One Day at The Vatican (PART TWO): Sistine Chapel + St. Peter's Basilica + St. Peter's Dome

Ok, so let's finish out our "Day in the Vatican" with Part Two. Part One got so long and photo heavy I thought it was better to break it in two. 

So picking up where we left off: walking into Sistine Chapel! 
We followed the crowd into the Sistine Chapel, which despite being connected to the Vatican Museums was actually a pretty decent walk! Although we got to see a really neat vestment--although I have no idea what the significance was. Once you enter the Chapel you see security people and a huge crowd just standing there staring. I have seen photos of the Sistine Chapel before but nothing prepared me for standing there in person looking up at it. It was overwhelming.

I mean,that's overwhelming, right? From all the colors and shapes and dimensions and biblical stories references it was no wonder everyone stands there pointing up and gawking at it. It was also fascinating to hear on my Rick Steves Europe audio app all about how when Michelangelo finished the one side he unveiled it and was really disappointed because all the details that were clearly visible when he was up close painting it were not visible from the floor way down below. Makes sense right?? So for the rest of the fresco he made the figures much larger and less detailed. In the photo above, compare the figures on the left side versus the figures on the right. Do you notice a difference?

The best part was seeing The Creation of Adam in person. You see it everywhere but nothing compares to the original artwork. The Sistine Chapel was really one of the greatest masterpieces I have ever seen--and probably will ever see in my lifetime.

You are not supposed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel but everyone was snapping photos left and right. The guards were yelling "silence!" and "no photos!" at everyone but I don't think anyone listened. We were all too busy trying to capture our once in a lifetime experience...

After the Sistine Chapel we continued directly into St. Peter's Basilica. If you do a guided tour you are able to take a separate "Tour Entrance" directly from the Sistine Chapel so you don't have to wait in the security line outside...which can get realllllly long. 

St. Peter's Basilica houses Michelangelo's La Pieta, the only artwork of his that he actually signed. It's to the right almost immediately as you walk in the front entrance.

I was blown away by the understated opulence (is that a thing?) of the basilica. As I learned at the Roman Forum, basilica is a type of building/architecture NOT a religious space. The Basilica was beautifully appointed inside. Can you believe the gold letters in the photos below are 7 feet tall??

Seven.Feet.Tall. We had to see for ourselves how tall they were so we decided to climb St. Peter's Dome. Yep, we climbed alll the way up to those windows.

But when I say "climb" I really mean we took an elevator (which saved us 231 steps) to the first level and then climbed 320 more steps to the very top of the Dome. Obviously there were a LOT of steps...in various configurations. 

And at the very end of our climb there were steps with a rope that you had to hold onto! But, it was worth it because the view of St. Peter's Square was phenomenal.

Some people stop at the first level, which lines the perimeter inside the Dome and consists of the roof level where you see the giant apostles (which really were giant!). There's also a small gift shop and refreshment stand here too....we may have gotten an ice cream cone after we were finished our climb to the very top.

We then climbed back down, ventured into St. Peter's Square, took our final photos and returned to Rome. It was neat to see the Apostolic Palace and where the Pope addresses the crowds.

It was a long day jam packed with back to back tourist stuff so when we returned to Rome we were starving. We gave arancini a try from a Roman Street Food cafe and no lie, they were AMAZING. We also saw the Castel Sant'Angelo but we didn't actually visit it. The Castel Sant'Angelo was initially commissioned to be Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum but it turned into the Pope's fortress and castle before finally ending up as a museum. We were pretty spent from our long day so we bypassed it. 

We had a low key night and prepared for our fourth day, which was a mix of touristy things and traveling to another city. I can't wait to share!