Vatican Museum, Vatican Necropolis, St. Peter's Cupola

Hi everyone, this update is the one for yesterday, when we went to the Vatican. The day began with us getting up at 6:30 and leaving at seven. We actually ended up walking to the Vatican as our usual place to get bus tickets was not open yet. Once we got there, we went to the Vatican Museum and immediately made a run for the Sistine Chapel. We got extremely lucky, as we were some of the first to get there and the chapel was almost empty. We spent about half an hour gazing at the beautiful artwork (Conor almost fell down the steps because he was staring up so much) that included the famous Creation of Adam and Judgment day, as well as lesser known but still amazing artwork of biblical scenes such as David and Goliath. The thing about the Chapel is that the more time you spend there, the more amazing it becomes as you notice more and more detail. When you first get there it's ok, after ten minutes it's good, after 15 you never want to leave. As the Chapel became more crowded we left, as we still needed to see the rest of the huge Vatican Museum. Some of the highlights of the museum were: statues of Laocoon and his sons getting devoured by sea monsters, a huge bronze statues of Hercules found during the excavation of a gutter in Campo d'Fiori, the Hall of Tapestries and Hall of Maps, a painting by Caravaggio of St. Peter being taken down from his crucifixion, and Raphael's frescos in the Borgia apartments. After our three hours of exploring the vast museum, and a delicious lunch, it was time to leave for the Necropolis. The Necropolis is an exceedingly well preserved Roman burial site that Constantine ordered to be filled in and used as foundations for St. Peter's Basilica. The reason that it was used as foundations is that St. Peter himself is buried there. We began the hour and a half long tour after getting through the gates guarded by Swiss Guards (who, coincidentally you have to be Swiss to be in.) Then we had to wait inside for awhile while the Queen of England was being flown in for a visit with the Pope and a tour of the Vatican. When we finally descended into the hot, humid crypts, we were told about ancient Roman burial customs such as having banquets in the family tombs (even pouring wine down into the sarcophagi to nourish the dead.) Our guide showed us many mosaics and epitaphs in the Necropolis, and many of the burial sites showed pagans that had converted to Christianity under Constantine. Then we got to the real highlight: St. Peter's tomb. The tomb was actually used as the base for the first of the Basilicas (the one built by Constantine,) with altars for those built on top of the first one. We then returned up through the Vatican Grottos, where the Popes are buried. After this we rushed to the line for the Cupola on top of St. Peter's Basilica where we took a lift halfway up then climbed about 300 stairs to the best view in Rome. When we were done gawking at the city we walked back down through the Basilica (Lars and Conor ended up walking through after not realizing they were supposed to stay, and it was closed by the time they tried to get back in, but they will get a chance to see it soon.) Tired and happy from our trip to the Vatican, we walked back home and got gelato and kebabs before turning in for the night. Pictures of everything (aside from the Sistine Chapel and the Necropolis, in mostly chronological order) are below. -Conor and Lars