July 9 - Pantheon and Vatican museums

 Well, they can’t all be hits! Today was interesting… Some good things and some challenging things.

We were tired, so we slept in a bit. We headed out to a marketplace in Piazza Campo de' Fiori and got some fresh squeezed juice. Then we walked to the Pantheon. After stopping at a bakery to get some lunch, we headed into the Pantheon and spent some time there. It is an architectural wonder to behold! We were all fascinated by the construction of the concrete dome. It was also neat to see Raphael's sarcophagus, as well as the other shrines and statues surrounding the pantheon. 

Next, we walked to the Piazza Navona, which was built in the outline of an ancient Roman stadium. Bernini's "Fountain of Four Rivers" statue stands at the center. Then we walked across Ponte de Angelo ans walekd in the shadow of the Castel San'Angelo and then to Vatican City. 

We didn’t realize we had walked straight up to Saint Peter Square, as we thought Saint Peter Square would be enclosed all the way around by the Vatican walls. So we walked right by it and around the Vatican City walls to get to the entrance to the Vatican museums (which is around the side of Vatican city - the entrance is not near St. Peter's Square where you'd expect it to be. 

We had decided to see the Vatican museums because, when planning our visit, Geoffrey was interested in seeing the Sistine chapel, Katelyn was interested in seeing a specific fresco, and we thought this would be a good experience since we were in Rome. I had done a lot of research and read that it was super crowded, that the museum is laid out in a long, one-way track before getting to the Sistine chapel and that if you are short, all you see are butts and backpacks lol. 

We figured that the warnings were probably accurate, but seeing as how we are fairly used to traveling places that can be crowded, such as Disney World, we would be OK. Quite frankly, the heat in Rome, which is brought up a lot when talking about Rome in July, has not been too awful for us. Yes, it is warm, but definitely manageable! We assumed that the Vatican museums would be similar, crowded, but manageable. But… It was bad. 

In Geoffrey‘s words, it feels like a six-year-old built a museum in Minecraft. The flow and logistics were maddening. We arrived at 3:20 for our 330 ticket, got into the 330 line, and didn’t actually make it into the museum until 4 o’clock. (Also, we took special care to make sure we followed the dress code - knees and shoulders covered - and we saw MANY people allowed in with tank tops and short shorts. I don't mind, I think dress codes are over-rated, but I did think it was weird, )

The museum is, indeed, set up into a one-way flow of traffic that takes you from room to room throughout the Vatican museums. You pretty much have to go through every room whether you are interested or not. We are not the biggest art lovers, I can appreciate it for a little bit, but after a while, it gets to be a bit much. The problem with the system is that you’re forced to go through everything, so by the time you get to a room that you might actually be interested in enjoying you’re so tired that you are just ready to be done. You can’t really enjoy it. Also because of the one-way flow, it feels a little tricky to stop and enjoy any specific piece of art. It’s not impossible to stop, but it’s not pleasant to do. 

There was very little air-conditioning, some of the rooms just had window air-conditioning similar to what we use in the kids bedroom to try to combat an entire room, filled with people, and art. Other rooms had windows that open straight outside and these blew in generous breezes, but the weather was pretty nice today and I can’t imagine what it would be like if it was 10° hotter. I believe it was in the low 80s today. There were very few places to stop and sit and I can’t imagine how difficult this would be for older people.

Katelyn had one fresco she was looking forward to seeing, The School of Athens by Raphael, and we almost completely missed it because the Raphael rooms were crowded and we were so tired by the time we got there. Luckily, when we arrived in the third Raphael room. It dawned on me that the fresco she wanted to see was probably in these rooms (It was hard to keep track of which gallery you were in.) After a brief moment of panic, fearing that we had missed it and we might have to try to go against the flow or skip it, I realized we were in the exact room we needed to be in! Thank goodness for small miracles, lol! 

The Sistine chapel was actually better than I anticipated, only because I had heard to expect to be disappointed because it isn’t as big as you would imagine and it’s super crowded and the guards are constantly yelling at you to not take pictures and to be silent. Well, because I was expecting it to be smaller, I was pleased with the size, and it’s also like the only room in the whole museum that is well air-conditioned so it was a nice break. There were benches around the outside edge and I was able to get seats for Katelyn and Geoffrey to rest for a little bit. Yes, the guards are constantly reminding people to be silent and not to take photos, but it was more amusing than jarring in my opinion. It was funny how it would get noisy, and then they would make an announcement and it would get quiet and then the noise would build up again.

Anyway, take the warnings seriously, it’s definitely a pilgrimage, not a beautiful visit to an art museum. If you’re super into art, sculptures, and tapestry, you might enjoy it, but I don’t know that I will ever go back. It was cool to say that I was in the Sistine chapel, where they do conclave, but honestly, I don’t know that it was worth everything I had to go through to get there!

Once I left the museum, We tried to get back to Saint Peter Square and into the Basilica. For some reason, I thought that even though the basilica closed at seven Saint Peter Square stayed open, but apparently that isn’t the case and it closes at 7 PM as well. So we did not make it on time. Friday we have a sort of flexible day so we will think about possibly going back just to go to Saint Peter Square and the Basilica.

Next, we headed to dinner in a neighborhood a few stops away on the Metro Station. The restaurant we went to was in a small mall which was fun to visit.  The restaurant we went to was so funny… it was called "Old Wild West." Grant had read about this on Reddit about a year ago and when he found out we were going to Rome, he made it his mission to make sure we visited it. It’s basically an American themed restaurant called the Old Wild West that serves American style food with burgers, bbq, and tex-mex, in a "wild west" environment with nods to pioneers, Indians, an old west jail, covered wagons, and a saloon. Grant kept comparing it to as if Italians came to America and went to the Olive Garden. It was a hoot and we enjoyed it. And honestly, the food was good and did taste pretty darn American. After dinner we took a short little stroll around the neighborhood and then got some ice cream for dessert

Now we are back at the hotel, doing some laundry, blogging, and trying to get to bed a little bit earlier… But with doing laundry, I doubt that’s going to happen! Lol

More Pictures in the album:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/QopbhihhB6mcbwSh6