Calendar Highlight Tour When You Go Links Home |
VATICAN CITY, ITALY -
We figured if we tried, we could at least double the number of countries we visited by hitting all
the little independent city-states - Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino....In the end, we were only able to
get to the Vatican and Monaco.
The coolest thing about the Vatican wasn't part of our visit, but an experience on the way out of town the next day. The cabbie taking us to the airport to pick up our rental car stopped to show us a monastery where, if you peek through the keyhole into the monks' garden, you can see straight down a row of hedges to the dome of St. Peter's.
The Vatican, like most of the rest of Italy, was under construction in preparation for the Catholic Jubilee
in 2000. Roads, monuments, ruins; everywhere we went things were torn up and tarped over. We felt sort of
like guests who'd arrived early for a party and found the host in his bathrobe. Even the Trevi Fountain was
dry and being re-sealed - so much for throwing in a coin to ensure our return to the Eternal City. The good
news is, if you go now, everything should look clean and great. (!)
BACK