We landed in Rome at around 11:00 A.M. Roman time and immediately went to customs to get our passport stamped. After we got our passports stamped we maneuvered through the airport to meet Joshua, one of our tour guides. Once we met Josh he called over a large tour bus that was much more comfortable than the plane ride to Rome. This bus took us to our hotel, Hotel Emmaus where we checked in and threw all of our stuff into our rooms. 15 minutes later we met in the lobby to get some lunch at a restaurant about a block down. After lunch we met our second tour guide Jill who took us to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

One of the cool things about St. Peter’s square is that it is the only demilitarized zone that changes borders depending on the day. The square goes back and forth between Italy and the Holy See depending on where the Pope is on that day. In the Vatican we saw many amazing sites, especially at the pergola at the top of the Vatican. From there we could see all of Rome. From the top of the Vatican we could also see the Ethiopian and German college located in the middle of the Vatican. These buildings were there before the Vatican became its own country and therefore they have a right to be there over the people at the Vatican.

The interior of Vatican is amazing but there are an innumerable amounts of stairs to climb to get to the top. At some points the stairwell is only a few feet across and between your head and the ceiling. The large hall is where all the amazing architecture, sculptures, and paintings are in is absolutely gorgeous and lavish. There is gold covering almost everything on the ceiling and marble everywhere. It would be impossible to duplicate it.

Everything in the Vatican is so finely detailed and made out of the best materials that the entire compound is jaw-dropping.