TUESDAY, JUNE 25
Our visit to the smallest and least populated city state in the world, Vatican City, proved a surprise. Rick Steves’ audio tour about the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel was loaded in our phones, and totally made the visit. We were kind of dreading the day…the heat of waiting, the mobs, more ancient and religious art. Well, we were mistaken. It was a complete delight. We learned so much, were entertained and found ourselves zooming from one important and pertinent object to the next, many of which gained in significance when we reached Michelangelo’s masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel.
The opulence was as expected, but we didn’t find it disturbing. It was too beautiful…the huge tapestries, the frescos, particularly Raphael’s, the map room, the massive halls, ceilings dripping with so much detail that it felt like they could tumble down on top of us. A breeze passed between large, grated windows on either side of halls and rooms. Outside, the foliage was a dense garden of palms.
When we reached the Sistine chapel, rather than tired, we were excited to see how Michelangelo’s earlier sculptures related to his creation painting. Steves not only explained things like what “renaissance” means, how frescos are painted and Michelangelo’s physical posture while painting, but the creation story itself, the reasons the saints are painted as they are, and finally the changes Michelangelo made in his rendering in The Last Judgment. The room fills to the brim with people but we lucked out and were able to sit for most of the 50-minute explanation.
When we left we were satiated and happy.
Then, a bit more walking around Rome and sadly saying goodbye until next time.
