The Vatican

We spent the morning picking up our car for the remainder of our trip. Then we took the shuttle to Rome in hopes that we would be able to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. When we arrived the line for the museum was 1 hour long and it was 3:00 and the museum closes at 4:00. So we decided to go into Sts. Peter and Paul. Well God is so good to us. While we were in line we were approached by this Indian man who asked if we were American and would we like a tour of the Vatican in English. It was definitely reasonable.

This is St. Peter's Square. It is called this because the oblisque in the center commemorates where Peter was crucified up side down. The square is enormous. It can fit 250,000 people at one time.

Our tour guide, Grant, was a gentleman from South Africa who has studied art in South Africa and in Rome. He was a very good story teller.

This is a 2,000 year old statue that was found in Michelangelo's time. They asked Michelangelo to authentic it. They said that when he saw the quality of the workmanship. Michelangelo cried. Amazing.

You cannot take pictures in the Sistine Chapel so they have these story boards outside the chapel showing all the different panels on the bottom and the ceiling itself. It was humbling to walk through the chapel.

This is Sts. Peter and Paul Basilica. It is beautiful inside. All of my pictures didn't turn out because I used the wrong setting.

The Vatican was how we finished our time in Rome. What a wonderful experience.