We agree that romeinlimo
has been the best tour company! Today our driver Marco picked us up at
the ship with new friends, Kelly and David and April and Earnest, and Janel and
her husband. We drove for an hour from Civitavecchia to Rome in heavy, crazy
traffic. Today was sunny and warm.
The Pantheon--- Our first stop was
the Pantheon, a temple built to honor the Roman gods. It was consecrated as a
Christian church in 609 AD. Because of this circumstance, it is extremely
well-preserved with marble and granite throughout, Corinthian columns, and a
bronze door. The dome, over 130 feet from the floor, is open to the sky. The
Pope says Mass here once a year. One Cruise Critic friend told us she came to
Mass here a couple years ago when it was raining. When rain falls into the
temple/church, they call it the Tears of Diana. She said the sun shone through
the rain creating a spectacular sight. She also said we can’t see the small
holes in the marble floor which act as a drain for the water.
The Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna) is a masterpiece of the 18th century built only to connect a church on a hill with a fountain below. It has been a popular meeting spot for 200 years. Tim and I walked down the marble steps---quite steep.
The Trevi Fountain was inspired by
Roman triumphal arches and is the largest and most famous Baroque fountain in
Rome (standing 80 ft. high and 62 ft. wide). Appropriately for a fountain
resembling a stage set, the theatrical Trevi Fountain has been the star of many
films shot in Rome, including romantic films such as "Three Coins in a Fountain"
and "Roman Holiday", as well as "La dolce vita,"
Federico Fellini's satire of Rome in the 1950s. Tradition has it that a coin
thrown over the left shoulder into the water guarantees a visitor's return to
Rome. Tim and I plan to return to Rome because we each threw three coins over
our left shoulder. Throwing the coins already worked for me twice!
Circus Maximus—was used for
chariot racing and is considered the largest building every put up for
entertainment purposes. It could accommodate 300,000 spectators. I don’t think
that many people go to the Super Bowl! Marco said it is still used today for
concerts and other large events, but it is only a great lawn in an oval deep
bowl shape.
The Roman Coliseum, originally known
as the Flavian Amphitheatre, was commissioned in AD 72 by Emperor Vespasian. It
was completed by his son, Titus, in 80 AD, with later improvements by Domitian.
The Coliseum is located just east of the Roman Forum. Its 80 arched
entrances allowed easy access to 55,000 spectators, who were seated according
to rank. The Coliseum is huge, an ellipse 610 ft. long and 500 ft. wide. We
could see the Arch of Constantine from the Coliseum. We easily sensed the
grandeur of this site.
The
Roman Forum-we drove by the Forum ruins, inspiring even
in a drive by. It was the commercial, religious, political, and legal center of
the city.
We enjoyed lunch at Pontificio—spaghetti
pomodoro for me and tortellini with peas in a cream sauce for TK. I love
homemade pasta. The tomato sauce was exquisite, almost creamy.
Our tour company had easy access for entering
the Vatican, but we had to show photo ID and go through security like at an
airport. Beautiful Francesca was our guide for the Vatican and our first stop
was the Sistine Chapel.
Vatican
City
(Citta del Vaticano) was built over the tomb of Saint Peter. The Vatican's
position as a sovereign state within a state was guaranteed by the Lateran
Treaty of 1929. When one enters St. Peter's Square, one immediately
sees St. Peter's Basilica, the center of Christianity.
The Sistine Chapel
In the 1960s I was not allowed into the Vatican or
Sistine Chapel because my skirt was too short. In 2008 the Sistine Chapel was
closed because it was a religious holiday the day that I visited. TODAY, I finally saw the Sistine
Chapel. It is so inspiring---this is where the Conclave of Cardinals is locked
in when they vote for the next Pope. We stood for some time to try to absorb
the beauty and the reverence of this place.
From
information provided to us: “Michelangelo (1475 -1564) climbed a scaffold in
1508 to begin the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling for Pope Julius II
(pontificate 1503 -1513). At thirty-three years of age Michelangelo was the
most gifted and sought after sculptor in all of Europe. It was Pope Julius II
who upon seeing Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter’s
early in 1505, ordered that the young sculptor come to Rome and work for his
holiness.”
The fresco is higher and smaller than I
imagined—perhaps it is very large, and the distance to the ceiling is so great
that it appears small, yet so majestic. Words cannot express what I felt when I
saw Michelangelo’s depiction of the Creation.
Francesca
guided us deftly and we peeked through a keyhole in a very large 10 foot high
door to see the walkway of the Pope from the Sistine Chapel to his apartments.
We could see the Swiss Guard through the keyhole, too. This was another
highlight of our tour!
We walked to St. Peter’s Basilica which has 44 altars and the most significant
art, including Michelangelo’s Pieta, one of the single most
important sculptures of Christianity. Michelangelo’s vision for this work was
beyond imagination, art for all time. He was 24 years old when he created this
sculpture. The Basilica is recognized as the largest and most grandiose sacred
building in existence. The tomb of St. Peter is under the Basilica. Francesca
told us about the Relics of Saints and their statues in the Basilica, St.
Andrew, St. Helena, St. Veronica, and St. Longinus. The scope of the Basilica
is amazing.
The
return ride to Civitavecchia and the Epic took a little over an hour. We had
dinner at O’Sheehan’s, TK had a burger and I had chicken pot pie. Delicious.
After dinner we returned to the stateroom, got ready for Livorno, wrote the
blog, and went to bed exhausted.
The towel animal tonight was an elephant with TK’s
sunglasses.
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