This is a statue not a painting
Stunning!

We're not even into the 'best part' of the museum yet...
everyone comes to see the Sistine Chapel

 

Welcome to the Vatican Museum
As you can plainly see it's very popular with tourists
We are following the orange and red flag...

Just like the ceilings in the Uffizi Gallery (Florence)
 there is much to see

 

I liked this Pine Cone ? sculpture
This building is the exit of the museum into the gardens

A strange picture I know...
Wall on the right has been cleaned
Wall on the left has not
This is what the pollution does to stone/marble

 

We had a wake up call at 5:30
Our group was waiting outside the Vatican Museum by 7
We were two blocks away from the main entrance, standing in line with
all the other booked groups
The line moved well enough that we were admitted by 7:45

The dome of St. Peter's Cathedral
taken
from the garden 

 

Stone statues were added in 
1688

You can see the Castel in the background

 

Welcome to Rome and the Tiber River

This is the famous Castel Sant'Angelo
or Castle of the Holy Angel

'Initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum 
for himself and his family'
135 AD
Later converted into a fortress, a papal residence, a prison and finally a museum

 

I will add that this building is a 'stone's throw away' from the Vatican and it is said that 

                                                   there is a hidden passageway to and from.

I wish that this Angel photo was lighter, she was amazing!

More intricate fairies to welcome you to Naples