3/10/25 Day 2 OK, with the Colosseum, Roman Forum & Palatine Hill Areas 3hr full on tour & past lunchtime on a warm day it was now very pressing for me to get over to the other side of the River Tiber to the Vatican City for my tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica, etc. Today, Rome had a united train strike, so public transport was overwhelmed & traffic very heavy so as per my usual method I did my walking. From the Colosseum to the Vatican City is 4.1klms taking a calculated 55mins. I did it in 40mins & still took various photo landmarks along the way & in time to meet our guide. At the start there is no direct straight route until you come to the River Tiber, so it feels like I’m walking a circle. Lots to see along the way to the Vatican so the walk has benefits … if you’re fit too. LOL!! Beware .. lots of photos following.

From my photos you can see various history buildings, magnificent statues, fountains but extremely hard for me to know who & what they are until I see the photo details in my phone, for I make a point to have my location setting on which then aligns the photo to the name & address. It is obvious you can see the dome of the Vatican for miles so it’s easier knowing you’re going in the right direction. Firstly, you come across the original Stone wall with entrance doors which is not for us public people. The Vatican is its own country & government so a law unto themselves of course. While I think of it there are some restaurants/ cafés etc around the Vatican City that secretly invoke a table fee if you wish to sit down for a meal, coffee, etc. If you don’t ask about it when entering, you will find out big time when you get the bill. Some demand €20 which is a big OUCH!!! Can be a bloody expensive coffee. On that note, I didn’t spend a cent anywhere near the Vatican City.

The entrance brings you into a large courtyard with impressive building facades, a large pinecone & an incredible spiral ball sculpture that has several opinions of what it supposed to represent. Certainly, an eye grabber & such a detailed sculpture of modern art. The Pinecone sculpture, known as the Fontana della Pigna, is a monumental bronze statue located in a courtyard to the museum entrance, symbolizing immortality and rebirth. The Pinecone, or Pignone, is a bronze sculpture that stands approximately 4 metres (13 feet) tall & is hollow. It dates back to the 2nd century AD and was originally part of a fountain that adorned the Temple of Isis in ancient Rome. The courtyard itself is a blend of ancient and modern art, with the Sphere within a Sphere sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro also located here, symbolizing the relationship between the spiritual and physical worlds. With the sphere you can apply your muscles & get it to rotate & the inner sphere rotates with the out one & this action causes a mesmerizing stance if you’re not careful.

From the new side entrance, you are led into a chamber that overlooks a spiral ramp, much like the Guggenheim in NY. Our guide took us past this for some unknown reason into a large hall with over 1,000 small & large sculptures which is a bit much to take in however, the curved ceilings are really an eye opener too. I remain wondering where the spiral ramp would take you.

The Vatican City is completely full of all types of impressive sculptures, paintings & artifacts. I think our guide said 10,000 art pieces so there is no way in seeing them all. I can’t see how anyone can put a $value on these, get insurance cover & pay the premiums. LOL!! While you are walking with the crowd admiring the super detailed sculptures, etc you have to at the same time take in the high wall & ceiling paintings throughout the complex. It can be quite a feat! Our guide is super-fast in her speech too .. you can feel her religious passion & belief, so a lot of things are missed like each painting shows a story of course & once you get it, it all makes sense, but our transmitted earpieces cut in & out at times & there’s just too much to see & deal with.

While you’re looking at the ceiling, don’t forget to look at the various floors. Haha … another test! Some floors are all types of marble, granite & most impressive mosaic tiles, so fine you can hardly see the floors are tiled (like a painting). While I’m at it, one photo (hard to remember in my photos which one however it is about 4m x 3m in area) is of fine mosaic tiles so small that from my allowed 1.5m distance it is argued it’s a painting. How in the hell (bad word to use here .. haha .. but plenty of hell images in the paintings so I’m free I guess) does anyone have the skills to do this intense mural? Awaiting your answer … crickets?? The other impossible thing, when you’re allowed to take photos is to do it without the crowd always in front of you.

While I remember, there is one painting (artist name lost in my memory) painted this huge painting of God with Jesus holding one arm raised lifting the good people up to his heaven & the other hand pressing down the no-gooders into the hell version. At the time of the painting the artist was getting a lot of pressure & demands from a less liked pope at the time. Down the bottom of the rh corner is the portrait of that pope being in the no-good section. Classic revenge: while his self-portrait is closer to Jesus & in the centre of the painting holding a distorted dark face in a cloth which resembles his bad face doing this revenge side of him (sin). Apparently, the Pope never discovered this in the painting for he would have surely taken more than revenge upon the artist. There are lots of occasions where the artist or the architect has taken a revenge on the opposition in these paintings & structures. Very interesting.  

Curved walls & ceilings, domes, fountains, arches, gold, silver, bronze are beyond belief & I can’t type what I’m seeing, so enjoy each photo for is just too much to take in. Also note: NO photos to be taken within the Sistine Chapel so that’s another 50photos I could have on my phone to further show what is housed in that area. OMG!! Amazing & full of Michelangelo’s work throughout the ceiling (4yrs to paint it), The Last Judgement & The Creation of Adam. You could stand there for hours taking in the finest details of the immense artworks Michelangelo painted. A testimony to an extreme talent of a human.

We eventually see daylight into St Peter’s Square & after about 10mins we ventured into St Peter’s Basilica (up until 1989 it was the largest Christian church in the world) to more amazement & insane treasures of everything imaginable. There was a special service happening at the altar, so we couldn’t venture past the barricade, some 30m from the alter. The pipe organ was playing & a choir singing & it was an amazing experience to feel how this church really is. Reaching the end of the tour we are left to take our time in our departure while in St Peter’s, so after a while I ventured out to start my walk home being almost converted to priesthood. I was surprised to see a gorgeous blonde that was in our other group walking to the side 2m from me. We sat on different seat areas while waiting for our check-in prior. After my introduction I asked her what she thought of the last 3hrs. Her statement matched mine “OVERWHELMING”!!! Like me, couldn’t believe what we had seen. We walked for a bit together, but you could see she was concerned walking with a stranger & saw a shop she said to see, so I allowed her to ‘escape’ .. haha .. that’s how it goes .. allowing trust, privacy & safety to others as being paramount.

On my way back to my hotel I walked past the Colosseum & more impressive landmarks getting the evening light senses on my photos without the dreaded glaring sun I had to fight against at times. Just on the other side of the Colosseum I came across a set of stairs & too far to circle around them, so I toughened up & took the 101 steps to the top. Certain muscles let me know about it after the day of walking I had done. All in all, with my full day of walking which included the Colosseum area tour of the morning I had managed 24,350 steps or 18.94klms. Yikes!!!

Hope you enjoy the photos & truly, I cannot type or include all my photos on everything, so I’ll end my 3rd Blog here & many thanks for reading them. My next blogs will have more sights of Rome, Politano & Pompei. Please stay safe, happy & healthy