Where In The World Are John and Di?: Religious Rome

Our first full day in Rome started with the usual buffet breakfast at the hotel and meeting with the group in the lobby at 8 AM to head to Vatican City. The weather was better than the previous evening but with a chance of rain during the day. With far less traffic than at rush hour on Friday, the bus made it to the Vatican in a short time. Once off the bus we met our guide. I’ll try to get his name tomorrow when we meet him again because you’ll want to know if you are lucky enough to have him lead your group. He’s the best we’ve ever had on any tour.

The tour started with the Vatican museums. There was room after room and hallway after hallway of incredible sculptures, mosaics, and tapestries. The guide pointed out marble floors that had been in use for 1900 years and how perspective was used in some tapestries to create an optical illusion.

Each hallway brought us closer to the ultimate destination: the Sistine Chapel. This was our second trip and our breath was only half taken away when we stepped inside the modestly sized room and looked around us. The guide had spent ten minutes at the beginning of the tour explaining the history of the Chapel and Michelangelo’s work there. It helped A LOT. As always, no photography was allowed and the wrath of the guards could easily be heard whenever anybody even TRIED to take a picture. When the room got too loud, the guards made it quiet; quite a feat considering the shoulder to shoulder crowd.

We also saw where the small portable fireplace and chimney are placed when they burn the ballots to announce whether a pope has been elected or not.

Then we moved into St. Peter’s Basilica. After the small Chapel the basilica is pretty overwhelming. We got a brief tour by the guide and then about half an hour on our own to look around. We saw the caskets of a couple Popes, displayed around the church in such a way that you can see the bodies. Various methods are used to preserve the faces with masks.

After the St. Peter’s tour, we met our niece Samantha for lunch and a fantastic ‘private’ tour of her school and a nearby hill (one of the seven in Rome) for an overlook of the city on a rainy, foggy day. The pictures do not do it justice.

So, here is more of Rome. You only get the picture highlights, as I took too many to post. Tomorrow is the ‘pagan tour’: coliseum and forum.

Entrance to the Vatican Museums

Part of the museums. The lions on each side date back to Roman times. The pine cone is also significant, but I forget why. Google it.

One of the lions. Notice the hieroglyphs.

View of part of Rome from inside the museums. Bad day for panoramas.

The Belvedere Torso by the Athenian sculptor Apollonius. He signed the sculpture on the pedestal. Very rare for that time.

Mosaic floor.

The Greek goddess Diana. And I took the photo on my own free will.

A mile marker on a Roman road, such as the Appian Way. Of course, the miles were in Roman numerals. This one showed five miles to Rome.

One of the huge tapestries that used illusion. Christ seemed to be facing you no matter where you stood. Also, there were some 3D effects in it.

The roof of the hallway leading to the Sistine Chapel.

Just a sample of one of the rooms in the museum where you are surrounded by color and gigantic paintings.

The stairway leading out of the Sistine Chapel. Every newly elected Pope walked down those steps.

These doors are only opened every 25 years during a ceremony. In 2000, millions of people passed through them to have their sins forgiven. You get your chance in 2025.

St. Peter's Basilica from the entrance. It's over two football fields to the altar. No camera in the world can capture what is left and right of this. The church's shape inside is basically that of a cross.