Hither and Yon: Life and Times in New Zealand: Vatican City....

While neither Tim nor I are Catholic we still wanted to visit the iconic Vatican City. And more than anything else I wanted to see the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. With this in mind we got up, took the train to Vatican City and, and although we were expecting the long lines, we plodded a ridiculous distance to find the end of the line. Thankfully, the Vatican had just opened for the day so the line was moving and while we waited just over an hour, which didn't seem too bad considering everything, the line was always in the shade. :) Finally, we made it to the front of the line and purchased our tickets!

Then we were inside and vectoring our way towards the Sistine Chapel.

To get there you have to pass through a myriad of halls that comprise the Vatican Museums and house countless tapestries, painted maps and unbelievable stone carved ceilings.

Unfortunately, everyone and their brother had decided to be part of a tour and it took quite a bit of time, in uncomfortably close quarters with the throngs of people, to navigate the halls and reach the Sistine Chapel. Along the way I heard one of my favorite quotes of all time, from husband to wife, he said, "Don't worry about taking photos, just enjoy this!". So apropos. I think it's easy to get caught up trying to capture a moment in a photo when in reality you should just be enjoying this something new that you are experiencing. :)

Finally, we were ushered around corners, down stairs and through arches and emerged into the Sistine Chapel! With several museum employees urging us to keep quiet as the Chapel, albeit now a tourist attraction, is still considered a holy place and should be respected as such. Not surprisingly no photos were allowed. We stayed inside for almost an hour trying to process in the incredible detail contained in the figures, colors and patterns that graced the ceiling. I know that the paintings have been cleaned and restored over the years but I was most struck by the brightness of the colors. I expected them to be shades of light or dark but they were incredible jewel tones! We later learned that it took Michelangelo 10 years to paint the ceiling and later on it took 15 years to clean it. Ugh. Talk about a never ending task!

After massaging our necks from craning to try and "see" as much as possible we exited the chapel and wandered through some of the other halls of the Vatican Museums. Like several of the museums that we visited on this trip you could spend days, even weeks, looking at everything of not surprisingly the Vatican is no exception. I was impressed by the endless marble carvings. So beautiful and perfect - I can't imagine working in such an unyielding medium but these artists make it look easy.

Lunching on pizza and wine we fortified ourselves for the rest of the day. Then we were off to a part of the Vatican that I would've never thought of but am glad we found it: the Papal Garage. This was an entire hall dedicated to the various vehicles that the Pope has utilized over the years. Starting with old school carriages complete with elaborate dress for each horse that pulled it. They even had the open air car that Pope John Paul II was riding in when Mehmet Ali Ağca made an attempt on his life (in second photo, far left vehicle). As we know the Pope survived the attack and even went on to visit his transgressor in prison in order to offer his forgiveness. He was a "bigger" person than most. I doubt I could do the same if put in that position.