Vatican City

I had a really hard time picking just a few pictures of Vatican City because there were
so many great ones. If you click on the words Vatican City above, you can see Bryan's whole Vatican City album. But here's just a preview:


Bryan and me in front of St. Peter's Basilica.


The Swiss Guard. If you've read Angels and Demons you know all about the police force in Vatican City.


The Raphael rooms were fantastic I just wish that our guide didn't need to spend 45 eternal minutes in them. I thought it would never end.


This is the back wall of the Sistine Chapel. See that guy in the middle on the right with skin hanging off is leg? That's St. Bartholomew, and for some twisted reason Michelangelo painted his face in the gray skin hanging off his leg.


That line on the far side of the Piazza was what we had to wait in to get inside St. Peter's. None of us was too keen on the idea of standing in line for 3 hours, but luckily this tour guide came and solicited Brad. He told Brad that he could get us inside the church for 10 euros a piece without waiting in line. We didn't really think it was legit, but he told us that we wouldn't have to pay him until we got inside, plus he had a little tour guide badge. So we agreed. He didn't take us to a special tour guide entrance as we expected, he just started cutting in front of everyone else. It was very uncomfortable, because everyone was getting mad. Brad tried to stop him telling him that it wasn't fair, but the guy reassured him that it was okay, plus we didn't have many options because the Basilica was supposed to close at 4:00 (it was 3:40). So we kept going, getting glares and rude comments the whole time. When we got to the front of the line, some random guy came up and stopped him. A quick conversation ensued in Italian. Brad and Mike (our two Italian linquists) were at the front listening. All of the sudden Mike turned to me and said, "Walk. Go." But I wanted to know what happened so I kept asking, "Why? What did they say? What happened?" Mike just kept saying "Go, go, go." So we left and Mike and Brad explained that the random guy was an undercover cop who arrested our "tour guide" and his accomplice at the front of the line.
Needless to say, we went to the back of the line and waited our turn. It only took about 40 minutes and the church didn't actually close until 6:00.


The long line was worth it because we got to see Michelangelo's La Pieta. It was magnificent.