ROME: Day 2

Day 2 of Rome was spent entirely in the Vatican City. Just to clarify to people: YES, I am traveling alone  majority of the time in Italy. Right now I am in Florence (yes I know I'm behind in my blogging, but it's hard to blog with you don't have easy Wi-Fi access). In Florence till the time of the wedding I am with my friend Lina and Antonia! Yay! Anyways,  this was on my way to go see the Vatican Museum. Good thing I had a reservation or else I would have had to wait in line for hours.

A humongous St. Peter's Basilica dome popping out from behind the trees.

This museum was huge. A long walk down long corridors filled with paintings, sculptures and rugs.

Old-time chariot!

Tons of people squeezing next to each other, rubbing shoulders and saying "Scusi!"

Love how they have every inch of a room filled with art. You most definitely get a neck workout by looking all over the room. 

These are rugs showing the story of Christ.

Map of Old Italy

Ahhh, the famous "School of Athens" by Raphael. It is big. A fresco, not a painting. It's paint mixed with wall plaster so that it actually becomes part of the wall. 

Can you spot Raphael? He added himself into this piece. This room was full of Raphael's works! Each four sides of the room were all his frescoes.

Then you had some contemporary art. Henri Matisse!

Moving on to the last thing of the museum - the great Sistine Chapel

Wow.... just Wow. There were security guards all over the place yelling "No foto, NO FOTO!" Hahaha, I snuck a picture of the ceiling and got caught and the guard said "Why you take foto? Next time you take, you out!" 

After the Vatican Museum I made my way out and decided to climb the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica. This thing is HUGE as it is GRAND

During a little half-way point in the 551 steps to climb to the very top of the dome. There's this little area where you can peak into the Church from up top. 

See how narrow it is? This lady behind me was like.. "Hurry up! Phobia here!!"

I was sooo tired when I got up to the top. But the view just took me away. It was amazing. You could see all of Rome! Damn, it's just that instant feel of sensation once you get to the very top and see EVERYTHING

Soooo Coooool!

The great DOME!

Man, these pictures don't even compare. To be able to see it with your own eyes, you'd realize how BIG it is!

After I got down from the dome, went inside the grandest and biggest church of my life. This place can fit up to  thousands of people!!! Just walking around and looking at each thing took me like a few hours!

History

Humongous statues everywhere.

Don't be fooled, these cupids are like twice the size of a human being. 

Michelangelo's famous "Pieta" I couldn't really get a good shot since it was behind bullet-proof glass. 

The Holy Door. It won't open again till 2025 which is when the next Jubilee is! Something like that, haha.

Statue of St. Peter. People touch and kiss his feet as they pray. 

Can you believe..... this is not a painting. But a mosaic??? AMAZING! I forgot who's artwork this is. But the fact that it's a mosaic? Imagine putting together all those tiny little rocks and stones together to create something that looks like REAL LIFE!!!! Hahahahaha, I was shocked to find out that it was a mosaic. 

The atrium of St. Peter's

Nice sunny day

Big big big! Even though the Vatican is such a small city. Everything inside of it is so big!

Ciao! :)

I absolutely loved the inside of St. Peter's!! A must for people when they visit Italy!

Since I was doing so much sightseeing I forgot about lunch. So quickly found a place to eat around 2:00pm! Hahaha, sat outside in the beautiful weather!

Ordered another sandwich with salami and mozzarella cheese!

And here's my dinner! Lasagna and some of their house red wine! Lasagna was sooooo good!!!!!!! 

And for dessert I got their homemade tiramisu and an espresso shot! This tiramisu was the BEST tiramisu I had in my life! It wasn't over soaked, and wasn't overly sweet! It was like the perfect tiramisu. The cream, the cocoa powder on top. Perfetto!