Appreciating art and architecture

Rome, Day3.
With tickets to get into the Vatican Museum at 10am, we thought leaving our apartment at 8:45 would give us plenty of time to get there without rushing. Unfortunately we found out that Rome is not Switzerland and train schedules are not always reliable. We stood with morning commuters watching the minutes tick away. By the time the train finally came we had less than a half hour. Long story short, with a little bit of running with Henry on shoulders and Ruby in the stroller, we arrived at 9:58.

Like with many other museums, Alex was way more interested than Ruby and Henry. He wanted to know why we were rushing through. I held back a little with him while he explored odds and ends on our way to the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was packed! I can't imagine there could be any more people in the summer time. There was barely room to squeeze through people. We managed to find a little corner to sit where we could pull out our guide book and point out different parts of the Creation and the Bible to the kids. It was lost on Henry but Ruby and Alex found some of it interesting. Quote of the Day, "I bet he had a sore neck after all of that painting!"

A model of Vatican City in the Vatican Museum

There is a special exit out of the Sistine Chapel that leads down some stairs toward the Pope's private apartment. Alex knocked but he wasn't home. We thought it was a good place to work on his door approach.

Walking out of the museum toward St. Peter's

The closest we got to seeing the Pope

Christina, Caroline, Alex, Ruby and Henry inside the atrium of St. Peter's

Caroline, Alex and Christina inside St. Peter's

The main altar which is supposedly over Peter's tomb

The Dome of St. Peter's was designed by Michelangelo but not finished during his lifetime. It is the biggest anywhere and according to Rick Steve's book is "taller than a football field is long."

Michelangelo's Pieta which he created at the age of 24

Pretending to be asleep when Pete and Alex came out of St. Peter's

Christina, Ruby and Alex in St. Peter's Square

Henry happy to be free at last and looking for innocent pigeons to chase

Clayton and company in St. Peter's Square

The obelisk in the center of St. Peter's Square

After eating perhaps the most delicious Italian meal of our trip, we headed over to Piazza Navona

Ruby in front of Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi

In Rick Steve's book he mentions that there is an armadillo in the fountain. We told Alex about it and he made it his mission to find it.

After searching high and low, it was finally found. Does that look like an armadillo to you?

We finished our trip in Rome much like we started it-at the Pantheon eating gelato. Afterward, we moseyed our way past the Trevi Fountain to the Spanish steps, looking for souvenirs and soaking in the city one last time.