Rome: Day 2

Day 2 in Rome was another great, but exhausting day! I quickly realized that being pregnant was really going to affect me on this trip! But I wasn't going to let it stop me from seeing everything!!

We woke up pretty early and walked to Vatican City. We crossed this beautiful bridge.

Along the river and the bridge there was this swimming pool. I thought it was pretty random.

Right outside Vatican City is the Castel Sant'Angelo. It is an absolutely beautiful building that has been used as a castle, fortress, museum and even a prison! There is an underground passageway that goes from the castle to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican city that the Pope could use for safety. (Those of you that have read or seen "Angels and Demons" might remember that from the movie.)

This picture is taken just outside Vatican City. I imagined that Vatican city would have a huge wall around it to protect it, but you can just walk right in. It's a separate city-state inside Rome.

This is inside Vatican City. On the left is St. Peter's Basilica and on the right is the Vatican which is the residence of the Pope.

The windows with the yellow curtains is the actual room of the Pope!

This is the balcony that the Pope comes out on when he meets the people and gives them a blessing, usually on Easter and Christmas.

This is the part of the original wall that protected the Vatican. I guess this is what I imagined being around the entire city.

We then went on a tour of the Vatican. We were very lucky to be travelling with the Fuhrs, because they were able to get us great tickets and we passed up this REALLY long line where people had to stand outside in the miserable heat!!

Here is a model of Vatican city.
View of Rome from the balcony.

We then took a great (but very long tour of the inside of the Vatican.) We had a very interesting tour guide. She did a great job and knew a lot of information. She just didn't quite understand when to move on and when we had clearly had enough.

We looked at all of the beautiful statues and paintings. Many of them were either commissioned by Popes or given to them as gifts.

There was this long hallway full of these beautiful tapestries.

This was probably our favorite statue! I just thought this little drummer baby was so cute!

There were the most beautiful hallways leading in to the Sistine Chapel.

This was our tour guide. At this point we were all completely exhausted. It had probably been about 4 hours that we were on the tour. She kept saying "I am not going to explain this painting to you because I know that you are all tired and that you are not listening to me anymore ... but in 1854 this painting ..." and she would go on and on!

The paintings really were amazing. The details are astounding!



We then were able to go in to the Sistine Chapel. They have a rule that you cannot take any pictures in there. But when we went in there were a lot of people taking pictures. Our tour guide was getting mad at everyone and she finally went up to the guard that was standing in front. They talked for a minute and then he announced loudly that everyone could take pictures for a short amount of time. So I quickly took as many pictures as I could. Then about 2 minutes later he started yelling at everyone to stop taking pictures.

The Sistine Chapel is huge! I have heard about it my whole life, but you really cannot appreciate it until you are standing in the middle of it looking all around you. I can't imagine what Michelangelo went through to pain the ceiling all those years. Incredible!

Once we left the Sistine Chapel we went outside to go to St. Peter's Basilica. I saw these Priests standing outside. I thought it appropriate to take a picture of catholic people at the Vatican.

St. Peter's Basilica was of course amazing.

Outside of the Vatican they have Swiss Guards that are assigned to protect the Pope. You are lucky if you are chosen to be assigned at the Vatican as part of your required military service. I thought they definitely had the best uniforms!

In St. Peter's Square they have all these big screens that are used for when the Pope comes out. There are so many people there that they can't see, so they put the screens up.

Joe and Karl-Michael were taking in the whole scene.

We were told that Vatican City even had their own post office. I was a little surprised to find out that it was just this mobile van.

Touring the Vatican was probably one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. I thought it was so fascinating to learn about and see a little bit more about the Catholic Church than I ever have before. There is so much history and beautiful art pieces contained there. It was amazing.

After a long day at the Vatican I was ready for more delicious food!! This bowl of spaghetti definitely did the trick!