October 27, 2018 - We made it to the mountain top. Well, we finally made it to the Vatican at least. We were trying to arrange a unique walking tour our first try when we ran into complications. However, after two courses of gelato and one set of canoloi’s we got what we wanted.
It was worth the wait. The tour of the gardens behind St Peters offered a beautiful look of the dome and this tiny nation state. There are so many stories here.
The one I particularly enjoyed was a Pope that felt he was trapped at the Vatican and longed to visit the Lourdes Grotto in France, the site of visitations or apparitions by the Virgin Mary and several miracles. So he had a duplicate of the cave built in the gardens so he could experience the mystery for himself. Then he took the original altar at the site and had it moved to his copy here at the Vatican. It is still used today for ceremonies.
Pope Francis lives in a pretty humble convent on the grounds. He never uses “The Summer Palace” for the Pope. He is reportedly quite gregarious and will often take spontaneous walks on the grounds to talk with people.
Pope Benedick, the retired guy, also still lives here. He has no problem using the Summer Palace. Maybe it’s a time share. Who knows who would get priority ?
Comments