Incarceration in the Vatican

Hi little fellow

It's been a while. Granddad has been a busy man lately... Lots of travel and important meetings with important people or with people who think they are important. And all the time you keep on growing up, and I keep up missing it. Life sucks.

Guess what? I spent a few days more or less 'incarcerated' inside the Vatican for a meeting. Of course, being only 16 months, you probably have no idea what the Vatican is.


The Vatican - see the map above - is probably the smallest country in the world (unless there is somehwere a tiny island state in the vast Pacific Ocean that I have overlooked) and it is sitting in the middle of Rome in Italy. It is an independent state. It has an offical Head of State, who they call the Pope. It has Ministries, which they call Dicasteries. It has Ambassadors in practically every country in the world, who they call Nuncio's. It even has its own army, which is called the Swiss Guard. Okay, they look a bit funny and carnavalesque in their uniforms (see below), but trust me, they mean business!



Apart from being this tiny little country, the Vatican is also the global 'headquarters'of the Catholic Church. It is basically a bunch of buildings spread out around a humungus big church, the St. Peters Basilica. My meeting was in one of those buildings, the Domus Sancta Martha, or St, Martha's Palace. Together with the other people participating in this meeting, this is also where we were housed and where we were fed. You will find it indicated on the map above, right at the bottom and more or less in the middle. That was my 'guilded cage' for a couple of days in early May. To get in there you have to pass different check points manned by the Swiss Guard and by the Italian Carabinieri (police)

The Vatican is first and foremost a very serious place, with lots of serious people. There is not a lot of partying or tomfoolery going on in there, trust me... It is also an awe-inspiring place. You can't help being impressed. Everything is so big. The square in front of St. Peter's Basilica can contain close to 400,000 people or so I have been told. There is a meeting aula where there are seats for 15,000 people. There are literally hundreds of statues all over the place, on tops of buidlings, in wall recesses, on the ground, on pillars, you name it. Most of all, however, it is a place where you feel that history has been made and history is still being made. I like that.

Needless to say I was quite happy to be let out again after a few days and rejoin the sinful secular world. Besides, the weather in Rome was too nice to stay cooped up inside too long, no matter how impressive the surroundings.

And I knew that after returning home, I would be seeing you again, my little man!

Granddad Faraway

The wedding!

Hey Robin

It's been a while since I got around to writing to you in this blog. I've been a bit busy, you know. Firsat there was this wedding of your undle Alex and your lovely Auntie T. What a splendid affair! The weather was glorious, the atmosphere brilliant, the bride AND the groom were beautiful, your grandma was her radiant self and the party and especially the after-party brunch were not to be missed.

They say that a picture paints a thousand words, and so here is THE picture that for me sums it all up!

The only things that I wished would have been different were:

a) We all missed you!
b) Your Dad was in a heap of pain on account of his back problem

Of course, the picture of a happy bunch of Wanders's should also have pride of place here, so here goes:

See what's missing in this picture? Yup, my laddie, YOU are missing in this picture! The troop is not entirely complete. I promise you, next family wedding, you'll be there, my boy, with bells on!

Meanwhile, your uncle and now official aunt are on their honeymoon. They flew to San Francisco on Monday 27 April and rented a car to visit all kinds of wonderful places like Yosemite National Park, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Boulder Dam, the Grand Canyon and much more. Too bad your uncle Alex has had some unfortunate drinving incidents. First he backed his Dodge Avenger rental car into a truck in Yosemite Park. Nobody was hurt but the rental car was pretty damaged and Uncle Alex is a tiny bit nervous about the insurance cover. A day later he was caught speeding by one of those American traffic cops and he came to within an inch of getting a hefty fine, but the guy was not a nazi after all and let him off with a stern warning. At present your uncle and aunt are colling their heels in one of those Vegas casino hotels and they have blown two whole dollars in the slot machines. Talk about high rollers.

Meanwhile your old granddad has also not been sitting still. After dropping off Alex and Troeke at the airport in Brussels in Monday (where they arrived pretty late courtesy of extensive road works near Antwerp) I had something else to do on Monday afternoon and the flew to Prague on Tuesday morning. There was a big conference taking place there. Lots of nice and smart people but it was a bit long and I only returned tonight. This explains why there has been a bot of a radio silence on this blog.

Not any more! I am back in town and blogging like a madman. But most of all, I would so much like to see you, kid! So if your mom and dad are OK with it, grandma and I want to come and admire you this weekend. If not, we will do it next weekend. Who knows we may be taking uncle Oscar and auntie Helene with us.
Your Dad made a great new blog about you with all kinds of cute pictures. This is the one I like best, but there are tons more.

Looking forward to seeing you soon, kiddo. Meanwhile, watch this space!

Big hug from Granddad Faraway