Today we covered nearly 14 km and it was worth every step with the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel, and more time with Nives on the agenda.
I'm so grateful to Mick for his foresight and patience. Among other items he had pre - booked our entry to the above and so we took great delight in walking past all the groups lining up, and all the usual tours, and walked straight into the Vatican Museum. Rick Steves kept us well informed again as we walked around this vast and fascinating place. There was one sculpture of Laocoon who was portrayed in a crouching position about to do someone some irreversible harm. When found the piece was missing the right arm and it was always assumed that the right arm was stretched out. But Michelangelo who had studied anatomy realised from looking at the muscles that the arm was in fact bent and he was eventually proven correct. Michelangelo was such an important person and contributed so much for us all to enjoy years later.
There was a fascinating room- hall which was full of enormous floor to ceiling 400 year old maps that depicted areas of present day Italy. On the left were the eastern regions and on the right the west. There was a separate one of Venice which is instantly recognisable now.
The Sistine Chapel was beyond belief. It's hard to describe its beauty and majesty and one has to be in awe of the backbreaking work of Michelangelo in completing it. His first step was to design and construct the scaffolding. Each painting had to be done on wet plaster prepared by the students. If the Master was dissatisfied with his work the students had to wipe it all clean and start again. When the scaffolding was finally removed, and the work seen for the first time, the observers were completely astounded. One can see why.
Mick had also pre - booked midnight mass with the Pope. He did this months ago and it had to be done by fax. Today it was also quite a process to pick the tickets up but we eventually located the spot. Only one was allowed through security so I waited outside. Success at last but we were advised to line up at 7-five hours before it starts! Woah!!!!
We walked past a Pinsa MPo on return. This is a place that sells pizza using a method similar to the old Roman method but updated- with rice flour and soy flour. The uncooked pizzas are displayed and you can ask them to cook it and eat it there which is what we did. You can also take it home and put it in your oven. The place is given good reviews and we had tasty pizza and excellent service.
After lunch we set off by Metro to meet Nives in Monti which is the trendy area, possibly a little like our Newtown. We could see the Colosseum from there.
She took us to the church of St Peter in Chains which we went to last time in 2011 but there was a funeral taking place then so we waited a while then quietly walked past the Moses which is famously located in this church. When we did so back in 2011, other tourists were walking around the church talking and taking pictures. This time we had the chance to see it properly, and could also see the actual chains behind the altar. Thanks Kerry Stirling for telling us about this great find in 2011.
(Today we went past a busker singing "My Way" on the stairs. How amazing- last time we were with Nives I sang that with one of her friends on my Dad's anniversary- 19.11. 11)
Nives warned us that there were a lot of stairs- 75 in total and another 25 down. There is a picture attached to the blog.
We continued down to another area of Monti and had an "aperitivo" in Er Caffetiere. Once again lovely service and food. We said our goodbyes and thanks to Nives and indicated that we will see her next at our place.
Back to our unit on the very efficient metro. We have noticed a very strong police/ military presence here in Rome. The military guys look very serious with machine guns. Sad but necessary in this day and age. There are also beggars around the tourist spots, some with no shoes, some bent over and one wailing. Confronting stuff.