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Tag Archives: Vatican

Adventures In Italy… Post 49: A Papal Pilgrimage

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Family Stories, Italy, Knitting, Travel

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Campo de' Fiori, Italy, Knitting, Papal Audience, Pilgrimage, Pope Benedict, Rain, Rome, St. Peter's Square, Travel, Vatican, Vaticano

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While touring the Vatican, our tour guide told us that the Pope has a weekly audience each Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square at 9:30 a.m. He does this from his apartment window.

Frank and I knocked around the idea about paying him a visit, and then finally decided…

“Well, why not?”

We arrived at St. Peter’s Square by taxi at about 8:30 a.m., early enough to get a good view.

The overcast skies sporadically drizzled down on us as we watched the church going people neatly file into the St. Peter’s Basilica for Sunday morning mass.

Eventually, Jen got her knitting out and proceeded to put this waiting time to good use.

Both Frank and I contented ourselves with people watching.

9:30 a.m. came and went, and still no Pope in sight.

A group of policemen had gathered, and I mustered up the courage to approach them to ask what time the Pope will be making his weekly address.

I was told 12:30 p.m.

Bummer.

That was still two hours away.

We decided that another two hour wait in the damp cold weather would not be in our best interest, and Frank then decided that a visit to Campo de’ Fiori was in order.

And so, off we went…

Frank led the way while Jen and I fell in line behind him like obedient little ducklings.

Later on that day, I was able to FaceTime my Mother when she told me that she had watched Pope Benedict give his weekly audience on the evening news.

She told me that she was not able to spot us among the listening throngs of people.

It was then that I told her that the Pope had missed his chance to see us in St. Peter’s Square.

He totally blew it!

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Adventures In Italy… Post 36: Unexplained Mysteries Of The Church

13 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Travel

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Bernini, blogs, Circus, History, Italy, Mystery, Rome, St. Peter's Basilica, Tow Motors, Travel, Vatican

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There are many mysteries when it comes to spiritual matters.

Every faith in fact has it’s own questions on the beginnings of life, death and redemption.

For example, take a good look at the picture shown above.

There, you see the highest alter of the largest church in the entire world.

Consecrated in 1626, WIKI describes this cathedral as:

“One of the holiest Catholic sites,” and

“Holding a unique position in the Christian world and the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.

And so, dear and gentle readers…

Imagine my surprise as I was beholding this great and wondrous site when all of a sudden I see a tow motor aimlessly steering it’s way around the basilica.

After three or four minutes of aimless driving, it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared.

This mystery about a motorized tow vehicle exactly like the tow motors we have at the postal plant where I work left me with the following question:

… “Huh?”

The second mystery I feel compelled to share with you is this:
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Now, does anyone have ANY idea what a circus doing in St. Peter’s square?

And it’s not like you can stop someone and ask them:

“Excuse me, but what is that circus doing in the middle of St. Peter’s square?”

…Without looking even more ignorant than you already are, at least to the local population.

I guess that I just have to take it on faith that there is a good explanation for these two mysteries of the Roman Catholic Church…

…because if I didn’t,

…it would be enough to drive me mad!

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Adventures In Italy… Post 35: The Sistine Chapel

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Travel

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Art, blogs, Italy, Michelangelo, Rome, Sistine Chapel, Travel, Vatican, Vatican Museums

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Just recently, I read a news report stating that every twenty minutes, 700 people are ushered into the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

Somehow, I instinctively knew that the numbers of those who visited this chapel were high, but not that high.

Is it any surprise then that the Vatican police & security impose such astringent measures against these tourists?

Here are the following rules that must be obeyed with no exceptions:

1. Shoulders must be covered, and no shorts are allowed as this is a place of worship.

2. No talking.

3. You are allowed about ten minutes to admire the masterpiece but must then move on.

Personally, I had no problem with moving on. It’s so crowded in there and the atmosphere is very tense. I very much enjoyed the ten minutes to take in the ceiling mural, but then you can’t help but want to move on.

4. No photos are allowed. No videotaping either. If security so much as sees you fondling a camera you will be escorted out.

Our tour guide made this very clear to us before we entered the chapel. The reason for the ban on any photography was that the Japanese now own full copyrights on the mural in exchange for helping to restore the mural as well as providing upkeep as well.

In spite of the warnings there was one fellow from our group who was asked to leave the Sistine Chapel when confronted by the police while caught taking pictures. I then watched as the same police grill the tour guide for his negligence in not properly educating his group on Sistine Chapel rules. I knew enough Italian to understand that he was profusely apologizing while trying to explain to the police that he did explain the rules implicitly.

After a few minutes, the photographer was allowed to rejoin his family, before he was caught again taking pictures. He and his family were taken from the tour group and not seen again until the end of the tour.

As for me, Frank and Jen, the tour guide was very effective in putting the fear of God into us before we even entered the chapel.

I put my camera into my purse.

We didn’t talk.

The three of us just looked up and marvelled at one of the greatest artistic wonders of the world. The colours, the music of the chanting monks, and the reality that you are actually standing in the Great Sistine Chapel was dizzying. If you’re lucky, you can find an empty piece of bench along the chapel’s perimeter to sit in silence and rest underneath Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement.”

To gain some insight on what it’s like, this site has a nice rendering of The Sistine Chapel:

Sistine Chapel
www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html?utm_source…

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Adventures In Italy… Post 34: Musei Vaticani

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Travel

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Angel Tours, Art, Bling, Italy, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rome, Security, Sistine Chapel, Tours, Travel, Vatican, Vatican Police

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When it comes to seeing the Vatican, I wish I could make this pretty for you but I can’t.

You are a single person in a tour group of let’s say fifteen. And then you in the midst of at least a hundred other tour groups jostling for position, trying to be heard above each other and under constant scrutiny of the Vatican security and police.

You will be given a little earpiece set through which you’ll be able to hear yours tour guide…

…Or not.

More on that later.

You must pack your patience and stow away your temper and concentrate on letting your eyes take over to take in all the profusion of exemplary art, the likes of which you may never see again.

You are, after all…

Inside the Vatican Museum.

One of the first points of interest you will be taken in a replica PowerPoint painting of the Sistine Chapel. There about forty minutes, whether you want to be or not, you will be in a classroom like setting to be indoctrinated into the significance of every aspect of Michelangelo’s masterpiece, “The Last Judgement.”

Panel by panel,…
Saint by Saint…
And character by character.

The best part of this induction into Michelangelo was that it gave me and Frank a chance to sit down, something altogether rare in a walking tour.

Was it understandable, sort of, was it tedious a bit, but on the other hand, it was a great opportunity to catch your breath and marvel where you are, in the Vatican getting schooled on one the true masters of the renaissance.

We saw thousand of statuses, hundreds of ancient tapestries.

It’s almost too much to take in all at once…

The marble, the gold, the plush velvet, the ancient oil paintings.

The first time we visited the Vatican it was a hot September day. The air quality was poor, and I am amazed that everyone was able to stay on their feet in spite of the hot and overcrowded conditions.

The second time we were there is was a rainy December day. There were fewer people, and the air was easier to breathe, but we were wet and shaking off the rain like soaked puppies

Still, we all were determined to make the best of it.

I was quite overwhelmed, especially when my eye found themselves resting on a Leonardo da Vinci painting of an old man.

I actually saw a real Da Vinci painting…

Okay…

That’s one item I can strike off my bucket list!

The Sistine Chapel was the next….

That will be tomorrow’s blog post!

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