| 16-Mar-2024 | I don’t have words to describe how completely bonkers the crowds were at 8:30am at the Vatican Museums this morning. Fortunately, we were with a small group and guide in one of the “skip the line” options, but it still took us 40 minutes to get in. The Vatican Museums are made up of 24 galleries- we saw three halls, plus the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica in about 3.5 hours.

I was looking forward to the Gallery of Maps but was somewhat underwhelmed by the artifacts. Don’t get me wrong, they are beautiful, but I was looking for parchment maps, painful in their topical or navigational detail. Instead, 120 meters lined with maps of Italy from the 16th century. They’re jarring in that they’re not oriented with north at the top as this wasn’t the custom at the time. These aren’t the maps you’re looking for. For the record, the ceiling in the hall of maps is exquisite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me, the most impressive part of the tour was St. Peter’s Basilica. The scale of this building, and the art and sculpture that adorn it, is mind-bogglingly HUGE. It seats 20,000 for Mass. 20,000 – think about it – that’s a sporting venue in many cities. What?

 

 

 

 

 

After extricating ourselves from all things papel, we enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches at La Salumeria.

 

 

 

There may have been a gelato along the way back to the apartment as well.

 

After a rest and regroup, we headed out again via the Metro to a neighborhood just south of Termini, the main train station, for some record shopping. It was also a bit of a reconnaissance trip as we’ll be taking the subway there again Monday to catch our train to Florence.

 

Wrapped up the evening in style and cooking in: four cheese gnocchi with grilled zucchini and dark crusty bread. Random Italian Shiraz for the win.