Since my curling iron had broken, I rolled my hair up with curlers on Monday night. The next morning I had quite the mop head. We had breakfast at the hotel. They even had red orange juice and I wondered if it was from blood oranges (that are red). Breakfast was a buffet with meats and cheeses, scrambled eggs, bacon, yogurt, cereals, caffe Americano or cappuccino, tea and hot chocolate and fruit. There were these little 8 inch tall trash cans on each table to put sugar packets or yogurt cups in.
We walked over to the Vatican, which was a bit of a walk and ohhhed and ahhhed over St. Peters Piazza. We were looking for the Bernini bas relief that was a clue in Angels and Demons. I’m not sure if we found it. I thought it was these little circles around the main fountain. They are cleaning some of the colonnade and I thought it was interesting how they hang like a curtain around the construction and the curtain has a beautiful picture and words to the effect that they were renovating. We got in the long line to get into the basilica. You could choose to go to the cupola (top of the dome) or the tombs and we decided to go to the tombs. We did make sure we wore long skirts and covered our knees and shoulders. People were being turned away if they hadn’t. Lots of popes are buried down there. We saw Pope John Paul the first and second. People were praying at the II. “Sssssssshhhhhhh, silenzo per favore, ” the attendant has to say every few minutes to quiet the chattering tourist. And of course “no foto”. It is kind of cool to see Peter’s tomb. He’s been there a couple of centuries!.
After the tombs we went up to the basilica. It is amazing! All colors of marble in patterns everywhere. Paintings and gold and everything is embellished – not a plain surface anywhere. The Pietra by Michelangelo is there and it is so fluid, the way Jesus is slumped in Mary’s arms. After the church we had to walk several blocks around the corner to the Vatican Museum that has the Sistine Chapel. There is an entrance fee and then you start the almost never ending winding through galleries of precious paintings and sculptures before you finally get to the Sistine Chapel. I think it takes about an hour! The chapel was almost shoulder to shoulder with people and again .. “SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH, Silenzio per favore” After looking at many other painted ceilings and pictures before you come to the Chapel, it is interesting that you can say, “oh, yeah, this is even better than all the other priceless work we have been walking past.” I’m no art expert and even I can tell that it is that good.
It was raining as we were walking back so we decided to pay for a 24 hour pass on a hop on – hop off bus that stops at many different places and get back to the Fontana di Treva. Later we headed for the Spanish Steps to try and find a restaurant and then ended up a block from our hotel and had pizza and pasta. Annie had Quattro Formaggio (four cheeses – no tomato sauce) and I had lasagna with mushrooms that was suppose to have basil pesto sauce but it had hardly any basil. It was still good. Annie had Fanta which is not like in the States and I had Campari with orange juice. While we were on Via Condetta – the street with Gucci and the other prime shops, there was a bit of a mob for some grand opening or a movie star. Ahh, We are really in Roma!
We walked over to the Vatican, which was a bit of a walk and ohhhed and ahhhed over St. Peters Piazza. We were looking for the Bernini bas relief that was a clue in Angels and Demons. I’m not sure if we found it. I thought it was these little circles around the main fountain. They are cleaning some of the colonnade and I thought it was interesting how they hang like a curtain around the construction and the curtain has a beautiful picture and words to the effect that they were renovating. We got in the long line to get into the basilica. You could choose to go to the cupola (top of the dome) or the tombs and we decided to go to the tombs. We did make sure we wore long skirts and covered our knees and shoulders. People were being turned away if they hadn’t. Lots of popes are buried down there. We saw Pope John Paul the first and second. People were praying at the II. “Sssssssshhhhhhh, silenzo per favore, ” the attendant has to say every few minutes to quiet the chattering tourist. And of course “no foto”. It is kind of cool to see Peter’s tomb. He’s been there a couple of centuries!.
After the tombs we went up to the basilica. It is amazing! All colors of marble in patterns everywhere. Paintings and gold and everything is embellished – not a plain surface anywhere. The Pietra by Michelangelo is there and it is so fluid, the way Jesus is slumped in Mary’s arms. After the church we had to walk several blocks around the corner to the Vatican Museum that has the Sistine Chapel. There is an entrance fee and then you start the almost never ending winding through galleries of precious paintings and sculptures before you finally get to the Sistine Chapel. I think it takes about an hour! The chapel was almost shoulder to shoulder with people and again .. “SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH, Silenzio per favore” After looking at many other painted ceilings and pictures before you come to the Chapel, it is interesting that you can say, “oh, yeah, this is even better than all the other priceless work we have been walking past.” I’m no art expert and even I can tell that it is that good.
It was raining as we were walking back so we decided to pay for a 24 hour pass on a hop on – hop off bus that stops at many different places and get back to the Fontana di Treva. Later we headed for the Spanish Steps to try and find a restaurant and then ended up a block from our hotel and had pizza and pasta. Annie had Quattro Formaggio (four cheeses – no tomato sauce) and I had lasagna with mushrooms that was suppose to have basil pesto sauce but it had hardly any basil. It was still good. Annie had Fanta which is not like in the States and I had Campari with orange juice. While we were on Via Condetta – the street with Gucci and the other prime shops, there was a bit of a mob for some grand opening or a movie star. Ahh, We are really in Roma!
No comments:
Post a Comment