Today was a destined Vatican day. We destined it to be. Haha. I guess gotta allocated a day solely for the smallest country in the world.
We reached Vatican in surprise. Why so? Because we got to see the Pope live. And hear him sing blesses for his people. Cool. But it also meant the place is damn crowded. And there the crowd was after the Pope dismissed the event. At the Mvsei Vaticani (Vatican museum). Anyway, we still queued and took us pretty long. Well, to see the treasures within the Vatican, one has to pay the price of time. And time is the most prized possession one ever has, for it depletes non-stop.
In the museum, we realized that only me and Zhian had ISIC (International Student Identity Card). The rest don’t. To use an old trick, we mixed LSE ID cards with ISICs to proof that all of us are students. And we got through. Woot. Actually ISIC is so very useful in Europe. I think I would wanna get it again next year. But not the NUS Extra.
We hurried along the museum. Pretty worried they will chased us out after sometime, according to Zhian. But whatever it is, I had to see the Egyptian museum. And I saw mummies. Unwrapped mummies. Feel sad for it. The worse thing is, while it is blatantly rotting in the glass box, the damn tourists are taking photos of it. I think Janice took some pictures too. Couldn’t be left to rest in peace. Haiz. Anyway, I found the sarcophagus of Imhotep. In case you are wondering why I mention him here, Imhotep is a genius architect in Egypt. And his brothers are all genius architects. In fact, there’s a suspicion that they are the very masterminds behind the construction of the Great Pyramid, though there isn’t much proof of it. For people who are wow-ed by Egyptian monuments, buildings and architecture, the Imhotep brothers are the ones to look out for. Highly respected by the Egyptian king.
We went on our way to the Sistine Chapel. A supposedly must-see in Vatican itself. To reach Sistine Chapel, we had to walk through rooms and rooms of paintings. Most of the rooms are in golden paints and certainly gives a sense of its grandness. Also, we get to pass through Raphael’s works. His works are certainly unique in themselves, but being a renaissance art fool, I regret that I’m not able to appreciate them as well as others. Finally in Sistine Chapel itself. It’s pretty dark, in a way intended to preserve the wall and ceiling paints from being de-colourised by white sunlight. Michelangelo certainly spent lotsa time here. Even peering at the ceiling arts strains my neck, not to mention painting them. And Michelangelo did not lie down to paint the ceiling works. He stood upright just as what we are doing to appreciate it. History has it that he never recovered from the damage to his eyes and neck. My goodness. His life is like another crusade, a fight for his lord in a different manner.
We didn’t get into St Peter’s Basilica. Too many people. And there’s one more day tomorrow. I guess we can do some finishing up of our visits tomorrow.
On our way back, we went to Piazza della Popolo. It’s a town square with an obelisk in the centre and surrounded by sphinxes. In a way, it’s a strange mix of Egyptian and Roman sculptures. In fact, it’s strange to see so many obelisks in Italy. Anyway, we climb up the hill beside the piazza, only to find a nice hilltop with a good view of the northern part of Rome.
Guess what, we met Zonglun and Joyce on our 2nd last day in Italy. We sat in a chapel to listen to a chorus sing, only to leave after it ended. And by coincidence, we met them. Actually we had known they will be in Florence and Rome, but there simply isn’t any available chance. Well, well, what do we have here? A romantic trip for a couple, isn’t it?
Our dinner was at Zio Ciro, the restaurant recommended to us by the American lady. Near Navona. And luckily, we found it just before it started to rain. And we had to say, the pizza is good. In fact, better than Baffeto. And they care to serve us with appetizers and drinks too, all for a price of 8 euros each. That’s approximately 1 euro more than our dinner at Baffeto, but a world of a difference. I guess Napoli pizzas just taste better.
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