vatican museum and the sistine chapel

We stood in line for a good hour and a half to two hours this morning just to enter the museum. Once we were inside, it was a maze through all the rooms and halls of the enormous building that once housed some of the most famous artists in history, and the daily quarters of former popes. Every wall was covered in fresco or oil painting of some dramatic religious scene, putting pictures to the words that so many have lived by. We were all separated from the group a few times, but all found each other in front of the school of Athens painting. BRILLIANT!!! Such an amazing piece of work, only to be followed by walking into the Sistine chapel. I think we all needed a neck brace after that since everything is on the ceiling. There it was, creation of man, and so many other panels right above my head. Its hard to look at anything else after a day full of famous, classic pieces of art. We relaxed for a bit around the hotel for a couple hours and slowly wandered our way through tiny walkways and hidden alleys to the pantheon. I had seen so many pictures of the Pantheon before and studied it so much in history classes, famous for being the largest self-supporting dome, pretty much in the entire world, but I could never describe how cool it was to stand inside and hear the effects that take place with the sound, or acoustics. A quiet breathy whistle would echo for seconds after you stop. The only light inside was from the huge hole in the ceiling which was made to be permanently open, and the sun coming through the hole throughout the day would illuminate the statues lined up around the walls. As I gawked at the elaborate tomb for the one and only Raphael, a group of singers began an angelic performance of a short song that made everyone stop in their tracks to listen. Highs and lows, louder and soft, everyone had chills when they were through. Another short walk wandering through the streets at dusk, we were heading BACK to the pizza place for our last night in Roma. Wine, grappa, limoncello…..the usual. SLEEP…

-lyndsey