Going to the Vatican Museum

Entrance to the Vatican Museum

Entrance to the Vatican Museum

The Vatican City state has two major points of interest and these are probably its main source of income. It is interesting to see how a state could have such an economy powered almost entirely by donations from Catholics around the world, as well as entrance fees to the museums and even postage stamps! The two major points of interest here are Saint Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum. These two structures probably occupy majority of the Vatican city. If you think about it, the Vatican is probably the only place where almost one fourth of the area of the state is occupied by a church. We were already done with Saint Peter’s Basilica and we were on our way to the Vatican Museums.

Jumping the Queue at the Vatican Museum

Jumping the Queue at the Vatican Museum

It wasn’t easy to miss where the Vatican Museum was. Most of the people were walking in one direction and we figured that they must also be on their way to the museum. There was a steady stream of people from the basilica. I was quite stunned to see how many people there were. I was thinking that perhaps this was a bit unusual since there was a major canonization just days before. Maybe the people who came here for the canonization haven’t left yet. After all, why would you? There is still the Vatican Museum to see and from what I heard, it also takes a whole day to explore. Fortunately, for us, queuing time won’t be part of the time spent at the Vatican. Our Roma pass entitles us to skip the queue. Unless you have a lot of days to spare in Rome, wasting time queuing would likewise be a waste of money.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/VaticanMuseum.kmz} zoom=19]