Vespa Day

Hi All,

Day 4 of our Roman Holiday and today was devoted to the Vatican.  Did you know that Vatican City was declared its own country in 1929 by Mussolini and has a population of 800 people.

Anyway enough of the facts, this was another magnificent structure.  Scooting through the gates of the Vatican City, which is surrounded by giant brick walls, you come across a large walkway, lined with shops of course, that leads you straight into a massive open space.  This space, or the "Square" (it's round), is surrounded by the Vatican, the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica.  Statues of saints adorn the tops of these buildings and in the centre is a large obelisk.  Refer photos because my description does not do this City justice.

Inside these buildings are exquisite works of art dating back to the 1400s.  It is amazing to see that the color in these paintings are still so vibrant and alive.  They look like they were painted yesterday.  The Sistine Chapel is truly a sight to behold. Again, amazing color.  You could stare at the ceiling for hours and still not see everything.  Photos are not allowed in the Chapel and you must cover your shoulders and legs before entering.  They do give you a disposable shawl if you haven't brought your own.

St Peter's Basilica was to me, the most impressive.  It was exquisitely ornate with large marble statues (one made by Michelangelo which was behind glass - this particular statue was vandalised by an Australian in 1972 who thought he was Jesus Christ.  He smashed parts of the statue but they were able to restore it using every broken piece.  No additional marble was used so it is still an original), massive oil paintings, a pure bronze altar and a corpse of a pope embalmed in bronze. Again, truly magnificent an hopefully our photos will show this.

After the tour we had lunch at a tiny hole in the wall Pizzeria. We sat outside on the street in what can only be described as two old school chairs that had their side desk.  The pizza was served to us on a plastic tray on a bar stool.  It was brilliant.  The street itself was picturesque, straight out of a postcard, complete with checkered tablecloths and plant covered windowsills.  This is such a great City.

Lorraine and Sean

PS.  Forgot to mention, we noticed that a lot of the doors on the old buildings are quite small and there was a tiny one in the Vatican Museum.  Found out that Italians used to be very short, my height short so the doors are all made for people like me.

PPS The photos take ages to load up as the internet in the hotel is notoriously slow, so the commentary is for today, photo links will come later after they have loaded.  The latest link below is of the Vespa day of riding.

Daily Links
2016-07-13 Vespa Day
2016-07-12.2 Walking Tour
2016-07-12.1 AM Morning Ramble and Lunch
2016-07-11.1 - Ramblings
2016-07-10 BNE-DXB-ITA
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