Pickle Journeys

Our vacation started at the Vatican. It was a beautiful, clear, hot, sunny day, but it was not overwhelmingly hot. The Vatican is an amazing place to be; from the statues, to the countless paintings on the walls, there is a lot to take in. The only complaint that we have about the Vatican, is how tourism is handled in the Sistine Chapel, which we will get into later.

We purchased tickets to go through the entire Vatican, which took some time; not because of the crowds, but because of how big the place is, and how much there is to admire. The anticipation to see Michelangelo's beautiful masterpiece at the Sistine Chapel was growing, but when we finally entered the Chapel it was chaotic. Instead of this peaceful, quiet place where people can appreciate this art, and it's meaning, it was overcrowded, and filled with the rumbling of the crowds, and the constant yelling of the guards telling people that pictures were not allowed. It felt disrespectful. Besides this unfortunate nuisance, the Vatican was a beautiful place to be, and St. Peter's Basilica was breathtaking. If we could have done differently, we would have visited the Vatican on Wednesday, because we were told that is when the Pope speaks to the crowds.

After seeing everything we could see, we sat down on one of the steps in St. Peter's Square, and that's when I proposed to Melanie, and thankfully, she said, yes.Read more