Finally seeing the Sistine Chapel and all of Michelangelo's fresco paintings on the ceiling above was as memorable for me as seeing all of Rome in the sense that being an artist I have always heard more about it than any one monument or building in Rome except perhaps the Coliseum. That was spectacular, too but in a completely different way for me.
First of all the Coliseum is outdoors and it was an unbelievably gorgeous war, sunny, blue-skied day. We were truckin' it with Massimo as we tried to see as much as possible within out three hours. There was a debate with Abigail about whether we should pay to go inside. Massimo said " No " that it was not worth it. Of course he has seen it many times since 1073 when he went there to live from up north somewhere.
I said to my daughter that we should go along with Massimo on the bus as he had another tour and he was also going to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. I thought because of our limited time and the fact that we had already been walking around for three hours that it would be a great idea to continue so that we would not exhaust our precious supplies of existing/remaining energy. I also knew that once we got close to the Vatican with Massimo that we could then have lunch and pace ourselves.
I got as much information as I could from Massimo on the bus. He's so used to being a professional tour guide that he continued to point things out to us along the way and from him we also discovered what bus and metro to take to get back to our hotel once that we had finished seeing both the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel.
I was happy to sit down and have lunch once that we parted ways with Massimo. He was on a deadline and it was rather quick and he was off down the street. We began to look around and soon discovered an outdoor restaurant to our right just a half block down the boulevard and it just called out to us/ me at least. Besides that the owners were right there to immediately engage you in English or any other language to persuade you to dine there and not somewhere else. Competition must have been fierce; especially in these trying world economic times of ours today.
We did not put up a fight, we were happy to be somewhere now that we could finally stop walking and relax. Lunch was nice and it did help us to rest a bit and recharge our batteries. We were still perhaps a long block or two away from The Vatican and we did need our renewed energies once we saw the masses of people all headed for/ congregated around and inside and trying to get inside the Vatican. This was big/ serious business. I wondered how much they made in a day from ticket sales as there were so many people and I could practice both my English and French easily as we waited in a long line to get in. What an operation : it was huge and structured and really well organized as well as efficient.
Once we finally got inside it was quite the experience of long hallways and assortments of small rooms, chambers, stairways and circles and everything covered with some sort of art from foot to walls to ceilings and mirrors, sculptures : works in marble and wood and paint and tapestries : you name it and there was some of it there. In all colors including lots of gold and I am sure stone and jewels, too. It was simply breath-taking and simply too much to take in as we were all swept along in a waves of humanity from parents and children, old people, people with canes and lots of youth with backpacks, all different nationalities, many languages being spoken all at once - wow, it was impressive in it's sheer size and variety and multiple layers of complexities unfathomable to anyone except for perhaps God himself. What would / did the Pope himself make of all of this? Did he ever spend any time at all thinking about it?
I loved taking some pictures of the clergy because of the setting.
I introduced myself to two young girls that happened to be from New Zealand. Earlier in line I spoke with a mother in French about something as we were in line waiting to get inside and at the end, after the Sistine Chapel I spoke to a French couple that were enjoying their fifth day I believe in Rome. We spent some time together before parting ways amicably.
But now back to the Sistine Chapel. Funny, it completely caught me off guard. We had been going through so many mazes to get there that by the time we finally did I was unprepared as we walked into it and looked up and I realized : " we've arrived! Finally, wow! I've got to collect myself now. I've got to focus, to concentrate, to pick up the pieces in the scenes above ans study them and combine them into something that speaks to both my brain, my heart and my soul. I was finally being taxed : I was already maxed by everything else. I mean, I had just minutes ago seen a Chagall that I would have liked to look at if nor for being herded along by a machine of shepherds that were tending us their flock : move on, move , move along ...
It was a lot for me to register and the craning of the neck was hard at this point as well as the monitors constantly imploring us all to be quiet and not take any pictures! I had to take one : actually two. Oh well, I was there and probably never again. I should have also taken one of the David in Florence. I will include the two pictures I took here inside the Sistine Chapel. They are so-so : but they are mine, all mine. What does that mean? Simply that I was there and able to snap my Canon twice.
I loved looking at all the magnificent colors : at the people and the configurations / distortions of hands and limbs and legs : big faces, fat bodies, women that were not as beautiful or flattering as the men : a wealth of people, forms, bodies, robes, colors and snap-shots of the Bible as interpreted by Michelangelo that had to work really quickly, climb the scaffolding to have done this and lain on his back in what was excruciating pain as all his muscles stiffened and locked on him and yet somehow he was a master and endured all of this and triumphed in spite of it all. How was that humanly possible? What had he told himself to be able to make all these scenes from the bible and then turn them to sketches up on a hard, dark ceiling where shadows I am sure dominated and obscured and reigned?!?
How was Michelangelo able to stay focused through all of this and work in this fresco and quick-drying medium where everything including form, movement, action, stillness and color all had to be achieved so quickly? It's a marvel : and n it's new. cleaned and freshened state quite a visual tapestry for the eye to make out all the scenes as well as just enjoy everything for the tour-de-force that it was and still is today. Wow, I was humbled ? I still am humbled.
I told my daughter that I had a book back home of the works of Michelangelo and sometime soon now that I am home I will look carefully at it now that I have stood in complete awe and stunned below by the breadth and the utter sheer magnitude of it all under one roof : the Sistine Chapel.
I'm thrilled to have had this experience in the company of my daughter. Being with her was even more amazing for me and important than seeing either the David or the Sistine Chapel or any of the works of art by Leonardo that I could have seen like the Last Super.
I will add the pictures soon and perhaps some more commentary so stay-tuned for more. This is just the beginning of a lovely relationship. Cheers, TONY
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