After a short climb up the spiral staircase we come to some doors and out on to Museum Terrace with an excellent view of St Peter's Basilica and the lush Vatican gardens. Jaqjaq and I stand for a while to take in the view then it's off to find the Sistine Chapel,
Unfortunately I follow the wrong sign and end up in the tapestry museum, this doesn't sound the most exciting of museums but we find a dimly lit room at the back that has a wonderfully lit tapestry version of Da Vinci's Last Supper,] seeing this up close is amazing, although it's not the original picture it's still a lot more stunning than seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.A few more pictures and tapestries later we come to a painting Jaqjaq and I fall in love with, The Garden of Eden by Peter Wenzel.
Back on the Terrace we discover the correct way to go and follow everyone else, this takes us to a large grassed square with a Bronze Globe Sculpture dominating the lawn, Along one side is the Pigna or Pine Cone which gives the Courtyard it's name. We didn't stay here for long but continued in our pursuit of the Sistine Chapel.
We followed the crowd inside and around to the left. I was listening to an Australian guy walking behind us who mentioned the people behind, so I turned around and realised that there was a long corridor behind us with hundreds of people queuing behind us. We knew there were crowds outside queuing to get in but did not realise how many were already inside. Up the small flight of stairs we kept here some gasps of 'Wow' which we found intriguing, when we got to the landing we realised that there was an open window with an amazing view of Rome. Now that's a cityscape.
Back in among the throng of people shuffling along we came to a small open Courtyard full of statues, busts and gargoyle type faces on the wall. In the centre was a fountain which I just had to picture of my Jaqjaq sitting at. We sat here briefly to soak it all in before rejoining the throng and shuffling into the next of many rooms full of pictures or sculptures. With the amount of people and number of Art it's becoming a bit repetitive. Helped no end but the amount of people pushing and shoving. For a Catholic place I don't feel they're being very christian.
This lack of Christianity continues along the next few galleries, with on family using their children and rucksacks to push in front of us. Then we have the rather loud American gossiping with her companion in German then effortlessly switching to English to stop he child from touching something.
It was at this time that we came into my favourite Gallery, The Gallery of Maps. A rather fantastic corridor containing 40 panels of Maps of Italy, all under a stunning gold ceiling. Add to this the fact that the windows are all open showing of views of the Beautiful Vatican Gardens. Suffice to both we both liked this room.
As we're nearing the next part Jaqjaq covers her shoulders with her scarf as we approaching the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel with probably the most famous ceiling in the world. Sadly as amazing as Michelangelo's ceiling is and all the Frescoes around the chapel are, this Holy place where the conclave pick the Pope is nothing more than a crowded room full of people that are standing up glaring at the people sitting down around the edges. The thing is the people around the edges that are luckily enough to sit down are staring up at the ceiling oblivious to the glare from the standers. After a short time in here glancing at all the amazing artworks Jaqjaq and I looked at each other and decided 'Thats enough' and left.