The Vatican

Documents held by the vatican, shown to everyone who mattered, were convincing proof... before heading east Constantine had given the lands around Rome to the Pope.. as his own and govern and rule.. these documents were later proven to be a 7th century forgery... (the latin far too advanced for it's time)... this didn't stop the pope from acting like it was true then, and doesn't change the fact that we still act like it was true now... for as everyone knows, a lie, if told enough times and if it's loud enough, will actually become true.. at least in the arena of public opinion... and that's really all that matters... so even today the vatican remains a country all it's own... with it's own guards and military system... the rest of its holdings graciously donated to the Roman people... in return for money, power, and, more importantly... never having to pay taxes again... ever...
... not a bad bit of forgery...
... This is just the start... The money and holdings, unknown and unchecked... the secret archives, unknown and unseen... all hush hush in the strictest sense... and as of yet no building number 7 of the world trade center to fall unexpectedly for no reason as if it, too, was hit by a plane and bury it's secrets (FBI)...

... But I have no resentment to the great beast I see in front of me... because slowly... laborously... the beast crawled its way back out of the middle ages and eventually embraced the reformation... and is even beginning to act a little bit more how it was always supposed to act... it's not that scary of a beast anymore... if a beast at all... the only real fear one can have in this place is the great Shusher of the Sistine chapel to anyone speaking just a bit too loud...

...But I'm also interested in secrets... I just am... when the Papacy became a gift to go to the rich and powerful... a position held to control and sway the masses... when the Pope himself no longer believed in life after death... it's curious to know what extremes happened behind these walls... 'power corrupts, abstolute power corrupts absolutely'... and there's so many bad popes, really bad popes, that... if these walls could only play full length recorded DVD movies... a pope who ran a brothel in his courtyard, charging 30,000.. and right outside confession booths, charging 10,000... another pope when questioned about his tactics of torture and excommunication saying straight faced, 'I'm the pope, I can do anything, anything...' sex, lies, intrigue... we know... those are the ones they can share with us... so which are the ones they can't share... thank goodness for the reformation...
... St Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, all marvels... the whole place is like the Louvre, with a thousand little stories in its art and within its walls.. only its different, it's grander but still, somehow, less beautiful, and with not as good an audio tour...