How to Cut the Line at The Vatican

We approached the Vatican on Christmas Night.

So today we have seen St. Peters Basilica.  We were really lucky and a bit reckless and stupid taking a ride from a complete stranger from a bus station near our place of residencia in the north western outskirts of town!  We thought we were in trouble when we saw unchartered territory, but he was actually taking us to our final destination and not the next train station that we had on our itinerary.  He took us all the way to Vatican City, nice guy!  But probably wouldn't ever hitchhike again, at least now I can say I've done it!

Then we got inside St. Peters Basilica and visited the Michalengelo's masterpiece of Mary holding Christ after he was taken down from the cross.  After words we visited Castle Saint Angelo after the recommendation from a friend.  The castle itself was not so impressive, but it housed a collection of paintings that had been stolen than recaptured by the Italian Carabinieri, or their version of the CIA.  I spotted some whatever Van Goghs, Renoirs, and a Raphael.  The guns there were huge ranging to nine feet in length.

Thus far we've gotten pretty good at using public transit and standing there and looking pretty.  God I cant imagine doing something like this when Im an old fat turd.

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In the main Piazza in front of the St. Peters' Basilica

Yesterday we finally saw the Sistine chapel. We had advanced booking from the Internet and were able to get in without waiting in the monstrously long ticket line. I can honestly say it was probably one of the most amazing works of arts imaginable, I mean the museum houses many masterpieces. After the final judgement I really liked mostly all of the Raphael rooms, they were immaculate. And then finally we saw the modern galleries, they even had some Van Goghs and Dalis.

Then after that we had gone to a local Italian restaurant and finally had some lasagna. It wasn't all that.

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HOW DO CUT THE LINE AT THE VATICAN?

So like I said earlier we had already purchased and printed our passes at an internet cafe.  We read about a secret entrance from the museum and gift shop at the end of the Vatican complex.  You will note that the line to get in is about a mile long and wraps around the Vatican.  We didn't wait at all.  Thank god for technology.  

The only difference in our experience was that we started our tour of the Vatican complex at the end, and worked our way backwards.  This is hardly any reason to wait in a line that is a mile long.

Walking along the River in Rome