I saw the Vatican on an organized tour. It was hot and crowed and the tour went very fast. You weren't allowed to use flash, so I used a fast lens and film, but there was only adequate light in a few places. Still, some of these shots were my favorites of the whole trip.

My favorite room, being a cartography buff, was the hall of maps. Over the centuries both walls in this hall had various maps of Italy painted on it. Pretty much every surface of every wall and ceiling in the vatican has art on it. Here is the ceiling.

And here is the detail of a sailboat in one of the maps

This hall was cordoned off so you can see it without the throngs of people

Next is my favorite picture of the whole vacation. I had to break off from the group and go back to the entrance to get some equipment they wouldn't let me bring in. I had to run the whole way as I was then going to have to go out the front of the Vatican and then go all the way around back to meet up with everyone. The Vatican is not a small place. Come to think of it, it's a country. Hey, I ran 1/2 way around a country.

As I was running back to the entrance, I stumbled on this stained glass window. Perhaps I should stay I stumbled across this window. What I mean is I fell across this windows. Well, you know what I mean.

It looked neat at the moment so I snapped a quick picture and dashed off. When I scanned it in to my computer and saw it for the first time it didn't even look like a photograph. The colors are so deep and smooth it looks more like something generated by a computer.

As I came out the entrance I had to run all the way around to the back side of the Vatican to find the buses. As I turned the corner and reached the far end of the museum entrace, St. Peter's Basilica came into view and the proporations of this building were stunning.

It's probably roughly 1/4 mile from where I took this picture to the church. If you look at the doors on it, there is a long line of people along the front. The doors of the church must be 20' tall.

If you look very carefully at the brown building to the right, in the top window, 3rd from the left you can just barely make out the pope waving to us.

Just kidding.