Vatican

Finally, our last port of call! Rome was the end of our cruise. We decided to do an embarkation tour of the Vatican. Our tour guide, Vittoria, was awesome! She knew so much and I think her English was better than mine!

Our first stop was the Vatican museum, followed by the Sistine Chapel (no photos allowed), and finally St. Peter's Basilica and Square.

walking up to the Vatican

Vatican Museum

gardens. you can see the dome of the Sistine Chapel in the background.

big face.

piazza inside the museum

do you see their eyes? apparently this is how all sculptures looked, since they wanted them to look life-like. over time the eye coloring faded off.

ceiling painted to look 3D

true 3D ceiling

doors to St. Peter's

inside St. Peter's. this sculpture is enclosed for protection.

st. peter's. the writing in the dome is 6 feet tall!

St. Peter

if i remember correctly this is a mosaic, not a painting

Swiss Guards guarding one of the entrances to the city

St. Peter's square

After this we took a train to our hotel and then started our little tour of Italy.