Vatican & Rome 2009

Have you ever seen the movie Angels and Demons? The movie shot took place in Stato della Città del Vaticano in Italian or State of the Vatican City in English, which is a landlocked sovereign city-state where the territory is located inside the city of Rome, Italy. Famously known as the city where the Catholic Pope lives in.

Vatican 2009/10/21

St. Peter's Square (we had to go through security checks to get in here)

The crowd in front of the basilica waiting for the pope to come out

The Apostolic Palace also known as the Sacred Palace which is the official residence of the Pope

just a pretty shiny big gate (⌒∇⌒)ノ

The Vatican Museum (Musei Vaticani). We got lucky to be able to get inside without the queue, it normally takes up to 3 hours to get in here

The Cortile del Belvedere a.k.a The Belvedere courtyard, designed by Donato Bramante

going up after the entrance

Museo Gregoriano Egizio (Egyptian Museum)

Egyptian tombstone

The view throughout the window

hallways

mommy being cute (￣(エ)￣)ノ

One of the magnificent squared ceilings ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／

The Cortile Ottagono square

The statue of Laocoön and His Sons (Gruppo del Laocoonte also called the Laocoön Group)

Relief

more beautiful squared ceilings of the hallways

Fresco ceiling in Sala Rotonda (ﾉﾟ∇^)ﾉ♪

a better look at the painting  ∩(´∀｀∩)

Museo Pio-Clementino (The Round Room)

Beautiful squared cuts rounded ceiling

moving on to the next room

Mosaic tiles on the floor

when I looked back..

going down...

Galleria dei Candelabri

Adrian in the sceneヽ(ﾟｰﾟ*ヽ)

Galleria degli Arazzi (paintings by the side of the walls)

The Gallery of Maps (Galleria delle carte geografiche)

a series of painted topographical maps of Italy based on drawings by friar and geographer Ignazio Danti

Chapel of St. Pius V

Window

The Sistine Chapel where it has Michelangelo's paintings all over the place

The New Wing, Braccio Nuovo built by Raphael Stern. If I were a millionaire, I would build my very own mansion with this hall in it. ＼(*T▽T*)／♪

Spiral (double helix stairs) on our way out

We took a drive out of Vatican down to the Colosseum.

these great structures ﾍ(ё_ё)ﾉ

Adrian & mommy (ノ⌒∇)ノ

what's in the Colosseum

just like another Pompeii isn't it?

The underground of the battle field

where the gladiators lived at...

The Colosseum sketch

These steps were pretty high that it was actually quite tiring to go up and down

The audience seats

another look of the whole structure

squares

exploring the Colosseum

we took a drive back into Vatican City and went inside the basilica.

another astounding ceilings ＼(^ω^＼)( /^ω^)/

The gate

The interior of St. Peter's Basilica by Giovanni Paolo Pannini

Stunning isn't it?? ♪ヽ(´▽｀)ノ

Very detailed decor in each of every part

not sure what this is... ｢(ﾟﾍﾟ)

beautiful rounded ceiling

huge..

lights from the lamps & the sun

me being speechless taken by my brother (ﾟヘﾟ)

beautiful painting (ﾉﾟοﾟ)ﾉ

crepuscular rays all over the place（★＞U＜★）

Bernini's "Cathedra Petri" and "Gloria"

Bernini's baldacchino (St. Peter's tomb lies directly below this structure)

The tomb of Pope Pius VIII

Crypt

The burial site of Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus.

Underground