Blogs from Vatican City, Europe

These days are starting to all blur together. It was strange how dead the bar was last night but I guess the locals don't party too hard on a Wednesday. I talked to mom yesterday for the first time in a while. Gave her a massive Internet hug. love ya mom. I will never take for granted how there are no gypsys in Canada. Literally everywhere. All selling the same shit. Like, no I don't want your cheap ass Louis Vuitton purse and stop calling me playboy! Remember I said I did laundry at 2 in the morning the other night? Well I had a bit of a scare. I didn't grab my clothes because this girl from our tour said she would hold onto them for me. Well it turns out she only had my ... read more

Ciao! Sorry we skipped a day, as you'll see, friday was quite an eventful day... It was our last day in Paris. We started the day at the Arc de Triumphe and then walked down the Champs Elysees. It was gorgeous and super cool, considering all that has happened there. We went through the Place della Concorde and saw the obelisk, where Marie Antoinette and others lost their heads. We also met a few pickpockets, but outwitted them all! We finally came to the louvre, where we planned to spend our last few peaceful hours. Right. At the desk, we were informed that our pre-ordered tickets needed to be picked up back at Champs Elysees, so Sophie and Dad raced back over to pick them up. We finally were able to enter, but our visit was ... read more

Well, actually Vatican City is not in Rome. It is a tiny nation itself. But we still consider it part of our visit to Rome. We met our tour guide, Alex Mariotti, outside the Ottaviano San Pietro Metro station at about 1:15pm. David didn't show up, but we liked Alex better. By 2pm we were ready to start our tour, complete with headsets, inside the Vatican Museum. Alex was a fantastic tour guide and story teller. He told the story of Michaelangelo and how he came about to paint the Cappella Sistina. He told us how Michaelangelo was not a painter, but a sculpter, and shared the story of his relationships with the Pope, other artists and his life. After all of that, of course, Michaelangelo was a great artist. By the time we had reached ... read more

Angela and I stood in the middle of the Vatican’s humongous square marvelling at St Peter’s Basilica (the largest Catholic church in the world), as well as the beautiful columns of the Colonnades that circled it. Above the columns were carvings of saints and to the right of the church was the Apostolic Palace, where the Pope often gave his Sunday blessings. In the middle of the square was a tall obelisk plundered by Caligula from Alexandria in AD37 that was once said to have held the ashes of Julius Caesar, and it all looked mightily impressive, despite the heat. The Vatican is the smallest country in the world and also the only county with Latin as its official language. It has its own stamps and its own army – the ridiculously attired Swiss Guard, donning ... read more

Most Memorable Part of the Day Frankly, the whole day was pretty memorable. If I had to pick though, I guess I would have to say either the Sistine Chapel or St Peter’s Basilica. The Sistine Chapel was absolutely PACKED. There wasn’t a moment that you weren’t being pushed into strangers and pressed against walls. However, we got to see Michelangelo’s famous painting “Creation,” which is painted on the ceiling. It’s not that big compared to the other paintings in the room, but it was definitely the most unforgettable. Since we’re smart travelers, we took a short cut out of the Chapel to the Basilica, although the crowd was so horrible we almost didn’t make it. I wish I had pictures of it, but unfortunately it wasn’t allowed. That didn’t stop Grandma though, she even used ... read more

July 9th Rome Italy Day 2 - Well we had a great day visiting the Forum, the Colleseum and we spent the morning in the Vatican. It is presently 39 c here in Rome and there is a Transit strike, so traffic is gridlocked everywhere. However, the good news is (as my father used to say) "it's 39, but it's a dry heat!!!" We experienced our second disappointment of our trip today - the first, which I don't think we told you, is that when we arrived in London, it turned the Queen wasn't there for us to see - turns out she was in Canada, of all places! Then we tried to make an appointment to do lunch with Pope, and he was unavailable. Now I suppose when we get to Monaco the Royal Family ... read more