ROME, ITALY

In the museum of the Vatican. This is just one room. You could have spent all day just looking at the paintings on the ceiling, not to mention the walls and the tiles on the floors. And this is just one room. The guide said 7 miles of rooms....can that be right? This is St Peter's Cathedral. Not the most dramatic outside, but the INSIDE!
This is a sculpture in one of the alcoves of the church. If you can enlarge it, you will see a skeleton coming up from the underworld.
The main aisle of the church. The dome you can see part of, is the largest in the world.
Michaelangelo's Pieta. She is behind a glass, since some idiot took a hammer to her, and she had to be repaired and now protected. Back in the 60's, when Arleen visited here, she was just there to see close up. And now there are people 6 deep in front of her.
The Coliseum and market ruins

The inside of the Coliseum. The lower levels for keeping the lions before they were needed. They kept them in the dark and did not feed them for days before the fights.

April 11

Duane had never been to Rome. Arleen had, a long time ago. So, since we were 1 1/2 hours away from Rome, (the ship docks at Civitavecchia) we took a tour of Vatican City and the Coliseum. The lines at both places were very long. There were even lines for tours, We would never have made it back to the ship on time had we not taken the tour. One tour was 45 minutes late and the ship had to wait for them. Luckily, all the passengers made it back on time.

We went into the Museum. We only saw a small part of it, since it is about 7 miles long. We saw murals and tapestries and unbelievable ceilings. Then into the Sistine Chapel. It was very crowded. We were told it was not as bad as usual. You are supposed to be silent, but the guards kept shushing the crowd then it got too loud. So, there was always a murmur. Then we went to see Vatican Square, which of course is round. Saw where the Pope gives his blessings every Sunday. That day, he was in the US. Then on to St. Peter's. It is the largest cathedral in the world. I don't doubt that. It goes on forever. It has a main center, but also has side aisles that have as many as 4 copulas each with their own statues. And boy what statues and mosaics and paintings. For some reason, neither Duane's nor Arleen's pictures came out clear. Think we are being told something?

Well after St. Peter's we went to lunch. Then off to the Coliseum. The Coliseum is located on the site of emperor Nero's swimming pool. The center portion, where the lions were kept, was the pool. Later emperors added on to the seating. It is really pretty amazing. It had a removable roof made of wood. American engineers have recently been here to try to figure out how they did that, so they can use the same technology in the US. It also had elevators to move the lions from the lower levels to the floor above. Amazing.

While riding thru Rome, we also saw ruins of both Roman and Greek origins. The old market places and palaces. Even in a small park, where kids were playing, were the arches of buildings still underground. You can spend a month just seeing old stuff in Rome. The only problem is, people do just that. There are tons of people everywhere, all the time. We tried to find out if there is an off season in Rome, and we were told NO.

So enough people for today.