DAY 5 EUROPE TRIP - ROME< VATICAN

21 May 2009

DAY 5 EUROPE TRIP
ROME – VATICAN

Another beautiful and another hot day today. We decided to spend most of the day around the Vatican. First stop was the Vatican Radio as that is where my brother works. We got to see the set up and some wonderful sights from the building.

Then with my brother as a guide we went into the Vatican. St Peter’s Square was awash with people. We admired the Egyptian obelisk. Then on past the majestic Doric pillared colonnade we walked to a different entrance into the basilica. We didn’t have to cue as he took us through another way. We were very privileged to see the German cemetery at Campo Santo Teutonico. It is beautifully maintained.

St Peter’s Basilica is just so imposing.

The sacred door was well a truly sealed.

We wandered past the various chapels as my brother acted as a tourist guide and shared a wealth of interesting information on the various popes and people whose bodies are interned at the basilica. We could not have had a better guide. We went to the Vatican Grotto to see the tomb of the late Pope John Paul the second. Whilst there we are able to get permission to slip around the corner into one of the underground corridors to visit the Lithuanian Chapel.

In this area we saw the remains of the old basilica that were discovered at the time this chapel was being built as seen behind the Rupintojėlis statue.

It was then time for my brother to go back to work. So after a quick lunch we walked across to explore Castel Sant’Angelo. Hubby and I got in for free as we had our European passports. It is an unusual castle, more like a fortress, built in the 2nd century as a tomb for the Emperor Hadrian. It is linked to the papal apartments by an old carriage way.

At one stage it was the papal residency. Now it is an interesting museum revealing the history of the various stages of its evolution.

The views from the top were clear and very panoramic.



Eventually we headed back to the Vatican Radio to check our emails and then headed to my brother’s place for dinner. Along the way my brother –in-law picked up a picture of the Pope with his autograph on the back. My brother lives in a beautiful spot across the road from the Vatican wall. Here we caught up with his wife and son and spent a wonderful evening chatting, drinking local wine and grappa before finally setting out for home by bus. Catching a bus at midnight was quite an experience. The buses were crowded. At the Argentina bus stop there were crowds milling about waiting for buses that were arriving one after another. When we got off the bus we were waiting at the lights when someone called out to us. It was a colleague of my brother’s from the Vatican Radio. What a small world. We knew my brother would hear in the morning that we got home safe and sound. As we walked to the apartment we couldn’t help ourselves from commenting on the parking arrangements in place. Yes, and the red car stayed there all night.