Susan: January 2005 Archives

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome
Castel Sant' Angelo
Florence Day Trip

I ran into some technical difficulties last week posting the remainder of my Castel Sant' Angelo pics, but I think I've got that all ironed out. So here at the ones you missed. We'll start out with a 2,000 year old bridge--yes, the three arches in the middle are original:

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome
Castel Sant' Angelo

Europe's high speed train systems redefine the day trip. Instead of a traveling a dozen miles out of town, we travelled 200 in less than an hour and a half, from a train conveniently located near our hotel. After flying through dozens of tunnels--which made the tracks almost like a thread stiched in and out of fabric, the train a needle flying at a relatively leisurly 130 mph--we landed near downtown Florence, and easy walk from all that makes this city the world capital of the Rennaissance.

Click the link below for the rest of the story, and lots of photos of Florence.

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica
Atop St. Peter's Dome

Sometimes, being the Pope isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes you just can't get love from The People the way you do from the Big Guy upstairs. And when the little people get ornery, sometimes you just need a conveniently located heavily fortified castle in which to flee their pitchforks. You need Castel Sant' Angelo!

That's right, this many bedroom, no bath riverfront property with a full dungeon located near downtown Vatican City is just waiting for a savvy but unpopular Pope to make it his own.

The place was originally built as a mausoleum for Hadrian, but some business with Pope Gregory and a visit from the archangel Michael, or maybe just some moldy bread, made it a choice spot for Popes under siege. In any case, it's not very attractive on the inside--one of the big reasons to go there is the view.  The other is that it's a short walk from St. Peter's and a good stop on your way back into the Old City of Rome.

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion
St Peter's Square and Basilica

I've been asked how one stays in shape while vacationing in Italy, given the excellent food. Well it's simple. Italy is, in fact, one gigantic stairmaster. Stairs are absolutely everywhere. And some of the best stairs around are the ones that take you up the dome at St. Peter's.

We took an elevator up a few hundred feet to the main roof, and then hiked up the dome from there. It's quite an ordeal, made even more strenuous by the narrow passageways. Not for the claustrophobic or out-of-shape, that's for sure. Because the way up is fairly crowded, and there are few spots to rest without blocking others, there's as bit of pressure to just keep on trucking, regardless of imminent demise.

But once you get to the top, oh yes, it's worth it.

The view extends from St. Peter's Square, which is of course not particularly square, to all the many neighborhoods of Rome that have crept up around the Vatican. Hundreds of years ago, the Vatican was far more isolated from the throngs of Rome. Now it's packed in all around.

The Vatican gardens stretch out below.

The Castle St. Angelo, our next stop, can be seen perched on the river Tiber.

The contrast of white Vatican structures against the more colorful Roman buildings can be seen all around.

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains
Imperial Lion

I'm going to finish this Week in Rome series over the next week, giving myself time to concentrate on other things after the new year. So let's jump back into the opulence of the Vatican City. After getting lost in the Vatican Museum, our next order of business was to get lost in the world's biggest Christian church, St. Peter's Basilica.

From the entrance of the Vatican Museum, you follow the ancient, well-maintained city walls until your vista suddenly opens up on an enormous piazza, St. Peter's Square. The day we were there, hundreds of clergy were gathered, snapping pictures and chatting. Columns surround the square on both sides like a pair of tongs.

With all these clergy, you'd think it was the vatican or something. Must have picture taken...

That out of the way, we weave through the priestly crowds toward St. Peter's Basilica. The piazza on which we walk, St. Peter's Square, is located on the exact spot where Nero had his chariot races going and where he executed St. Peter.  We heard that back in the old days the Roman emperors would strap Christians to posts or crosses, douse them in something flammable like tar, and set them ablaze to keep the place nicely lighted during the festivities.  I hear they still do that down in Texas to light the hometown football games.

Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum
St. Peter in Chains

Stray cats are all over Rome, and in one park they are even fed by a charity. You see them stalking through the monuments, the last echoes of the ancient Barbary Lions, a weapon of choice the emperors used against naughty Christians in the Circus Maximus.  This fellow has the look of that sort of lion.

Previous installments:
Introduction
The Colosseum
Palatine Hill
The Forum
The Pantheon
The Vatican Museum

Rome is the city where much of the stuff you read about in myth, legend, and various holy books sits in front of you, mugging for pictures. Walking about town the city you stumble on not small moments in history, but very, very big ones.  In an odd corner, up some stairs, and on a hill is St. Peter in Chains church, where the "actual" chains that held St. Peter during his imprisonment are kept. I don't know the veracity of the claim, but it was clear it was taken very seriously by both the church and the pilgrims who came to see them. The church itself is nice, but nothing extraordinary by Rome's standards.

But just standing there, thinking that there is a tiny chance those very chains just might have been the same ones worn by Peter during the darkest days of his life, 2,000 years ago--it sends chills up the spine, it does.