The Vatican City is an independent city-state located in the centre of Rome, with its own government (headed by the Pope), administration, postage stamps, guards and iron-on patches.  It’s also the home of St Peter’s Basillica, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

Matt and I originally visited the Vatican City (and purchased the iron-on patches) on our honeymoon in 2006.  In August this year, I returned with my family – and saw all the highlights at a much quicker pace.  I’d learnt my lesson from last time.  While, in other parts of the world, it pays to get to tourist attractions early, in the Vatican City, getting there early still means waiting in a three hour long queue.

This time, we arrived at the Vatican Museums about an hour before closing, and within fifteen minutes we were in.  Admittedly, this didn’t leave us much time to see the art – but I’d seen it before, and I just wanted to show my brother the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel.

We weren’t so lucky with the queue to visit the dome of St Peter’s.  We couldn’t find it at first, and when we did, it was long.  So we waited, and waited, as people were taken upwards elevator-load by elevator-load.  Finally it was our turn, and we squeezed into the lift, and followed the crowds, and suddenly we were inside the dome and it was amazing.  We could see the individual mosaic bits up there and the floor looked a long way down.

And then we noticed that the people in front of us were not moving.  And neither were the people in front of them.  And the floor was a long way down, and I started noticing that bits of mosaic were loose, and other bits had fallen away.  And I didn’t have my phone.  15 minutes passed.  We were still in the dome.  Suddenly from behind us, there was one of the St Peter’s officials, saying ‘Scusi! Scusi!’ and pushing his way through the crowds.  About five minutes later, the line started moving again.

It’s interesting, thinking back, I can only remember vaguely the art of St Peters, the Pieta, the statue with the rubbed away feet.  But I can remember intensely the fear that were were stuck in the Dome and the distance to the floor and wishing Matt was with me and wondering what would happen next.

Tash