Rome Wednesday 9/11/13

Today is our last day in Rome before we start our marathon trip home. By my calculations, from the time the cab picks us up here until we walk out of DFW we will have been traveling for almost 20 hours! Great googly-woogly!!!!

Today we went to the Papal Audience which he holds every Wednesday - but this was his first one after the August vacation. We got there about 9, even though the audience did not start until 10:30 and it was already wall to wall people!! Ryan, our guide monday, told us that Pope Benedict used to draw about 28000 people to these audiences but the Pope Francis has been drawing 100,000 regularly. The Pope came out in his pope mobile and rode around the edge of the seating area stopping numerous times to kiss babies and touch hands about 9:30 or 9:45. He did this for about 45 minutes to an hour before the ceremony started.

It was almost all in Italian, though they did a reading here and there in various and sundry languages. They did do a little in English toward the end - or at least our end. We probably left about half an hour before it was over.

We stopped and had our last Roman pizza and luke warm Coca Cola Light before catching the bus back to the apartment to pack. The bus was really crowded and, I must say, I will not be sad to leave public transportation behind!

It has been a great trip but the USA will be a welcome sight tomorrow!

Enjoy the pics.

 

 

Even nuns stand on chairs to see the Pope.

 

 

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Rome Tuesday 9/10/13

Today we went to the Pope's church - San Giovanni, or the Church of St. John - actually two St. Johns - the Baptist and the Evangelist. As the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), this church is the highest church in all of Catholicism. The church was was dedicated in 324 and when Pope Sylvester I put the papal throne in the church it became the basilica of the Bishop of Rome. The Pope is the only one who can lead mass from the main alter. The modern church was built after fires in the 1300s destroyed the old church. It is a magnificent church - can even say that after seeing St. Peter's.

The church is just inside the Gate of San Giovanni in the ancient wall around Rome. This section of the old wall was better preserved than most we have seen. It was very impressive.

Tomorrow we go to the Papal Audience in St. Peter's Square to see Pope Francis. Then home to pack and say arrivederci to Roma and start the LONG trek home on Thursday.

Enjoy the pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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St. Peter's Monday 9/9/13

Today we went back to St. Peter's with a guide. Ryan - Anthony's (from theViking ship) cousin - came to Rome 9 years ago to spend a couple of months learning the language and never left. He was great. He was able to tell us a lot - of course, I only remember part of it.

He told us that the square itself was formed like open arms - a mother's hug. And that from the air it resembles a keyhole since St. Peter is always shown holding the keys to the church.

I think I will just caption pictures for the rest of the explanations.

This wall contained the escape route for the popes. It ends at the Castel Sant'Angelo which was a very strong fortress. During the sack of Rome in 1527, PopeClement VII was hurried to the Castel and it saved his life. Ryan told us the the Swiss Guards were the only guards that stayed to fight and that is why all the guards are Swiss today.

This mosaic of Mary was made after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981. One of the jewels in her crown is the bullet taken from John Paul's body. She is there to watch over everyone as she watched over him.

This door depicts the deaths of St. Paul by beheading and St. Peter by being crucified upside down.

These are pictures of the Holy Door - Porta Sancta - that is opened every 25 years - next in 2525. Walking through this door forgives your sins.

St. Peters statue. Rubbing his feet is supposed to bring good luck. Yes, I rubbed his feet.

The alter in St. Peter's. that is alabaster, not stained glass, where the light shines through the dove!

My ticket to the Pope's Audience on Wednesday.

 

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Rest Day Sunday9/8/13

Today we took it easy. Jerry and Lori went to church and I did a couple of loads of laundry. We wanted to get it done today because the forecast is for rain and our only dryer is the sun.

At 9:45 I walked down to the grocery store to meet Jerry and Lori so we could replenish our fridge. And of course, we had to wait over 30 minutes for the bus to come take us and our groceries home.

We left about 11:30 to take the bus down to buy our new Metro tickets and find a place to eat lunch. We definitely picked the WRONG place. Lunch was terrible. We then had gelato - which of course was good - and waited again for the bus home. Gelato makes the wait more bearable!

Thought I would include a picture of the view from our apartment and typical Roman car repair! The really do drive like idiots and park any and every where - and very few cars do not have dents or scrapes!

 

 

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Tivoli Saturday 9/7/13

Today we had a private tour to Tivoli. The guide and driver came to pick us up at 9:30 and off we went. Tivoli is about 20 miles west of Rome. It was really nice not to have to use public transportation today. No long waits for the bus!

We went to Hadrian's Villa first. Hadrian was the emperor of Rome from 117 - 138. He did a lot during his time. He is the one that built the Pantheon and yesterday's castle was built as his mausoleum. He traveled all over the Empire and was really impressed by the other cultures. He really didn't likeRome much, so he built this Villa on his wife's property in Tivoli. It was close enough that the government could come to him.

The villa is nothing but ruins and really is not completely excavated yet but it is huge and very impressive. There was a model of what it would have looked like in Hadrian's day and it was amazing! There were slave quarters and thermal baths and large dining areas. There were many statues but as the guide said back in the Renaissance many sites in Rome were pilfered for all the artworks.

Then we drove up to the Villa d'Este. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant right outside the gates to the Villa. It was in the town square by the church where a wedding had just concluded. The villa was built by Cardinal D'Este. He was a man who thought he was destined to be pope but lost the vote to become pope 5 times. Once he realized it was not his destiny, he decided to build a palace of his own by his church.

It defies description. And it was never even really finished. The gardens and fountains are beyond belief. The gardens are built down the hillside from the villa and the water for the fountains comes from the river and eventually flows back into the river at the bottom. There is a water organ - the water flowing turned something - akin to a player piano - that made music. And a bird fountain where the water made bird sounds. All in all it was just fantastic!

Then the guide and driver dropped us off at our front door about 3. It was a fantastic day. If you are ever this way and need a guide look up Silvia Prosperi - www.afriendinrome.it. She was great!

Enjoy the pics.

 

All the above are Hadrian's Villa.

Below are Villa D'Este.

 

This fountain symbolized Trivoli.

These fountains symbolized the rivers flowing to Rome.

This fountain symbolized Rome.

 

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Castel Sant Angelo Friday 9/6/13

Other than wasting over an hour waiting on buses, today was a good day. We took the bus all the way down to Piazza Cavour (the 990 P Cavour has been our bus since we got here - we have just never gone to the end of the line before). It is a very pretty piazza with a statue of C. Cavour in the middle. The Ministry of Justice building is on the square and it is a magnificent building.

But, the reason we went was to see the castle. It was built as Hadrian's mausoleum. Hadrian was the emperor of Rome from 117 til 138. Then later it was used as a fortress by the popes - some had apartments in the castle. The papal treasury was within its walls. Then it was used as a prison. Today it is a museum which holds some of the Vatican's treasures.

It was a very impressive edifice! There was a large ramp going up around the inside. And then steps going up to the Urn Room which was where Hadrian's cremated remains were placed. Then more steps up to the papal apartments and treasury. But the best part was climbing stairs up to the terrace on top. All of Rome is laid out before you in a 360 degree panorama! It was amazing.

On the way down we walked all the way around the ramparts which were just as I imagined. Slots to shoot arrows, etc. and slots through which to pour boiling oil or some such on anyone attacking! It was great.

The castle is right next to the Tiber and Hadrian had a bridge built to connect it to Rome. One of the popes in the 1600s had the bridge redone with statues of angels sculpted by Bernini. Actually, Bernini sculpted 2 of the statues before he died and the pope kept those two! So the sculpted angels are not really by Bernini. It is truly beautiful!

After the castle we stopped and had lunch before another LONG wait for the bus! Megan - you would be really happy here - pizza every day!

Enjoy the pics.

 

 

 

 

St. Peter's from the top of the castle.

The Pantheon from the top of the castle

The castle from the bridge.

 

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St. Peter's Thursday 9/5/13

Did you know that Pope Francis is the 266th pope? I think most of the others are buried in St. Peter's. Well, really, the present St. Peter's was built in the 1500s and the popes before then who had been buried in the old St. Peter's were moved. Some popes are said to be buried in various and sundry other churches...not sure anyone knows where all the bodies are.

St. Peter's defies description. It is really that beautiful. And it is so huge! Hard to even take pictures that begin to do it justice.

After St. Peter's we took the metro over to the train station. We were going to buy tickets to go to Florence for the day tomorrow but the train station was a nightmare. We waited in a long line to find out we had to wait in another long line so we made the executive decision that Florence would just have to wait for another trip!

We stopped by the Cipro station (we've gotten good at this Metro thing) and had lunch at a restaurant that Jerry and Lori had discovered after church last Sunday. Then we had a gelato on the way to the bus stop. We've gotten good at the buses too...but it just takes so long to get anywhere and you still have to walk a lot and the stairs!!!!

When we got home two days of planning had come together. We are taking a private tour of Trivoli on Saturday and a private tour of St. Peter's on Monday. Each of the tours should just be the 3 of us and the guide, so they should be great.

Tomorrow we are going to the Castle st. Angelo.

Enjoy the pics.

 

These two nuns cut in front of us in the long line to go through security! We were about half way in the line! They were just tourists like us BUT I guess they thought the habit meant they didn't have to wait in line!

 

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