Europe--Day three: Rome

Today was an awesome day!! We both woke up feeling energized and ready to face a big day at the Vatican. We woke up at about 6:30, had breakfast, caught the bus with perfect timing, and then headed on the subway to the Vatican. On Wednesdays, the Pope comes out to do a mass in St. Peter's Square. The square is so beautiful--and it's built exactly where Peter was crucified. There were so many people there, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the Pope...and guess what? We did! He toured the crowd on this little bullet proof-shielded mini jeep thing and waved to everyone. He came pretty close to us, and I got it on video. Although in our religion we don't believe in or revere the pope in a religious sense, it was really cool to see such an influential figure that close up. Almost like seeing the President of the U.S.! Don't worry, I got it all on video, which will be uploaded later. After the Pope did his little tour, they started the mass and we didn't stay long. There were so many people in the square for the mass (thousands!) and we knew where they ALL were headed after the mass was over: The Vatican Museum...which is exactly where we wanted to go! So we avoided the inevitable line completely and got right in to the museum. This museum is SO AMAZING! They have all kinds of art and artifacts dating from 5600 B.C (!) to modern day religious art. Our favorites: there was a complete mummified woman who it said died around 1000 B.C...you could see her preserved face, hands, and feet--it was so creepy but so cool; the garden of statues, some of which dated back to egyptian times, others from greece, and still others from the roman empire...all "donated" to the pope at least 300 years ago--most earlier than that--and have all been sitting there in the same spot in that very garden for hundreds of years; the Al Fresco hall linking the two once separate buildings was amazing...the ceilings literally took your breath away, they were so intricate--it really looked like it could be wall paper, but it was all hand done; and finally, obviously, THE SISTINE CHAPEL!! It was surreal to actually be inside of there. You weren't allowed to take pictures (though I snuck a few, you'll see them later :) ) and you were supposed to be completely silent. Every surface of every wall is painted "Al Fresco"-- which means "fresh"(they actually painted the plaster of the walls while it was still wet)--and so detailed it was impossible to see every small thing. My favorite was the one in the very middle of the ceiling, symbolizing creation, of God reaching out to Adam (you've seen it before, where they're almost touching fingers...) but there were also a lot of lesser-known ones depicting times in Christ's life. We spent a total of 4 hours in the vatican museum, and it totally didn't feel like it! By the time we finished that, ate lunch, saw St. Peter's Basilica (which is absolutely humongous!), we were completely "catholic'd" out. Not that there is anything wrong with being catholic, I just felt so grateful for our church. Tomorrow, we head to Venice!! We're only there for a day before we go to Paris, but I'm really excited to see it! Love you guys! :)