Brinda's Head West!: Italy Day Five

On our 5th day in Italy we did a tour of the Vatican Gardens (which are 57 acres) and the Sistine Chapel. We did not tour the museums or St. Peter's Basilica. The tour we did was already two hours long and we didn't think the kids would last through a longer tour. Pictures of the gardens:

Front of Vatican Museums (Above) and inside the "lobby" where you buy tickets or find your tour group (right).

Right: Back side of one of Vatican Museums, heading to gardens.

Right: St. Peter's Basilica from the Gardens.

Above and to right: Headquarters of the Academy of Sciences (Casina Pio IV).

Fountain to the left and below is the Fontana dell'Aquilone. It was made in the 16th century.

Right: Vatican Radio

Above: Virgin Mary Statue that was a favorite with Pope John Paul II and Pope Leone XIV where they both enjoyed praying while sitting in a tree stump "chair". The one on the right belongs to Pope Leone XIV and the pic below shows Pope John Paul II's tree stump chair.

Right: Guy filling his water bottle with a water spigot in the Vatican Gardens. These water spigots were all around Rome.

Right: "English Garden" in Vatican Gardens.

Avery in front of pretty flowers and the English Garden.

Row of trees/plants that were all named in the Bible.

English Garden again with the kids.

One rose inside the rose garden.

St. Peter's Basilica from the rose garden.

The French Garden with lots of archways.

There is a cool spiral staircase in the Vatican Museum building where we took a few pictures and Carlton took a video:

Spiral Staircase

After the Gardens, we walked through a couple galleries to get to the Sistine Chapel. One was filled with statues, one with tapestries, and another was filled with old maps.

We were constantly walking as we went through each gallery, so I have no idea who this bust was supposed to be (left) but it was disturbing! This was in the map gallery.

Pope Francis apparently was a big fan of soccer, so this display showed some paraphernalia.

Right: The statue on the left was one of the oldest in the museums.

Very decorative sarcophagus.

Right: Pic on screen of the Sistine Chapel.

Left: Close-up of the back wall of the Sistine Chapel.

More art we saw on our way out of the museums.

Vatican chess set for 770 Euro (about $900)!

Vatican City has its own train station, airport, police force and post office. We decided to fill out postcards really quick and have the kids mail them from Vatican City.

We left the Vatican and headed to St. Peter's Square. We thought we would tour the Basilica but the line was 6 hours long!! So you get to enjoy pictures from outside instead. The chairs are set up for Easter mass which was 5 days later.

The obelisk in the center is an ancient Egyptian obelisk that was erected in 1586. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed the square about 100 years later.

This sculpture is called Angels Unawares by Timothy Schmalz and was unveiled in 2019 by Pope Francis. It was dedicated to the 105th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. It's 20 feet long, made of bronze and is the first new sculpture added to the Square in 350 years.