San Pietro del Vaticano

The day didn’t start as well as we’d hoped. The bus ride into the city was a debacle, but more on that in tomorrow’s post.

Today’s agenda was the Vatican museum and St Peter’s Basilica. First up was the Vatican museum. We met up with Viv and Kez at the entrance to the museum. Wow. It appears all of Europe had decided to visit the museum the same day. It was packed from wall to wall, so much so that it was uncomfortable.

We paid extra for audio guides, which turned out to be a complete waste of time because it didn’t line up with the exhibit numbers in the museum. Let’s wing it then. We didn’t know what to expect from the museum. There were lots (I mean LOTS) of sculptures of torsos. Hundreds! Whilst trying to follow the audio guide, we got herded like sheep from room to room, all of which were filled with tour groups with little standing room left.

Sad to say, we didn’t enjoy this as much as we would, but only because of the crowd. The entire time, we just felt like a molecule of water swishing around in the ocean. This post will not do the museum justice. If you wanted to visit the museum, go really early (and zoom around really quickly before the throngs of tourists come in) or go a couple of hours before closing. I’d hate to think of how much more packed it would be during summer. At least the coffee was cheap.

Afterwards, we got in a queue to see St Peter’s Basilica. Aaron was not quite as enthusiastic as Flora to be standing in a crowd again but it paid off in the end. We visited the tombs of past popes. The bodies lay in intricate tombs along the crypt corridor. Once we left the crypt, we found ourselves right in the heart of the Basilica, in the middle of a mass. The grandeur of the Basilica winded us. I thought Notre Dame was unbeatable, but I stand corrected.

St Peter’s Basilica is completely overwhelming. One cannot possibly be unmoved by the beauty and riches inside it. I will leave you to peruse the photos as words cannot do it justice.Les mer