Pix from the Vatican are up

Wrapped up my work and went to the Vatican this morning. We signed up for a tour so that we wouldn't have to wait on line (apparently, if you don't take a tour, it's a minimum of 2 hours on line waiting to get in. I'm not nearly patient enough for that. And, it was raining on and off.)

So, we zipped through the tour line in a mere 20 minutes, which was pretty snazzy. I was having a good time taking pictures with my new equipment (new camera, new lens I bought before my Asia trip). You were allowed to take pictures everywhere but the Sistine Chapel, where you're not even supposed to speak. So, here's my thing about the Sistine Chapel. #1 - I'm a dolt. I didn't remember that it's in the Vatican. #2 - As far as artwork goes, it's really busy - I mean, there's a lot going on there. You've got 9 panes on the ceiling that depict different scenes from Genesis. Michelangelo painted that - I remember reading about him lying on his back for months painting it. Around those 9 scenes are naked folks - he was very big on the nudity thing. Then there's angels 'n things and the walls have more scenes painted by other artists and one huge wall is more Michelangelo stuff - I mean, if one were to be under the influence of illegal substances, I'm pretty sure your brain would explode in there (in case you were considering it). My brain on the other hand, finally calmed down (because I avoid illegal - and most legal substances - except for Diet Coke) and I was able to appreciate the individual pieces of artwork.

All in all, the place is just overwhelming and we only spent about three hours in there. It's huge - we really didn't cover very much of it. The Pope was out, so no chance of a sighting or a quick picture with him...however you can see the pictures that I did take cause I stuck them here. The picture above was a little piece of a very large map in the cartography room. It made me happy.