The Hermitage is the world’s second largest museum. The museum’s collection is housed in five connected buildings, the largest being the Winter Palace. We visited the Hermitage with our guide, Anna, who was on summer break as a high school history teacher. She would show us some of the highlights of the museum as it would be impossible to see everything. I thought this quote put the magnitude of the Hermitage in perspective: With over 3 million items in its…
Tauck arranged for our group to visit the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel after hours. This had the great advantage of not needing to deal with huge crowds, estimated at 25,000 people per day. The pictures below are ones I took in the Vatican Museums. The first is the ceiling in the Gallery of Maps. The ceiling has paintings depicting the history of the Catholic Church and the lives of saints. The next two pictures are paintings found in…
We traveled with Tauck on their Sicily, the Amalfi Coast and Rome Southbound tour in June of 2018. Since we opted for the southbound tour, we flew into Rome and arrived a day early. High on our list was seeing St. Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. These are all part of the Vatican City, a city state established in 1929 with an agreement between the Holy See and the government of Italy called the Lateran Pacts. …
As I shared with you in my first post, Florence has many art galleries and museums. Michelangelo’s David, representing the David in the Bible, is displayed in the Accademia Gallery. Michelangelo sculpted it between 1501 and 1504. We were not allowed to take pictures in the Gallery, so the one I am sharing with you is one I purchased. David is in a circular room – tourists can walk completely around the statue. It is seventeen feet tall and made…
We visited St. Peter’s Basilica on a beautiful day. The Basilica is the largest church in the world and thought to be the burial site of St. Peter. The Basilica replaces an earlier church and was completed in 1626. Across the top of the Basilica are statues of Christ (in the center), St. John the Baptist, the eleven disciples and St. Mathias who replaced Judas. There is also a close-up picture of three of the figures. They are John the…
Our visit to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel was certainly special. Tauck had arranged an after-hours visit. Being able to see the Museum and Sistine Chapel without large crowds was a wonderful opportunity. If you visit the Vatican Museum, be sure to take in everything – you will see incredible ceilings, mosaic floors, decorative windows and medallions on the walls. They may not seem like the featured exhibits, but you will want to appreciate them as well. In the…