Vatican

I thought the Vatican tour would be my favorite part of the trip but it wasn't.  Although we saw a lot of beautiful artwork it was by far the most crowded place we went the entire trip.  The Sistine Chapel was the worst of it.  It is supposed to be a sacred, quiet area.  It is far from that.  It is wall to wall people.  You get driven through like cattle. I just wanted out.  I enjoyed the artwork of the Sistine Chapel better from the outside where our guide was able to explain each part of the ceiling.  It is very noisy so the guards spend the entire time shouting, "quiet" or "no pictures".  There are no pictures allowed in the Chapel because some Japanese company paid to have the ceiling cleaned so they own the copy rights for 10 years.  They even left spots to show how dirty it was before the cleaning.  I was shocked how disrespectful so many people were.  The crowds wouldn't have been so bad had they obeyed the supposedly strict rules. You don't even get a chance to enjoy it. 

St. Peters Basilica was much more enjoyable.  It is very pretty and much more reverent.  Even the area near the Pieta was much less crowded then we had experienced in the Vatican Museum.  I don't regret doing the tour because I can't image going to Rome and not seeing the Sistine Chapel but I was a little disappointed.  If I were to go back I would go back again, I would go to Vatican city without going through the museum.