I don’t even know where to begin…

Amanda (NC girl), Emma (NYC girl), fatin and I took a trip to the Vatican City yesterday. We were trying to go see the pope speak but sadly we weren’t able to do that. Instead we took an audio tour of the Vatican museum. We were there for 4 hours and still wasn’t enough time. This place was absolutely incredible.

You start out in Egyptian and ancient civilizations where you can’t even fathom writing script on rock. Giant rock. Perfect lines with perfect penmanship. Did I mention on rock? I can’t even imagine how trying to pass notes in class was. “Hey Sam will you pass this boulder to Jim without the teacher seeing”. I like to think that’s how it went. We saw mummies too. Like an actual real, used to be alive person. It was a shock to me but so incredible that I have the opportunity and us as humans have means to preserve a body like that. The statues of the kings and queens from that time period were huge. With longgggg feet. I thought I had big feet at a size 10 but no. I am convinced that people back then we’re actual giants. There’s no way in all the statues and sculptures throughout the decades have the same similar features and longer extremities and not be a bigger species.

We venture our way to the BC and AD era with everyone from Roman to Greek god statues and symbols. This was amazing. I can’t fathom the technology they had to sculpt out of marble. It baffles me. They had giant tubs that could fit like 3 of me. And that’s saying a lot cause I barely fit in a bathtub at home. The respect for dogs and those sculptures was so cool too.

Then we moved into a tapestry room and by far my top 2 favorite room. I don’t understand how they wove them. SO much detail. So many different colors and shades. They had shading and aging lines on their faces. Out of yarn. What? Like what kind of sorcery is this. I became so overwhelmed by the Lord listening to the passion of the Christ told on tapestry. It was stunning and even further deepens my love for Jesus Christ. I seriously could’ve stayed in that room for hours just staring.

We started to go into the modern art area and had a blast. The paintings and sculptures were so strange and in my opinion so misplaced. They shouldn’t have been in the museum. But we had so much fun pretending to be art majors and expressing what we were “feeling” or seeing from the art. It was so funny honestly. Had to be there.

For the moment we’ve all been waiting (reading) for. The Cappella Sistina. Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious. THE most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on. And sadly I have no photos to show. But I can describe it to you. It’s a giant room with painted drapes all around the lower half of the walls. Then there is a panel and then the upper half filled with paintings of a person representing the books of the Bible. Then you have pairs of men who all are doing different poses representing the different situations in their lives. Then using 3D like painting on the ceiling Michelangelo paints panels and frames to make the room look like it’s got different levels and volume but it’s only paint. The ceiling consists of 300+ people and angels and it is perfection. Like actually perfect, there isn’t a single mistake. Right in the center is the famous painting of a man reaching out touching fingers with God and his angels. And the people were painted to look like they were hanging. I’m not joking it really looks 3D or like they are sculptures. You just have to see it for yourself. Emma snuck a photo so here is a glimpse.

 
That’s the ceiling. All painted by Michelangelo.

This was definitely the highlight of my Italy trip. After this we went and had dinner and then went out to the bar downstairs. This night was a blast!! We met so many cool Australians and just had a really good time. Fatin, Emma and I dipped out at like 3 to get some pizza (fat girl problems) and met this guy from Finland. I swear we really do just go up to random people and make friends. He was super cool so we ate pizza with him and then all of us went back to the bar. When we went downstairs to dance they had on like oldies but goodies. American goodies haha we danced and sang our hearts out to so many hit songs that everyone knew even though we are all from different countries. I met this Australian guy and ended up talking to him for a little while and then emma joined and I kid you not we left the bar at 7:30 am cause we were just talking. You learn soooo much from just meeting people and listening to their stories and opinions. We talked about politics and traveling the most and it got me so excited for my next big adventures. He’s been traveling for 10 months solo and has so many incredible stories to tell! Oh and “drop bears” are definitely fake. Don’t let any Australian fool you.

So ya that was a great night! Today all I’ve done was get my hair done. You know I’m a very trusting person when I let someone do my hair while talking through google translate. I got seriously the best haircut of my life and color and blow dry/style for $55. It was awesome! Now we’re about to do the Rome after dark tour and see all the cites around Rome!

Hope y’all are having a wonderful day!

-B