When we were in Rome a couple of years ago, we did something for the first time – we paid for a tour.  Usually the thought of shuffling along with other tourists just wasn’t attractive.  For the Vatican though, the crowds can be stifling and detract from the experience, so we signed up for a night dinner and tour with a smaller group – and it was worth every penny.  This is the ceiling of one of the galleries we walked through.  Every inch of the place is covered in art, every space on the floor has a sculpture; the scale of it blew us away, and we plan to go back again and spend a lot more time trying to take in more of it.