St. Peter's Basilica is an unassuming name for what seems to surpass all churches in the world. And well it should be, as it is situated in Vatican City, the residence of the Pope and the Holy See. However, it is not a cathedral. Our plans to visit the Basilica were foiled when we arrived on Saturday, June 9th, and were turned away being told that President Bush was inside speaking with the Pope at the moment. This papal visit was the cause of a spread of riots throughout Rome, particularly at the location of the American Embassy. The Embassy happened [View Full Entry]

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Buona sera (Good evening)! Our first full day in Italy was really busy, but extremely memorable! Our day was spent at the Vatican, home of the Roman Catholic Church and its leader - Pope Benedict XVI. We had to get up very early (6:00 am) so we could arrive in St. Peter's Square by 8:00 to get good seats for the pope's weekly General Audience, which is open to the public. I couldn't believe what good seats we got! We were in the front section, and had a very good view of the proceedings. When the pope was driven around [View Full Entry]

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Another day and another new country, albeit the World's smallest one with no borders. We were up earlyish and made our way to the Vatican where we spotted the monster queues. Damn. And it looked like a 3 hour wait, so we managed to hook ourselves onto a tour, which turned out to be the best decision of the day. We skipped the queues and were inside the Vatican Museums within 10 minutes. We saw some hugely impressive and ancient marble sculptures before regrouping in the courtyard. It was here I saw the funniest thing all day.We were told the [View Full Entry]

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Today was a lot of walking. I got up early and went to St. Peter's Basilica, a short walk from the hostel. I had to wait in line for security screenings, but it was worth it. From there I headed to Castel Sant' Angelo, which I got into for free. Next, I went to the Plazza del Popolo, where the 155th Anniversary of the founding of the Roman police was occuring. I then tried to head back to the hostel for a short break, as I was really exhausted from the walking and not having been around 80 degree temps [View Full Entry]

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Bon journo! We are about to go on tour of the vatican, but a quick note. <ferraris were fabulous... food still great ... eating a lot of it... will try to upload pictures when get back ... memory stick dissapeard... saw adriatic sea... andy still hates lines... CU SOON!!!! US [View Full Entry]

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02 May 2007: Spent the entire day in and around the Vatican. Wednesday is the Pope's mid-week audience, so the entire square in front of St. Peter's ringed by the Bernini colonnade was setting up for Benedict XVI's 1000 audience. We decided to visit the Vatican Museum first. Lines everywhere make Disneyland on a holiday seem totally rationale and doable. 1 hour 50 minutes of standing in line in the drizzle later, we got in. Of course the drizzle turned to complete downpour the minute we got inside, so good fortune at a minimum was on our side. The downpour [View Full Entry]

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My eyes are continually being opened; to what exactly i am looking at, i am still not sure. Walking off the place in Munich was my first blink in time. Buying a metro ticket in Paris was the second one. Sitting on the train in Barcelona was another. This is where i began to realize i might be waking up to something. Sitting in the little cafe in Switzerland, another blink. Walking into the Santa Maria Basillica here in Rome, another. Each blink has opened my eyes more. Each time i begin to wonder what it is i am seeing. Something [View Full Entry]

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Buono Pasque! It’s a little hard to believe it’s Easter. We went to mass this morning at St. Peter’s, which is still a little hard to believe. It was incredible! There were so many people there. It was interesting how they did it service, it was a little in a few different languages. It was nice, I may not have understood all of it, but it was nice to go to church on Easter. Actually I take that back, it was amazing to see the pope on Easter. From St. Peter’s we somehow managed to find our way back to the [View Full Entry]

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Today we had the tour of the Vatican and St. Peter’s. All I have to say is that the tour was totally worth it for the sole reason of being able to cut the lines. It was also nice to actually learn something about some of the stuff there too. Hardly anything is labeled, and I think if we were alone - there were so many people that we probably would have just gotten shuffled through and not been able to enjoy anything. We also picked up our tickets for Easter Mass tomorrow morning. We had to sit around and wait [View Full Entry]

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Today we had the tour of the Vatican and St. Peter’s. All I have to say is that the tour was totally worth it for the sole reason of being able to cut the lines. It was also nice to actually learn something about some of the stuff there too. Hardly anything is labeled, and I think if we were alone - there were so many people that we probably would have just gotten shuffled through and not been able to enjoy anything. We also picked up our tickets for Easter Mass tomorrow morning. We had to sit around and wait [View Full Entry]

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