Naveen Agnihotri    Photos    At the Vatican

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The Vatican, the capital of the Catholic church, draws millions of visitors every year to its wealth of trasures and spiritual monuments. There are sights for every inclination: magnificient rooms decorated by Rafael, famous sculptures, frescoes, paintings, and of course the famous ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The immense collections in the Musei Vaticani are so rich that all we could do was skim the surface. The staggering wealth of art on display ruins you forever: after visiting the Vatican, every other museum looks impoverished.

We got an audioguide (€5), and proceeded to take the "long route" through the Vatican Museum. The place is mind-boggling: the collecton is grander than all the other museums I've ever been to put together. The ceilings alone were more impressive than all the other museums I've even been put together.

All along the museums, there are signs saying "Sistine Chapel: this way"; clearly, they know where people are headed. The lines in the museum were long, but people were polite, and everyone seemed as much in awe as the two of us. In fact, we got so habituated to awe that we got over-awed: things would look impressive, and you knew that in any other place on any other day, you would get awed by it, but on that occasion it just evoked a response like: "Huh, look at that impressive work of art." After our first two hours in the museum, we sat down to take a break.

Despite being over-awed, the Capella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) is really mindblowing. The room is big, the ceiling is high, and the art is stunning. They don't talk about it too much, but there is beautiful art on the walls as well. There are signs everywhere saying "Please no photographs," and there are guards milling around saying "Please no photographs," so of course everyone there is taking photopgraphs. Including flash photos. I don't know why they even bother. Of course, here is my own pathetic attempt at getting the whole ceiling. Michelangelo's Last Judgement is to the right.

After the overwhelming experience in the Vatican museum, we took the beautiful ramp down to the exit. The ramp, designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932, is a work of art in and of itself. You don't realize by looking at it from the top, but it contains two independent one-way ramps.

After leaving the museum, we got a quick bite at the nearby Caffe Vatican, and walked to St Peter's Basilica, which is only about half a mile away.

Technically also a part of the Vatican, the Basilica di San Pietro is a staggering monument: about 18,000 square yards in area, and 435 feet in height. But the line outside was also staggering: about 400 people, and the line didn't seem to be moving. We gave up the idea of going inside, and instead basked in the sun in the grand Piazza San Pietro, a landscape masterpiece designed by Bernini in the 1660s. It can hold 400,000 people, and was holding about 4,000 right then. As you emerge from the dark streets into the giant open space, the feeling of freedom and emptiness is profound. My panorama captures a little bit of the feeling of standing in the middle of the piazza.

We rested a while in the piazza, and then took the Metro back to our hotel.