Jetlag won again on Day 2, and we were both up at 4:30. That meant it was no problem for us to head over to the Vatican for an early visit to St. Peter’s Bascillica. We certainly weren’t the only ones with the same idea, when we reached at 6:40am the line was already beyond the queue gates for security waiting for it to open at 7. It was lovely to watch the morning light spread across the buildings, statues, and courtyard while we waited. The front steps of the Bascilica were still covered in flowers from Easter. The line started moving even before 7am, and we were through security by 7:05.
The sheer size of St. Peter’s Bascilica is breathtaking, While the exterior facade is not as ornate as other Italian churches, looking almost more like a government building than a church, the height and immensity of it carry great weight. Inside, the center aisle stretches on and on. There are side chapels around the entire building that are large enough to hold services. The altar area itself is probably large enough to hold the entire building of Old St. Peter’s in Tacoma, the church I grew up attending, including the bell tower. There were two services going on simultaneously in opposite ends of the church and you could not hear one from the other.
By the time we left the Bascilica at about 8am, the church was starting to feel a little more crowded. Outside, the line had grown to stretch 2/3 of the way around the courtyard with more people flooding in continually. I can’t imagine how hot that must be on a summer day with no shade. We took some more photos from the outside, including a fun test of our zoom lenses to capture two priests on the Pope’s balcony, and then headed out for a morning coffee and snack.
We stopped in the neighborhood north of the Vatican for some huge croissants at Love – Specialty Croissants. The place was packed and we got the last table. Even though we hadn’t actually walked far distance-wise our feet were tired and it was a relief to sit for a while.
After (second) breakfast we stopped at the local market, Mercator Trionfale. We enjoyed this market much more than the tourist one downtown. On a Thursday morning it was quiet and easy to navigate, with mostly locals doing their regular shopping. Samples as a path to sales is clearly a favorite tactic here, and we spent some time trying products from a cheese vendor coming away with a small block of a spicy hard cheese and taralli, traditional ring shaped crunchy snacks.
For lunch we had enormous Greek pitas and then we rested to save up our energy for the Vatican Museum in the afternoon.
While the line for St. Peter’s Bascilica was long, the line for the Vatican Museums was confusing. There is a line in one direction that wraps around the city walls for people who did not pre-buy a ticket. If you already had a timed ticked, you followed a parallel line to near the entrance, where you then needed to continue on to the end of one of three lines. These lines were based on the time slot for your entry and you had to pick the right one for your time despite a lack of clear signage. I was really stressed by the chaos. Thankfully Mervin had done thorough research and got us in the correct line so that we could enter right on time for our slot.
Visiting the Vatican Museum was less like a standard Museum meander and more of a shuffle along with the crowd on a pre-defined path. There were so many incredible things to see, from Ancient Greek and Roman statues to Egyptian artifacts to Candelabra and Tapestries, and of course Christian art of all forms and mediums from the early Middle Ages onward. One could spend an hour in each gallery. Doing so would be a struggle against the river of people, however. In just an hour we found ourselves already at the Raphael rooms. Instead of renting an audio guide, we used the Rick Steves Audio Europe app to download a walking tour. The narration was fun and helped mostly keep us focused on the key exhibits we had time to see without getting too far sidetracked.
The last stop on the tour was the Sistine Chapel. No photos are allowed there, for good reason both from a religious standpoint of respect for the space and also for a practical reason because it is absolutely packed with people. As the ceiling is the key feature, everyone is trying hard to crane their necks to study it. There is some limited seating around the edge and we did manage to snag seats after some time. We listened to the Rick Steves narration for the chapel and it was a very helpful in making sense of the huge number of scenes and stories portrayed.
We finished the evening out in the museum garden (not the official Vatican gardens, just a side area with a cafe). It was a lovely quiet respite after the crush of people, as we watched the light of the setting sun on the dome of St. Peter’s Bascilica.
