Pontifice Maximus!
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2008
1
21
36
Trip End
Feb 29, 2008
Rome,
Italy
Friday, February 15, 2008
St Peter's Square
. After a short wait we went to the indicated counter where a previously smiling and happy staff member became decidedly unhappy and belligerent but all in unintelligible Italian. All we had asked for was some stamps but she stumped off out the back, still grumbling loudly, and returned a few minutes latter with the news - NO STAMPS! Somewhat taken aback we left the post office with no stamps, sounds like a pub with no beer to me, and headed on to St Peter's. I mentioned that the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg is modelled on St Peter's and that I would be interested in comparing the two once I got to Rome. Well, I can report that the Kazan Cathedral is modelled on St Peter's in much the same way a Matchbox car is modelled on a Ferrari. We were very impressed with the Kazan Cathedral but it pales into absolute insignificance compared to the scale and opulence of St Peter's. I have seen television footage of St Peter's square filled with people but until today I had no real comprehension of just how many thousands of people those crowds must contain. We got into the relatively short queue to pass through the security check into the Basilica and then went inside. The scale of the inside is just as amazing as the scale of the outside, it is huge, and there seem to be more and more nooks and crannies the further you look. There are also a few embalmed popes on view and marble statues by the semitrailer load
St Peter's Square
. The Russian Orthodox icons and decorations we had seen in Russia seemed to be more tasteful or perhaps less over the top than those in St Peter's. It is also interesting that the in Russian Orthodox churches it was all about Jesus and Mary with a few saints thrown in for good measure, whereas at St Peter's it is all about Pontifice Maximus! Marble status of various popes everywhere with a few of Jesus and/or Mary thrown in for good measure. As with the other tourist spots in Rome that we had visited, St Peter's was spoiled by all the tourists - I know, I known I am a tourist as well but quite honestly we really do lower the tone of the place. I think we were spoilt in Russia, there were few tourists so all the places we visited were pleasant and peaceful and we almost felt we had them to ourselves. In Rome we are one of a madding crowd. A least the sellers of tacky stuff were conspicuous by their absence. After getting our fill of the cathedral we wanted to head up to the Dome. We followed the signs to the dome entrance and quizzed the young fellow on duty there as to whether it was worth just going up to the level that can be reached by the elevator - there are some 500 steps to reach the top of the dome, the first 200 or so of which can be bypassed by an elevator. Belle would not be able to make it up to the top of the dome but we thought that if there was a good view from the first level reachable by elevator she might at lest come up that far
The Dome of St Peter's
. The young man dissuaded us from this notion so Belle went off in search of somewhere comfortable to sit down while I ascended the lift and then some 300 or more steps up to the dome. The stairs get progressively steeper and the stairway progressively narrower until the final ascent which is up a tightly spiraling staircase in an shaft just wide enough to fit through. The ascent was worth the effort as there are some spectacular views to be had from the top of the dome. I managed to get some great photos of St Peter's square. I have mentioned before how graffiti has become more prevalent as we have moved East - virtually absent in Moscow, some in St Petersburg, moderate amounts in Germany, everywhere in Rome, including inside the stairwells leading up to the Dome of St Peter's and also all over the pace on the Dome viewing gallery. The public trains are covered in graffitti and the only effort the authorities seem to make to clean up the trains is that they half heartedly scrape the paint off the windows so you can at least see in/out.
There were even huge crowds up on the Dome so after elbowing my way to the front to get my pictures I fairly shortly decided that I had had enough and headed back down. I made the full descent by foot, all 500 and something or other steps and headed off to find Belle who had taken up residence in the Vatican Post Office
St Peter's Square from the dome
. Here there were stamps, much to our relief, so we spent a few minutes writing some postcards and sending them off. They will be post marked from the vatican, we would have had them post marked from Rome but as I said - NO STAMPS!After finishing at St Peter's we decided to head for the Vatican Museum which is on the other side of the Vatican precinct. We got to the final street leading to the entrance and found an enormous queue. We had already noticed the enormous queue to get in to St Peter's as we had left the square. Checking the time we decided we would not have enough time to wait in the queue, get into the Vatican Museum, see the Sistine Chapel and the rest of the things on offer and still get back to St Peter's in time for our lunch appointment. Instead we decided to have a bit of a wander in the streets surrounding the Vatican and perhaps pick up a slice of Pizza! Slice number #4 was also excellent, they really know how to cook pizza here, amazing though it may seem!
Much like Moscow, people set up stalls on any spare square inch of pavement - bags, belts, sunglasses, mobile phone covers, underwear, clothing of all types, all of it off the back of a truck no doubt and all for quite reasonable prices. We browsed some stalls, enjoyed the architecture, complained about the cobbled streets and pavements and then headed back to St Peter's square to wait by the fountain on the right as you face the Bascilica to meet up with Sister Celstine, a Benedictine Nun who was one of Belle's Mom's closest friends going through school in Manila
Sr Celestine, Belle and I
. We accompanied Sr Celestine back to the Benedictine Nuns' compound, just outside the city, we had a interesting taxi ride there through the crazy streets and traffic. We had lunch with Sr Celestine which was very nice - Risotto, some fantastic smooth and creamy mashed potatoes and some very tender meat, perhaps beef. We caught up on all the news with Sr Celestine, did some troubleshooting of her mobile phone and then headed back to the city at about 3:00pm which involved another exciting taxi ride. We never tested out our hypothesis but we have a feeling that the Taxi drivers both charged us the correct fare as we had a Nun on board for the first Taxi ride and a Nun organised the taxi for our return to the city - both rides cost almost the identical amount, give our take 10 Euro cents.Back in Rome we wandered one of the fashionble shopping strips, ostensibly looking for a pair of nice boots for Belle. We had no luck with finding the boots, the ones Belle does like tend not to fit here properly. We did, however, come across an overcoat that looked much like the very expensive one I had spotted yesterday and it turns out that this overcoat fits me perfectly and is now in my possession! After getting our fill of the shops we headed off in search of Piazza Campidoglio again and this time we did manage to find it. It is a lovely space and very peaceful at the time we arrived, early evening just as it was getting dark
Marcus Aurelius at Campidoglio
. This was a bad time for photos but a good time to enjoy the atmosphere. Castor and Pollux tower over you with the bronze horseman in the centre overlooking the whole scene. I did some experimenting with aperture size and exposure length and did get some interesting photos of the area. As it was now quite dark we hopped a bus back to Colosseo station and then a train back to our hostel. There is one glaring problem with the visitor amenities in Rome, public toilets are few and far between. We flew back up the hill to the hostel and were able to gain blessed relief. After a short rest we headed back across the street to the Pizzeria across the road where we hoped to try out some pasta - we had tried to order pasta yesterday but Pasta was an impossibility before 7:00pm. At 7:30pm pasta was possible and so Belle had some lasagnae and I tried the spaghetti carbonara. Both were very tasty and similar but not quite the same as what you can get back home. After pasta we were still a little peckish and Belle was desperate to try another slice of Margharita pizza. Unfortunately just before we were about the order it, a lady came in and took all the Margharita and all the pizza with zucchini which had been Belle's second choice. Instead we settle for Pizza Pommodore (sp?), essentially Pizza with tomato sauce, which was, despite the apparently lack of anything on it from the Australian perspective, quite outstandingly delicious (Pizza #5 if you are counting!). After dinner it was back to the hostel to do our washing and after we had it all hung it was off to bed for a good night's rest.
