The Pope's Casa

Last Thursday was yet another huge highlight of the trip; it was my first time to The Vatican. It was absolutely amazing and lived up to all my expectations. The place was huge and everything is way over scaled, which I fell is an awesome thing. You cant help but feel small in St. Peter's Square. Its hard not to knowing that there are churches in Rome that could easily fit within the squares colonnade.
Walking into the Basilica for the first time was breathtaking. Everything, from the marble floors, to the huge countless amounts of white marble sculptures, it all was so fantastic. I had seen pictures of inside the Basilica before, but none of them gave the space justice. The shear size was enough to blow your mind. And the fact that every single inch of it was highly decorated was astonishing. My favorite sculpture was Michelangelo's Pieta (pictured to the right). I was a little disappointed with the fact that you cant go right up to it, but after learning that some crazy guy took a hammer to it in 1972, I understood why it needed to be done.
After exploring the Basilica, a group of us decided to climb up to the Dome.... It was a huge pain to do, and everyone was dripping in sweat. But once we made it to the top, it was well worth it. The views were amazing and just the fact that we were inside the actual dome was awesome. It was a little claustrophobic, but we made it out alive.
Our last order of business was the Vatican Museum, which is considered by many to be one of the single most important art museums in the world. Its collection was out of this world. I cant even put into words how amazing the collection was. They seemed to have almost everything, from every corner of the world. You name the topic and they more then likely had it. We spent a good 4 hours exploring the complex, loving every minute of it. Part of the Museum was The Sistine Chapel, which houses the world famous hand painted ceiling by Michelangelo. It is also where conclave is held and a new Pope is elected. Its rich history and painted ceiling was amazing and I loved it. On the other hand, the way that it was presented was not so fantastic. People were crammed in the single room, all looking up.

No pictures were allowed, but everyone, including myself, was taking them. The only thing stopping people was the three guards walking around, all of whom would yell at the crowd to be silent. Its suppose to be a very religious space that is treated with the utmost respect, but I found it to be the opposite. Don't get me wrong, its still an amazing space, it just wasn't as special as I thought it would be, viewing wise. I'm sure that if I was able to sit there, alone, without the hundreds of chatting people and yelling guards, it would have been a more moving moment.