I finally succumbed to the "typical" American experience in Europe and went on a guided tour. Yeah, I know... Not my most individual and go-getter moment, but about 3 weeks into our trip and Abhinav and I are starting to get tired of doing everything on our own. So, we went on a 7 Hills Tour of the Vatican City with Andrea and 18 other people and I'm glad we did.
We woke up around 7:30 am and were at the walls of the Vatican City (after an easy metro ride) by 9:15. Andrea met us there and took us to a small coffee shop where we made small talk with couples from North Carolina and Florida (I REALLY felt American again, haha) while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. We also met two girls from Canada who just flew into Rome the night before. Once all 20 (which is the max for 7 Hills Tours) of us arrived, we headed towards the Vatican Museum.
The lines to get into Vatican City were ridiculous because it's a Monday and most all the other attractions in Rome are closed. (The Colosseum is still open on Mondays though, I think.) Our tour guide got us into the city and into the Museum in under 15-20 minutes, max. He seemed to think that this was a disappointingly long wait time, but all of us were very happy. Abhinav and I also got a student discount because of our ISIC card (yay!), so that was another nice touch.
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| One of the Pope's rides. Xzibit ain't got nothin on this. |
Once we got out of the garage, we saw the private gardens of the Pope. I thought they were very pretty, but you had to pay more money to walk through them so I decided to indulge the cheaper side of my personality. Instead, I made Abhinav take a lot of pictures in front of them, much to his chagrin. The appealing element of the whole garden that he liked was the wall next to it with names of some of the famous artists who contributed works to the Vatican, like Leonardo. By the way, did you know that Salvador Dalí donated a painting to the city? An interesting fact that I found that from our tour guide, Andrea. Besides Dalí and Leonardo, of course, there are two other very famous artists who worked in the Vatican city: Michelangelo and Raphael.
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| The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel |
On a side note, here's some other interesting stuff that I learned while on the tour: apparently, historical gossip teases us to believe that Michelango and Raphael hated one another and were fierce competitors. Although there might have been a rivalry, our tour guide said that each artist respected his opponent. One of Raphael’s most famous works during his short life before he died of syphilis, is on the walls of a room at the Vatican. This work is a fresco called “The School of Athens” and it pays tribute to famous and influential Greek philosophers. There are a lot of cool facts about this painting, but if I went on about this, I'm not sure how many pages it would take. So, I won't. But, I will say this one interesting fact that shows Raphael respected Michelangelo: one of the figures in this fresco is Michelangelo. Also, props to having a tribute of philosophy in the Vatican :)
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| Painting? Sculpture? whooaaa |
Another ridiculously cool thing that you can see in the Vatican are the ceilings (I'm not just talking about the famous ones!). Many rounded out ceilings in the Vatican have a 3D effect that's painted on! You can't really tell whether the figures that you're looking at above you are sculpted or painted. Both are there at the Vatican and it's very difficult to tell which one is which. Check out this pic and see if you can tell.
Moving along... After we exited the Sistine chapel, we made our way to St. Peter's basilica, which is the biggest Catholic church in the world. [insert pic] It was stunning. That’s how I’d put it plainly. But of course, I don’t really put things plainly most of the time so here’s my verbose drawn-out explanation full of excessive description and detail: when we first entered, both of us were amazed at the glamour of the church. It was lined with gold accents everywhere, with much detail, and on a massive scale. It’s full of amazing artwork and sculptures as well.
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| The huge dome of St. Peter's Basilica |
After our tour guide experience in the Vatican City, I think it's safe to assume the following when you travel: when you have a tour guide, you learn A LOT about everything that you're looking at, but, when you visit monuments and sites on your own, you enjoy the experience of it more than getting a history lesson. I think both experiences are good so I would recommend that if you decide to go on a European backpacking adventure, make room in your budget to experience both types of exploration.
Later, after our Vatican outing, we ate at a nearby restaurant, recommended by Rick Steve's. It wasn't that awesome, but it satiated our appetites, which was much needed. Once we had our fill, we headed back to our dorm to pass out. Not too exciting, but I was happy to get some more sleep in :)
Next up is Florence, so more on that to come soon!
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