July 26th, 2007 - unfinished

Wow. What a day. I have a new favorite things in Italy. St. Peters. Absolutely beyond words!

OK, to start off the day, we got in line for the Vatican museum at about 8:15. It was about 200 yards long. However, it was moving along quite well. We knew that the museum opened to tour groups at 8am and individuals at 10. However, if they had room after the groups went in, they would let some individuals in early. Well, after about 20 minutes, we got to the entrance and found out that our line was for tour groups only. The line for individuals wound around the other side of the building. No really. It wound around the whole other side of the building. It was about 3 city blocks long, and that was at 8:45. By 10 it was even longer!. So the time spent in the other line was totally in vain. We sat down in the other line and finally got in the museum at about 10:30.

There is only 1 word that can describe that museum – overwhelming. In every way, overwhelming. When you enter, you start by going through an Egyptian exhibit that is pretty cool. It has things that are 4,000 years old. Pretty impressive. Then you go through some Etruscan exhibits (they were the forefathers of the guys who started Rome). Again pretty cool. But them you come to some of the Roman sculptures. OK, the big museum in Fort Worth is the Kimble. If they had a bust or something, it would be the center of their entire exhibit. The Vatican had a hallway filled with busts and statues. Literally filled. They had them lined up on shelves. A hallway filled with artifacts that, anywhere else, any one of them could be the centerpiece. This is where we began to be overwhelmed. The next hallway was similar, except that the ceiling was painted. The whole ceiling for the whole hallway. And not in some pretty printed wallpaper. No, painted, by hand, and any section could easily be taken and framed as a masterpiece. We could not take it all in, it was too much. Yet this was just a the appetizer.

Next came the paintings. Again, they had rooms filled with masterpieces, of which any few could be an exhibit on their own at a normal museum. Yet, this was still just the first dish.

What did me in were the painted rooms. Yes, the rooms were painted. Again, not a nice little framed piece of art, but all 6 walls. Yes, the floor was inlaid with marble designs. The ceiling was painted. All four walls were painted. Each one could be studied for hours on end. Each one intricate in its details. Each individual wall could be the masterpiece, the apex of any experts work. Yet it could only be passed by because it was among so many other great works. If Mozart were put in a room with 10 other great musicians from his day, he would shine brightly and people would flock to him. Yet, if you put him in the room with the 1,000 best musicians from throughout history, he would not shine so much. Mozart, Bach, Verdi, Vivaldi, Susa… I could not absorb it all. I felt as though I would burst if I took in one more sight.

Yet it did not stop coming.

Next were the tapestries. Woven rugs that would cover a very large living room floor hung in another hallway. Each one intricately woven to depict a story and maybe 20 x 30 feet. Next were the maps, bigger than the tapestries. Different maps, painted onto the wall of the different times in Italy’s history. Each beautifully painted and claiming to be only wafer thin and easily ingestible. Yet, each one could be studied for hours and I was already bloated on art as it was. And although I could not take in any more, it did not stop. I know that there were more exhibits that I don’t remember, and several exhibits that we totally skipped. However, it was just too much.

Then came their crown jewel. The Sistine Chapel. In the end, I have mixed feelings about this room. First, it must be described. It is a room probably 50 yards long and 20 yards wide. Again, every surface was painted in glorious detail. The ceiling has 9 main panels, in 3 groups of 3; the first depicting creation, the second the creation of man, and the third the fall of man. This is where you get the painting of God reaching out and touching Adam’s finger. That’s the Sistine chapel. Above the alter is the ‘Last Judgment’ painting. Again, a beautiful painting. However, I had a bit of a hard time understanding it; I’m not sure why.

Next is coming my assessment and the rest of the day, but its not done yet... you'll just have to wait... check back later