A Day Late, but well worth it!

Yesterday morning, I leapt out of bed and rushed to St. Peter's Basillica.

My plan was to climb the rotunda before the heat set in for the day. I am not a purist in such things, and happily rode an elevator to the roof, where you can see all the statues. I kept on though,walking the rest of the way up and up, leaning toward the center as I climbed between the walls of the dome until--

it all reached out before me!!!

Bernini's collonade embraces St. Peter's Square! It is a lovely sight, and you can see it was a perfect day! I was at the top by 8:20 and achieved my goal of beating the heat. Now back down the seeemingly endless, narrow, winding stairs

to look at the sights I'd passed by on the way up:

First the backside of Jesus and his pals, all quite a bit taller than I am (no remarks, please!) Here is one I could glimpse from the side:

And here I am, in the flesh--

From the roof, I stepped inside the rotunda to look up:

You'll see it later from beneath.

I had thought that I would use the guidebook and tell you the height of the rotunda and the length of the basillica, but I would rather just share my experience of the place. The word 'huge' is not big enough, nothing is to human scale. I found myself more moved than I had been four years ago, when the Basillica was packed with people. So come along, and I'll share my experience with you.

Even the floor is amazing with many colors of marble. The main altar, used when the Pope serves Mass, is under the dark structure, which Rick Steves refers to  as 

'the Vatican four poster.' You'll see it closer later.

Now look up at the ceiling, which culminates in the rotunda.

Here is the main altar from nearer, far beyond it is the gold altarpiece which has a dove in the center. A close-up of the curved columns of the main altar:

and the rotunda above:

Nearer now, here is the gold you saw a couple pictures ago:

 St. Peter's chair is bronzed or gilded or something in the lower half. I hope you can glimpse the dove; reflected light made it difficult to capture.

There are statues in niches all around the place and then statues above those statues; all are, as I said before, huge!

  

 Michelangelo's Pieta is not only behind bulletproof glass, it is also set far behind a barrier, so there is no photo. Sadly, it was impossible to feel any emotional connection because of the distance and the barriers.

The second part of the day, I rode in the exposed top of a double-decker bus to get an overview of this amazing city. I will label the things I know and include the ones I don't know because I enjoyed them ulninformed, and I know you will too. Here we go--

 Statues on the bridge to Castel Sant Angelo.

 a narrow street with shopping; green plus sign identifies a pharmacy.

 statues in a fountain. they're all over Rome and all magnificent!

 a piazza, sadly, I don't know which one.

 Santa Maria Maggiore

Monument to Victor Emmanuelle, who united Italy. It's huge too, everything in Rome is huge.

 An angel at one end of a bridge. 

Funny name for a shop; does it mean 'Shop while you still can!'????

 Triton fountain by Bernini--magnificent!

 I posted a long line of motor- scooters and -cycles in Assisi, but this row is many times longer!

 It ws hotter than Heck when I finished my tour, and I enjoyed incredible gelato-don't I look happy?!!!

Today was a different kind of day: we went to the beach for Bob to swim again hoping to escape the city's heat.

The beach was comfortable, with a pleasant breeze. We enjoyed our best pizza yet! It had the thinnest crust imaginable--wow! Sorry, no picture, we ate it too quickly.

But here is tonight's dessert: pannacotta with mint--fancy, fun, and delicious!

Ciao!