I awoke extremely early this morning for an exclusive tour of The Vatican Gardens, which are essentially, the Pope's private gardens. This is a special thing, apparently, bc these Gardens are not always open to the public. Our current Pope, however, has allowed it, while others in the past enjoyed strolling through them too often to let other people see them. Apparently John Paul II used to jog through them... I always recalled him being like REALLY old, but I suppose there was a time when he was a jogger.

I was in an English speaking tour led by a very Italian woman named Sylvia. She was amazing in every way, exactly what I imagine of a true Italian woman. There were some Americans in my group, who were from Virginia, and looked like cartoon tourists. They were wearing rediculous khaki pants, that looked like they were made out of that material that doesnt wrinkle so they are nice and packable, and the man had this long hair hr held in what appeared to me a woman's hair clip. And sneakers, of course. There were also some Australians and a whole lot of Polish people. It is interesting that so many speak english, that when they don't offer a tour in their native language, they can just do the english one bc they know english too. It's the language that binds us all together, I guess.

Only one tour group is allowed in the gardens at one time, which was nice. They were really beautiful and green. Not many flowers, but lots of well manicured bushes and trees and fountains, and a lot of italian gardeners that Sylvia was friends with. The tour was about 2 hours long and involved A LOT of walking. Did you know there are green parrots and palm trees in Vatican City??? Did you know Vatican City is ITS OWN COUNTRY?!

By the end of the tour I WAS STARVING.

On that note- The italian breakfast is simply NOT ENOUGH. A pastry and a cappuccino is clearrrllllyyyy not substantial. I need some protein.

After the tour, I practically ran to the museum cafe to scarf down a small salami sandwich for immediate nourishment. I then decided I should probably go see the Sistine Chapel again.

Now, in order to get to the Sistine Chapel, you literally have to walk through another 12 rooms of sculptures and tapestries. There are constantly signs pointing "This way to Cappella Sistina", and so you are like "oh awesome, I'm almost there!" Um.. no. It's definitely another 40 minutes of trampling through hundreds of people in these various rooms staring and taking pictures. I have been here twice already, so I didn't feel bad about not "taking in" all of these rooms. There is SO MUCH stuff in there, and I pretty much don't even know what they all are or who created them all.

I eventually made it to the Chapel, and of course, its amazing. Which brings me to my next life question, along with HOW DO PLANES FLY???! isssss HOW THE HELLLLLL did Michaelanglo PAINT THAT CEILING???? It is SO high up, and SOOO beautiful. This is something I have thought a lot about in my life. I imagine myself, laying on top of a ladder, painting. How can you get any perspective of what you are doing at all? IT REALLY BLOWS MY MIND.

I'm realizing, A LOT OF THINGS BLOW MY MIND.

The really famous part of the fingers touching is smack bad on the center of the ceiling and involves much neck craning in order to see it. It'd be nice if you could lay on the floor.



Anyways, I realize Michelangelo he had all of his apprentices and whatever helping him, but, yep, its pretty amazing.

There were obviously tons of people in there, and every so often you'd hear a museum official officer man hush everyone. This is a Holy Place after all. Speaking of which, if you ever plan on going in any churches in Italy, better cover those shoulders and legs! They won't let you in anywhere with tanks and short skirts.

It also takes another 40 minutes to get OUT of the Vatican Museums. Sheesh.

How cool is the name Michelangelo? And Raphael is cool too. Maybe I'll name a dog that someday. The Ninja Turtles were smart.

I AM SO TIRED. SYLVIA!!! That was quite the walk.