So yesterday was Thursday and we all had the day off because our art history final was the week before.. so my roomate Emily and I decided to head to the Vatican City to see the Vatican Museum.. pretty much the mother-load of really great Italian art by Raphael, Michaelangelo, Botticelli, etc etc. Anyways.. so we get there and we’re all super giddy because we’ve studied this stuff last Spring with this really hard professor Dr. Cunnally who we adore (he’s brilliant) and also this semester. We walk around and see a bunch of religious gilded altars and paintings from the 13-1400s which was actually pretty neat, usually I skip that section of the museums we go to because it freaks me out but the Vatican actually had a really nice collection. We also saw Transfiguration by Raphael then headed towards sculptures.. a huge collection of portraits of Augustus and sarcophagi.. went outside (they have really pretty gardens and it was a beautiful day) and in this weird inside courtyard was the Laocoon, this famous Greek statue from 20BC.. after that we psyched ourselves up about the Sistine Chapel and started to walk up the stairs and this guy looks at us and goes.. ‘the museum is closing’ and I’m guessing our jaws dropped. It was 1:30pm and the museum was closing! BAH. Shock of a lifetime. So all the work we came to see we weren’t allowed to see So now Em and I have to go back again next week.. at least we got a student discount so we’ll only have to pay 8 euro again to get back in. Grrr.. so word to the wise, go to the Vatican in the morning!

The Laocoon:

The staircase to get out (the only way) of the Vatican Museum:

…Also the day before yesterday two of my sorority sisters who were studying abroad in London came to visit.. they started school a week or two after us and got two weeks off at the end of October and also finished school three weeks before us (!??!) but anyways they came over and we attempted to go out.. but the colder Rome gets the lamer it gets At least we got to see each other!

In front of the Pantheon: