Vatican City
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The morning of Day One we visited the Vatican City. We started in the Vatican Museums, saw the Sistine Chapel (unfortunately we couldn't take pictures of Michelanglo's awesome ceiling) and the St. Peter's Basilica, and walked around St. Peter's Square.

Here are some interesting facts about the Vatican:

* The Vatican has been the residence of the popes since 1377.
* The Vatican has been an independent state (called the Vatican City) since February 11, 1929.
 
Vatican Museum:

The Vatican Museum are exceptionally important because of the richness and prestige of the masterpieces brought together by various popes over the centuries. From the Renaissance on, there was not a great artist who did not leave the immortal mark of his genius here.

The Vatican Museum has so many art treasures that if you spend only 30 seconds on each piece, you would be there for three years. We were only able to see part of the museum - the highlights. Here are a few pictures of what we were allowed to film.
 
Entrance to the Museum - Exterior and Interior:

The old and new ways to access the Museum
 
Typical Room in the Museum (left) and a Tapestry (right):

 
Ceilings in Hallways of the Museum:

The ceilings of the Vatican Museum are even works of art. *NOTE: The picture to the right shows a ceiling painted on a flat surface. The artist made it look three-dimensional by using shadowing as he painted. Even standing right under this ceiling, I couldn't tell it was flat.

The dark blocks on the ceilings are areas that were not cleaned with the rest of the art. They left those unclean spots to show a contrast between the original look of the art and the look after years of neglect and pollution.

*  See Note above
 
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