Interesting news, I am surprised no one has posted it yet!
I sure hope Pathwari Bhaijaan & NYA Bhaijaan are not hanging around there. But knowing them, they will be as far away from Vatican as possible. :-)
I sure hope Pathwari Bhaijaan & NYA Bhaijaan are not hanging around there. But knowing them, they will be as far away from Vatican as possible. :-)
- Tourists clash with Vatican dress rules
VATICAN CITY (AP) — With temperatures soaring, tempers are flaring as the Vatican's dress police turn back tourists in shorts and bare shoulders trying to get into St. Peter's Basilica.
A tourist wearing shorts is stopped by an usher, right, and summoned to a sign bearing the dressing code to enter St. Peter's Basilica.
Vendors are doing a brisk business selling paper pants and shirts — turning St. Peter's Square into an open-air changing room.
"I am born naked and the church wants me to be wearing pants," Danish tourist Kenneth Bergen, 53, complained to a throng of would-be visitors who had been turned back. Bergen had just bought a pair of paper pants. (Related video:Tempers flaring as Vatican heat soars).
Enforcement of the Vatican dress code turns into a battle each summer, but the verbal skirmishes have been heightened this July because Rome is in the grips of a relentless heat wave.
For weeks, temperatures have reached into the 90s and the thousands of tourists trudging the streets seem dressed more for a day at the beach — shorts, miniskirts, tank tops for both men and women. The city's policemen have been out in force to assure tourists don't cool their feet in the Trevi Fountain and other landmarks.
At the Vatican, authorities have erected signs showing no one can enter the basilica with bare legs and bare shoulders. Guards — neatly dressed in shirts and ties — patrol the entrances.
Showing true entrepreneurial spirit, vendors have popped up at various points around the vast square, keeping one step ahead of the police.
A student identifying himself as Marko from Yugoslavia, visiting the Vatican with his grandmother, plunked down the $1.10 for paper pants, but promptly ripped them as he tried to pull them up over his shorts. A vendor reluctantly reached into his black plastic bag for another pair.
Italy staying hot
While Europe north of the Alps is cooling off, Italy is forecast to stay hot the rest of this week.
Highs in Rome should be in the high 80s with humidity making it feel hotter all week.
"The information we got was that the dress code only applied when the pope was here," said Becky Haskin, 44, visiting from Fort Worth, with three friends.
Blocked on their first attempt, they bought a pair of paper pants and two shawls. "It was worth it," she said.
Not only the Vatican, but the diocese of Rome and its hundreds of churches require what authorities consider appropriate dress. But unlike the Vatican, most of the churches cannot afford guards, and in the heat of this summer they have become cool refuges for the barely clad.
Some tourists do come prepared, pulling out pants and shirts from their backpacks and changing in St. Peter's Square, often prompting whistles and cat calls from onlookers.
Contributing: Valerie McGuire in Rome contributed to this report.
yeh bhi koyee masla hai?
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