Hail Mary full of grace...

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

Coat of Arms of  the Vatican City

I can  only think of two words which can describe today - Amazingly amazing!!!!

Our day started with breakfast at 7am, which was not as leisurely as in previous days as we had to be at Citte del Vaticano or Vatican City by 8:10am.

The dome of Basilica San Pietro - St Peters Basilica from our hotel

We caught a taxi which took us right to the entrance of Vatican City, one of the most holiest places in the world.  It was fascinating to think that as soon as we passed through these doors which looked like any other ordinary door into a hotel or shopping complex, we were no longer in Rome, we were in the Vatican state.  The Vatican has it's own radio station, t.v. channel, cafe and railway (the smallest in the world).  People from Rome can not enter the Vatican whenever they please, they need special permission, I guess just like how some countries needing a visa before entering into another, however the citizens of the Vatican do not need permission to enter Rome.

The population of Vatican City is 900 made up of 600 residence and 300 citizens.  Unlike citizenship of other states, which is based either on jus sanguinis (birth from a citizen, even outside the state's territory) or on jus soli (birth within the territory of the state), citizenship of Vatican City is granted jus officii, namely on the grounds of appointment to work in a certain capacity in the service of the Holy See. It usually ceases upon cessation of the appointment. Citizenship is extended also to the spouse, parents and descendants of a citizen, provided they are living with the person who is a citizen.

Anyone who loses Vatican citizenship and does not possess other citizenship automatically becomes an Italian citizen as judged by Italian law. (thanks Wikipedia) 

Our tour guide - Angela

We had the most amazing tour guide, who knew her stuff and oozed enthusiasm throughout the whole 3 hours and 40minutes of the tour (she went over 40mins too hehehe).

Prior to the tour we were all fitted with the receivers and ear pieces which the tour guide used to communicate with us, because as you can imagine the Vatican City welcomes thousands upon thousands of visitors daily.

The architecture, the sculptures, the art works, the tapestries and the history was so amazing, that to truly appreciate it you have to experience it yourself. - I have uploaded photos onto Facebook for you to have a look at but if you look at Angela's she has given a description of the photos.

Meriana and Jazz couldn't help but notice the nudity of the statues and promptly made comment every time they saw one "hehehe look at his bum"
I must say, I quite enjoyed the tour as I wasn't stuck behind the camera for a lot of it.

During the tour we were able to get some rosary beads for mum (Kim) and Meriana.  We even got the blessed in the holy water in the St Peter Basilica.

Mums rosary beads

Ang blessing mums rosary beads in the holy water in St Peters Basilica

Meriana's rosary beads

Me blessing Meriana's rosary beads

The Capella Sistina or Sistine Chapel was another awe inspiring room which we had the privilege of seeing, unfortunately due to the age of the artwork inside, we were unable to take pictures as over time this will contribute to it's deterioration.  They no longer light candles in this room either because of the smoke damage that is causes.  The room is still used daily  by the Pope when he is in country, obviously this takes place early in the morning, before the myriads of people come along.  They also use the room for the Papal Concave.   A papal conclave is a meeting of the College of Cardinals convened, during a period of vacancy in the papal office, to elect a Bishop of Rome who then becomes the Pope. (again thanks to Wikipedia).

The Basilica San Pietro was the last stop on our tour.  Inside are the tombs of previous Popes, John Paul II and many others.  The shear size of the building is amazing, but when you see the sculptures and the embellishments - It is just AMAZINGLY AMAZING!

Posting from the Vatican

We were able to send a postcard from the Vatican, so keep an eye out on your post boxes to see who the lucky recipient was.

Of course, without breaking tradition, we ended the tour with a pasta lunch (outside the Vatican walls) and a trip through the local market across the road before retiring to our hotel room for a rest from our big day.

Ravioli for lunch

We regrouped at 5pm in the lobby for dinner and desert which we found around the corner and we returned to our hotel room for an early night.

If for any reason you need to contact us in Italy, our number is 4476 240 70485 (not sure if the country code is included here).  Give us text hehehe.

But for now, it's buona notte from Italy, for tomorrow, we will be taking a tour of the Colosseum.