Europe Trip 2003

Rome - The Vatican

City Sights | Ancient City | Fountains | Vatican

Occupying 108.5 acres within the boundaries of Rome, the Vatican City is an independent nation and the cornerstone of the Catholic church. Though no pope sightings were to be found, our visit to the Vatican was still incredible. The most imposing structure of the Vatican is Saint Peter's Basilica, the largest cathedral in the world. The interior of the church is absolutely huge. The walls reach over a 150 feet up only to be topped by a dome towering to 400 feet. We climbed to the top of the dome and were awarded with great views of the Vatican and Rome.

Next to the cathedral are the Vatican museums. Getting into the museums was almost as challenging as getting into Westminster Abbey in London. On our first try it was closed. On our second try we turned around after seeing an absolutely huge line (probably a half mile long) to get in. We got up early for our third try only to find an equally large line. Surprisingly, the line moved relatively fast and we were in the museums after an hour. The amount of art contained in these buildings is almost inconceivable and is definitely overwhelming. We seemed to walk forever through a maze of hallways and rooms which were all filled with art. We eventually made it to the Sistine Chapel with Michelangelo's masterpiece of a ceiling. It was an incredible work of art, but the experience was disturbed by the hoards of tourists inside, most of which were ignoring the no talking, no pictures rules enforced in the chapel. Like the Louvre in Paris, we left the museum with our heads dizzy with art overload.