Pantheon, Vatican Museums, and St. Peter's

Just looking through the photos from this day is pretty exhausting--it was a big day packed with SO much!

But first, a quick look out at the little courtyard of our Airbnb while drinking my beloved juice (this time it was apricot). 


We started the day off with a visit to the Pantheon, which Neil was absolutely thrilled about from an engineering perspective. It is absolutely mind-blowing that this is two thousand years old and STILL the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Talk about an engineering marvel!! 

We were the first ones inside and it was absolutely breathtaking. The height up to the oculus is 142 feet (and the same width for the diameter of the interior circle). 

It's hard to capture the sheer grandeur of scale. 

The tomb of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king after Italy's unification. 

After leaving the Pantheon, we walked (quickly) towards the Vatican, but had to take a couple quick stops for the mind-blowing sights along the way! 

The bridge to Castel Sant'Angelo, lined with (replica) Bernini angels (gotta protect them from the weather, especially since they date to 1668--the originals are in the Basilica di Sant'Andrea delle Fratte).

We started our tour of the Vatican at the justly famous Pinecone Courtyard. 

Okay here is the thing about the Vatican Museums; it is literally the most insanely crowded place I have ever been in my entire life. So I didn't take a ton of pictures and the ones I did take were generally of a piece of art that I found gorgeous enough that it was roped off to keep the hordes back. 

I took a photo of these lions specifically because I thought Luke would crack up at the saucy lion legs. 

The photo below was after the crowds had thinned out significantly. 

Gorgeous views through the window of the grounds. 

I absolutely think it is worth going to the Museo once because you HAVE to see these frescoes in person, but after that--I would pay the $$$ to have a private tour before/after it's open to the public. 

School of Athens, are you kidding me?! One story I loved about this is how Raphael went down the hall to see what Michelangelo was doing in the Sistine Chapel, was totally blown away, and came back to scrape off a chunk of fresco on the School of Athens so that he could paint Michelangelo in. 

Michelangelo is in the purple on the lower left. 

And speaking of the Sistine Chapel--holy cow, absolutely mindblowing and breathtaking. There are guards constantly telling people not to take photos (which I appreciated because it was nice to not have your view blocked by selfie sticks) but I admit I did take a couple of photos once I had found a seat--I put my phone on my lap facing towards the ceiling and clicked a few times, which is why the quality is pretty terrible. But I regret nothing. 

I caught Juliet's profile against the Last Judgement in one of these. (So many amazing things that we learned about all of this incredible art, but a couple that made me laugh were that at one point someone decided that the fresco showed too many naked people, so they had someone come in and paint all these little wisps of cloth on, and another is that when Biagio de Cesena complained about all the nudity, Michelangelo painted him in as a man getting his "gentleman's equipment" (as my kids call it) getting chomped by a snake. 

So many beautiful things in the museum, but I'll spare you the photo overload with just a few that I found really beautiful. 

This tapestry was incredible. 

And I LOVED this depiction of the Crucifixion, I think because of the shadows and sparse lines. Nothing distracting you from the pathos of the event (this was life-sized). 

Eventually we made our way outside to the grounds and there were so many gorgeous orange trees everywhere! It smelled absolutely heavenly. 

In need of sustenance, we went in search of pizza and gelato back outside the Vatican walls. 

This was essentially an apple pie (bought at the pizza place) and is one of my favorite things I ate in Rome. 

Then we went back into Vatican City to see St. Peter's. I felt like my timing was pretty great here; we deliberately waited to go to St. Peter's until later in the afternoon hoping the crowds would thin out, and we were able to walk right in. 

I'm glad we saw St. Mark's in Venice first, because I loved St. Mark's, but St. Peter's absolutely blew every cathedral and basilica I have ever seen out of the water. It was INCREDIBLE. Enormous, opulent, and in flawless condition--not a chip or smokestain anywhere, just absolutely pristine and grandiose beyond all comprehension. I cannot possibly describe the scale with photos; essentially you walk in and the farther wall is TWO FOOTBALL FIELDS away. 

The bronze Baldacchino over the altar here is 95 feet tall. 

And the wingspan on the dove at the center of this Bernini (and the Baldacchino above is also Bernini) sculpture is more than 6 feet across. The letters all around the basilica, which are every reference to Peter in the New Testament, are more than 7 feet tall. 

One truly incredible experience we had was seeing Michelangelo's Pieta. 

But because it was a Jubilee Year, we were able to see the Pieta after coming through the Holy Door, which is typically bricked up and only opened for Jubilee Years. The bronze panels depicting the life of Christ covering the door were so incredible in their detail, and it was such a special experience to be able to pass through. 

After spending a couple of hours wandering through the basilica, we started the climb up towards the dome. All of the wall art in the basilica is mosaics, since paintings would be damaged by candle smoke, etc. Amazing to be able to see these up close on our climb to the dome. 

Looking down at the floor of the basilica. 

Okay, the actual climb to the roof is pretty terrible. It's hot, very cramped, and very loud, and if people around you are going exceptionally slowly, or losing their minds from claustrophobia, or simply being obnoxious teenagers and yelling--you're stuck. I did not enjoy this at all. 

It gets VERY narrow. Too narrow for a banister. 

But eventually you're back out in the sunshine and the wind, and the view is incredible!!! The colonnades and overall architecture of St. Peter's Square are so beautiful--way to go, Bernini. 

Checking out the statues that line the edge of the basilica overlooking the square (just short of 19 feet tall). 

This was perhaps the best thing to happen all day--we discovered there is a tiny snack shop on the roof and it sells Cokes for like 2 euro. We sat up there sipping our drinks and listening to the bells and just generally soaking everything in (and I did half an hour of work email triage, so I felt much calmer afterwards!). 

Then back down, exiting Vatican City, and bidding farewell to the Swiss Guards. 

We then proceeded to have the full-on Roman dinner experience. This place was so good, totally lived up to the hype, and I was really glad we managed to get a reservation, but we did not even come CLOSE to being able to make a decent dent in our dinner. I think our waiter was disappointed in us. I just do not have the capacity to eat six courses. I did, however, very much appreciate that they had a couple of English menus on request, since we were the only English-speaking people in the entire restaurant. (We were at Romane, which I found thanks to the Michelin Guide.) 

But it was incredible! Sidenote, I ordered the leg of lamb as my meat course and I swear it was a Goliath-sized lamb. 

Then we walked back to our Airbnb, passing Trevi Fountain along the way. 

And finally back to our Airbnb, where we used our enchanting little key to open up and collapse into our beds!