Wednesday November 10, 2010 Day 6 Rome

La pace sia con voi ~
I woke early (about 5am) and was stunned at the quiet of our little bustling street.  I fall asleep to the din of laughing and talking, motor scooter engines and sirens - this morning it was still, quiet.  It is like a very long crescendo that begins to build about 9am - reaches its maximum at about 2am, and then sleeps again until 8 or 9am the next day.  We don't know how people get their children to school when they eat dinner at 8-10pm and stay out until 2-3am but is very entertaining to observe!

Our little street sleeping

Down the street early in the morning

 

Today was Vatican City day - so we head off again over the Tiber River and crossed the 
Ponte vittorio emanuele Bridge (the same one I described yesterday).  Walking up Via Della Conciliazione with St. Peter's square before you looks like a postcard! 

Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's)

The Vatican is in itself a state - surrounded by a wall and you have to go through security to enter.  The state of the Vatican was established in 1929 by a treaty with the Italian government.   The Vatican has its own Fire Department, currency, Post Office, flag, newspaper, radio station and of course the Pope is the head of state.    About 900 people live in the Vatican, and about 1,300 people work there.  Security for the Vatican is provided by the Swiss Guards - their uniforms were supposed to have been designed by Michelangelo - but to me they look like Jester's costumes :-)  But we didn't see them until we left St. Peter's so more about that later.

As we approached the Vatican - a young man came up to us and really wanted us to take a guided tour of the Vatican Museum - so we were diverted over a few streets and promised that we would not have to stand in line.  I thought the guy said "You do not want to stand like a lemon" - could he be saying "like a lemming?"  So we were outfitted with an earphone and a portable receiver - so when he talked we (there were 6 of us) we could each hear him in our ear (with volume control).

So off we went into the State of the Vatican - zipped right through security - and EC's metal parts did not set off any alarms!  Despite wars, thefts and destruction the Vatican Museums were built up and are now considered the biggest museum complex in the world.  History has it that it all started with one marble sculpture 500 years ago.  [4.3M people visit the Vatican Museum every year]
EC and I went through the museums (a portion of the 38) with our tour - and then we walked back through it - finding a different route each time and then went through the Sistine Chapel.  Our photos of course do not do these masterpieces justice but we will share our favorites.

Until someone used it - I didn't know these are drinking fountains (or bubblers)

A model of Vatican City that helped get us oriented

This is a gilded bronze statue of Hercules

The "round" room was designed after the Pantheon

What would the Vatican be without young priests?

The Sphere within a Sphere

The spiral stairs

Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) is elliptical in shape to represent the Pope's welcome to the Vatican.  The Piazza was designed by Bernini and considered his masterpiece.  [It is 645 feet across - and actually appeared smaller than we thought it would be.]  The obelisk in the middle is the world's oldest monument, and was brought from Egypt in 36AD.   There are 284 columns in four rows - each column is about 50 feet tall.  Along the top are 140 statues of saints and each is 10-1/2 feet high.

The saints on the top - they look down into the square

 In the Pigna Courtyard is the Sphere within a Sphere, a bronze sphere by Arnaldo Pomodor - our tour guide indicated that the there were more than one of the Sphere within a Sphere, and that the one given to the Pope was accepted graciously and then stored.  Another one was reported to be in the Twin Towers.  After 911 - the Pope brought his out of storage and displayed it in the courtyard as a sign of support for all the lost lives on that day.  

Then we went from museum to museum in awe of the master pieces!

The ceilings were especially impressive!

This looked like a great quilt pattern!!

It was very exciting to find what you have seen in pictures - we found the spiral stairs that are in the Vatican museum.  The double helical ramps were designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932, it consists of two intertwined spirals, one that goes up and one that goes down.

The Sistine Chapel was completed in 1481 to serve as the Pope's private chapel and as the venue for the gathering of the cardinals who elect each new pope.  Michelangelo was said to have been forced by the then pope to create the fresco painting that covers the walls and ceiling in panels that tell stories of the book of Genesis.  (God creating light and dark, God creating the sun and the moon - and probably the most famous, God's out stretched arm with the two fingers touching is the creation of Adam.) It is the largest work of art carried out by one person - and took Michelangelo 4 years of dedicated work to complete.  There are nine key panels.

We could not take any pictures in the Sistine Chapel.  The disappointing part was that it is not a chapel anymore.  Or least not in the sense that I think of one.  It is a hall to walk thru - there are seating benches along the sides, and alot of people packed into a relatively small space.  We were glad for the history that we learned from our guide and the fresco paintings are of course absolutely breath taking - but as a chapel it felt short unfortunately.

St. Peter's is 715 feet long (6 foot ball fields!) and 450 feet to the cross at the top of the dome.  No one may build anything higher than this cross in Rome - that is the law!  It has 778 columns, 395 statues, 44 alters and 135 mosaics.  St. Peter's was originally constructed in 324AD - and expanded many times since.

There were so many churches that we loved - and had enjoyed, and had lit candles and had quiet reflections - we were surprised to walk into St. Peter's to find that there are no pews, and it too is essentially a large art gallery if you will.  There are folding chairs set up at the front alter for when they do hold mass - no pews, no collection, no candles - no reflection - no quiet.  

The umbrella that I had borrowed from our flat had not done well in the wind yesterday - it got flipped to the outside and was seriously damaged.  So today when we left our flat I had the choice of a Japanese Paper umbrella - I guess that may be useful under extreme hot rays of sun -or a really large umbrella.  I didn't trust myself not to injure a pedestrian, and the sky was blue - so I left without any umbrella.  EC of course had her purple umbrella safely tucked in her purse (no wait - she is carrying my Timbuk2 bag).  

At one point I thought of buying an umbrella - but then still checking that the sky was blue,  decided against it.  As we left St. Peter's - it suddenly thundered and began a deluge of rain!  EC was busy trying to take pictures of the Swiss Guards in their funny get-ups.  I was busy trying to stay dry!  There were hawkers selling umbrellas - 5 euros that said - I said too much too much.  EC says you have to barter with them - I don't like to barter.  So I dug in my coin purse, got 3 Euro's, and the next hawker, I said - Yes, I want an umbrella, I have 3 Euros, he said good and I was off under the protection of a new umbrella.  

When we got back to the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele Bridge, the sun came out. 

God may be telling us that having us both in St. Peter's did not thrill him today :-)  

Dinner was at Terra Di Siena - located just up the street - we were reading the menu when we noticed, hey, the whole menu is in English :-)  

Off to bed as Rome winds up for the night - we have a busy day of learning to cook tomorrow!  

Essere ben nostri amici e famillari ci manchi

K and EC