Flat Stanley visits Vatican City

Hi Ant and classmates! Flat Stanley recently had a fun adventure visiting Vatican City. Vatican City is enclosed within a wall in the city of Rome and it is the home to the pope.

This picture was taken outside Vatican City and it gives you a pretty good idea of what the walls are like all around it.



We visited the Vatican Museums first. The museums are housed in palaces originally built for wealthy Renaissance popes. Parts of these are decorated with wonderful frescoes by the finest painters of the age---especially the Sistine Chapel.

Among all of the different collections at the museums, the most fascinating to my kids were the Egyptian displays.

Above: Stanley checks out some Egyptian artwork.

Below: Yes, that is a real mummy! The containers above the mummy are canopic jars which hold the body organs.

Below: Stanley and the boys pose in front of a limestone sarcophagus.

Below: We thought this was interesting. This is a bronze hollow statue of a cat goddess with the mummy of the cat within it.

After touring the museums, we were off to visit St. Peter's Basilica. In the picture below you can see how impressive it is!

The picture below shows a view of St. Peter's square from the front of the St. Peter's Bascilica.

Aren't these the most interesting uniforms? These men are Swiss Guards and are responsible for the safety of the pope.

I think Flat Stanley enjoyed his visit to Vatican City. We hope to have one final adventure with Stanley before returning him home to Ant. We'll check in with you again soon!