This morning we met a special guide at 7:30 for a private tour through the Vatican Museum.  We walked to the entrance — no one else was ahead of us in this line.  She gave us a lot of background information about the Sistine Chapel at this time because no talking is allowed in the chapel.  No photos are allowed either.  At 8:00 we entered the museum and she pointed out some art work until we got to the chapel.  It was not crowded, so we got to sit and look up at the ceiling and walls without straining our necks.
When I was there in 1983, they were cleaning the ceiling. Â This time the colors were vibrant, especially the blues. Â Michelangelo painted the ceiling in five years, essentially living in the chapel. Â Later he painted the front wall. Â Rafael painted the side panels.
Michelangelo considered himself more of a sculptor than a painter.  Below is possibly one of his most famous statues.  A mad man tried to destroy it in the 1970’s so they repaired it and shielded it from visitors getting close.
In a lower level of the Vatican there are tombs of popes.  St. Peter’s Tomb is there, but no pictures can be taken of it.  Here is St. Nicholas’ tomb.
The Vatican Museum
After the museum, we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch.  I had a delicious eggplant dish.  Then we walked to Lodovico’s favorite gelato place.  They make their own gelato with fresh fruit.  I had a cone with dips of strawberry and peach gelato.  Delicious!
