Day 8 - Mar 12, 2013 Last updated: 4/6/13 1:00pm PT
This morning we stopped in a Farmacia to get some cold medicine. Denise and I rarely get sick and we never get sick at the same time. We both had different symptoms, I had a runny nose and Denise had a fever and cough. She took some aspirin for the fever and we got her some cough drops. I asked the pharmacist, in Italian (thanks to Google and my smartphone), if they had anything to stop a runny nose. I got Actifed, which worked great. Denise suffered a bit longer with her cough than I did with my nose.
Today was Vatican day. In February, the Pope had announced he was resigning, something Popes don’t do (hasn’t happened in about 600 years). Conclave (the gathering of Cardinals to elect a new Pope) was scheduled to begin this evening. They had already announced the closure of the Sistine Chapel and part of the Museum. We knew that once Conclave began, the square at St. Peter’s would be a madhouse and a place to avoid. So we wanted to squeeze in as much of the Vatican as we could today, this being the first day available in our schedule when the Vatican Museum was open.
St. Peter’s Square and the line to get into St. Peter’s Basilica.
St. Peter’s Basilica. Notice how small the people are in front of the columns.
The TV camera crews and jumbotrons are setup for Conclave.
We lined up to get into St. Peter’s Basilica. You have to pass through airport-like security, metal detectors and bag x-ray machines, but the line moved very quick. Once inside we went down a side aisle and noticed the crowd all focusing their attention inward. It turns out we were some of the last people allowed to enter before they shut the doors. The pre-Conclave mass was beginning. We would like to have seen more of St. Peter’s, but it was very crowded and you weren’t allowed to move about due to the mass.
Below is the procession of Cardinals, one of which would become the next Pope. So we were physically in the same building as the new Pope, only he wasn’t Pope at the time.
In the middle picture you can see the gold pointy Cardinal hats.
There were a bunch of short nuns trying to get pictures. I wanted to pick them up so they’d get a better view, but thought that might be considered inappropriate.
The Vatican Museum was just another Museum. The big ticket item is the Sistine Chapel, which was closed due to Conclave. But the ceilings! Always look up in European castles/palaces/museums/churches. Even a little boy was impressed, see his expression?
You couldn’t pay me enough to wear that.
We also went to an Etruscan Museum. No pictures allowed. Old stuff from before the Romans.