Vatican tour

Thursday was Vatican day. The girls had slept well. They and I left just after 9am to take the metro to the Vatican Museums, which involved changing subway lines downtown. It has been good to teach them how to get around a bit on their own. The trip took a little longer than Google predicted, but we arrived at the entrance about 10:40am for our 11am tour. There was a very long line outside, which we were able to skip because we had reserved our tour online ahead of time. FYI, on our last visit we used a private tour guide for our group, but because there were only three of us now, that option was too expensive. However, our experience this time was great, so I strongly recommend using the Vatican site to make reservations, which cost just under 40€ apiece for a guided tour with about twenty people.

Where we picked up our tickets inside

Where we waited for our tour guide and got our headsets

Our tour guide was a very lively young woman from the US, so we could understand her perfectly. They gave us wireless headsets to wear, so we could follow what she said even when the group got spread out a bit, which happens often with all the crowds. She started by explaining quite a bit about the Sistine Chapel, which is the culmination of the tour. Since you are not allowed to talk inside there, they had boards with many photos which she used to explain what we would see.

Our wonderful tour guide

We spent about two hours walking through the many rooms of the museum, before getting to the Sistine Chapel. Our guide said that, if you spent one second looking at each item in the museum, it would take you over 80 days to see everything, with no time off for food or sleep. Thus, you have to pick what to see and discuss in a tour, and every guide does things a bit differently. We really enjoyed her commentary, which was knowledgeable and  enthusiastic. You could tell that she loves her work. We got to see a bunch of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, plus lots of Renaissance art, including several rooms with works by Raphael. The tour seemed to take several miles of walking, with many stairs up and down. 

The hall of maps

 

After the (always awesome) Sistine Chapel, she took us the back way into St. Peter's basilica, which is huge and incredibly impressive. I have a friend who is culturally Jewish, who once commented that, if he were a medieval peasant who came to town and saw one of the large cathedrals, that he would immediately have believed in God. Michelangelo's Pietà statue inside the basilica is always amazing. After three hours, our tour ended. We each happily tipped our guide and headed out to St. Peter's Square, which is also huge.

We were tired, hot, and hungry, so we found a little bar (not a place to drink alcohol, but more for sandwiches and drinks) right outside the square, where we each had a sandwich and a cold drink, followed by some gelato. After that, we had the energy (barely) to take the subway back home, arriving about 4pm.

Meanwhile, Dee had taken a taxi from our apartment to the Institute for the afternoon. It cost about 25€, which is too expensive to do regularly, but it was cheaper than we feared and is doable in a pinch. She has been a real trooper, keeping the Institute open all the time while the girls and I were sightseeing. We realized that we needed a shopping run for Friday dinner, so I walked up to Todis to get the buns for sloppy joes and some other things. After that I headed down to the Institute in the car for the evening, while the girls stayed at home for some well-deserved rest. They did run out to the Chinese store for an adventure and to get a couple of things.

At the Institute, I printed up a description of how to use the subway from our house to get to a train at the main station on Friday, including a picture of the big electronic display board. I translated all the words they should need, so the plan is for me not to accompany them but just drop them off at the Jonio stop near our home.


English class had only one student, so the Ganziani ended a bit early to go out street contacting. Thus we also got to leave for home just after 8pm, which was very welcome after a tiring day. At home the four of us visited a while, and it was very nice to get to bed. It is fun having the girls here, and we are blessed to share Italy with them. Marilyn keeps pinching herself to make sure it is all real. Dee and I love being here.