We've been delinquent bloggers for two days. I think running all over Rome, literally, caught up with us. So, a little catch-up. We headed for St. Peter's Square right after breakfast. We knew we could not get in, not having tickets or reservations, but also knew our tour with Globus was supposed to get us in later, so we just wanted to see it.
We could not believe the size of it, a broad boulevard leading up to the entrance to Vatican City, the smallest independent state in the world, with 900 inhabitants (all priests or nuns), which contains the largest church in the world and some of the greatest art. We were just amazed. Bill took lots of pictures of the outside, the huge columned wings, crowned with the sculptures of more than 130 saints (of course, now there are at least 2,000 saints, but 134 life sized sculptures are still amazing). We stopped in the Vatican gift shop and the post office. The Vatican, being a sovereign state, has it's own postage and an extremely reliable postal system. Their stamps are good for mailing anywhere in Rome, but not in the rest of Italy. So, postcards are coming from the Vatican. From there we walked up to the Castel Sant'Angelo, which was originally the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian, built in 129 AD. Aurelian fortified it in 271 and it became part of the city walls and then it was a papal residence for at least 1,000 years. It was renamed for St. Michael in 590 when legend says he announced the end of a plague from it's towers. There is a huge sculpture of St. Michael at the top of the building. We crossed the Tiber river here, using the Pont Umberto, to walk to the Piazza Naronna.
This Piazza is more Baroque with huge fountains at either end, by Bernini and Boromini and several churches,but not as many churches as shops and restaurants. It's a favorite strolling and shopping place for Romans.
From there we walked to the Pantheon and it is amazing. I seem to be using this word a lot in these blogs and the history here is so long, so many ages that it is actually hard to comprehend, coming as we do, from such a young country. This was originally a pagan temple, built by Hadrian between 118-125 and donated to Pope Boniface IV by Emperor Phocas in 608. This is why it was preserved. The Pope simply rechristened it Santa Maria ad Martyres, and suddenly it was a church and it was protected. The dome is the widest in Europe and is precisely as high as it is wide. The walls are 20 feet thick and it is the burial place of the artist Raphael, who died at 37. His sarcophagus rests here. Two of Italy's kings are buried here two. Just walking through the huge columns at the entrance makes you feel small. It's beautiful.
We had a quick pizza nearby and then cabbed back to the hotel to get ready for the Globus meeting and welcome dinner for the tour.
Alessandro spoke to us for over an hour about the schedule ( a 5:30 a.m. Wake up on Monday!) and our schedule for the next two days. Because we cannot get into St. Peter's Basilica or the Sistine Chapel on Sunday, we'll see ancient Rome instead, then see the outside of St. Peter's with a tour commending Monday morning before we leave for Pisa and Florence.
We had a six course dinner at a restaurant near the Termini (main) train station with the other 38 members of our tour. We were surprised at how roomy the bus is as Globus only allows 43 people on a tour while most tour companies cram 55 people into the bus. Lots of leg room, good seats, etc. Our group is all from the U.S. Except one couple from New Zealand stopping on their way to England. There are extended families and single people from California, Tennessee, New York, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, etc. We had a good time (and I had to stop eating after 3 courses) but were too tired to blog.
This morning we were up early since we left for the Colosseum at 8.
We were glad to be one of the earliest groups there, since Stefano, our local guide, says that by mid-day during the busiest Summer days,there are thousands of people trying to see this area. We had group tickets through Globus so we just sailed through the entrances. Well, I would have sailed except for the varied uneven surfaces, everything from fairly new brick leading up to the Colosseum, to large basalt stones which were some of the original pathways. Fortunately I could clutch Bill when needed and didn't upend either of us to the arena floor. The Colosseum was built by Jewish slaves, over 8 years starting in 72 AD by the Flavian Emperors. A father and two brothers. This of it as the world's largest football stadium because stadiums ever since have been modeled on this.
The monument area these days includes the Arch of Constantine -which is the model used by the french for the Arc du Triumph in Paris!
The Romans continue excavating carefully because there are even more ruins under these. Much here is not like the newer Roman monuments constructed of white marble, because it is constructed of White Travertine limestone from Tivoli, which is more subject to erosion because of it's softness. In addition a huge part of the Colosseum was lost to earthquake more than 600 years ago. When this structure was opened, the emperor Titus held 100 days of games to celebrate and between 5,000 and 9,000 animals were slaughtered in the games, mostly lions, panthers and tigers. This type of “game” was legal here until 523 AD.
And on the way we stopped to look at olive trees, something we have never seen. Olive trees can live for hundreds of years. Here is a close up of actual baby olives!
We went to St. Peter's square (no tour until tomorrow) and Bill and I left the tour here, as did a family of five from Scottsdale because we had all heard there would be a papal blessing sometime between 11:30 and noon, if the Pope was in residence. We got there at 11 and between then at 11:45 I could not believe the number of people who showed up in the square, thousands of them from all over the world, some carrying the flags of their countries or wearing special shirts ordered by their churches or their prayer groups. It's been a long time since I saw this many nuns in one place (high school maybe!) but once the window opened you could have heard a pin drop. Then there was huge cheering and the Pope spoke a short sermon or prayer in Italian, then in French, then in German, then in Polish, then in Spanish and then in English. Then he blessed the crowed. I expected it just to be a blessing but it went on for sometime. And if you look closely you will see that his podium is probably thick bullet proof plastic. (by the way if you are interested in the story behind why cardinal Sicola was not elected pope at the last election, just ask!)
We were lucky to grab a cab back to the hotel. The rest of the group was on an optional tour of many things we saw on the 5th and 6th, so we rested, had a simple lunch and tonight we'll be packing for tomorrows journey to Pisa and Florence. More from there.
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