The day is 16th September 2013. Our hotel is situated about 30 kms from the city. Only good thing about this hotel is there was free wifi and the connection was also good. We had our BF and started at 8 a.m.
The Hotel where we stayed.
In the City area we could see Trams on the Road. I am always fascinated with Trams.
These smart cars could be seen all over city area. It seems it is very popular . It is a two person car very fuel efficient .
To day we were to go to the Vatican City, the smallest Country in the world. Yesterday being Sunday, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel were closed and we had to spend time in other places.
The Bus dropped us near the entrance. Oh MY what a crowd around the walled City. Huge queue was there to enter the vatican and it was about 4, 5 columns of people standing.
Entrance to Vatican.
Our guide met us at the entrance and luckily for us he had bought the tickets already other wise it would take 3 hours just to get near the entrance and take the tickets.
We were each given a head set with an earplug and I thought it would be the usual head sets with commentry about the places in English. But it was not so. This was given to us to hear what the guide was saying. He had a speaker and each group had different frequency, so when the guide is explaining things he need not have to shout and disturb others. The crowd is seen to be believed and this was an excellent way to communicate.
There was a Globe in the centre of the open couryard
One side of the quadrangle Court yard
The courtyard.
I was very excited as it was one of my dreams to see Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica where the master pieces of Michael Angelo are there. Agony and Ecstacy the biographical novel written by Irving Stone which I have read is one of the reason for my longing to see these places.
First we went into the Museum . The roof designs were excelent and also the tapesteries hung on the side of the wall. such Opulence.
The Roof Designs. There was so much opulence every where it is tough to choose which picture to post.
The Tapestery on the Wall
Next we were to go into the Sistene Chapel where the inside roof is painted by Michael Angelo .
As photography is not allowed inside the Chapel and also silence is to be maintained, the replicas of roof and side paintings are hung outside in the quadrangle., so that the guide can explain to the tourist.
I understood that many artists had painted on the sides of the Chapel. The significance of each figure in the roof painting of Micheal Angelo Creation of Adam and the scenes of Hell and Heaven in Last Judgement was explained to us.
The Photographs kept outside so we would know what to look up once inside the Sistine Chapel.
Once we entered the Chapel we were to maintain silence and just look at the roof and the sides. Mostly everybody was looking towards heaven, I mean upwards to see the unbelievable painting . There are no words to express what we saw. The paint looks so fresh, as if it was just done the day before but it is more than 500 years since it was painted.
We could not keep looking up for long as our necks started aching, I could not understand how Michal Angelo could paint it in a supine position hanging himself in some contraption in such a great height. How could he draw such beautiful figures in that position when many of us can not even draw a straight line properly even while sitting or standing. What human beings can achieve is seen to be believed. That feeling of wonder keeps lingering on even now.
A Corridor as we proceed towards the Basilica
The Outer quadrangle where we exited as seen from inside.
There was some special door which was locked and very ornamental. I was told that it will be opened once a year or once in some number of years for some ritual.
Another Door a Silver one
This reminded me of Swarga Vasal (meaning Door to Heaven) which is huge door opened once a year in Srirangam temple and lot of people go there to enter to that door on that particular day.
Then we proceeded to the St. Peters Basilica. It is such a huge church with a high dome in the center.
Inside the St. Peter's Basilica
The Dome
There is a huge corridor going around inside of the dome and people can climb on to the corridors which are there around the dome. People go up by using lift and have to climb 300 plus spiral stairs. There is big queue for that also and 3 plus hours needed for that. So we could not do it , But I could longingly look up the people on top who were looking so tiny. When we look up there are some letters written in Gold around the dome, in the side walls in the top portion which appeared small from where we stand. Our guide told us it is about 3 meteres width the width of our Bus.
The corridor above the letters can be seen in this picture. Some people standing there are appearing so tiny.
So many statues of Popes, St. Peter, Mary , Christ etc were there. There were lots of smooth round pillars.
The Pieta by Michael Angelo
The Famous Pieta by Michael Angelo was there. But it is safely kept inside so you can see it only from far for fear of damage to the statue. ( The nose of Mary was damaged by some deranged person when it was kept in the open and so now it is kept safely inside an enclosure. I am not sure this is a fact.). I just wanted to spend some more time there and did not feel like coming out at all. It was really worth the visit. But we had a long way to go in the Bus.
The bodies of some of the popes were preserved and kept inside glass cases.
The Vatican City is protected by Swiss guards from Switzerland. It is an age old tradition.
We came out by the other side , that is the main entrance. There is a big quadrangle and this is where the Pope gives audience once a week.
This is where the Pope gives audience to people
We just stayed back to take some pictures. Normally our guide goes in the front and we all follow, but some how we lost him and could not see any one in our group. we walked straight down on the road, and realized that he could have taken a turn. Normally when ever he turned in any gully, he stopped for people to join him and counted the people.
We retraced our steps and came back to the place where there was a turn where he could have probably taken a turn. We were given his phone number but we had misplaced it.
We just stood there not knowing what to do. I just started praying, the place was so crowded and people moving here and there.
Looks like he had gone a long way towards the Bus and then only realized we were not there so he came back rushing and yes he had taken a turn without looking whether everybody was following.
These places are notorious for pick pocketers. He told us he had gone in the front to warn people as a pick pocket had just happened to some Chinese Tourists. He was also very worried that he had lost us and was actually sweating . Good that we waited in the same place, always it is better to stand in one place rather than moving if some one is searching for us , so that the person who is searching would not miss us.
We just ran behind him, as we had around five hours drive.
We had lunch on our way. (we had to pay for it it is all decided befroe itself and we knew we had to buy our own lunch.) It was a lovely high way restaurant and we could get fruits and some nice boiled vegetables, yogurt and pasta with vegetables. We were happy that we got so much to eat.
We reached Tuscany region. On both side of the road there were lot of agricultural patches, , sun flowers and wine yards (grapes) ( This area is famous for wine) .
We were directly taken to a hotel for dinner. This seemed to be a very popular joint. It was very crowded. It was a very expensive dinner and wine was served. There was live music. Old 60s songs were sung by musician, songs like never on a sunday etc. Every body started singing those songs along.
The food was ok we got vege lasagna and vegetable soup. Desert as usual gelato icecream.
we had to drive another hour to reach our hotel in Pisa.
Tomorrow we are to see Leaning Tower of Pisa. I kept thinking about it.
The Hotel where we stayed.
In the City area we could see Trams on the Road. I am always fascinated with Trams.
These smart cars could be seen all over city area. It seems it is very popular . It is a two person car very fuel efficient .
To day we were to go to the Vatican City, the smallest Country in the world. Yesterday being Sunday, Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel were closed and we had to spend time in other places.
The Bus dropped us near the entrance. Oh MY what a crowd around the walled City. Huge queue was there to enter the vatican and it was about 4, 5 columns of people standing.
Thid is supposed to be the queue four or even more columns of people.
Entrance to Vatican.
Our guide met us at the entrance and luckily for us he had bought the tickets already other wise it would take 3 hours just to get near the entrance and take the tickets.
We were each given a head set with an earplug and I thought it would be the usual head sets with commentry about the places in English. But it was not so. This was given to us to hear what the guide was saying. He had a speaker and each group had different frequency, so when the guide is explaining things he need not have to shout and disturb others. The crowd is seen to be believed and this was an excellent way to communicate.
There was a Globe in the centre of the open couryard
One side of the quadrangle Court yard
The courtyard.
I was very excited as it was one of my dreams to see Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica where the master pieces of Michael Angelo are there. Agony and Ecstacy the biographical novel written by Irving Stone which I have read is one of the reason for my longing to see these places.
First we went into the Museum . The roof designs were excelent and also the tapesteries hung on the side of the wall. such Opulence.
The Roof Designs. There was so much opulence every where it is tough to choose which picture to post.
The Tapestery on the Wall
Next we were to go into the Sistene Chapel where the inside roof is painted by Michael Angelo .
As photography is not allowed inside the Chapel and also silence is to be maintained, the replicas of roof and side paintings are hung outside in the quadrangle., so that the guide can explain to the tourist.
I understood that many artists had painted on the sides of the Chapel. The significance of each figure in the roof painting of Micheal Angelo Creation of Adam and the scenes of Hell and Heaven in Last Judgement was explained to us.
The Photographs kept outside so we would know what to look up once inside the Sistine Chapel.
Once we entered the Chapel we were to maintain silence and just look at the roof and the sides. Mostly everybody was looking towards heaven, I mean upwards to see the unbelievable painting . There are no words to express what we saw. The paint looks so fresh, as if it was just done the day before but it is more than 500 years since it was painted.
We could not keep looking up for long as our necks started aching, I could not understand how Michal Angelo could paint it in a supine position hanging himself in some contraption in such a great height. How could he draw such beautiful figures in that position when many of us can not even draw a straight line properly even while sitting or standing. What human beings can achieve is seen to be believed. That feeling of wonder keeps lingering on even now.
A Corridor as we proceed towards the Basilica
There was some special door which was locked and very ornamental. I was told that it will be opened once a year or once in some number of years for some ritual.
Another Door a Silver one
This reminded me of Swarga Vasal (meaning Door to Heaven) which is huge door opened once a year in Srirangam temple and lot of people go there to enter to that door on that particular day.
Then we proceeded to the St. Peters Basilica. It is such a huge church with a high dome in the center.
Statue of St. Peter. People put their head on the feet of this Statue.
The Dome
There is a huge corridor going around inside of the dome and people can climb on to the corridors which are there around the dome. People go up by using lift and have to climb 300 plus spiral stairs. There is big queue for that also and 3 plus hours needed for that. So we could not do it , But I could longingly look up the people on top who were looking so tiny. When we look up there are some letters written in Gold around the dome, in the side walls in the top portion which appeared small from where we stand. Our guide told us it is about 3 meteres width the width of our Bus.
The writing in the Golden background
The corridor above the letters can be seen in this picture. Some people standing there are appearing so tiny.
I wanted to get into that corridor but did not have time.
The Pieta by Michael Angelo
The Close up of Mary the beautiful serene face.
Nose does look damaged ?
There were many statues. This one was so nice the drapes in the clothes look so natural even though done in marble.
The bodies of some of the popes were preserved and kept inside glass cases.
The Vatican City is protected by Swiss guards from Switzerland. It is an age old tradition.
We came out by the other side , that is the main entrance. There is a big quadrangle and this is where the Pope gives audience once a week.
This is where the Pope gives audience to people
We just stayed back to take some pictures. Normally our guide goes in the front and we all follow, but some how we lost him and could not see any one in our group. we walked straight down on the road, and realized that he could have taken a turn. Normally when ever he turned in any gully, he stopped for people to join him and counted the people.
We retraced our steps and came back to the place where there was a turn where he could have probably taken a turn. We were given his phone number but we had misplaced it.
We just stood there not knowing what to do. I just started praying, the place was so crowded and people moving here and there.
Looks like he had gone a long way towards the Bus and then only realized we were not there so he came back rushing and yes he had taken a turn without looking whether everybody was following.
These places are notorious for pick pocketers. He told us he had gone in the front to warn people as a pick pocket had just happened to some Chinese Tourists. He was also very worried that he had lost us and was actually sweating . Good that we waited in the same place, always it is better to stand in one place rather than moving if some one is searching for us , so that the person who is searching would not miss us.
We just ran behind him, as we had around five hours drive.
We had lunch on our way. (we had to pay for it it is all decided befroe itself and we knew we had to buy our own lunch.) It was a lovely high way restaurant and we could get fruits and some nice boiled vegetables, yogurt and pasta with vegetables. We were happy that we got so much to eat.
We reached Tuscany region. On both side of the road there were lot of agricultural patches, , sun flowers and wine yards (grapes) ( This area is famous for wine) .
We were directly taken to a hotel for dinner. This seemed to be a very popular joint. It was very crowded. It was a very expensive dinner and wine was served. There was live music. Old 60s songs were sung by musician, songs like never on a sunday etc. Every body started singing those songs along.
The food was ok we got vege lasagna and vegetable soup. Desert as usual gelato icecream.
we had to drive another hour to reach our hotel in Pisa.
Tomorrow we are to see Leaning Tower of Pisa. I kept thinking about it.
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