The Vatican

Back to Rome real quick.

Before we left for Milan, a visit to the house of the big Papa was in order.  We were lucky to have paid for a guided tour; we had the privilege of skipping a three hour line that snaked around the outside.

A seemingly thorough security check of visitors was made a breeze by careful presentation of belongings; our guide directed us to remove as much from our bags as possible to make them appear smaller, and we were whisked through.  Turns out they only allow small guns in the Vatican.

Just kidding.  They still had metal detectors.

Fabio (our guide) successfully prodded, corralled, and shepherded our group through to the museum, even with distractions of more vocal herd members.  "Fabio, if you tell them in English to 'form a straight line', they'll understand what you mean."  Fabio graciously responded "That's not what I want, but thank you for the suggestion, ma'am."  Fabio's shirt mounted microphone afforded wonderful insight into a multitude of fascinating discussions.

Though I was less than inclined to believe Fabio's first reports of stunning paintings with "Unbelievable 3D effect!" (which I'll call U3D, for Unbelievable 3D), his performance so far encouraged me to put a little more faith in him.

Fabio was right.  I'm sorry I doubted him.  It wasn't till after he reminded us of U3D that I realized the ceilings were not decorated with sculptures, but instead just a 2D expanse of lifelike painting.


I was apprehensive about paying a relatively steep price for the experience, but if you've got the chance, don't doubt Fabio as I did in the first place.  Skip the lines and go see something incredible.















(Fabio was always a-smiling)

Thanks for reading.

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