Rome (part 1)

We flew to Rome on Tuesday morning. Beck took his first walking steps while we were waiting to board the flight in Paris.

We got to our apartment rental around the middle of the afternoon. Our place was located about a quarter of a mile south of St. Peter's square. It just so happened that we were also just a few blocks from where Melanie lived when she came to Rome for her study abroad during college. That was a pleasant, unplanned surprised. She recognized the neighborhood and knew how to get around places, which was helpful because Rome is not laid out in an orderly way. It is an ancient city, constantly being added upon, rebuilt, etc... And it wasn't built around a grid or any discernable order. I constantly felt disoriented.

This was a beautiful city and the weather and air felt comfortable the entire time. We got some delicious pizzas and bruschetta that evening, walked around Mel's neighborhood where she stayed for two months in college, and then went to bed.



The next morning, a Wednesday, we walked to the Vatican and through St. Peter's Square to get to the Vatican Museum entrance. But the Pope was in town and he makes a public appearance in St. Peter's Square on Wednesdays. So the Square was crowded with thousands of people. There are a lot of Catholics out there.



We walked along the walls of Vatican City to get to the museum:



We toured the Vatican Museum, which is massive. It contains ancient artifacts of Rome, Christian relics, sculpture, and a lot of works of art. The highlight was the Sistine Chapel, which we were not permitted to photograph. It was surreal to look at. Many of the fresco paintings appear three dimensional. I was surprised at how well you could see details and how much human genius and ability can accomplish.







Old tiles on the floor of a living quarters of an ancient Pope:





We walked towards the river that runs through Rome and to this castle, St. Angelo that is outside of the Vatican, but connected via underground tunnels in case papal leadership ever needed to escape attack (like in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons):

That night we grabbed a meal near our place. All the food we had there was very good.