For Monday morning, Tim had booked us, in advance, some excellent tickets by which we could see the Vatican. The tour was scheduled to start in the Vatican Museums before they were even open to the public (we had to get up early), see the Sistine Chapel, then continue through to Saint Peter's Basilica. Things did not go completely as planned on Monday. But they started ok...
Here's the entrance to the Vatican Museums. That's Michelangelo on the left and Raphael on the right. They were responsible for a lot of the commissioned work inside the Vatican.
Our tour guide (Livia) was fantastic (that's not her). For a little bit, Maya got to hold her flag...
This is apparently the best view of the dome of Saint Peter's. When you're standing on Saint Peter's square, you can't see it as well because it's obscured by the building.
The Vatican museums were fantastic. The tour guide gave us a lot of very good information about the history and the different elements that the different popes had commissioned over the years and for what reasons.
This is the Piazza of the Pinecone. Obviously. I forget how to say pinecone in Italian. Oh... Pigna.
There was this very large globular modern art in the piazza. You were supposed to recognize the symmetry between its shape and the dome. Also, I think Livia said it's the only modern work of art in the Vatican Museums.
There is, however, a lot of old stuff in the museum. There was a pair of sarcophagi of Helena and Constantina, the mother and daughter of Constantine the great (this one is Helena's), carved out of (rare) red porphyry.
This is Hercules of the Theatre of Pompey. He's notable because he's made from bronze (and then gilded) and dates from the second century. Not many bronzes remain from this period because the material was so precious that it was melted down and reused. This one, however, was struck by lightning. Apparently people back then were superstitious and simply didn't touch things that had been struck by lightning. So Hercules was buried where he lay, later to be discovered and moved to the museum.
Some nice views of the interior of the Vatican Museum.
This is about where things took a turn for the worse. I had woken up in the morning with a bit of a sore throat. After walking through the city and museums for about an hour and a half with Cora on my back in a carrier, I started to feel a bit... well... not good. But we persevered...
Cora helped with some of the photo taking...
A grand and beautiful hallway.
This room was incredible. There were maps of all of Italy painted all over the walls. We found this map of northern Italy, including where Trento lies today (Tridentum on this map...)
This is an incredible painting by Raphael (located in what are now called Le Stanze de Raphael... or Raphel's Rooms... because he painted most of the walls in them). It depicts the freeing of Saint Peter. Our guide told us it was notable because it was a "night scene" and includes very careful use of light to illuminate the painting.
This is the famous School of Athens, also by Raphael. It depicts famous thinkers of ancient times, but it is thought that Raphael modeled the physical appearances of the figures on his contemporaries (for instance, the guy in the red robe in the center is supposed to be Plato, but Raphael used Leonardo da Vinci as a model).
This lady was doing some restoration on the framing around Raphael's Battle of Ostia.
Down a hallway...
So then we went into the Sistine Chapel. It was amazing. No pictures inside, and I could barely stand up at this point, but it was amazing.
When our tour group (it was small... about 10-12, maybe?) reformed after about 10 minutes inside the Sistine Chapel, our guide had some bad news. During the time we were in Rome, there were some saints remains on display in Saint Peter's Basilica, and there were many pilgrims there to see them. Unfortunately, this meant that they had closed the corridor connecting the Sistine Chapel to Saint Peter's Basilica that our tour relied on to make sure that we could efficiently move through the entire place in three hours. So, we were going to (unfortunately) be on our own for that later. Instead, she could show us some more of the museums. Which are, truthfully amazing. However, at this point, I was really fading. And Maya was not complaining yet, but she was clearly tired. But we powered on.
There was this Apollo of Belvedere, thought by some experts "in the know" to be the greatest ancient statue.
This is a statue of Laocoön and his sons. I, unfortunately, have no idea what the guide said about it.
Back past Hercules, but close up this time...
We saw many other of the great artifacts in the museum, but it was much more crowded at this point (about 11am), and much more difficult to move through. We headed out, got a snack, then found a pharmacist. I was able to convince her that I was fairly confident I had strep throat, yes I'd had it before, yes, I knew what antibiotics I'd been given before, and walked out with some antibiotics and throat lozenges. Needless to say, we did not immediately return to see Saint Peter's Basilica.
I managed to stay upright through lunch, where Cora embraced her new love of "meat" (this time guanciale, I think).
Maya ordered what was a delicious chicken salad sandwich. But she was starting to feel not much like eating either. She didn't really complain, so we didn't really know she was sick.
So we went back to the apartment. Cora needed a nap anyway, I had a serious fever and needed some ibuprofen. Maya thought about it, but decided to stay in and read instead of going back out with her dad. Two hours later, she was sound asleep and a bit warm. So I got Tim to acquire a thermometer at a pharmacy while he was out. The rest is what I *think* Tim did.
He went to Basilica di Santo Stefano al Monte Celio, which is an ancient basilica dating from 468.
The frescoes inside this church, largely from the 16th century are horrific scenes of really bad things happening to saints. They even have labels on them. Looking back at the pictures, Maya and Tim referred to them as the ABCs of death. (The labels are thought to correspond to now lost descriptions of what you're looking at.)
B for boiling?
B again... for burning this time?
D for ... dead?
A for ... um... yeah, I'm done.
Oo... I remember this one. They said "C for cliff."
Yes, those lions do appear to be eating that otherwise very calm man.
Yes, those do look like pregnant lady statues. This appears to just be a random arched entryway into Villa Celimontana.
Hey, look! Another obelisk! This one's notable because it's the *smallest* obelisk in Rome.
This is Basilica Santi Giovanni e Paolo, build in 398.
Inside there were lots of crystal chandeliers.
Arches.
A dragon (see, I'm helpful).
But that dragon is on the facade of San Gregorio Magno al Celio:
He went for a walk in the Circus Maximus...
With nice views back up to Palatine Hill.
Walking along the Tiber...
This is inside of San Bartolomeo all'Isola. This is notable because, in that red porphyry on the alter lie the relics of Saint Bartholomew. Don't remember who that is? That's Tim's buddy the saint with the flayed skin.
Tim had wanted to spend some time wandering in Trastevere, a neighborhood in Rome that is not easily reachable by Metro. This was a good opportunity to do that. He saw the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
And then we summoned him home. He brought this amazing graffiti of Superman and hamburgers (?!?)
And some more seagulls for Cora...
For dinner we had to have some pretty terrible takeout pizza (it was Monday, so many places were closed, and we had limited options because of our sickness). Maya and I were both definitely sick, so everyone turned in early.
Scavenger Hunt Count for the day: 5 points (all in the Sistine Chapel)
Running total: 106 points
Steps: 8704 for me. Tim clearly had many many more.
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