Vatican City

Today, I got up semi early and headed to Vatican City via metro. I had a reservation so I got to skip the super long line to get in. I wasn't in any kind of hurry, and I wish I would've saved the four euros I spent on the reservation. I did get the student price which is seven euros less so that was great!

I started in the Vatican Museums which were huge and full of everything that has been dug up in the layers and layers of Rome. It helped me to see what the Forum may have been like before it was destroyed/buried. There were famous statues and paintings, Egyptian tomb remains and even some dead, decaying bodies. I used an audio guided tour to learn more about all the things I was seeing. I'm glad Florence sparked a history/art flame in me so I could really enjoy the museums. The paintings and frescos in all the rooms would give me a headache if I lived in them..I do like today's style of decorating better :/

The museums connect straight with the Sistine Chapel so I ended up in there. It's very different than I was expecting. It's beautiful and amazing, of course. The fresco in the Wurzburg Residence was actually better in my opinion, but it wasn't done by Michelangelo and it does not have the creation of man so it's less cool. :) I listened to the audio guide explain each of the panels from the creation of light and man to the fall of Adam and destruction of everyone except Noah in the great flood. There were many "Shhhh!"'s and "No foto!!!"'s but besides that it was kind of a spiritual experience. My neck hurt as I craned it up toward the ceiling for a good half hour. Lucky for me I snagged a seat and stayed a while just enjoying everything in the chapel. It was so pretty.

I exited and went to St Peter's...the largest basilica in the world, I think. The line to get in was huge, but it moved quickly. As you all know, I have been in a LOT of churches. St Peter's takes the cake by far. It was humongous and SO grand. Unfortunately, they were getting ready for services tomorrow so there were a million chairs set up inside and no one was allowed up at the altar. I was amazed at the size and the decor and the altar and Michelangelo's pieta (which I only got terrible pictures of). Peter's tomb is under the church, but only few people are allowed under.

There were guards dressed funny outside the driveway of the church. I saw many priests and nuns and even some popey looking people. I saw the Pope's window and imagined him standing on the balcony waving. It was a fun experience in Vatican City. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was 2:00 and my train didn't leave until 10:30. I had left my backpack at the hostel so I didn't have to carry it around, but technically I'm checked out so I shouldn't hang out there much so I couldn't go back there. I wandered Rome and enjoyed more pizza as well as the carnavale festivities. They had a puppet show and some sort of funny play that everyone laughed at besides me...it was in Italian, of course. I need to learn some languages.

I'm feeling very homeless as I wait for my overnight train. I arrive in Venice at 5:30 tomorrow morning and have no where to go before everything opens. I found a ward that had Sacrament meeting at 10:50 three miles from the train station. I plan on walking to that for sacrament meeting. I hope there are missionaries that speak English. Then I'll check in to my hotel and explore Venice for a couple days!

I'm extremely homesick...to the point of tears as I facetimed with my family for a few minutes today. I hope a change in location will help. If not, then I start another workaway on Tuesday and maybe the break from travel will help. We'll see! Rome was fun. It's not my kind of city, but I saw a lot of things that I have always wanted to see and ate a few things I've always wanted to eat and learned many things I could not have learned anywhere else.