Italy as it Happened...Day
14
Tuesday, April 23rd
God really
has a sense of humor when it comes to the weather. As I mentioned in my
previous posting, yesterday poured all day. The first thing I did when I got up this morning was open
the window and do a weather check. As I peered out onto the courtyard I saw
large puddles dancing with rain drop ripples. Here we go again!
Obviously
Kerry and I would have to dress for an encore of yesterdays ordeal; walking
(and waiting) in the pouring rain. This was unusual for us. Typically we were
very lucky when it came to vacation weather. We have visited Seattle many times
without seeing a drop of rain. We've travelled to the Northeast only to be
greeted by an unusually mild and dry climate. Even Europe in the Spring usually
greeted us with sunshine and mild temps. Yes, for Kerry and me, rain on our
vacation was uncommon, especially two days in a row.
When I
prepared Kerry's morning coffee I noticed that more than half of my milk was
gone. Did it evaporate? I think not. I knew our apartment mates helped
themselves and that was a little irritating. When you stay at these B&B's
there is a common rule as far as the kitchen goes; only eat and drink your own
food and beverage. These guys were leaving today to continue their European
vacation in France so I just let it be. No sense crying over stolen milk!
As Kerry and
I headed out the door (after a hearty breakfast of granola with fruit) we were
sure to dress for what the day had in store for us. Bumble Bee jackets,
umbrellas, sweaters or layered "T" shirts, all of these were in place
upon our bodies. Since we were doing a walking tour of the Vatican, we decided
not to bring our back pack. The security would be intense and having a loaded
back pack would just slow things down. Instead, we filled every pocket in our
Bumble Bee's with snacks, waters and various other accessories we would need
throughout the day (scarves, Lipstick (Kerry's), maps and bus/metro passes). We
were set; loaded down but set.
As soon as
we arrived at the Vatican the clouds parted allowing a beautiful (hot) sun to
shine down on us. That was it for the rain. The remainder of the day would bathe
us in sunshine. I think we were over dressed. That was God's joke on us. Funny!
The line at
the Vatican was the largest line I had ever seen. It was at least 6 people wide
and wrapped around the Vatican starting at the Museum entrance and ended a 1/4
mile down the road. I was expecting our planned Walking tour to be somewhat
like yesterdays tour, but I was completely wrong. This tour was just an
organized group that somehow bypassed the entire entrance and ticket lines.
Together, the 20 of us just walked up to the gate. Our guide spoke with the
guard and presto, he allowed us through. Then, once inside she had us wait in a
tight group while she went to get us our entrance tickets (another long line
she walked around to avoid). Within 10 minutes she was back with a hand full of
tickets, allowing us entrance into all of the Vatican museums (and there were
many). Once our ticket was received she was gone. We were now free to go in any
direction we wanted to. The day (and the Vatican) was ours to explore at our
own pace.
The Vatican
museum, in my opinion, was as brilliant as any other world class museum. And
what we saw was just the tip of the iceberg. I know that the vaults below are
filled with unimaginable quantities of art collections, seen by only the chosen
(privileged) few. My only complaint was the amount of people flowing through
each room or corridor. The congestion was so thick one could barely find a
moment to look around and take in all of the beauty. Kerry and I did manage to
take the route of the "Salmon" going in the opposite direction of the
flow. It made for a more interesting adventure. All of the secondary museums were almost vacant of tourist. We saw (and touched) many fine pieces of art in these not-so-often visited galleries.
I guess the
highlight was arriving at the Sistine Chapel. My neck actually ached from
constantly looking up at that amazing ceiling. Michelangelo, after finishing
the Sistine Chapel painted a self portrait, presenting himself as an old man in
his late sixties or early seventies. He said that even though he was young
(30's) when he was commissioned to do the ceiling, after its completion he
never felt so old in his life. The stress and backache (and neck ache too) was
very taxing on his mind and body. With my aching neck (only after 15 minutes of
looking up) I sympathized with him and the painful endurance he must have
suffered. I walked away from that experience confirming my opinion that
Michelangelo was indeed the greatest master of the renaissance, if not the
greatest master ever.
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By 5:00 pm
we were done, home by 5:30 pm and I was preparing dinner by 6:00 pm (and yes,
we got to use the kitchen as our apartment mates were now gone). By 6:30 pm we
were sitting back with our feet up checking Facebook and e-mails while charging
up all of our electronics at the same time.
This is how you out-smart a pickpocket
Tomorrow we
had a plan...the plan was to not have a plan. Yes, we were going to see
whatever we wanted to see with no schedules and no tours (especially the
walking kind). Should make for an interesting day.
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