The next day was our day in Vatican City. As long as Vatican City is in Italy, Italy will have tourists. Mrshiny and I started the morning with a archeolgical tour under the Vatican. This tour is done in small groups and no more than 100-150 visitors are permitted per day. Pope Pius XI started to excavate the tomb of St. Peter. St. Peter is buried under the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica. Actually he is buried under several altars that have all been built on top of each other. On the tour you can see a little bit of the bones of St. Peter. Its a long involved story which I don’t have time to really write down because Jasmine is breathing down my neck to get on the computer. The girls spent the morning with Gulia, so they had some down time which was probably needed.
After the tour, we saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II. We also went inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Pictures of La Pieta by Michelanglo do not accurately portray the beautiful sculpture. Mr. Shiny and I wandered around the Basilica. We saw St. Pius X. Yes, his body is one of the body’s on display along with Pope John the XXIIIrd and one of the Innocents. I was amazed at the lack of Mary sculptures.
Later in the day, the whole family went to the Vatican museum. Liz provided us with her tour guide talents. My kids have learned a lot about art in a couple short sessions. We saw the Sistine chapel. The guards at the Sistine Chapel seem to make more noise than the visitors. The Sistine Chapel is somewhat of a dizzy experience. Your eyes pop all around looking at parts of the ceiling. There is so much to see.
I remember we ate dinner sometime after the Vatican museums, but I can’t remember if we did anything else that day. By night time we all are usually fairly tired. We do a lot of walking.
Well, I better turn over the computer or my child may take up a parisien revolt and set the insane people free a the Bastille.