Thoughts From Backpacking: Vatican City

This is the account of my day in the Vatican City in May 2016!

Are you saying you wouldn't have been curious as
to what he was looking at?

The very first thing I did when I got off the metro to the Vatican was to follow the crowd in the hopes that they lead me to the Vatican Museum. They did, of course, but before I got there I made a spontaneous pit stop. I was walking down a street I saw a statue of a Knight that was holding flyers, one of the flyers said Harry Potter. I stopped dead, scaring the people behind me, and didn't even think about it. I just went through the doors and down a passage that led me to a statue of a wizard announcing the Storia e Magia. Honesty, it is probably dangerous how I will just follow things randomly if they relate to Harry Potter. The store was great and dark and magical. It was expensive though because of how almost everything was from the Noble Collection! There was so much cool things, including HP and LOTR and fairies and journals! It was amazing! I want to go back one day!

I left before I could spend my entire budget and followed the crowd. At one point I did ask for directions and was informed that the line into the Museum was just stupidly long. Oh gosh it was at this point as I was walking that I was corralled by SEVERAL pushy Italian men trying to get me to go with them to “Skip the Line.” But then I found an actual shop that sold passes to skip the line and I googled up and down and realized it was in fact legit so I payed the 17 Euro, I skipped the line and it was so worth it.

My long lasting general impression of the Musei Vaticani is that it was a never ending rush of humanity following signs that promised that the Chappella Sistina was that way, but seemingly never actually getting to the promised Chapel. I was there for weeks following the people and the signs. I traveled an entire country trying to find that Chapel and while it was incredibly worth it, it was also slightly ridiculous to be lied to by signs for that long and still follow them.

Laocoön and His Sons!

The musei itself was huge and imposing, filled with so many people that you went with the crowd or you got trampled. But I managed to break away several times and found treasures when I did like a Van Gogh in a little chamber no one else was in and a room of animal statues and a mosaic floor! It was here that I found out that a lot of sarcophagus look like ancient tubs (for instance Priscus's was totally a tub, you can't tell me other wise)! Oh and somehow in my research I forgot that one of my favorite sculptures was in these museums, Laocoön and His Sons which was a delight to see in person! But mostly the Museums had a lot of statues and a lot of stunning ceiling paintings and after a while they all blend into one giant thing that makes my head spin.

The Sistine was, of course, stunning but a little disorienting as you have to crane your neck to look at Michelangelo’s ceiling, which looked a little 3D and that freaked me out because HOW!? From there I once again became just a small part of a sea of humanity following signs that said “Uscita” trying to for the love of goodness get the heck outta there.

I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to Rome and back to my hostel but I couldn't very well leave the Vatican City without seeing St. Peter's Basilica! So I made my way over to the famous Church! Originally, my plan was to go to a Papal Audience that morning but I had trouble with faxing the invite request so that didn't end up happening. The Square was still set up from the Audience that morning but luckily the line into the Basilica was short as it was later in the day.

You thought I was joking about those skulls didn't you?

My first impression when I walked into St. Peter's Basilica was entirely inappropriate. Yes, upon walking into one of the most holiest place in the Christian World, I said aloud, “HOLY HELL!” Because I clearly have no class when startled. Luckily the Nuns behind me were very kind, and after laughing at me one whispered, “I thought the same thing the first time I walked in!” I quickly ran away to a basin of Holy Water and vaguely crossed myself because it seemed like the least I could do to make up for my mouth. I am completely uncomfortable in any type of Church and this was no exception. Mostly I was just confused and alarmed. Alarmed that there were actual dead Popes in caskets, confused by the strange lighting, alarmed at the random, graphic skulls and ugly baby angels, and once again confused by the sheer amount of different styles in Architecture. Seeing the Basilica was a bit of a roller coaster and there was so much to see that in my tired, near delirious from hunger state that it is mostly just a blur.

Overall, it is possible to do the entire country of the Vatican in one day, but I don't recommend it because it makes you weird by the end of the day. The Vatican Museums were extraordinary though! And the Basilica is everything I thought it was going to be and maybe even a bit more. I ended my day by hanging out it the Square, on the phone with my dad, watching little kids chase gulls that were almost as big as they were. It was there that I realized while I was very far from home some things, like kids chasing birds were universal.

~Laura!