Marie and I woke to a heavy thunderstorm this morning and hearing the rain hitting the tile roof. I was just praying there were no leaks, I mean this building was built back in the 17th century. I was happy to see however that it has been updated and there were no leaks. We had planned to go grocery shopping in the morning before our Sistine Chapel tour. Grocery shopping was out so we let Gracie sleep since she is still on Nevada time and doesn't fall asleep until 3 in the morning, sometimes 4. Now we hoped that the rain would stop before we had to head out for our tour and meet our guide. We were in luck, the rain stopped at about 10 am here and we didn't have to leave until 1 pm.
We woke Gracie up at about 11 to get her ready and set out on our 30 minute walk to meet our guide for our tour. Marie, Gracie and I set out at about 12:15 and upon reaching our destination we were met by Anthony, our guide. Again we lucked out and we were the only ones on the tour. Anthony is from Pennsylvania and is studying Theology here in Rome and has been here for four years. Anthony we also found is very knowledgeable in art and theology. Gracie being the great traveller she is just soaked up the sights making her own comments along the way. We started out at the Vatican museum. You really should have a guide when seeing this due to a lot of the descriptions being in Italian at the museum and Anthony knew the layout like the back of his hand. There are works here by Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo Da Vinci, just to name a few. They are large works of art and words cannot describe them. We started by seeing a lot of religious art that was painted before the use of perspective, flat but a wonder to see anyway.
Anthony was very specific in his descriptions and you could see he really enjoyed being here as did we. To think of what many of these artists did and probably not realizing that some day millions of people would flock to this museum to see and study their works of art. It was all overwhelming to say the least.
About two hours into the tour it was time for a break so we went to the museum cafe and of course Gracie had to have french fries or in Italian, Patate Frittes. I had to try and hunt down ketchup for her and being unsuccessful our resilient guide found some for her making her very happy. Gracie shared her fries with Anthony and we all had a refreshing repast. Sitting at the table next to us, Anthony recognized the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican and went over to speak with him. Anthony told us that his future father in law was one of the ambassador's professors at Notre Dame. After this we continued the tour stopping at the gift shop where we made a few small purchases and then it was on to the Sistine Chapel.
Walking in it was very crowded and we folded up the stroller and carried Gracie into the chapel. Our breath was taken away at our first glimpse of the master works of Michelangelo. The colors were still vibrant and Anthony explained how Michelangelo worked. He even told us how when Michelangelo was asked to paint the Sistine Chapel he told them that he was not a painter but was commissioned to do the job anyway. His first painting was smaller than the others because it is hard to tell when you are laying on your back painting what it looks like from the floor. As Michelangelo worked however his compositions and painting got better and better. I cannot use one word to sum the works up but if I did I would say... Astounding!
It was quite funny too how the staff would clap their hands in the Chapel every few minutes and yell silence. Can you imagine trying to get a Chapel painted by one of the most famous artists in history and the world , stuffed with people from all over the world to be quiet. Also many people could not understand that there was no picture taking and video allowed in the Sistine Chapel.
After this Anthony helped us find our way out and said our thank yous and good byes and headed back to the apartment for a rest. Gracie had two bowls of pasta with formaggio. Three hours later we made our way out for dinner at Trattoria Da Luigi. It was a great choice but Gracie fell asleep just after we were seated and Marie and I took turns holding her during the meal. Our waiter was very friendly and made some suggestions for Marie for her meal. We started off with vino rosso(red wine) and Aqua. Marie ordered stuffed Zucchini blossoms and they were delicious. We also both had Insalate Caprese, and for the main course I had Lamb with potatoes which of course was delicious and Marie had pork chops. No pasta at this meal, we have plenty of time for that later. For Dolce, Marie had panne cotta, baked cream pudding and I had tiramisu with caffe. A delicious and filling meal. Gracie began to wake up at the end of the meal and we headed back home first stopping at a souvenir shop and we made a few more small purchases. I of course had to have the black Legionairre T-shirt with the familiar SPQR. Then it was back to the apartment where we sit now at 12:35 am and of course Gracie is still awake. She had to have her chocolate pudding with cream I bought her at the grocery store earlier and graham crackers and milk before trying to settle down but the settling down part took a while to kick in. Oh well, we really have no plans for tomorrow but I know we will venture out. Buona Nottae for now.
