87. Vatican

Wednesday in Rome is Pope day, and we were in Rome on a Wednesday!!  We sat out on the hard, sunburnt chairs set out in St. Peter's square and waited for our "audience" with Pope Benedict XVI.  I took a few photos as we sat out in the square with the sun beating on our backs.

Above is St. Peter's--this cathedral is SOOOOOOOO HUGE.  We went inside it later in the day.  You walk inside, and it takes you a minute to register just HOW big it is, but then you start thinking about it, and you realize it is one monster church.  Gorgeous though.  Below is the view behind me, lots of people want to see the pope on pope day.

So then eventually the Pope came out and rode around, on all the paths between sets of chairs.  It was really neat!  There was music playing, everyone was clapping, and the Pope was waving.  We were all standing on our chairs to get a good look.  I got terrible photos, but Krystle got a great one:

Isn't his sunhat so cute?!  I'm not Catholic (obviously) but I still thought it was really cool to see the Pope in real life.  After he drove around he went up to the front of the cathedral and sat down to give his blessing.  Before the blessing a bunch of other people said stuff....and repeated it in five languages...so we decided to go meet back with our group to tour the Vatican Museum (and see the Sistine Chapel).

Our tour was really neat.  We focused on the works of Michaelangelo and what inspired him (you have to focus on something in the museum, otherwise it is just madness).

This statue was one of Michelangelo's fave's.  Or so they say.

The Vatican Museum is just HUGE.  It goes on and on, and has all sorts of amazing things.  I was really glad we had a tour guide though, because I would have gotten lost (and bored) if I hadn't had someone pointing out all the cool stuff.  Oh PS our tour guide was THE CUTEST thing.  We never figured out where she was from, but she was adorable.  She always referred to us as the seven girls.

On our tour of the Vatican Museum we saw Raphael's School of Athens.  I've seen this painting in countless books (including American Heritage), and it was very neat to see the original.  This guy here is my man Euclid.  Love that guy.

You aren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, so I didn't take any of it, but it was incredible.  I cannot believe that it was done by a person laying down getting paint in his eyes.  I recommend seeing it if you ever find yourself in Rome.