The Vatican

 We got up early on our first day in Rome and headed out to see the Vatican. I told Kevin that it was an hour walk from our hotel room but he thought it wouldn't be that bad so off we went. Well the walk was horrible! We were running late so we could not enjoy the sights and I was stressed because we were late and we got lost and all turned around but we made it eventually.

 Bernini's Angels

 We found out that the pope was speaking on Sunday and so lots of St. Peter's Square was roped off and they were putting up chairs. I was bummed that we could not get into the middle and get better pictures. Someone offered us tickets to see the pope but alas we were not going to be in Rome on Sunday and we don't speak Italian and we are not Catholic.

 The Spiral Staircase

 St Peter's Dome from the Vatican Museum

 Ceiling of the map room

 Raphael's School of Athens

So when you visit the Vatican Museum what anyone neglects to mention is that there are a TON of stairs! There is only one elevator in the complex and the guards are super friendly and helpful but in order to ride the elevator you will have to go against the crush of people and get some dirty looks. 

But because of our stroller we were able to skip most of the museum and see the good stuff. So we entered and saw a sign for the elevator. From the elevator we went with the flow of traffic through a tapestry room, through the map room and another tapestry room. Then we bypassed a couple rooms and went in a secret way to the Raphael rooms to avoid some stairs. To see the good stuff in the Raphael rooms you will be going against the flow but there were not too many people and I really only wanted to see the School of Athens. 

Now comes the hard part. To get to the Sistine Chapel you have to go back through the tapestry rooms and the map rooms to get back to the elevator. These rooms are long and skinny so it was hard enough getting our huge double stroller through it once and now we were going against the flow of traffic. Kevin pushed and I apologized. I think we got like 5 dirty looks. Then we took the elevator down and went to the Sistine Chapel but we came into the chapel by the exit and so once again we were going against the flow. Luckily, it was not too crazy this time. 

The Sistine Chapel was just as amazing as I always thought it would be. Michelangelo was a genius! You compare his paintings to the other paintings and there is no comparison. You are not allowed to take pictures and there are tons of guards in this room so I did not even attempt it but I could have stayed there all day. My only observation was that the chapel was smaller than I thought it was.

 Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peters.

 

Scott was tired after all his hard work and decided to take a nap. Maddy is pouting because she wants to blanket. We are working on sharing and it is not going so well.

 The conquering hero!

 After the Vatican we found a park outside Castel Sant'Angelo and it was a nice break for the kids.  It's kind of fun to be going down slides with the Vatican right behind you.

Castel Sant'Angelo