part of the line for the Vatican.
Too start a trip to Rome off on the right foot Jeni and I thought visiting the Vatican would be lovely. Despite being around 37 Celsius (about 97 F) at 9am, getting lost, and not having breakfast/coffee (cough cough Jeni…), the Vatican was absolutely breath taking.
The line sucked but I don’t think there was anyway around that, other than the locals who said they would walk you right up to the front. “2 hour wait from hear, come with me No Security, No Wait and it’s Free”. No a bad pitch right? I’ve learned a few things quickly in Rome, everyone says it’s free but nothing is… I guess that’s true for life… Anyways, so we chose to wait in the ridiculously long line, however I’m not going to lie at this point it was about 100 degrees, I’m wearing long pants and sweating like no other and a “Free skip to the front of the line” sounded pretty good.
After our 30 minute wait (not 2 hours), we did almost hit a snag that sent us to the back of the line. Jeni was wearing a dress the hung to mid-knee and the two guard that inspected our attire one said we can go and the other said for us to stop. So of course we went the American route heard the answer we wanted to here and continued walking in. I guess the guards didn’t think it was that much of an issue, since they didn’t chase after us…. I guess the rule is women must have there shoulder and knees covered. For future reference mid knee cuts it close.
In the name of the raise your hands beep beep beep, end of the line
Oh Yeah, why has no one mentioned that the Vatican has more security than all airports in the US and the white house combined. I mean, a head up would have been nice… I wasn’t packing heat or any thing but seriously when is the last time you had to go through a metal detector to get into Church!?!?!?
I can’t even begin to put it into words how beautiful the Vatican was but contrary to popular belief, I didn’t burst into flames and the holy father didn’t come running out screaming “the power of christ compels you!”
All I can say is you have to add this to the list of places to visit before you bow out. It’s truly remarkable and words can’t do it justice.
Saint Jeni, Amen (dress was lower for security)
Saint Hubert, Amen
Don’t know if you will receive this response but I didn’t know Matt was such a good writer!. Laughed my way through your descriptions. Know you guys are having a wonderful time and it’s great seeing the world through your eyes.
Love
Aunt Elena
Why didn’t you tell me sooner that you had written all of this stuff? I just found it yesterday.