Wednesday 22 June 2005
Today we were out early to the Vatican to join the queue for entry to the Vatican Musuem. We arrived at 8.40am and got in at 9.10am. There we had a brief tour of all the Vatican statues, paintings and rooms (including the Map Room, which is a gorgeuos corridor with maps of all the different Papal states). We stopped in the Sistine Chapel and admired the walls and ceilings with Michelangelo's magnificent paintings.
Along the ceiling is the story of creation, mans fall and banishment from the Garden of Eden and Noah and the flood (Basically the whole book of Genesis). Along the right wall (as you go in) is the old testament books, with the prophets and of course Moses and the flight from Egypt. The right wall has the story of Jesus, including a scene showing Jesus passing the Keys of Heaven to Peter (thus showing the Papacy to have been appointed by Jesus, which was in dispute at the time). The far wall shows the death of Jesus and the Ressurection and the near wall shows the judgement of man, with people being cast into purgatory or being admited to heaven.
We then hurried around to St Peter's Square where we joined the queue to be admitted to the reserved area for the Wednesday Audience. We where right at the front of the queue when the gate was shut and we were turned away. We had to stand outside the Audience area so a tip for any pilgrims who get tickets - Get there early! It was alright in the end as Pope Benedict (or Papa Ratzi as he has been nicknamed) came within a couple of metres of us in his Pope-mobile blessing the pilgrims. He drove right up to his seat, blessed the crowd and then proceeded to give a sermon in Italian. The square was very very hot and I felt ill so we left about halfway through the service so I could rest.
After a rest and lunch we headed out to do some Geocaching. We found one of the two we were looking for, but while searching for the elusive second cache we stopped and ordered two gelati. I was impressed that I was able to converse in Italian that was understandable with the vendor who spoke no english.
Afterwards we had dinner at McDonalds. I ordered a burger, fries and a beer. Yes, in McDonalds in Rome you can order beer - It wasn't light beer either. I had seen it at KFC in Prague but still it was a surprise that McDonalds, the 'family' restaurant sold beer. I guess they accept that responsible adults might want to have a drink with their meals and offer the service. The thing about alcohol in Europe is that is savoured and binge drinking is almost unheard of. It's considered acceptable to have a drink at any time of the day (we saw two men having a beer at 8am in Salzburg) but it is not acceptable to have many drinks in one session like we do in NZ.
Another thing about Rome is the traffic. The city is jam packed with cars, buses, trucks and mopeds. There are so many vehicles that the city is in constant gridlick so the mopeds are popular as they are able to negotiate traffic better than cars. Petrol is about $2.50 a litre in Rome but that doesn't put anyone off.
Tomorrow we are on the train all day and most of the night to Paris.
Along the ceiling is the story of creation, mans fall and banishment from the Garden of Eden and Noah and the flood (Basically the whole book of Genesis). Along the right wall (as you go in) is the old testament books, with the prophets and of course Moses and the flight from Egypt. The right wall has the story of Jesus, including a scene showing Jesus passing the Keys of Heaven to Peter (thus showing the Papacy to have been appointed by Jesus, which was in dispute at the time). The far wall shows the death of Jesus and the Ressurection and the near wall shows the judgement of man, with people being cast into purgatory or being admited to heaven.
We then hurried around to St Peter's Square where we joined the queue to be admitted to the reserved area for the Wednesday Audience. We where right at the front of the queue when the gate was shut and we were turned away. We had to stand outside the Audience area so a tip for any pilgrims who get tickets - Get there early! It was alright in the end as Pope Benedict (or Papa Ratzi as he has been nicknamed) came within a couple of metres of us in his Pope-mobile blessing the pilgrims. He drove right up to his seat, blessed the crowd and then proceeded to give a sermon in Italian. The square was very very hot and I felt ill so we left about halfway through the service so I could rest.
After a rest and lunch we headed out to do some Geocaching. We found one of the two we were looking for, but while searching for the elusive second cache we stopped and ordered two gelati. I was impressed that I was able to converse in Italian that was understandable with the vendor who spoke no english.
Afterwards we had dinner at McDonalds. I ordered a burger, fries and a beer. Yes, in McDonalds in Rome you can order beer - It wasn't light beer either. I had seen it at KFC in Prague but still it was a surprise that McDonalds, the 'family' restaurant sold beer. I guess they accept that responsible adults might want to have a drink with their meals and offer the service. The thing about alcohol in Europe is that is savoured and binge drinking is almost unheard of. It's considered acceptable to have a drink at any time of the day (we saw two men having a beer at 8am in Salzburg) but it is not acceptable to have many drinks in one session like we do in NZ.
Another thing about Rome is the traffic. The city is jam packed with cars, buses, trucks and mopeds. There are so many vehicles that the city is in constant gridlick so the mopeds are popular as they are able to negotiate traffic better than cars. Petrol is about $2.50 a litre in Rome but that doesn't put anyone off.
Tomorrow we are on the train all day and most of the night to Paris.
posted by Michael at
7:54 PM
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