Vatican Postage adventure

I’m sitting here in Rome during a wonderful two week stay
Last week after a visit to St Peter’s, we stopped in one of the dozens of souvenir shops to buy a doz or so postcards
We love sending postcards.
The shop owner asked the very natural question of whether we needed postage and was thorough enough to determine if I needed them sent internationally, to which I said, Si!
So out of the total convenience of not having to find a post office, voilà, 12 postcards and 12, international, ($2.93 each!) stamps, I was so proud of myself having found an “all in one” stop…
Yesterday, I asked our B&B hosts where I could find a postbox nearby, they told me but also said they didn’t recognize the stamp affixed to my cards.
So began the unraveling of the postage stamp debacle or AKA , adventure.
As it turns out, my very “thorough” shop owner sold me Vatican stamps. Yes, one more amazing thing about the smallest country in the world is that they have their very own postal service and unique stamp that isn’t officially recognized by any other postal service in the world, including the one completely surrounding it 100 feet away!
That left me with three choices: 1 - Drop them in regular Italian post and (ironically pray) they make it, 2 - Buy correct International stamps and add them to the cards, at another $2.93 each or 3 - Go back to St Peter’s Square, where the only Vatican (Yellow) postbox on earth exists!
So, only 9 Metro stops and a 15 minute, very crowded, march back to St Peter’s Square, there it was, the yellow Vatican mailbox, right there, in the Square in front of a very stylish looking, 30’ round, all glass Vatican Postoffice, where we gleefully dropped them in.
So the next time you want to send a postcard from the Vatican or, say, the Summit of Mt Everest, be mindful of any unique postal requirements you’re committing to.
Amen