From London to Spain: VII ROME

Aw, Roma.

This was definitely the spiritual stop on our 14 day cruise. I don't believe it's possible to enter the Vatican City and not sense the holiness and reverence that the city emits. From the intricate details found throughout St. Peter's Basilica, to the grandness found in the form of fountains and the obelisk just outside in St. Peter's Square, to the Sistine Chapel filled with precious Frescoes, sculptures, Raphael's tapestries, and undoubtedly the most famous ceiling the world has ever known - you stand in awe of the beautiful things that were created in honor and celebration of their faith. The moment you step inside St. Peter's Basilica, you are humbled by its grandeur and drawn to sit down and begin praying. There is also something very moving about the antiquity of it all - can't you just imagine years worth of prayers flowing through this place of worship? We ported in Civitavecchia, which is an hour train ride from Rome. Knowing that we had a very short day and a lot to see, we were up and off the boat earlier than normal (8ish). We hopped off the train and went directly to the St. Peter's Square. Since we didn't opt for any of the tours offered by the cruise, we immediately checked in at the visitors center to see if we could find a guide of some sort. After our experience at the Acropolis, we wanted to soak in as much information about the Vatican as we could. To our surprise, there happened to be a free English tour of St. Peter's Basilica starting in fifteen minutes. Excited by our lucky timing, we waited outside for our guide. I have to mention Penelope "Penny," our guide, because she was absolutely amazing. Born in England, she moved to Rome after raising her children to be closer to the epicenter of her faith. She has been living there now for 25 years and gives a free tour twice a week as a part of her ministry. What's better than a free tour? Well, a free tour given by a dear old woman with a British accent who is insanely knowledgeable about all the details that you find throughout the church and the city. The tour was a little longer than I would've liked (2+ hours inside the church) but my husband definitely had a nerd-crush on Penny by the time we left.

~You'll see Adam right away, Penny is the lady on Adam's left with the microphone near her mouth - we all wore portable headsets to hear her narrative throughout the tour~

~Views from the fountains outside the Basilica in St. Peter's Square~

~Beautiful sculptures decorate and keep watch on top the colonnades that surround the square~


~Along the top of the facade are statues of John the Baptist, Christ and Peter (upside down cross) and 10 of the other apostles~

~Looking out at the Square from the Basilica you can see the unique landscape behind the sculptures on top of the colonnades - my pictures don't do it justice - but the contrast in colors between the sky, trees, and statues produced a very interesting depth to the entire panorama~

~Views of the obelisk in the center of the Square from the grand Corinthian columns in front of the Basilica~

~Inside the Basilica you will be amazed and potentially overwhelmed by the vast amount of ornate and symbolic designs and artwork that they have managed to find room for - I think each and every Pope since the original has added something to it. One of my favorite decisions that they made was to keep the windows bare - that's right, the Basilica doesn't have stained glass windows. It gives the Basilica a much needed purity and natural element to a structure that is anything but natural.

~Looking up at the dome: the Basilica is the largest in the world - I believe the dome inside the Basilica is the world's tallest~

~Below this Baroque sculpted bronze canopy (which sits directly beneath the dome) is St. Peter's tomb - The sculpture on the right is St. Peter who is always featured with an upside down cross (which is the way he asked to be crucified, stating that he was not worthy to die in the same way as his Lord~

~Both the picture above and below convey the magnificent effect that the clear windows produce in the Basilica - the sunbeams that shone through the windows produced an incredible effect~



And last, but certainly not least is sculpture that everyone will be crowded around when you visit the Basilica: The Pieta sculpted by Michelangelo. The sculpture depicts Mary holding the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion~

I have so many more pictures from our tour of the Basilica that I could have spent an entire blog entry talking about everything and still wouldn't have done Penny, our tour guide, justice. She taught us a lot and I highly recommend visiting the Vatican on a Thursday at 9:00am - to have her as your guide!

From the Basilica tour we wove our way around the Vatican city walls and the areas where you aren't allowed to enter, to take a quick tour of the Sistine Chapel. This is another place that you could spend hours perusing - there is so much too see and without a tour guide and enough Art history behind me, I could barely identify some of the pieces. Anyhow, you wander through rooms and rooms of beautiful pieces and then finally come to the main chapel where you can finally see the iconic "Creation" painting by Michelangelo where you can see a depiction of the Hand of God giving life to Adam. It's absolutely packed in the room, you aren't supposed to talk, and you aren't allowed to take photos - so I don't have anything to share except for a few pictures that I took en route to the main chapel.

~Here is a glimpse into the sacred, private gardens inside the Vatican where the public is not permitted - if you stand on your toes and peek out the windows inside the Sistine Chapel you will catch a glimpse of the activities on the private grounds~

~These two pieces give you an idea of the colors and style that are used throughout the Sistine Chapel~

After spending hours at the Vatican we decided to head out and explore the rest of the city. Per usual, we opted for local, public transportation and took the subway out to the Trevi Fountain. It's located in the business district and is surrounded by tall buildings so it took us a while to find it. Sometimes there just isn't as much signage as you think there would be for some of these historic monuments.

~Adam told me that you are supposed to throw the coins into the fountain backwards like this to ensure that you will come back to Rome~

The last stop on our very packed day in Rome was at the Colosseum. Unfortunately, the line to tour the Colosseum was a mile long so we decided to explore the outside and peak our head through the gates around the outside. We were sort of disappointed with state of the Colosseum - it's not in the greatest shape and it doesn't look like they are investing a lot in upkeep in care.

~We both kind of hate the solo pictures of ourselves in front of the iconic structures - however, if you're going to take the same pictures that one million other people are taking, you might as well get a couple with you in it for proof that you were there, right?!~

~sneaking peaks through the outside gates gives you a pretty good glimpse inside - the line was just WAY too long and from our experience with sports growing up, we both could picture what the inside looked like~