Today was our last day in Rome, with a tasty breakfast and a small sleep-in.

Soon after breakfast we went to the metro to get tickets for the day, then returning to the hotel to meet our guide Paolo.  It was finally time for our experience with the metro to begin. The amount of people around this time was unexpected, but luckily Paolo knew where he was going and led us in the right direction.

After a short walk we arrived at the entrance of the Vatican. The line was nearly a whole block long, but we walked straight past everyone luckily because we had the guide.  Because the Vatican is its own state, we had to go through customs security before being let through. And this is where the mind-blowing experience began, although we were only a small number in the 20 000 people that visit the Vatican each day.

We entered ­­­­the Vatican museum, where there were copious amounts of statues and tapestries on display. The museum rooms led to a long hallway of continuous artwork. Not only was it filled with works from all over Italy, but the compositional layout of the hallway was an artwork within itself. The walls, floors and ceiling where covered with colourful patterns and designs.

The hallway was never ending, and as we passed through we were stunned by the allusions by some of the paintings. Some of the eyes followed us as we walked by, and even the orientation of some objects changes as you walked past.

This ended near the entrance to the Sistine Chapel, where we weren’t supposed to talk or take photos to reduce the fading of the paintings and to show respect for the church. We did have an understanding of the stories behind the paintings, as Paolo had explained this before entering the chapel. It was interesting to learn that Michael Angelo put some of his own friends in his paintings without even the Pope knowing. Also the deformities in his neck and damaged eyes he got from painting the roof for four years was not something we expected.

From the Sistine Chapel we went straight to Saint Peter’s Basilica, where just the sheer size was amazing. There was one damaged statue, damaged by an Australian which was a bit disappointing for us to hear. Besides this, the amount of detail in all the artwork was astonishing, and until we were told by our guide, none of us realised that the entire interior was mosaicked. This meant we were allowed to take photos because there was no paint to be diminished by the flash. The information that Parlo gave us about the chapel helped understand the importance of the Basilica to Roman history. This Basilica is the biggest in the world, but still everything was well in proportion. Along with the famous sculptures and mosaics, there were also tombs on display of the Popes, with some having a glass side enabling us to see the preserved bodies.

Our tour ended in Saint Peters square, where due to the rain we were keen to have lunch and gelato indoors. On our way home we came across some markets where we had some time to gain experience in the art of haggling, which was fun for us all. After our shopping experience we got the metro back to the Hotel, and then to a local restaurant for dinner. We were all quite tired form our busy day when arriving back to the Hotel, where everyone is excited for our journey to Naples tomorrow.

By Sarah and Brian

Inside the Vatican

Learning about the Sistine Chapel