Europe's greatest painters vied with one another to paint the walls of the many public rooms in the palace, which are quite amazing. The paintings generally either highlight famous points in the city's history, or are complicated allegories showing the benefits of good government and the perils of bad. There are about twenty rooms open to the public, which housed many of the government councils and bureaucratic bodies. We then crossed the Bridge of Sighs (see picture), which connects the main palace with the prison, and got its name because prisoners would supposedly sigh as they crossed the bridge as they viewed their beautiful city for the last time. It also deserves that name for the many tourists who cross the bridge, then regret it as they're trapped in a one-way tour of hundreds of prison cells, which can get monotonous for even the most tenacious tourist.