I just want to assure everyone that yes, I am still alive. Unfortunately, when I crossed the channel the internet decided not to follow. So, I've been completely disconnected from the viral life for the past three days, which forced me to live my 'real' life, whatever that is, but a bummer, I know. So, a lot has happened, I traveled to Rome with my friend Dylan for two days, and I think this blog is mostly going to focus on that trip, which was spectacular.
We spent our first day in Vatican City, which was pretty surreal. Standing in the square, looking up at St. Peter's Basilica, it makes you feel like you're an extra in "The Da Vinci Code" (damn you Dan Brown), but really it was pretty intense and the pictures do not do justice to the scale of the Basilica, which dwarfed any Church I have ever seen before including the Duomo.
I like this picture because I feel it captures the vibrancy of the city, obviously the Basilica is in the background, but the activity that's happening in the foreground, pretty standard in Rome no matter where you go.
I apologize beforehand for ruining every picture I'm in, I'm just not a photogenic person, and in this particular picture the sun was glaring in my eyes. It's a good picture to judge the scale though because notice how all the people in the background look like ants. Italians tend to be a little bit shorter, but not quite THAT short.
Statues like this surround the entire perimeter of the square, I don't know how they got them up there.
I enjoy this picture because as you can tell initially, the Vatican is quite a busy place, but once people realized who the hell I was, everyone got out of my way so I could take a proper picture. All except for tank top to the right, but later he got turned away at the door because he didn't have proper clothing, and they just let me pass because yeah, I'm that cool.
Most of my pictures from inside the Basilica didn't turn out so well. Because the place is so huge that they turn out extremely dark. This one turned out well for the Church, not so well for me. Basilica 1, AJ 0, LOSING! But this is a picture of one of the side altars, there are basically 5 or 6 Church's within the Basilica.
I thought this statue was very impressive, not the most impressive, but it turned out the best in my camera. I find it very Shakespearean as well, probably because of the "Billy Madison" scene where Adam Sandler delivers the "To Be or Not To Be" soliloquy, and he has a skull in his hand. I think obviously whoever made this statue had that image in mind. I should also say I guarantee that this blog is 100% historically accurate, and that everything I say is fact. So, if you would like to reference my blog in some academic paper or something, well then I'll be expecting some small stipend.
What we have here is a Swiss Guard, his job is to protect the Papacy with antiquated weapons and a silly jump suit, very intimidating. He also fills the important role of "Random Man of whom Tourists can Take Pictures and then Post Them Online."
This is a small square just in between the Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, and its where a lot of the information can be found about what can be seen in the Sistine Chapel.
This is the ceiling just outside of the Basilica. Yes, I took a picture of a ceiling, why? Because they are really tall, and the designs are often very beautiful.
This is the large dome from inside the Basilica, this picture makes it look like it's not way up there, but trust me it is, its probably 3 or 4 hundred feet "up there."
Now, we are leaving the Basilica, and into the long stretch of buildings that make up the Sistine Chapel. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of statues like this in the surrounding buildings around the Sistine Chapel.
Boo! Most of the statues are of people or Greek and Roman Gods, kind of interesting considering the Vatican is the heart of Catholicism, but the way the Sistine Chapel is set up, it almost feels like the story of human history told through art, which is pretty cool.
One of the sad realities of male statues, castration, scarring, and yes a little horrifying.
The ceiling of one of the outer buildings leading to the Sistine Chapel, basically every ceiling is this spectacular or more so, and keep in mind that you are also surrounded by dozens of statues, paintings, tapestries, even the floors have stucco designs and things. Your quite literally surrounded by hundreds, in some cases, thousands of years of human art. The next several photos all came from the outer buildings leading to the Sistine Chapel.
A statue of Neptune I think.
Another "Boo" moment. As you can tell, walking through the Vatican is like a mix between walking through a Church and a Haunted House, the differences, subtle.
Some fine tapestries, aka rugs.
It's all about scale and size.
Another awesome ceiling, but next time I'm bringing a pick-ax to get some of that gold out.
Really think I might have to redecorate my ceiling when I get back home.
The pictures encased in glass in the walls are old maps of the world. Some of them were surprisingly accurate for being several hundred years old.
This is "The School of Athens," which is a very famous painting by Raphael, the painter not the Mutant Ninja Turtle.
My favorite part of the Chapel was actually the modern art wing, some of the paintings were quite fantastic I must say.
This was not in the modern art wing...
This was, pretty cool, and yes it was in the modern art wing.
Van Gogh, can you see his style.
More modern art, this is mostly for Derrick since I know how much he LOVES modern painting.
Banana peal, great social critique, Max will understand.
This legitimately might be upside down, it's been several days and I can't remember exactly how it looked, but it looks cool this way too.
This actually is a very cool painting called "No Names." Shouldn't be too hard to figure out what it's trying to convey, it's brilliant nonetheless.
Little shout out to R.J., this is a portrait of St. Ignatius of Loyola. And for those of us who actually paid attention in theology, he is the founder of the Jesuits.
"WHAT IS THIS! A CHAPEL FOR ANTS!"
This is a tapestry of "The Last Supper," but its not actually "The Last Supper." If you do want to see the actual Last Supper, well you better invent a time machine and go back a few thousand years. If you want to see the original painting by Da Vinci, well then you better invent a time machine and go back a few years to a time BEFORE Dan Brown. Because the real one is in Milan, and you have to reserve a time 3 weeks in advance to get in to see it for a moment or two (Damnit Dan, really?)
I have no pictures from inside the Sistine Chapel, it is STRICTLY forbidden that no one can take pictures in that magnificent Chapel. But it is a lot different from what I was expecting. The whole Adam and God touching fingers 'thing,' is actually fairly small and only one of many interesting paintings on the ceiling and along the walls. What I took from it: that Michelangelo guy was pretty good.
There's an interesting little museum in the Vatican that almost nobody goes to see, but it's quite intriguing. I don't know it's official name, but Dylan and I just called it the Pope-Mobil Museum. And it has several dozen carriages and cars that carried the Popes of the past. This is by far the most extravagant of the carriages. It's actually quite ridiculous that the Papacy would spend that kind of money on a carriage like this, but the Catholic Church has a long a storied history I suppose. I will say that the most recent Pope-Mobil's are quite scaled back in quality as compared to say this carriage. I think I would be quite disappointed if I was Pope.
Just another picture that can be seen from the buildings that are just exterior to the Chapel.
So, I think I will end part 1 of this blog post for now, and pick it up in the next few days to show you some cool photos of the ancient Capital. A few closing thoughts, The Vatican itself felt mostly like a giant art museum, and if you’re planning on visiting the Sistine Chapel you’ll be surprised to find that you’ve basically stepped into one of the largest art museums in the world that you get to navigate through before you ever get close to the Chapel. There are literally hundreds of rooms filled with statues, paintings, tapestries, etc. mostly from the Renaissance. However, there is the modern art wing as well, and it has many pieces from the mid to late 20th century. The Chapel itself is quite beautiful, but it was a little disappointing that you could not take pictures, especially because you are allowed to take photos of just about everything else in the Vatican. It was a lot of fun though, and a little eerie to be standing in the same rooms that Raphael and Michelangelo once inhabited to create their work.
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