Remember what I said about too much crap? Right.
Herc-ulees! Herc-ulees!
An
old red-stone bath owned by one of the more perverted Caesers. And that's
saying
alot. I don't want to even think about the things the inside of this basin
has seen. Perfect
place for it though, the Vatican, huh? Very appropriate.
An
example of a Pompeii-style floor that was uprooted section by section
and re-assembled here.
Ut-oh. Large crowd. That must mean something big
is coming up...
Oh
yeah, this place. No, in all seriousness the Sistine Chapel is just simply
amazing. One of those things you feel compelled to see while you're there,
but
sort of expect it to be a let down. Like Stonehenge or the Mona Lisa.
You've seen
hundreds of photos of this place, so you don't expect much. Well no photo
does this
place justice. It's just amazing and you need to see it to appriciate
it. .
It's
illegal to take photos in here, so
of course everyone was scrambling
to take shots
while the guards weren't looking. I resorted to my trusty hip-shot technique
to get the
job done.
Michelangelo was a sculptor remember. Not only
did he not want this job,
but he had no idea how to paint. But you don't say no to the Pope (in
those days),
so he started to learn. He began in the back of the chapel, as shown here,
and as
the frescoes progress you can see how he teaches himself the medium.
Then
at about the center, you get stuff like this.
Not
too bad for a no-look fully-zoomed hip-shot, eh?.
After
shooting dozens and dozens of shots, we just wanted to sit and enjoy the
place for awhile.
Here's
a shot back on the altar wall, the Last Judgement. This is considered
his
painting masterpiece and is the focal point of the chapel.
A
bunch of other artists also added to the chapel walls. Here's Perugino's
"Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter". Just thought you might
want to know that.
Good random party trivia.
Even Space Monkey seemed in awe. And he's never at
a loss for words.
