We got up at 6:45 this morning to be in line at the Vatican for the free Sunday entrance by 7:45. We were still about a half a city block back from the entrance, where we waited until 9am for it to open, but by the time we went came out hours later, there were literally thousands of people lined up, zigzagging back and forth in front of the entrance in a mazelike queue and then lined up around not one, not two, but three of the Vatican's pointed corners.
Our first stop was a brief walkthrough of the Vatican Pinacoteca, where we really only paused to see Raphael's Transfiguration and Caravaggio's Entombment (incredible!). Then we traversed the extremely packed Egyptian gallery to get to the ancient sculpture hall, where after years of waiting, I finally saw the Augustus of Prima Porta statue in person! I've liked that statue since Dr. Rose's Roman art class, sophomore year of college, and it was in cleaning when I was in Rome before. Of Augustus I can only say: I'd hit it.
Then we went to the Cortile Belvedere, which houses the Laocoon, the Apollo Belvedere, some really giant Roman marble bathtubs, and ludicrous large Gorgon-esque masques (amid many other important pieces of statuary, but this is what I took away). Between each of these stops, meanwhile, there's like miles and miles of corridors filled with frescoes, painted maps, coins, etc. Finally, we make it to the Raphael Rooms, which are exquisite, and the Sistine Chapel, which is still kind of surreal, mostly due to its height. There were the obligatory loud "SHHHHHs" from the guards, as well as my favorite: "Silenzio...no foto..." plus a bonus Italian tour guide yelling at some people "don't take photos! this is a holy place! where do you think you are?" Um, in one of the most important art historical monuments of the Western world, that's where. Zip it.
Finally, I discovered to my dismay that only tour groups, of which I have previously always been a part, get to use the special staircase that shuttles you right to the Basilica. Us commoners had to take the long way out, which was still filled with beautiful things, and culminated in like a five story spiral bronze staircase. We decided just to go see if the basilica was open, so we go around to the Piazza and find it thronged with thousands of peope, probably the most people I've ever seen in one open space. It is of course noon on Sunday and the pope is blessing the crowd from his window, high above the piazza. He greeted everyone in Italian, French, English, Spanish, and German, which is pretty impressive, and the various nationalities cheered as he spoke to them. We took a couple photos and left, because none of us are Catholic, it was just fun to see the pope! Like spotting Brad Pitt, only less attractive and annoyingly against birth control.
After a spot of lunch, we headed to the Colosseum, where we discovered that today was the Giro della'Italia, the second most important race besides the Tour de France, and that Lance Armstrong was somewhere amid the cyclists. Because the Colosseo metro stop lets you off on the opposite side of the road-cum-racetrack from the actual monument, we had to take a very circuitous route to get in. It was, as before, anti-climatic for me, and we managed to miss the first group of cyclists as we walked from archway to archway on the upper level, so Lance was probably among them. We had to content ourselveswith the stragglers, each of whom was preceded by a cop on a motorcycle, and followed by his personal coach, who at one point we could actually hear yelling to the cyclist to step it up.
After the colosseum, there were grand plans to visit the Domus Aurea, but we had been going since such an early time that we were all totally drained, so we returned home, where we found Alice waiting. Now we're waiting till an appropriately continental hour to go out for some dinner, and then I need to reread Alberti, Pico della Mirandola, and some other theorist before class tomorrow. Whoot!
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