Woke up late, then wandered down to the Vatican in another relatively sunny day in Rome. Lines ended up being not too ridiculous at midday - took about 50 minutes to get tickets, which were very nicely student discounted (8.50 instead of 15).
The Vatican museums, as befits the Catholic Church, was huge in scale - there were so many artworks and sculptures from a very long time period in the museums. One of the biggest differences from the Vatican museums relative to others is that so many of the most famous artworks were actually the huge frescoes on the walls themselves. I've never also seen so many beautiful FLOORS that were walked on as going through the Vatican museums. Perhaps one of favorite parts of the museum, though, were that so many of the rooms had large windows that were actually opened to outdoors, letting in fresh air and light.
The frescoes included:
The School of Athens, by Raphael, which features Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Euclid teaching geometry. He also painted himself, Leonardo and Michelangelo (freaking love ninja turtles) into the picture.
And Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The sheer amount of art that covers all of the surfaces are staggering, and the portrayals are magnificent.
Not having done any research prior to entering the museums, I didn't know what to expect. The number of rooms and collections that the Vatican museum had was incredible, and could've definitely occupied my attention for far longer than the afternoon I spent there.I left just in time, however, to be one of the last people allowed to climb up to the cupola (dome) of St. Peter's basilica, the highest point in (although not technically) Rome. I realized after I got in line that they didn't accept credit cards and I only had 5 euros cash for the 7 euro fee. While I arranged to meet up with my friends in line to borrow some money, the security guys there were extremely friendly and ended up letting me go up for the reduced fee of 5, even though it wasn't technically an option. The view from the top was more than worth the trouble - I think our tour guide the day before put it best when he said that one of his favorite parts of Rome was that there were no buildings taller than St. Peter's (and for good reason).
Finally, I walked around the inside of the basilica itself. I'm not sure I can capture (in words or in pictures) just how impressive the basilica was - if the goal of catholic churches are to leave you in awe, then St. Peter's is the pinnacle. The burial site of Saint Peter is also incredibly powerful.
Pictures of the Vatican
