Rome - Vatican City

Ok, yeah...so getting up at 5am while you're on vacation sucks, but necessary for seeing Vatican City. St. Peter's Basilica opens at 7am and Amy was confident that we should try and beat the crowds. We walked all the way there through the empty Roman streets, and it was pretty awesome being there when St. Peter's Square was so empty (the place got seriously crowded later in the day). I didn't think that any of the trip could top the Colosseum, but St. Peter's probably does. Being a Catholic and walking into THE Catholic church of the world, and taking it all in is absolutely mesmerizing. The church is so huge and the entire thing is absolutely breathtaking from start to finish; including the church, view from the top of the dome, the underground burial tombs of the past popes (St. Peter's and Pope John Paul II's tombs are pretty amazing). We did a Rick Steves audio tour of the church which was awesome, and I got a picture of me with St. Peter's bronze statue, which has the right toe worn completely smooth by centuries of worshipers that have kissed it or lay hand on it. Amy kept trying to kiss me in St. Peter's Basilica, but I wouldn't let her since it didn't feel right being such a holy place. She almost tricked me into it a couple of times, but I caught myself. She was pretty humored by this, giving me a hard time.

My fianceè was on top of things again, having prebought our tickets for the Vatican Museum, allowing us to bypass the 2-4 hour line that had developed during the day (you're awesome, babe!). I really didn't care for the place though, since I'm not too thrilled by paintings. And the crowd just killed the overall experience, especially in the Sistine Chapel. The Swiss Guard in Vatican City are pretty cool, but the clown uniforms they wear are in need of an update (supposedly designed by Michaelangelo).

Awesome experience, exhausting day. Got some cool little gifts for people from Vatican City. In addition to Amy's below, pics above of the lengthy view of St. Peter's, me with the statue, us in front of the Pope's altar, the crowd in the Vatican Museum, and the Swiss Guard.