The Vatican

Monday morning,  the 17th, we  took a taxi to Vatican City, which I guess is one of the smallest countries in the world too, right? I'm not sure how that works but a guy who calls himself The Pope lives there and a lot of people  seem to dig him. 

Inside St. Peter's we found a list of all the Popes (even the woman one?) so here's  a blurry picture of that plus a close-up of the last few, with their Latin names and the year they died.

We saw a lot more stuff on  the late John Paul (the popular pope) than of Pope Benedict (the current Nazi pope) during our Vatican tour. I don't know if this is John Paul's actual body, just embalmed or if he was actually buried and this is some sort of tribute.

P.S. My friend Frank just emailed me to tell me this embalmed Pope is the body of John XXII. And that Raymond Burr played him in a movie. His Holiness, not Frank.

The Pope snowglobe is definitely the old Pope though. This is our favorite souvenir of the whole trip.

There are thousands of beautiful things inside St. Peter's Basilica and I can't hope to  describe it  to you in just a few words and pictures.  Picture the most ostentatious and vulgar display of wealth you can imagine and then double it. Now add one. I only posted four of my St. Peter's pictures so as to not to hypnotize you with all the gold and jewels.

Millions of people use the Vatican Post Office when visiting so they can use the special Pope stamps and get the Vatican postmark on their cards and letters.

In the unlikley event the Vatican is ever attacked at least these soldiers are standing by at the ready.

We waited about an hour in the queue to get into the Sistine Chapel. Many felt it seemed much longer due to the accordian music that was being played on the street for tips but I enjoyed it.

Here's the center square, inside the four walls of the Sistine Chapel complex. The room (and ceiling) you are expecting to see is at the end of the tour after at least an hour of going through a dozen equally opulent rooms, each packed from floor to ceiling with priceless works of art.   

Taking photographs is allowed  in all the rooms of the complex until the last one. And that's the one where Michaelangelo spent four years painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, starting in 1508.  I read that he damaged his eyesight painting it and we damaged ours looking at it. Plus, our necks hurt at the end of the tour from looking up. Looks like we all suffer for our art.   

Comments

[Mr. Lightning (Loren Tilles)]

Excellent photos and commentary.