Just another day…in Vatican City

Well, it’s not at all what I expected…I mean…I thought it would be like this big city with in a wall all the way around it…and it has a wall around the St. Peter Church area that stretches up one side and down the other, but I’m not sure where they would connect…and cars drive right through the wall and out the other side. We did get there just in time to see the Pope ride around in his bullet proof Pope mobile and get up on stage and sort of sing a greeting and then sat down while others talked.

It still amazes me how l tall the columns are and how they got all the other stuff up on top of those talk columns. We got bored listening to the others talk and the crowd was SO large that we decided to get to the Castle Angelo, before all those other people, to see what it was all about. It was a lot of stairs…that’s for sure.

There was one amazing ceiling with painted walls…a nice view of the city from the top…a few cannons and cannon balls…but not much more.

We then headed back to the square and got in line to see the St. Peter’s Basilica. There was a long line because we had to go thru a “security check” once through that it was a piece of cake and everyone scattered in many directions. One way took you to the tomb of the old pope who passed away about 5 years ago. People were dropping on their knees and crying in front his “tomb”…talk about idol worship. (and upstairs in the Church people were rubbing the feet on one statue and kissing it). We didn’t take part in either of those. It is amazing that past popes and others are buried under the Church and that above, in the Church are mummified people (popes?) in glass cases that you can actually see. Weird to see an “open” coffin with people who have not decayed.

The inside of the Church was AMAZING and a lot of the pictures turned out so awesome. It is hard to explain in writing or see in pictures how BIG it is and how small you are in comparison to what is around you, including the statues that are larger than life, but amazing workmanship. There were SO many statues and beautiful ceilings and domes in there. I can not explain how magnificent the inside of the St. Peter’s Church is. We hope to see two more churches tomorrow and the Pantheon.

We then went and walked thru the Museum of Vatican city and to see the Sistine Chapel. There were SO many amazing walls, paintings and ceilings that we could have spent 4 hours or more in there, but we hurried through it since most of the day was over…I think it was 3:45 when we arrived there. It took us over an hour to “follow the signs and people” to the Sistine Chapel. Seeing the Vatican City took most of the day. Deeanna got in trouble, yet again, for being spotted taking pictures when she wasn’t supposed to…she is not a very good stealth picture taker like I.

We finished the day off by returning to the Spanish steps and walking to the top this time. We entered the Church at the top and everyone was taking pictures (without flashes). We were already to the front of the Church before we realized that a lot of people were actually praying…as everyone was taking pictures so we got out of there quickly as to be respectful.

Funnies for the day: We got there and realized that the Pope was coming by in his Pope Mobile. There was a guy who said if we get up on the railing we could get a good picture of him…so I hopped up on the railing and stood up, straddling the railing and got ready to take my first picture. Deeanna started up the railing, reached missed the top railing and fell on her rear. It was so funny, and in slow motion. She wasn’t hurt too bad, but probably will feel it tomorrow, and her pride was a little hurt. The man asked if she was ok and she said she was embarrassed more than hurt and he said he was too. LOL I got my picture though. Mostly just to say we saw him in person. And then there was Deeanna getting in trouble for taking pictures all day. And then we saw a film crew taking pictures of these tall girls and we wondered what movie stars they were, but went on our way. At the top of the Spanish steps was a limo, so we waited and sure enough they came back and we got pictures. People saw us taking pictures, and all the cameras and wanted to know who they were. We were like “we don’t know”. LOL So after they got in the limo Deeanna asked the cops and they told her they didn’t speak English and then said “stupid Americans”…which man her mad. I asked the photographer and he said even he didn’t know…it was for a reality TV show in Italy that started airing tomorrow night. So we now have pictures of these unknown reality show girls. LOL



Have to admit that we had a McDonalds burger tonight – Deeanna was running out of money so we had to each cheap for one meal. You have to pay 10 euros (about 15 cents) for each ketchup container, which is very small…yet they hand you 15 napkins for free (which are great for those bathrooms with no toilet paper…maybe even softer than the toilet paper) Mayo doesn’t really taste the same and they don’t put condiments on their sandwiches – so you actually taste the food more.



Off to bed – early day tomorrow as it is our last day in Rome. Kyla