Last Day in Europe, Part II

continued...
After sending out some postcards from the Vatican, we exited the museum, grabbed sandwiches from a street vendor, and walked back around to stand in line for St. Peters. Check out the obelisk in the center of St. Peters square --90ft of solid granite weighing over 300 tons. Thats....kinda heavy! It was originally built in Egypt over 2000 years ago and was transplanted to Rome by Caligula. Why is it all called St Peters you might ask? Well, the obelisk first stood in the center of a Roman chariot racecourse. For entertainment, they killed Christians in this circus course...one of them being Peter the apostle around 65AD. His remains were buried in a nearby cemetery -- which is the current location of the main altar. Constantine built the original St. Peters church around this site in 300AD. The church lasted until about 1500, at which time the new church was built around it.

We only waited for maybe 10 minutes to get through the security checkpoint. Once inside, you're greeted with a full length view of the church, and boy do you feel tiny. They say that the church is nearly 2 football fields in length...I don't necessarily agree with that, but it is quite long. Also very very tall (430ft to the top of the dome to be exact) with enormous sculptures adorning the columns--the ones at the top are nearly 20 feet tall. The lettering around the top of the church is 7 ft print. The words the letters form compose every phrase that Jesus spoke to Peter in the Bible. The church is shaped like a cross with a long nave and stubby arms. Around the outer edges are tombs of various popes--some much more interesting and impressively decorated than others. In the apse (back wall behind the altar) is an unbelievably large wooden throne built for a king and later encased with bronze. Above it is a stain-glassed window containing a dove --the symbol of the holy spirit. After looking at this window and then looking up towards the central dome, I started to realize how much light pours into the cathedral. And since the center dome has a bunch of windows ringing it, the light enters as beams, making for beautiful pictures.

Last, but not least, to the right of the entrance to the church is Michelangelo's Pieta. This area was mobbed with people...I didn't get very close, but managed to snap a couple of pictures. This was Michelangelo's first commissioned piece. Notice that despite Jesus being a full grown man, Michelangelo still depicted him as being much smaller than Mary -- oh and as in most church art we've seen, Mary never seems to grow old, no matter what Jesus' age.

After leaving St. Peters, we went around the side to head up to the top of the dome. Something was wrong with the elevator so we climbed the whole way. Just before you head outside near the top, you get to walk around the top interior portion of the dome...way above the people below. Up here you really got an appreciation for just how large the church really is. Climbing further takes you along a narrow, leaning passageway and then up a really tight spiral staircase. I can imagine that quite a few people don't ever make it to the top. It was a little challenging. But the view, once you make it, is outstanding. From the front you can see across the entire city --even make out the Colosseum off in the distance. Behind the church, you're offered a spectacular view of some of the Vatican gardens.


After snapping some pictures, we headed back down to an intermediate outdoor level where you can nearly walk right up to the statues I call "the Jumpers" that line the top of St. Peters. Believe it or not, they actually had a souvenir shop up here too. After a quick look, we walked the rest of the way down and headed back out onto the streets. Our intention was to catch the bus back, but we didn't know where it picked up. By the time we saw one go by, we had already walked pretty far and decided just to continue doing so. We made a beeline for the Pantheon, which, despite its enormity, is somewhat obscured by the buildings around it. I did a quick walk around and realized that the entrance is by far the most impressive. The back of the building seems to be in a state of disrepair--and by the looks of it wasn't ever really that impressive anyway. But...look again at the picture and how tiny the people look next to those columns. Crazy. We went inside to have a look at the famous, perfectly symmetrical ceiling. The height from the floor to the ceiling is equal to the diameter of the largest part of the dome. Our guide book said the ceiling is thinner at the top than the bottom to shed weight. Its amazing that they could build such a perfect structure back in 150-200AD. All without computers and modern manufacturing techniques. Makes you feel like we haven't come very far in 2000 years! The Pantheon is one of the few remaining ancient Roman buildings that has been consistently in use since it was built. Even while we were inside, a choir was singing in front of an audience, which sort of drove home this point and made it feel like a unique experience. One other thing to note -- Raphael's tomb was inside the Pantheon.

The day before, one of the guys staying at the hotel had recommended a gelato store called Giolitti near the Pantheon, so we decided to try it out. Good thing we did! BEST GELATO EVER! It blew away the rest of the gelato we'd had in Venice and Florence. They must have had over 50 flavors, and they gave huge scoops with whipped cream on top. I started with a cone of pistachio and bacio (which I now know is supposed to be chocolate & hazelnut) with whipped cream. It was ridiculously tasty. I wish I had one right now. We had to eat it outside in the 95 degree Rome sun so it was melting quickly. I forget what Kevin had, but we woofed them down and went right back inside for more. My second round was banana and chocolate, and this time I got it in a cup so I could take my time a little more. What was awesome was that there were Italian guys in suits just getting out of work who were also getting cones. Pretty cool. I just found this on TripAdvisor, "Giolitti - Via Uffici del Vicario 40, close to the Pantheon and to Montecitorio. This is a very old establishment -- it opened in 1900! -- and is often voted best ice cream in local polls. The high-ceilinged interior recalls the turn of the last century, with mirrors and marble and table seating; the staff are friendly and the selection vast. Try the crema marrone (chestnut), which was a favourite of Pope John Paul II, who sent his driver to pick up a tub whenever he was in the mood." After dropping about $10 each on ice cream, we moved on! The Trevi fountain was on our way back to the hotel so we stopped by to have a look. It was mobbed with people just chilling around the edges. The fountain is built right into a building. We just stopped long enough to take some pictures and then moved on. Looking back, I wish we had visited the fountain at night, I bet its quite a sight. I think we were just too tired to really enjoy it at the time.

Back at the hotel, we ran into the Boulder family that we had met in the morning. After chatting for awhile about the day's sightseeing, we decided to join up for dinner. We walked up the street a ways to a place that one of the girls had remembered walking by and sat down to eat right on the street. It was nice to have company, and it actually turned out to be inspirational as well! The older daughter, Lara, had just finished a year or two stint of working in NYC. Just before their Italy trip, she realized that life wasn't all about working until 2 in the morning and had decided to return to Boulder to get back to a life she enjoyed. Her mother was very supportive and it was refreshing to see somebody acting on a decision to get away from the rat-race. They tried to convince Kevin to take on his dream to write for a car magazine. Haha...I guess time will tell if they were successful. After dinner we walked back toward the hotel, took one last look at St. Peters off in the distance and called it a night since we had to catch a mid-morning flight back home. (It had been quite a day of tourism too!)