I decided to take a couple of tours for a different perspective than my own. A friend saw the Eternal City from the back of a Vespa and that choice intrigued me for multiple reasons. First, a scooter can go where a car cannot. Second, experiencing Rome riding bitch on the back of a scooter has got to be more intense than watching it go by outside a car window. Third, yes, I saw Roman Holiday at an impressionable age. Fourth, fifth and sixth, \u00a0it\u2019s something I wouldn\u2019t do on my own, am unlikely to ever do again, and that I won\u2019t forget in a hurry. For the sheer pleasure of conjoining music and my favorite museum in Rome, I bought a ticket to\u00a0Sounds & Visions of Caravaggio,<\/a> which combines an English language art tour with baroque musical performances at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. As I mentioned in the last post, I picked up a tour of the Palazzo Colonna that I’m excited about. it reminds me of the Cerralbo Museum in Madrid. It should be visually lush.<\/p>\n The biggest hurdle, in terms of horrific lines and crowded conditions, is indisputably the Vatican Museums<\/a>. I visited them eight years ago and, though I\u00a0was not rushed, I still moved far too quickly along a Vatican-assigned route. I saw enough to know I wanted to come back and view the art at my leisure.
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\nAfter some investigation online and an exchange of inquiring emails, I settled on a four-hour Scooterama<\/a> Vespa tour. Good press, consistently high user ratings, the\u00a0option of a street art tour, and the founders’ first date was a Bruce Springsteen concert. That last one is what we call a sign.<\/p>\n
\nI decided to use the strategy that has served me so well for the Louvre, Prado, and Hermitage; I\u00a0became an official supporter, a Patron of the Vatican Museums of Art.\u00a0 Among the privileges of a Patron are unlimited visits, and early entries at 8am through a separate entrance for patrons. I have a special Patron pin to wear and have submitted the dates I plan to visit \u2013 about three weeks total \u2013 so my name will be on the gatekeepers approved list. That\u2019s my biggest ticket and tour in one. It\u2019s the reason I\u2019m coming to Rome.
\nPatrons also get to chose a private tour from a selection of guided tours and I chose the restoration labs. Usually the last thing I want is someone talking to me when I am viewing art unless it\u2019s audio guides, which dependably deepen and enrich my experience. More importantly, I can turn them off. But a restoration lab is a mystery to me and I know I’ll be fascinated by whatever the guide has to say.
\nThere are other perks, like discounts in the gift shop and cafe. There\u2019s even an opportunity to attend an audience with the pope. I assume by that they mean somewhere in the melee, but not in the nosebleed seats.
\nI\u2019ll avoid the Sistine Chapel for the same reason I dodged the Mona Lisa and The Garden of Earthly Delights. These superfamous paintings attract a scrum of the selfie-obsessed. Hey, glorious works abound that can be viewed without having to throw your elbows and use up all your fouls. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/11288256.jpg\")
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\nI\u2019ve been through the Sistine Chapel, and know for a fact that I can barely see the ceiling, even under optimum conditions. But please don\u2019t think I lack appreciation for this sacred space baptized by the sweat of Michelangelo\u2019s brow. If I got accidently left in the chapel alone for half an hour, no doubt you\u2019d find me sprawled on the floor, looking up with an expression very like Bernini’s Saint Theresa in Ecstasy.<\/p>\n
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