Cumulonimbus: Vatican City

Day 3

We started the day off quite early,taking Linea A to the Ottaviano station from Termini. Our focus for the day’s trip is the Vatican City, basically a city state in Rome. The line to Museo Vaticano, which houses the famous Sistine Chapel was insanely long, so we figured we should do the St. Peter’s Basilica first. We entered from the left arm (as the columns that surrounded the elliptical center of piazza were deemed “the maternal arms of Mother Church”), and was immediately dumbstruck by the magnitude of the architectural site. The sky was crystal blue, and the whole Piazza San Pietro and the Basilica looked magnificent coated in the warm rays of the sun. Needless to say, we were thrilled to be in this center of the catholic universe.

The interior of the St Peter’s Basilica was simply breathtaking, and one could only imagine the amount of effort and resources that had been poured into building this wonder. From this point onwards, not many churches could solicit more “wows” from us, since we had already seen one of the greatest.

We proceeded to visit the Museo Vaticano, only to discover the line was not any shorter than what we had seen earlier. In fact, it was a whole lot longer than what we expected. We spent a good hour waiting in the line, doing nothing much but chatting and trying to fight the cold. When we finally entered the museum, we were dazzled by the seemingly never-ending halls saturated with artworks and treasures of inestimable value. As impressive as they were, they could only pale in comparison to the legendary ceiling by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel (at least that’s what we are made to believe, I don’t really see how much better that ceiling is compared to the others, since I’m no art major). It was strictly prohibited to take photos in the chapel, but well, those excited tourists did not quite have the mood to adhere to the rule; flashes can be seen frequently despite angry warnings from the officers there.

Once we emerged from the historic maze, we soon found ourselves back in St Peter’s Basilica, albeit in a different level. We decided to do the unthinkable – to climb the stairs up to the dome, with my stupid laptop bag which started to seem more and more like the Ring in Lord of the Rings. All our efforts were eventually paid off though, as we got the chance to view the entire Rome from the top of the dome.

We started heading back to our hostel, but not before visiting a couple more places: Fontana di Trevi (yes, again to see the night view)– Quirinale – San Cario Quattro Fontane. Needless to say, it was a tiring day, and I got my first gelato in Rome (pistachio flavor) to reward my heroic display for not passing out in the middle of the trip :P

Group photo in front of the basilica