Disclaimer: writing up this visit a couple of years after it happened!
I can’t remember why a bunch of Jewish kids decided to make the Vatican a major stop on our trip to Greece + Italy, but we ended spending a half a day there in any case. We definitely took it 100% seriously:
As per usual I have about 500 pictures of this day, but I will be brief and share just three potent memories of the trip:
The Grandeur
The overwhelming memory I have of the visit was how excessively opulent absolutely everything was. No expense spared? Think more, no expense was merely quadrupled. You can’t move in the Vatican without hitting some priceless object, or wall, or fresco, or ceiling. It was really mad.
The Christianity, duh
The other memory I have was just, (and I am aware at how stupid this will sound), how Christian everything was! Remember I’m a kid whose never even stepped foot in a church, so to be presented with the Vatican with all its Christian paraphernalia everywhere… it was a lot.
The soldiers in their funny outfits
Sorry, I have to say it. The soldiers in the Vatican wear the least imposing outfits I have ever seen… and this is coming from a person who lives in the land of the beefeaters!
I’m so sorry to the Vatican guards who I am sure are very ferocious and intimidating in other ways.
These are the three things that really stick in my mind as memories of the trip. One other thing that I would be remiss to mention is the iconic front and entrance to the Vatican itself:
NB. I would definitely like to go back again as I’m pretty sure all these photos are trash.
