A walk through the Vatican

The sun was hot. We had been walking what seemed like days, but in actuality, it was hours.

We were on a quick 3 week Europe tour, so our time was limited. We also were constantly making changes to our schedule. This prevented us from making any plans outside of a day or too. So we decided at the last minute to go to the Vatican at 3:00PM.

Well I really wanted to have a meeting with the Pope and talk about my mother and my Aunt. I didn’t get that meeting, so I guess my next choice would be talking with Santa Clause.

We arrived at the Vatican later in the day around 3:00pm. The crowds had died down and the court yard was open. My impression was that it was clean and kept up as if it was new. It was vast and beautiful.

We walked down Via della Conciliazione, the street with all of the Consulates for the Vatican.

Did I mention it was hot? The temperature that day was close to 100 degrees. It was hot. Even at this time in the afternoon. I was melting.

We arrived at the Saint Peter’s Square, which featured the Obelisco di Piazza San Pietro and two fountains; Fontana del Bernini and Fontana destra del Bernini. This is located right in front of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Frome here we went through the cue and security and made our way into Saint Peter’s Basilica. This will be a photo dump as we spent over an hour inside until they closed. There was so much to see and photograph but I tried to stay within reason.

What impressed me the most was the sure size of this building. It was enormous. You could fit many many many churches inside this one building. There were Walls and Walls of paintings and sculptures and socaphagases throughout the building.

Mass was also being attended too, however it was not attended to by the Pope!

We exited out into Saint Peter’s Square and was able to see the Swiss Guards as they are protecting the vehicle entry into the Vatican.

I am not one to spend much time in museums. I like to get in, see what I want to see, and exit. Plus, I do not like crowds. My partner loves museums and history. The plus to this trip was there were few people and we got right into the Basilica. The down side was, I wanted to see more than just this one building. A tour of the entire Vatican (if there was one would have suited me just fine.

If i go back I would like to see if there is a big tour to see the rest of the Vatican and not just the Basilica.