Went to the Vatican this morning! Above is a cupola designed by Michelangelo, an also a marble crocodile, because it is awesome. We met with a new guide Gabriella, who was a super adorable lady of a certain age who told us excellent jokes, my favorite being:Q. How does the Pope fly to his summer residence?
A. In a holy-copter.
Mua ha ha! Excellent.
We got to the Vactican around 8:20, and took a tour of the museum which has a huge collection of marble statues and tapestries. Rome, as we all know, was a very stabby place, and there is a super creepy series of tapestries showing Herod killing the boy babies back in the day. Fun! Past there some of us took a bathroom break (or, as Gabriella would say, the Holy Pee) and the rest of us filed in for an early look at the Sistene chapel. One is not allowed to take photos in the Chapel, which is gorgeous, obviously, but people are dumb, and do it anyway, so I counted the number of times the guards had to yell "NO PHOTOS" in a 25 minute span, and it topped 29 by the time I left. When they weren't yelling NO PHOTOS, they were yelling "SSSSSSHHHH," which, ironically, was louder than the talking. After the Sistene Chapel, we went to St. Peter's Basilica (Gabriella: "Where is Saint Peter? You are standing on him! Ha ha!") and saw the Pieta, which is a gorgeous sculpture of Mary holding Jesus's body post crucifixion, by Michelangelo, of course. It's such a beautiful piece, but because of the crowds I couldn't get a decent picture. Here, check it out!
The Basilica is massive, and has tons of gorgeous art, and (guess who was raised in a Protestant religion?) all I could imagine was Jesus coming down to visit and being like "dude, seriously?" Jesus, being perfect and all, probably would've been more eloquent, but as Lizzie and I discussed, though we can totally understand the desire to praise your God with ostentatious buildings, Jesus was a humble guy, an probably would've been squicked out by the excess (and have given it all to the poor). Anyway, you all know how I like to write songs, so I sang this one to Lizzie the whole time we were walking around, which I'm sure she enjoyed: "Jesus Jesus, Jesus Jesus! Jesus Jesus, Jesus Jesus! Jesus!" It's pretty catchy, and I'll be sure to make a recording for you all when I get back.
We got to the Vactican around 8:20, and took a tour of the museum which has a huge collection of marble statues and tapestries. Rome, as we all know, was a very stabby place, and there is a super creepy series of tapestries showing Herod killing the boy babies back in the day. Fun! Past there some of us took a bathroom break (or, as Gabriella would say, the Holy Pee) and the rest of us filed in for an early look at the Sistene chapel. One is not allowed to take photos in the Chapel, which is gorgeous, obviously, but people are dumb, and do it anyway, so I counted the number of times the guards had to yell "NO PHOTOS" in a 25 minute span, and it topped 29 by the time I left. When they weren't yelling NO PHOTOS, they were yelling "SSSSSSHHHH," which, ironically, was louder than the talking. After the Sistene Chapel, we went to St. Peter's Basilica (Gabriella: "Where is Saint Peter? You are standing on him! Ha ha!") and saw the Pieta, which is a gorgeous sculpture of Mary holding Jesus's body post crucifixion, by Michelangelo, of course. It's such a beautiful piece, but because of the crowds I couldn't get a decent picture. Here, check it out!
The Basilica is massive, and has tons of gorgeous art, and (guess who was raised in a Protestant religion?) all I could imagine was Jesus coming down to visit and being like "dude, seriously?" Jesus, being perfect and all, probably would've been more eloquent, but as Lizzie and I discussed, though we can totally understand the desire to praise your God with ostentatious buildings, Jesus was a humble guy, an probably would've been squicked out by the excess (and have given it all to the poor). Anyway, you all know how I like to write songs, so I sang this one to Lizzie the whole time we were walking around, which I'm sure she enjoyed: "Jesus Jesus, Jesus Jesus! Jesus Jesus, Jesus Jesus! Jesus!" It's pretty catchy, and I'll be sure to make a recording for you all when I get back.
Okay, time for a pause. Our hotel room is really pretty, but it smells like sewer gas. I was typing this entry and I was like "Damn it smells like shit again" and I thought I'd let you know. Our bathroom, for all its sewer gas smell, has a bidet. FANCY.
After the Basilica, we had lunch, and then headed out to the Colosseum. Rarr!
After the Basilica, we had lunch, and then headed out to the Colosseum. Rarr!
Gabriella sounds awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe crocodile tomb-topper is a nice touch. I think I saw something similar on DIY.
Let's not make that together on our craft show!!
ReplyDelete