By Brandon Hill on January 26, 2013 • ( Leave a comment )

Europe Vacation: Vatican City, St Peter’s Basilica

Europe Vacation: Vatican City, St. Peter’s Basilica

After spending a little time in St Peter‘s Square our group was given time to chose what we wanted to do. We only had three hours and the guide shared that we could choose to either see St Peter’s Basilica or go through the Vatican Museum and see the Sistine Chapel – but there would not be time to do both.

But here is a little travel secret if you go to the Vatican. I had read on a website before I went that they give special tours of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica and that if you knew a little trick you could save hours standing in line. The trick is to go to the Vatican Museum and purchase a museum only ticket. Walk through the museum until you get to the Sistine Chapel (which takes a while as there is no shortcut). When you enter the Sistine chapel go to the far back right hand corner – you will notice a door in the wall. Stand by that door until you see a tour guide holding a flag by the door and then mingle with the people who gather there. The tourists have been told to watch for this. When the group is together the guide will open the door and you can follow the group through the door and within a couple of steps you will be lead into a side entrance to St Peter’s Basilica! So – I tried this and it worked! The funny part of the story was that when I was in the courtyard between the two I realized that I was the only Caucasian in an Asian tour group – but I made it through safely without getting arrested by the Swiss guard.

Now – back to scrapbooking: You will notice that I actually placed these pages out of chronological order. I actually went to the Vatican Museum first, and St Peter’s Basilica second, but I wanted the external pictures of St Peters to be followed on the next page by the interior pictures. I used elegant background paper and gold framing to emphasize the beauty of this spiritual landmark. I was not allowed to take pictures inside of the Vatican Museum, and you will find this that is often the case in many tourist locations. I always purchase postcards if this is the case and then work them into my scrapbooks. Along with the postcard I add my museum ticket and a tourist pack of Vatican coins and stamps. I had originally bought these for my stamp collection, but thought that they were an interesting ephemera to add to these pages.