Summary of trip - Part 7

It is now Monday, July 7th and after a nice breakfast we decide to visit the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's. After having a successful mission using the taxi the following day, we decide once again to take a cab up to the Vatican and then walk home from there. I went to the front desk to ask the person at reception to order a cab for us. I was told that it would be impossible today, because there was a transit strike that day. There would be no public bus, subway, streetcar, or long distance trains that day. Taxi cabs would be harder to find and none would make the trip to the hotel through the labyrinth of small alleyways. However, we were informed that we could walk several blocks out to the main thoroughfare to the local taxi stand, we could have more luck finding a cab there.

Strikes in Italy, and Rome in particular, are a normal part of life. We were later informed by a tour guide, that everyone strikes in Italy. The transit workers, taxi drivers, telecommunication workers, truck drivers, supermarket workers, hotel workers, shipyard, restaurant workers and even students all take their turns calling for a strike. I was told that strikes will usually occur once or twice every month. The strikes only last from 1/2 to a whole day. The interesting fact too is that they are not always striking for money or benefits, but often strike just to have a day away from work. It seems Monday is a popular striking day. Later that afternoon, in time for the evening rush hour, the transit workers were back on the job.


We headed out for the taxi stand, and with the exception of seeing fewer available taxis, and no public transportation, the traffic looked like its normal chaotic self. After waiting at the taxi stand for ten minutes, we managed to get a cab, and headed up to the Vatican. Traffic near the Vatican seemed heavy, and the driver explained in very broken English that it was because of the strike. The driver took a very strange route to the Vatican and often seemed to double back away from it, when it appeared close. And despite the fact that our hotel was on the same side of the Tiber as the Vatican, we still managed to cross the river, which seemed unnecessary. However, Rome is a jumble of winding, one way streets, so it is very possible that the shortest distance between two points is not necessarily a straight line.

Upon arriving in front of the giant square in front of Saint Peters, literally within seconds of exiting the cab, we were approached by someone representing an English language tour group. The price was right and they would be covering the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and Saint Peters. The tour guide was a young guy from San Diego who studied art in Rome and had lived there for three years. He worked for this tour company three or four times a week to help pay the bills. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the Vatican and about the wonderful masterpieces we would see in the Museum and the Cathedral.

Here are just a few of the incredible works of art that we saw that day. The third picture is of particular interest because it was the Emperor Nero's bathtub. It is made with an extremely rare Egyptian purple marble, whose supply has been exhausted. The Vatican Museum contains some 90% of the world's supply of this rare stone, the price of which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.








After viewing a large number of very incredible works of art, you begin to suffer from information overload. The tour guide said that the Museum has such an enormous amount of art, that if a person were to spend just 10 seconds in front of every piece, it would take you 12 years to see everything. The collection truly rivals that of the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum.

The next stop on our tour was the Sistine chapel. We were unable to photograph in the Sistine chapel. It was very warm, damp, and crowded. But on its ceilings and walls were an incredible collection of art, including the masterpieces by Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgment. The chapel was much smaller than I would have imagined. It was good to get out of the chapel into the somewhat cooler outside air.

We then continued into the huge cathedral of Saint Peters Basilica. The present church which is reported to have been built over the site of Saint Peters tomb was completed in 1626. The cathedral in gigantic and is filled with so many wonderful works of art by many of the great artists and sculptors. Here are a few of my photos. The first is the Pietà by Michelangelo.







After exiting the cathedral we went out to the huge square in front of the Basilica. Here are a few more photos.





After feeling tired after a long day of sightseeing, we started our slow walk back to the hotel. This would be our last full day in Rome and our last evening. Once again, we went to Per Unto, our favorite little pizzeria. After having gone there for all four nights, we were recognized each night and treated very nicely. This last night, our usual waitress (who I suspect may have been the owner) wasn't there as she had been the previous four nights. But after a while, she actually came to the restaurant and had a meal with her family. She waved enthusiastically when she saw us. We were always the only Americans in this pizzeria each night, so I thought it was a good sign that the locals ate there. A very interesting thing about restaurants in Rome is that they typically do not open until 7:30 or 8 PM. A typical Roman won't go to dinner until 9PM. We usually went around 8:30 and the place was usually fairly empty. After 9PM or so, the place comes alive. See enjoyed our final meal in Rome, and had a gelato afterwards in the square. We packed for our departure to Venice in the morning and went to bed.