Rome - Day Four

Sunday dawned very hot and we were greeted by the sight of a huge open air market which stretched for miles opposite the hotel. Alison and I walked around for a while before setting off to the Vatican with the boys. In retrospect it was a mistake to take them during the hottest and busiest part of the day as Joe and Glen were pretty fed up by the end of the day.

This was largely due to the fact that it was so hot and the size of the crowds queuing to gain entry into the Vatican. As we stood in line, the sweat was literally dripping from the back of my head and yet it seemed we were moving quite fast. However, the delays became longer once we'd got past the first obstacle, the checkpoint where clothing is checked in an effort to ensure some decorum is maintained. This amounted to nothing more than getting strappy tops covered up - shorts were fine. We saw the Swiss Guard and approached the security section where once again our hand baggage was checked as went into what is an independent state. Up the steps and virtually inside, we came to a complete halt and waited for ages. It was extremely unpleasant with the crowds pushing all round and nothing much happening. I'm not quite sure why we didn't just turn round and go back to the hotel at that time except that it may have been impossible to turn round.

Once we got to the next point, we paid to go up the lift to the cupola, Michaelangelo's dome to the Vatican and it was stunning. It can be seen in one of the pictures above. The Vatican site is huge as is the church. There are tourists and pilgrims everywhere taking their photos etc and perhaps that takes away a little of the atmosphere of the place. It seems a little more like another tourist destination rather than the centre of the Catholic Church with all that entails in respect of history and its impact on Western Society. I didn't feel quite same as Ali and Joe about that but it was amazing how freely people could walk around as well as the noise.

There are numerous works of art and important historical features present in the church and I photographed lots of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter's_Basilica

As I was taking photos, Glen and I got separated from Joe and Alison and we spent some time trying to find one another. Glen and I eventually gave up and left only to find the others had given up before and Joe was sat at a roadside restaurant enjoying something to eat while Ali was sat by a fountain.