Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel

 The Tiber River.  We crossed this bridge to take us into Vatican City.  Vatican City is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It has an area of approximately 110 acres, and a population of just over 800. This makes Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population.

 First view of the Vatican.  We didn't' realize how far the walk was to the main entrance, so we basically ran all the way from the bus stop to the entrance to avoid missing our tour.  I stopped on the way and asked a priest how to get to the museum.  He looked very shocked that I approached him.  Guess this southern baptist doesn't know any strangers: nun, priest or homeless

 Entry to the Vatican Museum.  The guys depicted on top are Michaelangeo and Raphael.  Once inside, you are no longer in Italy. 

Pictures inside of the Vatican

This is the famous picture of Mary that you see on a lot of Catholic memorabilia.  

Vatican City parking surrounded completely by the buildings of the Vatican.  

This little treasure snuck up on us.  We walked into the Pope's private waiting room and found "The School of Athens" on the wall, painted especially for the Pope by Michaelangelo.  Bryon had a copy of this painting on his wall in college and it's one of his favorites.  Really cool experience, I had to pull Bryon away to see the rest of the works in the Vatican.

Sistine Chapel.  The ceiling depicts stories from the Bible including the famous work of God reaching his hand out to man and the front wall is the work called "The Final Judgement" which was added after the rest of the Chapel was complete.

This little door is called the 'Jubilee Door".  According to the Catholic faith, this door opens every 25 years and faithful Catholics pilgrimage here to walk through the door so that their sins can be forgiven.  A lady on my trip was so excited to see the door, she was calculating how long she would have to wait to come through it.. I wanted to scream... YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT 25 YEARS TO HAVE YOUR SINS FORGIVEN AND IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A DOOR!!!!  Jesus Christ is the forgiver of sins and He does not need a door to do it.