Wings: Rome Tuesday...The Sistine Chapel!

Yes, little old me, in the Sistine Chapel! Getting into the actual chapel you get to go through the Vatican Museum filled with art and artifacts from Ancient Rome as well as a wing from ancient Egypt. It was again a great thing to be able to take pictures! There is soooo much to see, and again I felt very uneducated as I looked at so many things that I really had no understanding of. Although I didn't know it's background or history, I do have an appreciation for it's place in history. Some of these things date back to 2000 BC! I just can't get over that! After wandering through the museum for quite some time and trying to make our way through the sea of guided tours that seemed to be following us we found our way to the chapel. All of these years I have seen the painting..yes, THE painting we all connect to the Sistine chapel and Michelangelo. I have always pictured it huge and majestic in a room that would be more like the room I saw in the Basilica. This room was very different than I had imagined. Beautiful and full of color and artistry, but smaller and les majestic than I had thought it would be. The actual picture of God's finger reaching out earnestly to the relaxed finger of Adam was in the center of the ceiling, and it was beautiful, but it was not nearly as big or as much as a focal point in the room than I thought it would be. We found a spot on the side of the room to sit and we just sat and took it all in for a while. The paintings were full of meaning and emotion. Different scenes in the bible were depicted as well as a huge painting on one wall of the final judgement. It was a lot to take in and try to connect with as hundreds of people filled the room with barely much room to move. The room is supposed to be sacred and silence is encouraged, but with that many tourists, all speaking different languages, as well as tour guides directing their tours it was hardly silent. I don't mean to be negative, and It wasn't a negative experience, I'm just trying to give you an accurate idea of what it was like. The lighting was very dim and the few pictures I did take are not the best, but you get an idea of how it looked. Overall, it was amazing to be there, in THAT room. I to thought of how Michelangelo was so discouraged and even frustrated at being asked to paint this work, it wasn't what he wanted to be doing, not what he wanted to be known for, and now so many come every day to admire and to be in the room where he worked. I wonder how he feels about that now. I wonder if he still is upset? I thought about how sometimes I get frustrated about the things I am spending my time doing when I'm sure I'm meant to do something else. I think if we all can find peace with what we are given to do, to create, and just enjoy the journey more we will have more peace, and have more joy and our journey will bring us exactly where we are meant to go.