May 18, 2015: Rome/Assisi

Today we had bags out at 6:30 am and breakfast starting at the same time. We had to be at the bus at 7:30 for our departure to the Vatican.Because we were visiting a church today no shorts or bare shoulders allowed so we had to keep that in mind when selecting our clothing.

Tey didn’t have the hot food available in the breakfast room until about 6:45 but I needed a couple of little cups of coffee before eating anyway.

Wish I had one of these at home!

We discovered this last morning that there was another coffee machine on the other side of the hot food buffet.

I had fruit, croissants and cheese in addition to my baked beans and chicken sausage. The eggs were even runnier than normal. I don’t know how anyone can eat them!

Everyone was on time and we said good-bye to the NH Vittorio Veneto hotel.

We met Carlotta at the Vatican. Brad had passed out special headsets for the Vatican so we were wearing a blue one with our orange!

Vatican Museum

I must say it was great to be part of a group for this tour. We walked right in! After being prepped for what we were going to see in the Sistene Chapel and some other information, we finally got to go in to the museums.


Sculpture in ticketing area

We went through security and then Carlotta gave us our tickets.

Art even on the tickets!

We then proceeded up escalators to go outside where she spent time telling us about what we would be seeing and some history.

Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

Our Vatican selfie

Gardens from this courtyard

We then walked to what I believe is the main courtyard of the Vatican museums.

Court of the Pine

Sphere within Sphere Sculpture

When we entered the museums we first went through a hall of sculptures which I believe is named The Gallery of the Candelabra.

The Gallery of the Candelabra

I wish I could remember what Carlotta told us about these pieces

An exclusive experience for Insight Vacations is being able to go up and down the Bramante staircase so we headed that way.

A beautiful staircase along the way (Not Bramante)

The Bramante staircase is unique in that it doesn’t have stairs. It was built to allow Pope Julius II to enter his private residence while still in his carriage.

On our way up the staircase

The view down from the top

The view from there was incredible!

We went through the Etruscan Museum, housed in the Palace of Innocent VIII. It has 22 rooms but we didn’t visit them all.

Pottery that is over a thousand years old

Room three had bronze sculptures and funerary items.

Mars of Todi sculpture

Frescoes with scenes from old Testament

Ancient calendar

Hall of the Chariot

Next we went through the Gallery of Tapestry. Carlotta showed us how they are not just valuable for their beauty and age, but because there is gold thread throughout many if not all.

Gallery of Tapestry

Next was the gallery of maps. It contains a series of painted maps of Italy based on drawings by friar and geographer Ignazio Dante.

Beautiful ceiling in Gallery of Maps

Just one of the many Regional maps

I must have been having overload because I didn’t take any other map photos.

Tapestry depicting The Last Supper

We had 20 minutes to go to the restroom and visit the Sistene Chapel. Carlotta is not allowed to explain anything to us in there. The room was unbelievably crowded and HOT. Apparently, the air conditioning wasn’t working today.

The artwork was amazing but hard to enjoy with the crowd and heat. We literally couldn’t move. I focused my attention on Michelangelo’s Last Judgement.

Public domain photo of Last Judgement

We were glad when it was time to leave and head to St. Peter’s Basilica.

Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica

Panorama of St. Peter’s Basilica

I was surprised by the size of the basilica. It was enormous and while not as crowded as the Sistene Chapel had many more people in it.

Michelangelo’s Pieta

Michelangelo’s Pieta is behind glass now due to an attack some years ago.

Air vent for the tombs underneath the basilica

Monument to Sweden’s Queen Christina

Alter of St. Jerome

Mosaic reproduction of Raphael’s ‘deathbed’ painting

Pope Leo XII statue

St. Ignatius

After exiting we had a brief moment to take pictures of the facade and the Swiss Guard.

I understand tradition but these uniforms!

We had an hour for lunch and sat down once again with Mary Ann and Dave for an enjoyable meal. I had water, Steve had coke and we shared a tasty
margherita pizza.

We found Brad at the meeting spot and walked to the Vatican bus parking area where we were reunited with Gaetano. It was a long walk but we were going to have plenty of time to rest on the way to Assisi.

About halfway to Assisi we stopped at a truck stop like place. It was a 30 minute break for Gaetano so we had a ice cream bar while waiting and
chatting with our tour mates.

Brad passed out materials on the journey including a travel map, welcome information, welcome brochure with helpful tips (temperature conversion, travel phrases in Italian, etc.) and the optionals handout.

The scenery along the journey was breathtaking. Little did I know it was going to get better!

We arrived at the parking area at Assisi and walked up to our hotel, Hotel Giotti. It was pretty steep but so picturesque. Living in a hilly area paid off as we really didn’t struggle going up and down the hills.

We were assigned room 101 which happened to be two floors down from the lobby. It was slightly bigger than our Rome hotel but the view was
awesome!

Panorama from Hotel Patio

After taking some pictures from the lobby patio we met the group outside the lobby at 4:30 for the short walk to the St. Francis Basilica with our local guide, Mario.

outside St. Francis Basilica

Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside the Basilica. St. Francis’s Basilica is in Assisi because it is the city where he was born (and died). Construction started in the 13th century and it comprises two churches identified as the Upper Church and the Lower Church.

We first entered the lower church which was the older portion and had beautiful ancient frescoes. One of the most interesting things about this tour is seeing the progression of artistic techniques via the artworks.

The view when we exited the upper church was amazing!

We took off for the walk back to the hotel on what I thought was the right street but wasn’t. Walked back to hotel but went up wrong street. Getting lost in a city this beautiful was not a hardship.

I had my daily gelato along the way (pistachio today) and we eventually ran into Dave and Mary Ann who were in the same predicament. Together we navigated back to the hotel.

Temple of Minerva

We had a welcome reception hosted by insight prior to dinner. Enjoying a glass of red wine, with the incredible view and chatting with new friends was quite an experience.

We went to dinner a few minutes past 8 pm one floor down in a beautiful stone room which opened onto another terrace. No free wine tonight! You could get a glass for 4 euros.

This was the first time we had butter served with the bread which was welcomed by all at our table. The round table included the Steele family (Diane, Ed, Bethany and Kevin), Kay from Sydney and Pat and George from Philly.