We had read that getting into the Vatican museum could be a nightmare wait in line, so we decided to book a tour.  Tours tend to get in faster than individuals in most of the museums I've been to in Europe.  Anyway, we did manage to avoid a two hour wait to get in and were escorted through the various parts of the Vatican museum by a knowledgeable, Italian, female guide. 

She showed us the "chariot" museum of the Vatican where the various carriages and cars the popes used for public occasions of travel were displayed.  It was interesting to see the gold-guilded, horse-drawn carriages next to modern day cars specially built with bullet-proof glass.  Interestingly, the cars are "gifts" from the various major car manufacturers around the world given to the pope.

On the way to the sistine chapel, we walked through a long corridor which depicted the various tapestries that had been given to the Pope and the vatican as gifts over the year.  The Belgian tapestries depicted various biblical scenes and shimmered in rich blue and grey tones.  The French tapestries focused on more earth-tone colours but were equally stunning in the detail of their execution.

Our visit to the sistine chapel was to be done in silence since even the moisture released by people talking in the closed confines of the chapel was damaging to the artwork.  Given the very large numbers of visitors through the chapel, the moisture would add up to damaging levels quite quickly, so they instituted the "no talking please". 

Historically, the sistine chapel is only used by the cardinals  which is the vatican's rulling body when they are going to select a new pope.  The process is that all of the cardinals assemble in the chapel and are then sealed in until they agree on the new pope, regardelss of the number of balloting and voting rounds it takes to gain consensus.  When the ballots are burned in the standing ceramic stove placed in the chapel, a smoke signal goes up and lets the world know they;ve selected the next pope. This also signals the aides to open the door to the sistine chapel so the cardinals can leave and return to the everyday world.

It was very croweded, even though we were first in that morning when the doors opened.  The time in the sistine chapel was much too short, but they had to keep the various groups moving.

The painstaiking restoration of the frescoes of Michael Angelo in the chapel have restored the artwork to its former glory.  The frescoe technique he used melted the color into the cement of the walls and the ceiling.  As a result, once the dirt and grime of the centuries was removed, the original colors come through brilliantly.  The scale of the figures Michael Angelo painted on the ceiling is difficult to  imagine.  The figures in his story of creation are incredibly realistic and beautiful at the same time.  Yet, Michael Angelo found painting a distraction from his main love which was sculpting marble.

The postcard in my view album, shows god creating adam.  In the scene, god has his left arm around eve, and his right arm outstretched to create adam who is depicted at the end of his fingertips.  Michael Angelo painted a womans figure into the shin of adam to refer to the coming creation of eve.  Pretty trippy stuff when you think about it!!!!!

Leaving the sistine chapel we walked through the hall of "maps" painted by various artiists over the years depicting different parts of Italy and the then known world.  Given some of these maps were several hundred year-old depictions of country coastlines, they are amazingly accurate especially given there were no ariel views of places available then.