At last, a visit to the Vatican Museum!

I am no longer embarrassed or saddened because I can officially say: I have been to the Vatican Museum. It is an overwhelming but spectacular museum. The Laocoon, a first century AD marble statue, depicts the Trojan priest Laocoon and his son struggling with two serpents. The Laocoon was at the top of our list of statues to see. Not sure where it was located we decided we would keep our eyes out for it as we wondered through the long corridors of the museum. However, as we were walking through the Gallery of Tapestries, Carley stopped us in a panic “we missed the Laocoon!” All in accordance we turned around and began to backtrack. We still were not sure where it was located, so we studied the map to get our bearings. Thinking we had figured out where the Laocoon was located, we continued on our way. According to the map it is in the Greek and Roman courtyard. Down the stairs through a corridor that we had already been in we rounded the corner and halted at the door leading out to the courtyard. The rain was pounding down on the pebbled walkway. We grabbed our umbrellas and proceeded down the walkway in search of the Laocoon. To our dismay, the Laocoon was nowhere to be found. Right in front of us was an English speaking tour guide. We said to her, “Excuse me, will you please tell us where the Laocoon is located?” She replied in a very friendly manner and gave us directions back into the building. We thanked her and went on our way. Ironically the directions took us back to the courtyard we had already visited. Our adventure to find the Laocoon exemplifies the Vatican Museum’s overwhelming amount of art. We took a few pictures and observed the Laocoon, and then we were back to where we left off. The rest of our self-guided tour went smoothly and was totally worth the five week wait.