July 20

7/20 - Rome/Ventimiglia

This morning we went to the Vatican museum, which was mostly memorable for the Sistine Chapel.  It was gorgeous and each individual portion seemed to tell a different story or show a different face.  Parts of it could be mistaken for 3-dimensional.  The lower part of the walls were painted as curtains with gold detail.  The part behind the altar included a self-portrait of Michelangelo.  Popes were depicted as real statues, and the room was even given alcoves that were actually just amazing works of art.  The chapel was crowded and sometimes noisy, but it was lovely.

"NO PHOTO" can be heard over and over again in the Sistine Chapel, so this is proof that we were there!

The rest of the Vatican Museum was interesting, but some of it just seemed like stuff. Below you will see some random pictures from the museum!

  

"Katniss"

"Peeta"

I think this statue was the one that was struck by lightning at some point...

The Vatican grounds were stunning.

 

 

After we finished with the Vatican Museum, we waited for the subway lines to reopen (there may have been a strike) and rode the most crowded subway to Termini.  From there, we got on a 15:40 train to Ventimiglia, where we will (hopefully) sleep in the station and catch the first train to Nice in the morning!

...The rest of our evening was quite interesting!  We grew weary as we approached the station in Ventimiglia because we didn't know how safe it would be.  We decided that we would look for a place to stay when we got there.  Upon arrival we were a little less worried, but we still looked at a nearby hotel, which was full.  We ended up sleeping in the train station with about 15 to 20 other travelers, including an Indian family, a middle-aged Italian man nearby, several backpackers, and even a seemingly homeless man who later tried to get on our train without paying.

Our train station accommodations!