All -For those of you concerned, I have not eaten McDonald's here.
Today I spent six hours at the Sistine Chapel/Vatican Museum complex. That included the line to get in which was actually pretty short (half hour?). From a sheer volume perspective the Vatican Museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel, has got to be as large or larger than the biggest museums in the world. The key to actually enjoying the place is to catch the time between the tour guide waves. You'd think it would be best to be in the tour but, really, sitting in the middle of one of those groups is like being stuck in line at the pudding bar in Stuckey's. Do I really need to hear what a wonderful job they have done with the fruited jello?
The entire complex is grouped into 19 different areas (twenty, if you count the Audioguide Rent as they do in the coded map they give you). While I did not want to have the tour guide, it is not so simple to navigate the museum without one. It is very easy to make a wrong turn and find that you have missed large chunks of the exhibits and there is no going back as that is like swimming against the tide. The big items are the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel. Minor stuff is about 500 years of Etrurian history (around 4 BC); enough Egyptian artifacts to be it's own museum (including at least two mummies); about 15 rooms of sculptures; another garden of more sculptures; halls and halls of tapistries, globes, proclaimations and other odds and ends (including a gift from the US of two porcelain swans that look like they came from the Franklin Mint - oh yeah); and many, many rooms of paintings including Raphael's last work, The Transfiguration (supposedly the last item he ever painted was Christ's face in this picture).
The Raphael Rooms are ok. I guess I was expecting something more elegant and not so dark (pope rooms tend to look like the old proper den in your grandparents house where everything is in heavier colors and smells like old library books). As you queue up for the Sistine Chapel, which is actually not the last stop, you pass through a couple of 'U' shaped galleries that no one seems to venture down (usually because they are all so giddy to get to the big show). Around these corners are where the Vatican hangs the left over modern art (like a few Salvador Dalis). The Sistine Chapel fresco is a HUGE work. It makes you realize why it took so long for Charlton Heston to paint that ceiling.
So by the time I rolled out of the Vatican, it was 3:30PM. The Lonely Planet Guide Book had ten top picks to see in Rome and I had seen seven of them over the last few days. Unfortunately, the other three were, and are, scattered to the edges of the city. I chose to try and tackle Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. I asked the guard about the best way to get there and he shook his head discouragingly indicating that it was Monday and there were transportation strikes. Welcome to Italy (and think about that next time you complain because the bus is ten minutes late). I told him I was walking anyway and he gave me the 'good luck!' look.
It's a haul to Trastevere. Like everywhere else in the city, there is no straight line because you have to walk around something. Usually it is ruins; in this case it was gated communities. Oh, and I got to go over one of the seven other hills in Rome. The good part of the detour was that I ended up at Plazelle Anita Garibaldi which gives you a cool view back into Rome.
So anyway, I stumbled into Trastevere and checked out the Basilica. Like all churches, you drop a coin in the meter and the ceiling lights come on. Basilica di Santa Maria has these massive glittering gold mosaic ceilings over the alter so I was happy for the illumination. I thought it was nice that someone was practicing the organ this late in the evening and then I noticed that it was being pumped in through the Bose speakers bolted to the wall (I guess this is church 'house' music).
It was getting late but I figured I had one more church in me for the day so I checked out the Basilica di Santa Cecilia (patron saint of music). Oh, somewhere along the way I stepped in Italian dog poop. It works like American dog poop. The two old Italian guys behind me got a chuckle at my expense ("buono fortuna! It means good luck, my friend!").
Anyway, late again. One more day.
Hank
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