Rome Trip: Vatican City Tour #2

OK, let's continue the Vatican City tour, shall we? First of all, I'm not too pleased 'coz my pics aren't crisp/vivid as usual. As I wasn't allowed to take pics with a flash and during the tour it was hard to take pics properly 'coz I had to be quick, but anyway he he...

After visiting the Sistine Chapel we had to wait outside St. Peter's Basilica before being able to go in because she had to get the pass for our group. Apparently the ones who were in charge of St. Peter's Basilica weren't the same as the ones in charge of the museums as well as the Sistine Chapel. So we just waited, enjoyed the fresh air, and finally we could go in. St. Peter's Basilica is apparently the biggest church on earth and it was really magnificent. The decorations, everything...just amazing!!!! I've never seen anything like that before in my life! The crowd over here wasn't as bad as in the Sistine Chapel and after the tour ended there, we were allowed to roam around the place, but after being there for 3 hours (and after days of walking around in Rome), we were hungry and we weren't really interested in walking too much anymore. Our feet were killing us already LOL!!! But we did go downstairs to take a look at what there was there ('coz the tour guide said we could go there without her) and we saw the tombs of popes along with other things...Here are some pics (click on them to view bigger sizes):

The first pic is the special door that's only opened every 25 years. Behind this door was a thick wall and every 25 years the reining pope knocks on the door from the outside, then a couple of workers will break down the thick wall from the inside. After that, the pope will go inside the basilica from the main door and open this door for commoners to join that day's service.

 

Above the door there's an inscription of the last pope who opened the door.

 

Here are pics from the inside of St. Peter's Basilica:

    

The famous Pieta sculpture - safe behind a glass wall. 

The guards standing outside the complex (right next to St. Peter's Basilica). Lots of people were taking pics of them LOL!!!
 

Pics from the courtyard outside St. Peter's Basilica (St. Peter's Basilica is the building behind R2). The second pic is the clock that is located on the right top side of the basilica that I zoomed in on. 

The trouble happened when we wanted to go back to the entrance where R2 had left his backpack, but we knew it would be FAR FAR away from where we were back then, so to make sure we asked a guard about how to go back there and he said that we had to circle back from the outside, so we walked AAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLL the way around the wall to the entrance and the soles of our feet were just SOOOOOO sore already by then LOL!!! Then R2 said, "I shouldn't have left the backpack at the cloakroom." Oh well...after that we had a big delicious lunch and rested our feet he he he he he...but that's the end of our Vatican City tour. :-D