The Vatican museum was supposed to be part of Monday's trip, but we were too lazy, so today it was. The queues were alarming, stretching several hundred yards down the road from the entrance. Fortunately, it turns out that the museum is one slick operation and pushes a lot of people through its doors without too much hassle. There's not much room for quiet contemplation as you sort of drift along with the human tide through rooms and corridors.
Presumably because of the sheer volume of visitors, most of the rooms are fairly empty, with the interest being the staggeringly high quality of art on show on the walls and ceilings.
The Museum's virtual tour is a bit slow, but at least gives a flavour of the place.
Not much photography from me as we moved from room to room, but I did like this enormously long map gallery.
All paths in the museum lead to the Sistine Chapel and it doesn't disappoint. Fortunately, it's the only fairly open room on the tour, so it's possible to detach yourself from the tidal flow and pause for a while to take in one of the great pieces of world culture. It's a stunning place. Michaelangelo's two great works dominate. The set of panels making up the ceiling and the last judgement making up the whole of one wall are stunning. Below them, though are numerous masterpieces by renaissance artists, including Boticelli, which if anywhere else would be world famous in their own right.
So after our fill of culture, of course we had to go and have a final lunch back at Ristorante Edy before heading off back to Fiumicino and home.
A few more pics of the weekend are here.
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