Stato della Città del Vaticano

I have never denied nor hidden my deep love for churches. Whenever I go to a new city, I seem to find at least one or two that just leave me breathless. I feel humbled in churches. They make me feel close to my dad. They are just so brilliant. You can just picture the people who come to them searching for something- redemption, forgiveness, salvation, answers, love. They are full of hope.

Now put me in front of the Vatican.

The Vatican City is something that you must see. I don't care if you're not religious or not Catholic- it is just absolutely breathtaking.

Now, you should know that there are 2 main "sights": St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum (where you can see the Sistine Chapel).

We decided to get up early to try to skip some lines. It was a brilliant plan. We walked right in and there weren't very many people in St Peter's Basilica. Our timing was spot on!

As we entered St Peters basilica, I was humbled to be in such a place of religious significance, but I was also struck by the over whelming wealth of the Catholic church. All I could think about were the millions of people living in poverty around the world. These people are dying or living on meager funds and the church- an institution which should be helping them- spends their money on this grandiose building to show off their wealth. But that is a post all on it's own.

The Basilica- it was grand. And ornate. And extremely impressive. As I walked through the door, there was a small crowd of people to my right, but I decided to forge my own path and I went left. The nativity was still up. It was massive. And so well presented.

I didn't take any photos in the basilica. If you have traveled with me, you will know that I just don't feel right taking photos in churches. Instead, I take the time to pray and to reflect. So you'll just have to imagine the beauty (or make your way to your favourite search engine to get a visual :) )

Just picture it, though- gold, high ceilings, the graves of many popes past. It was perfect.

As I worked my way around, I came back to that area where a crowd had formed earlier. It was Michelangelo's "Pieta." For some reason, I didn't realize that the Pieta was in St. Peter's. It was a welcomed sight though.

As we finished in the Basilica, we decided to make the trek to the top of the cupola. Best. Decision. Ever.

Now, I will warn you that there are about 6 billion steps (I'm a bit dramatic ;) ) but it's well worth the climb. I will let the photos speak for themselves:

We headed to the Vatican museum next.

This place was absolute madness. We queued for about an hour or so- the whole time being solicited by tour companies with promises of jumping the queue. I made friends with some of them (my maritime kindness always gets the best of me). We FINALLY made it to the museum (after Lucia and I made a quick gelato trip- a necessity when in Italy!) and the madness was overwhelming.

That wealth which was so obvious in the Basilica? This museum takes it to another level. There are grand works of art everywhere that you look. But the thing is, you can't actually appreciate any of them because of the stifling amount of people. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of a herd of sheep- just shuffling along- not being able to really stop and take any of it in.

I could appreciate that it was beautiful, but I wish I had been able to just stand and stare at some of the art or tapestries or maps!

We shuffled all the way down to the main attraction- the Sistine chapel. Yup. WOW.

This is not the Sistine- just the sign letting us know that we were almost there. We weren't allowed to take photos once inside!

The herd of sheep was shushed and directed to move back. I saw this random empty space in the middle of the room and I was feeling a little cheeky. I knew that I wanted to just lay on my back and take it in- so I did :) it didn't last very long before a security guard was sternly yelling at me in Italian and motioning to get up. I didn't mind, though. I laid under the ceiling of the Sistine- just as Michelangelo had done to paint it. I will never forget how beautiful it looked.

Next, we backtracked to the Basilica and headed down to the Catacombs. Wow. There are so many graves of Popes past and even the remains of Saint Peter (who was famed for his upside down crucifixion) in there. It was strangely fascinating.

The Vatican City was a full day trip. If you want to go, I would suggest checking out the museum first. Skip that queue and hope to beat some of the crowd there. Then pop over to the Basilica. You may have to wait for a bit, but take a friend or a good book and the queue will pass quickly!

With just one day left in Roma, we called it an early night. We ended the day with some pasta and a stroll past the Colosseo. So Italian. Besides, we had to get ready to fight like Gladiators the next day!