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Published: September 24th 2008
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Vatican City
Basilica of St. Peters, Piazza San Pietro. This morning we were dropped off at La Giustiniana station, and as there was a train strike today, we were expecting the worst. Our first destination was to the Piazza San Pietro, home to the Basilica of St. Peter's. It seemed quite busy today, well apparently busier than normal. It was only when we got closer that Paul said the late Pope John Paul II was going to be reading his sermon today to the pilgrims.
We couldn't believe it, what luck we thought. We did have a tour of the Colosseum booked up for that morning, but we all decided that we wanted to stay to see The Pope, as this would be a once in a lifetime experience. We could always go onto see The Colosseum later that day, so we waited at the railings. After half-an-hour, Paul managed to get us all into the Piazza San Pietro, so that we would get a much better view of the proceedings. This was now a pretty surreal experience. Not only are we at the Vatican, but we are now on the Piazza and would have an uninterrupted view of The Pope. I thought no-one would believe this, when I
Vatican City
Basilica of St. Peters, Piazza San Pietro. get home.
After an hour or so of waiting, the Swiss Guards came charging into the Piazza, and then shortly after The Pope was driven in, and waving to his audience. He gave his sermon, though quite a few people I noticed were just talking through it all, which was annoying, as they should have been more respectful. Anyway, the sermon lasted around ten or fifteen minutes, before the pilgrim groups were then read out by someone else. This wasn't interesting, so we all decided to leave then.
After getting a pizza for lunch, we then all split up. I tagged along with Stu, Rabi, Kirsten, Julie and Blair. We went to the Musei Vaticani first, as we wanted to see The Sistine Chapel. It was 12 euros to get in, and we saw some literally amazing sights. The galleries and rooms were so richly decorative, and there was just room after room of worthy treasures. The ceilings and walls were filled with picturesque tapestries and such detailed works of art. It was quite a humbling experience to be walking through this quality. Most of the places didn't allow flash photography, so I couldn't take as many photos
Vatican City
Viewing the late, great Pope John Paul II's sermon at Basilica of St. Peters, Piazza San Pietro. as I'd wanted.
After an hour, we finally arrived at The Sistine Chapel, and were we blown away? We sure were. Again, no flash photography or video, so I couldn't capture anything, but it was certainly a sight I'll remember for a long time. The sheer size of everything was what surprised me. As we looked behind where we entered, we saw 'The Last Judgement' which literally filled our view. It must have been around three storeys high.
After being blown away here, we decided to follow the Isola Tiberina (River Tiber) to The Colosseum. This took longer than we expected but we got there in the end, walking along Circus Maximus along the way. It just looked like a large area of barren land, but this is where chariot racing had taken place. We passed Gavin and Lauren on the way.
Another 10 euros got us into The Colosseum, which I thought was certainly worth it. This is where I wanted to go in Rome, of all the places. It was bigger than I thought there, much higher, and just being there, you would have no trouble picturing how it must have been. We spotted Lloyd
Vatican City
Viewing the late, great Pope John Paul II's sermon at Basilica of St. Peters, Piazza San Pietro. and Jess there up on the next level, so caught up with them. Blair then decided to go back and chance the trains as he wanted to be back with Ang, so then we left Lloyd and Jess and walked through the Roman Forum, which took us to Piazza del Campidoglio, home to the Palazzo dei Conservatori (right side, as viewed from the Cordonata staircase), Palazzo Nuovo (Capitoline Museum, left side), and Palazzo Senatorio (Senator's Palace). We met back up with Lloyd and Jess here. By now, it was getting on so we decided we weren't going to make it back for dinner at the campsite, and that we should look for somewhere to eat out. We found a nice little ristorante, had our dinner. I had spaghetti, which I think meant I had every type of pasta going during my time in Italy.
We got our train homs from Berberinin, changing at Valle Aurelia, and back to La Giustiniana. After a twenty minute walk back in pitch black, we finally arrived back at camp at around 10pm. Apparently, we were the last to arrive back that evening. After a few drinks, we called it a night fairly early
Vatican City
Sfera con Sfera, Giardini Vaticani, Musei Vaticani. on.
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