This was the day that I had booked for the tour of the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel. Nowadays, these things need to be booked weeks or months in advance.
We had our QR code tickets which got us through the gate and to the group tour desk, where we got a receipt and meeting point for the guide. About 25,000 people pass through the Vatican Museum every day, and the organization to handle this is very impressive. Our group was about 20 people and we were given earpieces to hear the guide.
Going through the halls of the museum felt like getting caught in a current of people. The guide was very good at keeping us together.
We went through the various wings of the museum, including the original courtyard with the statue of Laocoon
the Egyptian room
a room full of ancient statues
the tapestry room
the room of maps
and the Raphael rooms
The tour ended with a visit to the Sistine Chapel, although no pictures were allowed.
It as so cool that, between the churches in Rome and the Vatican museum, I saw all these famous works of art that I'd only seen pictures of in books.
After the tour we had a coffee in the cafeteria and hung out in the Vatican gardens for a bit. We then left and walked around the streets just outside the Vatican walls. There were streets filled with different shops that specialized in items for priests - gowns, crosses, beads etc.
We had lunch nearby and went back to the hotel to relax. In the evening we walked along the river in the direction away from the center. On a pedestrian bridge there was a jazz trio playing, with St. Peters dome in the background.
We had dinner in the funky Trastevere neighbourhood and then walked back to the hotel.
No comments:
Post a Comment