St Peter's Basilica and more!
After making our way through the crowds in the Vatican Museums, next we went to St Peter’s Basilica.
Again, it was very crowded. But we did make it through! The crowds made it difficult for me to “feel” the peace here though. It wasn’t like when we went to the Duomo in Florence when it felt solemn. Or even in St Mark’s in Venice or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In my mind it’s supposed to be the church of all churches, but it’s treated the least church like really. Here it was loud and like a spectacle. But it was beautiful and it was large!
The real star though was the Pieta. Again, Michelangelo shines! There is no question of the gift he had. Of course, if you could even get close, it’s now behind glass. But you can’t help but being drawn to this work.
Juvita took us through parts of the Basilica. However in many places our headsets weren’t working well and it was hard to hear her.
After the Basilica, our tour was basically done. She said we could stay here if we wanted and climb, or take the elevator up the dome. Neither my parents nor the kids wanted to, which really disappointed me. I wanted to – but we exited the area before they realized I wanted to.
We went out to St Peter’s Square and walked around a bit, took some pictures and tried to decide what to do next.
I will say that I was extremely glad to have visited the Vatican. I was however very disappointed in the crowd management. We visited so many places this trip and this was the only place that we experienced crowds at this level. Why let so many people in at one time if the crowds get to the point where the visit becomes less enjoyable? Sell timed tickets maybe? I don’t know what the answer is, but we were all glad to be out of the Vatican, and yet at the same time, we knew there was so much more there that we didn’t even scratch the surface!
It was this kind of morning and feeling once we got outside I suppose!!!
We were hungry and we had another tour this afternoon! Crypts, Bones and Catacombs! But we had some time before that was to start. We weren’t exactly sure how we’d get from the Vatican to our meeting spot for that tour.
Next up....lunch and wandering around Rome before our next tour!
Again, it was very crowded. But we did make it through! The crowds made it difficult for me to “feel” the peace here though. It wasn’t like when we went to the Duomo in Florence when it felt solemn. Or even in St Mark’s in Venice or the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In my mind it’s supposed to be the church of all churches, but it’s treated the least church like really. Here it was loud and like a spectacle. But it was beautiful and it was large!
The real star though was the Pieta. Again, Michelangelo shines! There is no question of the gift he had. Of course, if you could even get close, it’s now behind glass. But you can’t help but being drawn to this work.
Juvita took us through parts of the Basilica. However in many places our headsets weren’t working well and it was hard to hear her.
We went out to St Peter’s Square and walked around a bit, took some pictures and tried to decide what to do next.
I will say that I was extremely glad to have visited the Vatican. I was however very disappointed in the crowd management. We visited so many places this trip and this was the only place that we experienced crowds at this level. Why let so many people in at one time if the crowds get to the point where the visit becomes less enjoyable? Sell timed tickets maybe? I don’t know what the answer is, but we were all glad to be out of the Vatican, and yet at the same time, we knew there was so much more there that we didn’t even scratch the surface!
It was this kind of morning and feeling once we got outside I suppose!!!
We were hungry and we had another tour this afternoon! Crypts, Bones and Catacombs! But we had some time before that was to start. We weren’t exactly sure how we’d get from the Vatican to our meeting spot for that tour.
Next up....lunch and wandering around Rome before our next tour!
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