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I'd read in a couple of guidebooks that the Vatican City postal service was far more reliable/efficient than the Roman postal service. I had a couple of DVDs to mail off to London so I decided to send them via the Vatican post. The one mistake I made was believing that they had mailing supplies. I thought I remembered them having convenient packaging for sale but it was actually the Italian post office that did and they were closed. I popped into a souvenir shop searching for envelopes and just when I was about to give up, I saw some strange greeting cards for sale in a display stand tucked away near the floor. I returned to the Vatican and mailed the DVDs off, purple envelope and all. As I was leaving I spotted something that I thought my mom would enjoy when I was touring the Vatican Museum. They were sold out at the time but here it was. I bought it and decided to ship it to her since I was standing in the post office. I tried to fashion packaging out of the plastic shopping bag it came in but the clerk said no dice, it had to be in an envelope. I pleaded 'what if I tape these edges?!" He refused and said, "How can you mail this, you need to buy envelope." I remarked as I walked away, "They'd mail it in the United States!" (There's a website somewhere out there that did an experiment with the USPS and mailed a variety of objects such as bricks, bowling balls, etc. They will mail just about anything. God bless America.)

I walked through the plaza wondering how I was going to mail this thing from Greece. I realized that I'd broken my number one travel rule by purchasing something that did not fit in my stomach. And now I'd have to carry it. Then I happened upon a cardboard box full of trash and smaller cardboard boxes. Eureka! I found the perfect box. I put my gift inside and wandered to a gift shop where they kindly let me use some scotch tape. I went back again to the Vatican post office and smiled triumphantly at the clerk with my box. He slid a pile of stamps my way and I went licking away. So mom, expect a box from the Pope in the next couple of weeks (hopefully).

Labels: Italy