We started the morning driving into Rome to cross into another country, the world's smallest country, the Vatican City. Thank goodness we had a guide and timed tickets, because the line for admission wound around the walls of the city. Our visit to the Vatican City included the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica.
The Museum includes more than 4 miles of exhibits. Through the years, Pope's have added to the Museum buildings as the Church's art collection grew. The Museum basically serves as the queue line for the Chapel. However, each room was wall-to-wall people and our guide never stopped walking. We had the headsets. Sometimes we heard her, sometimes we didn't. Being the Geography nerd that I am, my favorite room was the map room. In the map room, they were selling posters of the maps, but when we got to the shop where we could shop, they didn't have them. I was sad.
I would talk more about the exhibits and sights we saw, but I think I'll save that for the photoblogs I'm planning. We were allowed to take non flash pictures in the museum, and there was lots of light, so hopefully I have some good shots. We weren't allowed to take photos in the Chapel. In fact, you aren't even allowed to speak in the Chapel. The guide talked about it before we entered and then we were allowed to soak it in. It truly is breathtaking and overwhelming. No words can do it justice.
After the Chapel, we went into the Basilica. It is the largest church in the world. Some of the highlights included Michelangelo's PIETA, the altar (Bruncelli?), Raphael's last work, and the body of Pope Pious X. Again, hopefully I'll have a photoblog of this. Despite the mass of people, our visit in the City was too brief. I almost think I would prefer grabbing a book and going through at my own pace. The square was set up for a mass on Friday.
If Papa Francesco (Pope Francis I) comes out, everything shuts down. The Basilica is the body of the Pope, the Dome his crown, and the colonnade his arms welcoming the pilgrims into the square. The Catholics in our group said it was wonderful, but too fast, as well. Afterwards, we shopped in an official store. You could have items blessed by a Vatican priest. The girls bought holy water. I asked them what it was for. No, really, why would a parishioner have holy water? Anyone?
Lunch was pizza. It had sweet peppers and two big slices of sandwich ham on it. Not very good, so I had chocolate gelato. I also almost wiped out on the sidewalk.
Our next stop was the Colosseum with an archeologist as a guide. I thought he was good, but others didn't. Colosseum literally means "house of he Colossus" and was named because of a huge statue that used to stand there. Luka, our guide, gave us lots of information about the Colosseum. Most interesting to me: no Christians were killed there. It's a visit that I am glad to mark off my bucket list.
Luka then took us into the Forum Romanum, which I was looking forward to because of my class. However, I was on the verge of dehydration, and we only had a few minutes inside. I was glad to find a public fountain (or two, actually) where I could refill my bottle of water. That made me feel better.
One thing that has been mentioned several times by various guides has been about the looting of ancients sites to recycle building material during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. For example, some of St. Peter's was built from material from the Forum.
We left Luka and went to the Piazza Navona. There were artists set up all over the place and the fountain of the four rivers. I liked this part of Rome. It was a little less crowded, nor quite so hot, and we weren't moving at a dead run. We had dinner in a nearby restaurant and did not have pasta. I think that was the only organized meal that didn't include pasta. We had pizza instead. I felt like it was a poorly planned meal.
We finished the night with a Rome by Night with a local guide. We returned to the Piazza, walked by the Pantheon, and finished at the Trevi Fountain where we tossed our coins over our left shoulder and made our wish to return to Rome. I had mint gelato and did some people watching. The street vendors in Rome are very insistent and very annoying.
On the bus, we drove by some well known sites. Unfortunately, my pictures were not turning out very good. We stopped off at the Colosseum and the Basilica for night pictures.
I much prefer places like Florence and Venice to Rome. I didn't like the traffic or the crowds. Even major cities like London seem more accessible than Rome. My wish at Trevi Fountain was nota return to Rome, but for a continuation of new sights and visits.
No comments:
Post a Comment