These travels were before I turned the FauxRunner

Having “booked” our tickets through viator.com, we reached the Vatican entrances at 9.00am. After a short confusion (I stood in the wrong line for half an hour), we got in the museum bypassing the lines.

The Vatican museum, like The Louvre, is best described in pictures. So I am not even going to attempt it.

The Raphael Rooms

We stayed longer than planned in the Raphael rooms, as that was exactly where an over-tired Sudha Parimala decided to throw a tantrum. Nothing I did would make her go to sleep, I offered to nurse (she hadn’t nursed since the minute we got on the first flight), but she pinched me instead. Finally, she gave up and went to sleep in my arms. I sat in the Raphael room, with the love of my life in my arms and surrounded by all the beautiful artwork. It was a moment of sheer peace.

The Sistine Chapel

All signs lead to the Sistine Chapel, and we finally followed one to enter into THE chapel. It was crowded and very difficult to move around and apt to bump into someone craning their neck. To me – the beauty/amazingness of Michaelangelo’s art was purely artistic. I had read the biblical significance, but they did not really mean anything to me. But how could I not be blown away with the sheer scale of his work. Seen to be believed, read to be understood, Michaelangelo’s masterpiece is simply that – a masterpiece. While the beauty of Raphael’s work gave me a thoughtful smile, the Sistine Chapel gave me a ‘wow’.

Leaving the Sistine Chapel, we made the mistake of not taking the back door that would’ve lead us directly into St. Peter’s basilica. We instead climbed down stairs (all the time carrying a sleepy Sudha Parimala in the gogokidz), and rested for a bit in the pizzeria until she woke up. We exited the museums the same way we’d got in, finding pigeons again – to Sudha Parimala’s delight!

St. Peter’s Basilica

We went around all the way to the entrance of St. Peter’s Basilica. The piazza of the Basilica is a huge open space. Again this was broken up by the nativity scene built in the front. We were by then so tired that we opted out of entering St. Peters (even though I very much wanted to), and instead spent the time enjoying the surroundings. I’m afraid I didn’t really do justice to St. Peter’s even from outside. Amidst recouping from a tiring museum walk and watching out for a now hyperactive toddler, all I managed to see of St. Peters was its huge columns and statues atop. A revisit to Rome is certainly needed, someday.

Returning, we sought to recreate our wonderful pizza dinner of the previous night, but the tired toddler would have none of it. She wouldn’t eat any of the wonderful Formi pizza (cheese pizza) either, prefering to crash on my legs.

PS: The pants/hat she is wearing – all done by me, “Autumn” Purewool longies. 🙂