"Vatican City Museum" Vatican City by Mairo21

We awaken this morning, rather late, because we had a hard nights sleep last nite. Got up at around 8:45 am. The girl sleeping in the bunk next to me woke me up with her flashlight shining in my face. She's looking for her adapter that fell on my bed. Great alarm clock!

She tells me that she is heading to the Vatican City. Her friend went yesterday at 10 am, and was greeted with a line 3 blocks long. After hearing such news, I quickly sprang from my bed and hurried to get dressed.

Me and Chris practically ran out the door because I was so anxious to leave. I forget half of the things we needed. Most importantly a map. But, we manage to make do without it.

Finally, we arrive at the Vatican. The line is not as bad as I had envisioned. We get in right away and are quick to view the historical artifacts in the museum. It's very interesting. Not as impressive as the Louvre, but it manages to keep my interest anyway.

We see artifacts such as Egyptian Sarcophagas, statues, inscripted pieces of stone with a envelope to go with...We then see tapestries from the 15-1600's. Huge pieces of sculptures, rooms painted from floor to ceiling, etched in gold, and done in amazing detail. Gigantic life sized, hand painted maps line a corridor. You could cover the museum in a minimum time of 90 minutes up to a maximum of 5 hours time...After about 2 hours time, me and chris get to the place we had anticipated seeing.. the Sistine Chapel.

Vatican Musem

It is an enormous amount of eye candy. A lot for the brain to sink in. Absolutely marvelous! No pictures or video are allowed here. Against my advice, Chris manages to sneak a few shots ( along with hundreds of other visitors.) Then...we get caught.

This guard makes his way toward us and grabs our camera. Holding on to the camera strap, and refusing to let go, Chris seems like a little girl as she follows the man and says "NO,no,no." He points at me and says, "You too! Come here." At this point, I am thinking, 'Great! We are going to lose our camera with hundreds of photos in it, and I am going to get arrested in Rome. Just lovely.'

We get kicked out. That's it! What a relief...Happily, we find our way to the Vatican post office, purchase stamps and postcards and mail them out to family and friends. We leave soon after, catching the Metro to Termini. Lesson learned..Do not take pictures in the SIstine Chapel..and if you do, don't get caught. ;)

• Pros:You could get lost in the galleries. So much artifacts and history here.