Wow, where to start with the Vatican museum? I suppose it's worth mentioning that I've been to the Vatican museum before, when my parents and I had come- buuut it was late into the trip and most of the museum was a bit of a blur for me. Lots of walking and really, really hurt feet. Which may not be super different from now except I'm older and I like to think that maybe I'm a bit less of a wimp. That may or may not be true, but still. I was super thrilled to have the chance to come back and look around more!
The amount of areas closed, however, was extremely disappointing. I'm really glad we (as a class) walked through the Egyptian exhibit even briefly, given that it was closed off when I returned later for another look. I really missed that there were areas I wanted to explore, such as the Etruscan hall, were closed off when we were there. It would've been really great to look around now that I have an expanded understanding of what I would've been looking at!
Regardless, however, the Vatican is an amazing place to be. The map room in particular, for me, is especially gorgeous- it's really neat to be able to look around at how the world used to be seen and the details of Neptune or ships was really neat to see. I also really loved how many rooms were sculptures- seeing a basin from one of the baths in the center of the room surrounded by Greek gods and heroes (and some Roman as well, I imagine) was a really great experience. The courtyards with the statues were also really great to see- I love the combinations of natural light that the Vatican museum can use, with fountains and greenery around the statues.
And the Sistine Chapel, of course, is an experience in and of itself. A little unnerving in some ways, with so many people packed into one room with people saying "Silencio!" or "Quiet please!" every few seconds, or tourists trying (unsuccessfully) to hide the fact they're taking pictures all over the place. But, people aside, looking around the Chapel is really amazing. I love how cheeky Michaelangelo can be in his work- it's a glorious testement to the Bible and the faith, absolutely. But there's some moments and areas of the work that are really fun, once you know what you're looking for. When I got back to the apartment, I had to go and look up the poem of discomfort he wrote, complaining about how much he disliked working on the chapel- you wouldn't know it, sometimes, looking at how gorgeous the final result is! Sculptor or not, Michaelangelo's final result is truly magnificent.
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