Finally IN (Interlude, Day 3)

Today we toured the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's. We had intended to get up bright and early and be at the museum when it opened, but out night of wild debauchery got the better of us, and we slept in a little bit. There were still pretty sizeable crowds, but the line into the Museums went very quickly. Unfortunately, the Sistine Chapel was closed in preparation for the Conclave, but we still got to see a great deal.

One of the great thing's about the Vatican Museums is the quirky, seemingly random things that you find there. Contrary to popular belief it's not all about Popery. For example... You might think that this...



... Is the ceramic reliquary of the foot of St. Bunion, whom Christ healed of his foot disfigurement. But in fact it is not (the foot of St. Bunion is kept at the Lateran). It's just a lovely, colorful foot from a Roman statue.

And these funny little guys...



... are tiny statues that do your chores for you after you're dead. But only if you're Egyptian.

You find some pretty pervy stuff in the Vatican too (who would have thought it, hmmm?). Like this:



I'll let you figure it out.

Although the Sistine Chapel was closed, we did get to see the Raphael Stanze. Raphael had an endearing habit of including his contemporaries in his paintings, and so we have this cameo by Michelangelo.



Michelangelo, known to be moody, was perhaps not as charmed by his unauthorized portrait as subsequent generations have been.

Before I forget, I've been harassed for not posting any pictures of myself yet, for which there is a good reason - it's very hard to take pictures of one's self. But while Rano was visiting I got a couple. Here is me, with an egyptian lion fountain in the Cortile della Pigna:



And one of Nina and I waiting for Rano to come out of the bathroom.



After the museums, we headed over to look in St. Peter's. There was huge, immobile crush of people trying to get through the metal detectors (the Vatican police doing a better screening job than your average Italian police officer). After clearing the crowd, we noticed this sign:



Apparently barring one legged, topless women, and men in lederhosen who have had their shoulder removed, from entering the Church.

The inside of St. Peter's is, like many other places in Rome, hard to photograph in a way that does it justice, but here is a picture of the lighting inside playing havok with the dynamic range of my new digital camera.




Rano and Nina headed back tonight - I saw them off at the bus to the airport (at Termini). Rano bought me a lovely bottle of grappa which she gave me before they left. This is why I love her... the booze. Also, she is the sweetest person in the world, but really, it's the free booze.