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Published: November 10th 2007
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Vatican
View of the Vatican On Friday, Ron & Lissa decided to venture off on their own, while Dan & I went to the Vatican. We decided to walk there from our hotel, and boy was it ever a walk. It took us about an hour to get there, but we walked through lots of small streets and saw some really neat shops. When you come upon the Vatican, it really is a site to see in person. The complex is absolutely enormous. We walked right through Saint Peter's square and it looked like they were getting ready to host an event there. We weren't sure what was happening, and there were hundreds of people around. With Dan being catholic, he wanted to attend a mass while we were there. The Vatican hosts about 4 masses a day and we were able to catch one at Noon. We went right into the main Basilica, and it's absolutely amazing. This is indeed one of the largest basilicas we had ever been in. We were told to go to the St. Joseph chapel for mass. Mass was about 45 mins long and it was all in Italian. I think we got the jist of it. After mass, we walked around this enormous church and marvelled at all the paintings and sculptures. Our tummys were growling by then so we stopped at a little sandwich shop just outside St. Peter's square before we headed for the Sistine Chapel and museum.
We walked for what seemed like miles, but we noticed that hundreds of people keep walking past us. Little did we know that the Sistine Chapel and the museum is only open for 2 hours and that we missed it. Make sure you check the times if you go as they change every week (month).
For the rest of the day we strolled around the little squares on our way back to the hotel. Of course we stopped for some wine and a bite to eat. Again, we stolled on. A couple of hours later, we found a pub!! Beer! so we had a pint. We had to wait for the restaurant to open that we wanted to go to. The place was called The Library. 4 - 5 tables, very romantic. We had a wonderful dinner in a fantastic atmosphere. I must say, but we got a bit drunk....they served us some sambuca after dinner and it hit us with a vengence. Back to the hotel we went.
Saturday is our last day in Italy. We still wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, so we ventured out again for the Vatican. This time we took a taxi. I'm glad we did because once we got there, there was this massive lineup to get into the area. I thought for sure we wouldn't get in since there is only a 2 hour window. We stood in line for over an hour and we were one of the last people to get in before the doors shut. There was hundreds of people in line and I felt sorry for the ones who waited and didn't get in.
Once inside, we were corralled through a maze of rooms and hallways. There was beautiful artifacts, paintings and tapestries. We felt like cows being herded walking through there. Once we got to the Sistine Chapel, where hundreds of people were, we looked at Michaelangelo's famous ceiling painting and then we got the heck out of there. To tell the truth, the Sistine Chapel is not all that it's all cracked up to be except that its a tourist trap.
So, tomorrow we leave to come home. We fly from Rome to Milan, then to Toronto, and finally Calgary. We should be in the office bright and early on Monday.
Thanks for travelling with us. We have really enjoyed our trip.
I will be adding to this blog over the next few days (week) to complete our journal. I know we have rushed through some parts. So if you plan to travel to Italy, look back on this blog for names and places that we visited.
Ciao!!!
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