Vatican

Alrighty then.  So are you tired of hearing me whining about getting through our Italy photos and just ready to see them already?  Yeah, me too!  So, without any further ado...here are about a quarter of the photos I took at the Vatican.  I think I ended up with around 400 photos of this day total and have managed to narrow the selection down to a measly 80 or so.  Yes, there are a lot, so I'll keep the commentary to a minimum so you don't have to spend the rest of your life reading this post.  If you've been to the Vatican and have been on the tour, you probably know what a lot of these things are.  However, if you were jet-lagged, pregnant, exhausted and hungry when you took the tour like I was, you probably know just as much as someone who has never been to the Vatican.  Welcome to my boat...I can't remember a thing.  Forgive me if half this stuff is wrong, I'm making it up as I go!  

Outside Vatican City

Approaching Vatican City.

Walls.

(I'm pretty sure that's right, at least)

Museum entrance.

My devilishly handsome husband.

(wait...is that sacrilegious to mention the devil in a post about the Vatican?)

St. Peter's Basilica from inside Vatican City.

Photo op!

The Pope's gardens.

Museum buildings.

There were public water fountains everywhere, which I loved because I was dying of thirst and helped myself to all the free water.  This was all done much to my husband's horror and dismay at me drinking unknown "Euro" water while pregnant with his delicate unborn child.  I think it's good for the baby...I'm hoping he/she comes out a little Italian. :)

A giant pinecone...

Ok, so I know this pinecone was a symbol for something, but I cannot remember for the life of me remember what it was, nor do I care enough to look it up for you and provide you with a real answer.  Sorry.  Aren't you glad you didn't pay good money for this tour.  I'm the worst tour guide ever.

The grounds.

Giant medal ball...

...don't ask because I can't remember what the hell that was all about.

And now I've mentioned hell too.  

Damn it.

Ugh.

The hallway of heads.  

I'm surprised I didn't have nightmares about this.

Creepy.

Actually I found a lot of things in the Vatican very creepy.

For instance...below is a baby's coffin.  

The baby in the middle is supposedly the one who died and the face was carved to look like that baby's face...but with abs, I guess.

 Below is some kind of symbol of fertility.  

Not the best statue to see when you're in your first trimester and dealing with painful aching breasts.

This was an entire room filled with animal statues.  Lots of "attack" statues too...animals attacking people, people attacking animals, animals attacking other animals.  And then, of course, random sheep, because who doesn't love a good sheep statue.

But then there were some statues and carvings that I really liked.

This puppy.

This angel scene.

This guy...hey hot stuff.

And this guy...he must work out.

And of course, this guy with no head or arms or legs to get in the way, leaving just the good stuff.

Oh, sorry, yeah I went there.

Let's move on, shall we?

Not only were the art pieces beautiful, but the building itself was spectacular.

The carvings on the entryways...

The ceilings...

And even the floors.

This ceiling was pretty spectacular.  

I was slightly worried the Sistine Chapel ceiling wasn't going to beat this one.

Isn't this incredible?

(side bar: I just showed you 2 of the probably 50 photos I took of this ceiling alone.  I was absolutely mesmerized.  That's how you end up with millions of photos of crap you'll never look at or care about again.)  

And now I just called the Vatican ceiling crap.

I'm probably going to hell for this post.  I hope it's worth it.

I got really excited walking down this hallway because the entire thing was full of maps.

Look!  The Vatican has a map wall!  

Just like me!

There were also beautiful tapestries.

And some creepy ones.  

Our tour guide told us that the eyes of this Jesus would follow us anywhere in the room we went.  

And yes, they did.  How do they do that?  And why?

And now we enter the portion of the museum that I remember least.

No idea what any of this stuff is.

And then there were the murals.  

They're gorgeous, and yet I completely stopped listening because my knee hurt.

Why did my knee hurt?  No clue.  

But I spent the rest of the day limping around the Vatican and 

falling down the stairs because I couldn't bend my knee.  

Yet I managed to take at least 150 photos of murals that I barely remember seeing.

And I think these were Raphael...right?

That's him.  Nice legs Raph.

And then we made it to the Sistine Chapel.

No photography allowed.

Being the good little rule abiding citizen I am, I immediately put my camera away.

My husband, on the other hand, snuck out his iPhone for an illegal photo.  

Perhaps he didn't see that Claire Danes/Kate Beckinsale movie where they locked them up in a foreign prison for the rest of their lives for breaking the law.  Well, I did see that movie and I always make sure to obey EVERY SINGLE law/rule I can while abroad.  That movie traumatized me.  

Anyway, outside the chapel we were at St. Peter's Basilica.  

This place was amazing.

Michaelangelo's Pieta.  

Gorgeous.

I could have stared at this all day.

And we finished the tour out in the square...with the Swiss guards

I've seen so many photos and movie scenes of this place, it was really magical 

standing here at sunset looking around at all the Bernini statues.

Remember this from Angels and Demons?

And that concludes our tour of the Vatican.  

Join us next time for another crappy uninformed made-up tour of the Coliseum and The Forum.  

Lots of photos, very little real information.