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On the second day we headed to the VATICAN CITY.. pardon? VAAATTIICANN City!! Ah!! Vatican City is the smallest sovereign nation in the world. It comprises of just 1 sq km but houses the most important catholic collection in the world. They even have their own postal service, currency, newspaper, radio station and even an army of Swiss Guards to watch over the Pope's personal safety.
Our first stop was the Vatican Museum. It contains a crazy beautiful collection of art and treasures collected by the Popes. We walked around this massive museum looking at early catholic art, sculptures and paintings. We got to see beautiful gardens and fountains as well! We even got to see a full intact mummy! A MUMMY! Right in front of us. After viewing numerous, amazing museums, we headed towards the Sistine Chapel! We thought there would be maybe a few rooms as an entrance to this beautiful chapel, however, instead we walked through maybe 20 different rooms that were all painted by famous artists and we really couldn't believe our eyes. Each room was full of famous artwork with multiple themes. We even walked through a 'Map Room' full of ancient maps. We finally
arrived into the Sistine Chapel. We looked around in complete awe and had to find a place to sit down, or we were about to collapse on the floor. There was so much to take in and observe, our minds were racing. We sat down and stared at the many walls full of famous artwork, mostly by Michelangelo. The room was packed with people staring at this beauty. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures to share, but the memory will always be with us. We had researched the Chapel ahead of time on Jennie's Ipod, so we learned all about the meaning of the art while in the Chapel.
After exploring the Vatican Museum, we headed to St. Peter's Square to see the Basilica. We heard there was an amazing church with incredible artwork (another dome by Michelangelo). So we got to St Peters square and we kid you not, the line was wrapped all around the square.. it was HUGE! We were thinking we'd be in the line for the rest of our lives... but decided it was worth it because you can't very well go to the Vatican City and not see St Peters Basilica. About
an hour later with tuns of almost physical fights to keep our spot in line from the crazy nuns, we were near the front (laughing for quite a while because we saw these NUNS BUTT IN LINE!! hahahah). So we meandered into the church and were amazed with the architecture, paintings and sculptures. We cant even describe how beautiful and awe-inspiring this place was! We wandered around a bit then noticed a large crowd gathering around the blockades, which block us from the pews (pews were filled with people). So we creep to the front of the line, standing on our tip toes, trying to see what all the excitement was about. We asked this Italian lady what everyone was waiting for and she calmly says.. the POPE! We could not believe that the freaking pope was coming.. give us a break... but then we kept hearing it, the pope will arrive around 5:00pm... we started to jump and shake we were so excited to see the POPE! Then we soon remembered that it was EASTER FRIDAY!! It felt like we were the only ones excited in the entire room. We waited for about 20 minutes, and managed to catch
a glimpse of his big white hat as he walked down the aisle... so we tried to make our way to where we could see what was going on, to no luck. Then one of the security guards took pity on a group of us and said, follow me i'll show you where to go! So a group of about 20 of us take off, practically running after this guy as he brings us outside and around the side of the building to this tiny little door.. with people just flowing in and said to us, go up there. We thought it was a scheme to get rid of us haha, but as we walked up the stairs and around a few corners, we found ourselves in the actual church, where we can SEE the pope sitting there on his big red throne! We found a seat (unfortunately not where we could watch him, but close to see the choirs and the main alter, actually we were behind the altar). The next few hours were unbelievable.. the singing in the amazing church with high ceilings was like nothing we had ever heard, and it was so cool at one point
Stamps
The Vatican had their own stamps! there were about 10 young men who each came up to the podium, speaking in all different languages, a blessing to Benedict... and this was the first time we heard the Pope sing. We had no idea what he was saying but it was this little quivering, but still beautiful voice. Since we were behind the altar, we could see him super close and when he came behind the altar, gave our crowd a little smile and started to pray... it was an unforgettable day! AS IF!! we were sitting there like HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??
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