Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel

We had a tour booked for the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. We had a delicious lunch and easily found our meeting spot – and our great Irish guide, Rachel. She talked the whole way around, was incredibly knowledgable and interesting, and was superb with the kids on the tour.  She really was ‘value add’ and we appreciated her guidance and passion for a subject close to her heart.

Of course, the museums and the Sistine Chapel (no photos allowed in the Sistine Chapel) are fantastic. As the second-most visited museum in the world (behind the Louvre), booking tickets is recommended, but being guided is an absolute must. There were so many details we would not have been made aware of, otherwise, the rich papal history, the works of art, the stories. Raphael rooms....and so much more.

Laoconnte and his sons. (one of Nicole's favourites)

A roman bath, the biggest one we have seen made from Egytpian Imperial Porphyry.

(these people were on the other side of the bath, not in it!)

Sculpture, Sphere Within Sphere" by Italian Sculptor, Arnaldo Pomodoro.

The Map room, shows you how decorated the Vatican Museum is.  Rachel said that if you were to look at each piece of artwork in the Vatican Museum for 1 minute each, it would take you 10 years to see everything!  Once you walk through the entire museum you have walked over 6.5 kilometres!!

The Sistine Chapel was fantastic, and the story of its creation by Michaelangelo even more superb.  The boys loved hearing about Michaelangelo and his temper, and how one day he threw a hammer from the scaffolding at the Pope, who kept asking him "is it finished yet?"  We also loved hearing how Michaelangelo added things into his paintings that were perhaps not appropriate for the Catholic values.  Especially when he had painted God's naked butt, when questioned by the Pope, Michaelanglo responded, "He has a light piece of fabric covering his butt if you look closely, only impure minds would not be able to see this"
After this tour, we decided that the best way to see the Colosseum the next day was also on a guided tour, and Rachel helped us to book one for the next morning. With temperatures planned to be in excess of 37 degrees, we decided that the morning tour (with a few areas of shade) would be best.

We headed back to the Metro, caught the train back to the hotel, had dinner in a local restaurant and headed in for the night.