Continued from Rome Day 1 Part 2.

Holy crap, I am taking too many pictures. This photo diary is starting to get out of hand. Day 2 will be broken down into two parts.

I am going to be visiting this building today.

Anyone know what it is?

First stop of the day will be the subway. I slept in so by the time I left the hotel, it was getting close to noon.

Scratch that thought. I walked down there into the subway and the stupid ticket machine only takes small bills and coins. I only had a 20 Euro bill and that was too big. The manned counter wouldn’t give change either.

Back on the ground to visit a cafe.

Ordered an espresso.

Guess what else comes with an espresso? Change in coins from my 20 Euro bill.

The subway in Rome is really simple. Only 2 lines and it’s a flat rate 1 Euro per ride regardless of distance.

Really long escalator down underground.

The subway ticket.

Pretty nice train.

I think they had these same train in Paris. I remember the center holding bar that splits into three bars.

Got above ground and lots of people standing around. Oh yeah, everyone had their maps out and was trying to get their bearings straight.

Love them.

Look, it’s the Vatican City.

Street car.

Sign for the museum on the Vatican Wall.

The Vatican Museum entrance is on the North side along the wall. Vatican City really is built like a fortress. I mean, seriously, it operated as a fortress in the past.

Lots of people selling, presumably, fake goods.

That’s a lot of people going in the same direction. I bet the lines are going to be horrendous.

Ugh, CRAP!! Look at all those people.

Oh wait, that was the exit, this is the entrance.

Woohoo! No line at all!

The ticket to Vatican Museums.

Escalator at right leads up to the museums. Look at the spiral staircase. Neat.

What is it that we have here?

The famous double helix staircase that serves as an exit for the museum. That other one I showed earlier is just some wannabe spiral staircase. This one here is the real deal.

You can see how it is a double helix. Only one of the spiral was open today though.

I just got into the museum, what am I doing heading straight to take photos of the famous exit? Well, that’ll be explained later.

Model of Vatican City.

Ahhh, so typical. Both museum guards are on their cell phone not paying attention. I totally just stole some art work off the walls.

Pieta!

Just kidding. This is a replica. No one gives a shit about the replica. Hundreds of people walked right by it without giving it a second look. The moment I stopped to take a photo of it, five other people stopped by to look as well. It’s all about the atmosphere. Putting something that basically looks like the real thing in a corner with no one looking at it gives it no authority.

Haven’t had lunch yet so time to eat some cafeteria food.

This is by far the longest line I waited in all day.

The international food went cold and untouched.

Eating like the pope himself.

When I got my ticket for the Vatican Museum, they didn’t give me a map. I went to information desk and asked for a map, and they said that they don’t have a map. What kind of crappy museum is this without a map? And yet, here they have a map on the tray in the cafeteria.

Grounds outside the museum.

All except for one had received penectomy. Yes, you know what that word means.

Pretty awesome how you can chisel that out of a single block of stone. Can’t exactly fix your mistakes.

Don’t even ask me what is going on over here. It looks like he sat on the wrong branch…

I eventually found out that the Vatican museum is basically an one way street, hence the lack of maps.

Incredible mosaic work all over the place. Everyone was taking photos of everything except for the ground. Hello! You are walking on art.

Almost every single room had amazing ceilings.

Hey, what’s up?! Jesus Christ! Don’t surprise us like that.

My favorite room. I believe this is the map room. The ceiling was stunning. I went through the museum mostly taking pictures of the ceilings because those were what impressed me the most and often the only works of art in the room.

One of the maps on the wall. Sorry for the crappy picture. The maps were too big and I didn’t have enough wide angle on my camera.

Bet you’ve never seen this view of the Vatican.

This is a close up of a mural in one of the room. The whole museum is covered with either murals or moaics.

They’ve got a small section of modern art in the Vatican Museum as well.

To be continued at Rome Day 2 Part 2.