Vatican City

Rome, Italy - Day 3
Monday, June 23

The next day we went to the Vatican. We paid 40 Euros for a tour that bypassed the 4 hour line and that also covered all points of interest inside the sovereignty. Given that admission was 15 euros anyway, we thought the 25 euros to be well worth skipping the line and getting a guided tour. One of the first, and famous, carvings we saw was a reproduction of “La Pieta” (Italian for “pity) by Michelangelo.

It depicts Mary holding Jesus, and was made by Michelangelo at the age of 23. It is also the only piece to bear his signature, as a result of breaking into St. Peter’s Basilica (the main building in the Vatican) after hours. Since it was illegal for an artist to put his name on his art at the time (on the grounds that the art was meant to uplift the status of the patron, not the creator), it took a pardon from the pope at the time, to free Michelangelo from a death sentence. The pope pardoned him, because he wanted more work by him (a la Sistine Chapel). Our tour guide, an American girl who had been living in Italy for two years, was very knowledgeable about the stories behind the various artworks but also about the prevailing themes and movements of the time.

We walked through the catacombs in the basement, where lay all the past popes in coffins like this one. Some tourists shamelessly took pictures of Pope John Paul despite a sign, a security guard, what one would presume to be shared sense of respect forbidding it.

We then randomly saw our friends that we bumped into at Paris (and Keone at London too). Afterward, we did the infamous, 520 step climb up St. Peter’s Basilica, a climb which was well worth the visual treat that awaited us at the top. After walking down, we headed for the special points in the middle of Piazza di San Pietro (the circular area in the picture above), from which the 4 layer of columns, comprising the arcs on the border of the Piazza, all line up perfectly. We then went inside St. Peter’s Basilica to see the original “La Pieta,” which sat behind a few layers of bullet-proof glass.

This took us through the evening, after which we then went to Piazza Navona where a street artist sketched a caricature of me for 10 Euros. As we were about to leave the square, we were stopped by two men who proceeded to tie black, pink, and gold thread wristlets on us and demand 10 Euros. We then walked Fontana di Trevi, a famous fountain that has apparently made cameos in quite a few Hollywood movies.

So ended our sightseeing adventures around Rome.