The crowds of people walking up the main road into St. Peter’s Square was intense, so we found a side road with what we though was an entrance, but was an exit that turned into an entrance at 1:00pm.  It was 12:55pm when we arrived at the exit turning into an entrance!!

This was my view of St. Peter’s Basilica before we were allowed entry into St. Peter’s Square:

St. Peter’s Square:

Nativity Scene in St. Peter’s Square:

Entrance into the Vatican – the Arco delle Campane – with the Swiss Guard at their posts:

The lineup to enter the Vatican was intense….see all those people along the base of the columns…..that’s part of the line up to enter!!!! We didn’t even give entering that lineup a thought!!  We only had so much time and had to be back to the drop off spot by 4:30pm!

Knowing that, it was time to make our way back to the drop off spot by the Colosseum!

S, xo