The Vatican & St. Peter’s Basilica

Yesterday I felt a little underwhelmed by the Colosseum. Today I was impressed with St. Peter’s Basilica. We began the day with another free walking tour that began at the McDonald’s by the Spanish Steps. At least this time we knew exactly where we were going. 🙂 This tour took us by the Ara Pacis, St. Angelo’s Castle, and right to St. Peter’s Square. After the tour we got in the long line to go into the Vatican Museum. Of course the people trying to sell their private tours tell you that the line is 3 hours long and that if you go with them you get to skip the line. We chose to stay in the line and after 50 minutes we had begun touring the museum. The IPad came in handy today, as one of the guide books we have on the IPad had a self-guided tour of the Vatican Museum, so I played tour guide and read aloud to Tom the highlights of some of the things we were looking at. It was nice to get the information, but not be part of a big group or have to listen to an audio guide. The museum has a lot of art work, but of course the main attraction is the Sistine Chapel. It was packed with tourists, but it was still amazing to see. We waited for a few minutes so we could grab a seat along one of the sides so we could read the self-guided tour description of all the different paintings on the ceiling. It was quite impressive. Leaving the Sistine Chapel we went right to St. Peter’s Basilica. I can honestly say that when I walked in I was impressed. The interior space was just huge and for some reason I did not get the impression from the exterior that it was that big. I was pleasantly surprised with the Basilica. The walking tour, museum, and Basilica gave us a long day on our feet and we were ready for dinner. After a good meal we went back to the Spanish Steps area and decided to get our portrait drawn by a local artist. I went first and was impressed with what the artist had done, and then it was my turn to watch as he drew Tom. I’m not sure the artist’s drawing of Tom was as good as mine, but it was still an interesting experience. Tomorrow is our last full day of this European adventure. We have no real plans, but look forward to taking it easy.