We got up early and caught a bus to St Peters Bacillica, when very few people were there. I think it opened about 7AM.
The architecture and art inside is impressive, to say the least, for a building completed in 1626. We listened to an MP3 tour, and learned a lot. But, like everything in Rome, learning a lot still means you've barely scratched the surface.
There were all sorts of side-chapel places where people were holding small services of some purpose with priests, but I don't generally take photos of that sort of personal proceedings. They have several Popes under other altars, with glass on the front so you can see into their coffin, but I didn't think I should photograph those either.
They say Peter is buried under the central alter. One alcove has a monument which is said to be directly over the spot in a Roman circus where Peter was crucified (upside down).
Some of the Swiss Guard. They let the dude in jeans through, but were still checking out the nun.
Then we went over to the Castel SantAngelo, built in 139AD, which has served many functions throughout history, like a mausoleum for Roman emperors, a prison, and a fortress. There's a huge wall with a tunnel in it between the Vatican and the castle which could be used by the Pope if Rome came under attack. It was the residence of Pope Clement VII during the 1527 sack of Rome.
One of the best parts of any Italian city is to watch how everyday life unfolds.
In the evening, we took a small electric bus over to the Spanish Steps (too crowded, will return for photos), walked by Gregory Peck's Roman Holiday address on Via Margutta 51, up to Piazza del Popolo, then took the tube to an evening opening of the Vatican Museum we had purchased tickets for online ahead of time.
The Vatican Museum was impressive to the extreme. I'm sure that in only a few hours we saw only a fraction of it.
It looked like they, like the British Museum, had "found" or "borrowed" a lot of Egyptian and Greek artifacts.
We liked the ceiling in the map corridor.
There was a large section devoted to the art of Rafael which recounted a lot of history and stories. We also went inside the Sistine chapel, with our MP3 tour, but no photos allowed there.
LINK to online photos It really is amazing that Michaelangelo was able to paint that ceiling with so much detail and depth. It's a patina, which we found out means that it had to be painted on fresh wet mortar, so if he was dissatisfied with it, the whole days section came off to be redone.
We got up early and caught a bus to St Peters Bacillica, when very few people were there. I think it opened about 7AM.
The architecture and art inside is impressive, to say the least, for a building completed in 1626. We listened to an MP3 tour, and learned a lot. But, like everything in Rome, learning a lot still means you've barely scratched the surface.
There were all sorts of side-chapel places where people were holding small services of some purpose with priests, but I don't generally take photos of that sort of personal proceedings. They have several Popes under other altars, with glass on the front so you can see into their coffin, but I didn't think I should photograph those either.
They say Peter is buried under the central alter. One alcove has a monument which is said to be directly over the spot in a Roman circus where Peter was crucified (upside down).
Some of the Swiss Guard. They let the dude in jeans through, but were still checking out the nun.
Then we went over to the Castel SantAngelo, built in 139AD, which has served many functions throughout history, like a mausoleum for Roman emperors, a prison, and a fortress. There's a huge wall with a tunnel in it between the Vatican and the castle which could be used by the Pope if Rome came under attack. It was the residence of Pope Clement VII during the 1527 sack of Rome.
One of the best parts of any Italian city is to watch how everyday life unfolds.
In the evening, we took a small electric bus over to the Spanish Steps (too crowded, will return for photos), walked by Gregory Peck's Roman Holiday address on Via Margutta 51, up to Piazza del Popolo, then took the tube to an evening opening of the Vatican Museum we had purchased tickets for online ahead of time.
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