Five-Star Disability

Hey folks!

Remember that story about fondlilng statues in The Louvre, in Paris? If you forgot it, you can read it here.

(I’ll add link later! Or you can have a gander through my articles…)

I want to tell you about what happened at another museum that follows the same theme!

On my last leg of my European trip, I was in Rome! What an amazing city! Both ancient and modern, historical and vibrant! I loved walking the streets, getting real Italian espresso in tiny cups!

I saw the Colusseum and St. Peter’s Basilica; got pictures from the dome! I went to the Roman Forum, was robbed at the ancient aqueduct pillars, had lunch close to the Pantheon, and got lost wandering the many laneways, roads. I also saw many churches…

An interesting sidebar; while walking towards Vatican city (which I went nearly everyday because a church leader was helping me to secure a hotel for three days, I was sick of hostels!) I saw many many different religious people: including nuns, friars, monks, pastors and everything in between!

Anyways…

One of my highlights was going to the Sistine Chapel. And everyone who is not from Uranus should know that this place is an amazing art bestowed palace that has some of most appreciated and pictured works of art a ceiling can provide! Ah yes, Volta della Cappella Sistina was truly picturesque!

Naturally, I wanted to capture the true essence of the amazing artwork, by some Italian artist whose names are either Michal-Ange or Michelangelo, depending on who you are talking to. There are also works by Botticelli and Raphaell…

So, with my trusty camera around my neck, and my white cane in my hand, I meandered the halls, stairs, rooms, chapels of this awe-inspiring wall-to-wall art collection.

Being Deaf-Blind, I did what everyone else appeared to be doing, Holding up cameras, binoculars, scopes, and apparently were taking pictures! This was in 2000, cellphones were not as ubiquitous as they are today, and they were big and bulky, unable to take pictures!

So you can bet your top dollar that I was also taking pictures, with a flash; when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right?

Well, I was clicking away, and into the big room where the famous picture of God touching Jesus is located, or was it Adam? I can’t recall at the moment of typing this, but I could find out on Google. In this room, I saw many many people with cameras and binoculars look at the Cappella, I assumed they were taking pictures! Probably were. I was halfway through my walk of the room, when a security officer, an unsmiling man who told me something rather important, assumiingly. I gestured I am Deaf, and he gestured back, in the same unsmiling manner “Camera arms slash”. When I coginated that he meant “No pictures” I nodded, hastily tossing the camera into my backpack and walked on.

I did not see any sign annoucing in 5 or so languages “No pictures allowed!” in the Sistine Chapel. But then how can they monitor those tourists who were peering thourgh cameras at the cappella?

I never thought of that, until now!

I believe, now, that back then, the rule was: No Flashes Allowed! Of course, with the cellphone replacing the camera on many levels, it is hard to impose any such rules.

Anyhow, I left the Sistine Chapel without actually seeing the area where God is touching Jesus (or is it Adam) from heaven. Remember I am DeafBlind, and anything more than 5, back then, feet away, blurs together into a blurry kaleidoscope of colours. Nowadays, that five feet has shrunk to 2 or 3 feet.

Did I tell you how I got from London to Paris? That is a real page turner! Stay tuned!