right into him!!! I already made my penance with the Our Fathers, and Hail Marys... so I think I still have a chance. Any ways aside from embarrassment, we are all okay. Here is a look at a few (but not the one I was just talking about).

The church is amazing, as you can see...

There are statues and marble, mosaics and tombs. There is so much to see!

And this is what it looks like from the outside...

One of the works of Michelangelo is in there and was my favorite...The Pieta. It was a sculpture he did out of alabastor marble when he wasnin his early 20s. It is completely surrounded by bullet proof glass and is gorgeous!

I also love the square where St. Peter's stands. It is huge and beautiful, with 284 columns surrounding the piazza and an obelisk in the center. The top floor on the far right is the Pope's residence and he goes to the window at noon every Sunday to bless those below. Pretty cool!

After we did the Vatican in the morning, we went back to Imperial Rome to see the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Vittorio. Yes, those are semi-automatic weapons and there are many rules. No leaning or sitting...anywhere, no animals. no eating, and no noise...to name a few. Here it is...