Day 4

The Vatican

   Overview: This was a day that was really fun and visually stunning. I could have taken a whole week to tour the Vatican. So much art and it's really phenomenal. If you get the chance to, go to the Vatican City.

Date 6-21-13 Day 4 of my journey

Starting destination Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica

Ending destination St. Peter's Basilica

Activity/Site Vatican, Meet priest & Swiss Guard

What did you learn? Write facts about history, culture, and geography, and government you remember.

Breakfast: Cereal, Toast from a package w/ honey and jelly; short black coffee and cappuccino. Vatican Museum lots of beautiful tapestries, statues, and paintings. Form inside the museum we went to the Sistine Chapel. The art in there was amazing and I wish I had been able to take pictures. (someone bought the rights to all the artwork in the chapel.) Fun fact: in the last judgment there is a man in hell w/ a snake wrapped around his body. That man was a painter who criticized Michelangelo while the last judgment was unfinished. Michelangelo painted him him hell. The painter asked the Pope of the time to decommission the painting but he said (the Pope, and I might have paraphrased), “I cannot help you; if you were in purgatory I could but I have no power over hell.” Also one of the martyrs in the painting is holding his skin because his death was brutal; Michelangelo made his portrait in the skin. Next was lunch. → pasta & sauce and Panna Cotta w/ strawberries for dessert.

Vatican Rosary for Haley 6€

                         Vatican pin 2€

Fun Fact :The Vatican can only have 500 residents however there are many people with Vatican passports.

Next we met with the priest who gave a brief history of the Vatican and spoke about diplomacy and ambassadorship. In a nutshell he said that if we were to show a government group like P2P and that people can work together than we could live in a more peaceful world. Through ambassadors of peace. Then we met w/ the Swiss guard member. I couldn’t hear that well but I learned that w/o tax (like the Vatican citizens) gas is ½ price and cars are 40% cheaper. FF: W/ a Vatican passport you can get into any country w/o needing to go to the embassy to get a visa. [which should have said that they can get back to the Vatican without needing a visa, I believe]

    Antipasto - kentalope

Dinner: Risotto & Pork tenderloin

          Dessert - Apple-gelatin-pie-thing  ?

          Drink - Apricot Nectar

Back to the hotel sans 1 tablet :( !

     P.S. Lunch had Peache Tè

total = 14€

Pictures are Here!! ↓

https://plus.google.com/photos/115327889663964057324/albums/5916518070392049489?authkey=COSIlf_zp5-fYA