Vatican City by: Alma Balderrama

After many attempts Carina and I finally made it to the Vatican Museum. This time we decided to not to go in the early morning since that is when there are the most tourist and the line gets immense. Thankfully as we arrived we bumped into a friend Carina had made that was a tour guide. He gave us a great deal which included only paying 8 Euros and not having to wait in line.

The Vatican Musuem inside the Vatican City, is among the greatest museum in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries from all over the world. I know can see why people always say it would take years to explore the entire musuems because it is full of great pieces of sculptures, tapestry, paintings, etc. I was really overwhelmed by the size and the amount of art it carries, I did not know where to start exploring. One of my favorite pieces was the tapestry of the Ressurrection of Christ by Raphael. I am glad we had a tour guide to inform us of this piece since it blends in with the rest. As your walking by it Christ's eyes follow yours and his body and the marble stone he stands on shifts to the direction your walking giving an optical elusion. I find it remarkable that back then they had no technology and still managed to create images like that one. Of course the highlight of the tour was the Sistine Chapel. I believe Michealangelo was an extradinary talented man, the Sistine Chapel ceiling is the most remarkable pieces of art I have ever seen or will ever see. Our tour guide was great in giving us a deep explaination of the story behind the Sistine Chapel which helped me appreciate and understand it more. I found it incredible that Michealangelo hated painting the Sistine Chapel and that it would be his first time painting, but he had no choice since he was forced by the terrible pope at the time.

After the tour of the museum we headed to St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's Basilica is as well immense full of beautiful statues surrounding it. In the center is a huge thrown looking figure that really gives a dramatic look. We did not spend much time in the basilica since we had gone to mass a couple weeks ago and had already explored it. I am not a catholic but I find Vatican city to be extrodinary! When we attended mass it was really neat because they sang the entire time and the mass was in Latin. I was pretty upset because they had miss informed us that told us that the pope was going to make an appearance. By the time we headed to the other side of the basicila and crossed thousands of people we had missed the pope. Aside from that I found my experience at mass unforgettable, and I find St. Peter's to be a beautiful basicila that not matter what religion you worship it is worth taking the time to go out and explore.

After experiencing the tour of the museum and St. Peter's Basilica I can see why Vatican City is one of the most well-known places to visit. It has been one of the locations in which I have seen the most tourist out of all the sites I have visited in all of Europe. I feel very lucky and appreciative that I had the chance to go and explore Vatican City. Vatican Musuem and St. Peter's Basilica is one of the most important sites for the history of human civilization,I believe everyone should really take the time to learn and discover what great art is has to offer.