The Vatican - Monday

With the assistance of a friend of a friend in Shady Side, who is from Naples and manages tours and cooking classes in Italy, we were connected with a young man, Isaia, with extensive knowledge of Rome who would be our tour guide on Monday and Tuesday. Our first stop was the Vatican. He met us at the hotel and guided us to through the Metro to Vatican City. We purchased tickets at no small cost in advance for a private tour of the Vatican  Museum and the Sistine Chapel. 

My image of the Vatican City based on movies and stories in the media was way out of scale. While we did not see St. Peter’s Square, we did spend several hours in a labyrinth of spaces starting with the enormous visitor’s center. We passed through more long galleries of statues, tapestries, paintings, artifacts, frescoes, and special rooms that various Popes had created in their names than I could count. And while we had our own tour guide, an energetic young woman who teaches archeology and Roman history and was full of useful information, the galleries were mobbed with large group tours making movement difficult at times.

It soon became evident that the Sistine Chapel was at the end of this endless series of rooms and galleries, and I became overwhelmed (again) with the crowds and the flood of facts about this tapestry and that statue, so I left Anne and our guide and made a beeline (through the amazing Sistine Chapel) to the cafeteria/pizzeria. To be honest, I had found the experience exhausting and not all that interesting. 

Isaia was waiting for us at the entrance. To make our exit from the complex, we had to walk through another labyrinth, passing multiple gift shops and descending an elaborate long wide spiral staircase and more corridors displaying stuff. I requested that we take a taxi back to the hotel so I could rest. Anne and Isaia ventured out on an additional walking tour - when I met them later at the Up Sunset Bar (a rooftop bar with great views of the city) Anne had walked 10 miles in total (including the Vatican) and Isaia looked exhausted.

We enjoyed a simple dinner at a nearby Lebanese restaurant and binged on “The Chair” on Netflix - surprisingly the TV in the room supports Chromecast!