Italy Bellissimo Travelogue, continued

Vilma Packard
May 5, 2019
3 min read

Day 3 of Tour- Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, Inside St. Peter's Basilica, Ride to Pompeii, Sorrento and Isle of Capri.

Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica

Our day began as early as 6:30 AM when we had to leave our bags outside our hotel rooms. The included breakfast buffet was served at that time and we departed for Vatican City at 7:20 AM. There was a change of coach driver beginning this day who was just as skilled as the previous one. Evidently, Italy has rules/ licenses for driving within the city of Rome as well as cross- country. We met our local guide (they also have rules regarding guides) who walked with us and educated us on the Vatican garden, the gallery of candlesticks, the magnificent gallery of tapestries, the gallery of maps and finally the photography- restricted Sistine Chapel. I was once again dumbfounded by the genius of Michelangelo. We exited the museums and walked down some steps to enter St. Peter's Basilica. I went directly to the right from the entrance to see "The Pieta." A few feet from it, the body of Pope John Paul II was laid to rest with a special designated area for prayer. After that, I caught sight of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel behind wrought- iron gates. Photography was restricted there and the basilica's personnel made sure you were there to worship and not to sight-see. Inside the chapel, I felt an overwhelming powerful presence that seemed to envelope me. I was overwhelmed with so much emotion that tears welled up in my eyes which I fought back so hard and failed. My son revealed to me later, that he too felt a special presence when he was inside the chapel. Even though we missed to see other must- see statues and art in the basilica, I felt we've visited the most important part which was the Blessed Sacrament. After reuniting with our guide and group, we stepped outside the basilica and witnessed the change of Swiss guards. Then we walked a distance again to board the bus. Due to my mom's slow pace (she was so tired at this point), we got separated from our group and almost boarded the wrong bus in the process.

Photos from L to R courtesy of Alex Packard: Inside the Vatican Museum, St Peter's Basilica and the Swiss guards.

Pompeii

The drive to Pompeii from Rome was roughly 2 1/2 hours. We had a 40 minute stop for lunch and our first experience in an Italian rest stop. It took us a while to get lunch as there were other customers besides our group. There was a line in the women's restroom as expected, and by the time we returned to the bus, we were about 7- 10 minutes late. Our tour director somewhat chided us for being late and the hurried pace was the tone set for the remainder of the day.

The local guide in Pompeii gave us a very good idea of what it was like in 79 AD before the tragedy happened. It was sad to see the human casts preserved by volcanic debris. Our tour director introduced us to the Italian pastry sfogliatella before boarding the bus again on our way to Sorrento to catch the boat to the Isle of Capri. My SD card corrupted here in Pompeii and my photos from Day 1 to this point were never recovered.

The ruins of Pompeii, photos courtesy of Alex Packard.

Boat Ride to Isle of Capri

My anxiety was compounded by the impending boat ride, the tour director rushing us and my concern for my mom's ability to handle the remaining of the tour. At this point, the walk in Rome and Pompeii in one day, had taken a toll on her. While everyone was rushing to the pier to catch the boat, a member of our group tripped and fell on the hard cobblestone boardwalk. She didn't even need to rush after all as the boat was late. By this time, it had gotten very windy and the temperature dropped to near 30 deg F. The water was very rough that at times, I felt the boat was suspended on air. A few in group got sea sick including my son and some even threw up. I tried very hard to appreciate the beauty around me despite the bad boat ride. We took the Funicolare up to our hotel and it was a big relief that we had dinner there that night and stayed in the same hotel for 2 nights.