Vatican City

We stumbled into the Vatican after spending the night at Birmingham airport followed by a morning/afternoon of lugging our suitcases (we packed far too many shoes) around greater Rome. We didn't really know what we were looking for, but we turned down a street, walked through a nook and found ourselves in the middle of St. Peter's Square. I've never felt so small in my life; it's massive!

We ate dinner at a mediocre italian restaurant with ridiculous prices and then further wandered around watching the priests and nuns socializing with one another...we also found amazing gelato on an anonymous side street. There wasn't enough time during the trip to see everything in the Vatican so we missed out on the Sistene Chapel and the rest of the Vatican Museum, but we went inside the Basilica and drank the holy water (there was a holy water fountain exclusively for drinking).


stumbling into the vatican for the first time


st. peter's basilica and the famous window


the saints (or former popes?) dancing on top of the basilica


post from the vatican


swiss guards, who don't look that dangerous, but are trained and dangerous potential killers!




ceiling of the basilica


st. peter's tomb


a frescoe (by michaelangelo, i think)


confessing in italian:0) there were booths for all european languages.