St Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica is the home of Roman Catholocism. It's known for its dome and Michaelangelo's statue of Jesus and the Virgin (Pieta). There is a lot to say about the Basilica, but the true power of it comes from the images.

A stone at the entrance




the ceiling

This is the bronze door, 'the holy door', only opened at the beginning of a holy year.

The central nave from the entrance

Michaelangelo's Pieta. It is the only piece of work that has his signature on it. Priceless.

the dome

this alter stands ontop of St. Peter's remains

the arms of Pope John Paul II

This is a statue of St. Peter. You can see someone touching his right foot to get goodluck. It's been rubbed so many times there is no longer any definition on his foot at all. I suppose we all want more luck.

Sunday in Vatican City with the Pope

Vatican City is the holy city of the world.

Each Sunday at noon the Pope addresses a crowd at St. Peter's Basilica to give his weekly blessing/message/prayer.

The walk to St. Peters

St. Peter's square.

The colums of the colonade

There are 2 fountains in the square

the infamous dome of St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope at his window. The window is about 15 stories up. From the other side of the square he is very small, but his voice is clear and it is projectly loudly throughout the entire square. No one could miss hearing the blessing.

Not being very religious, I was still grealty moved by the entire situation. It was amazing to be part of something so big. To see so many people from so many places are listening intently, or waving their flags, even shouting their own message at the Holy Father. He even speaks in 5 languages.

After the very moving experience of the Pope, we decided to walk through Rome. We found...

one of the many beautiful bridges that span the Tiber river

and the Piazza Del Popolo, which is a gorgeous circle that for some reason has a lot of Egyptian statues surrounding the circle.

a gorgeous fountain in the square

this is my art shot of a rose in the fountain

Two of the most entertaining forms of raising money that I've seen in Rome. Note the rose man, who follows you around and gives you a rose and then wants you to pay for it. My favourite is the man in gold who is dressed as an Egyptian pharoah and just stands there. We saw him sitting at the Colisseum and I was shocked that someone put on a costume and sat around and expected to make money. Why didn't we think of that??

Here, the pharoah prepares

and a child then enjoys the shin

and the pharoah is appreciative

From Piazza del Popolo we walked to the sprawling hills of Villa Borghese which is the home of many museums, a cinema, several cafes, a lake, children's playground and a zoo.

The Museum of Modern Art

The lake (more like a pond) with cute boats

pretty mallards

police riding horses in the middle of palm trees

It was a bright sunny day, we were in Rome, we saw the Pope and walked throughout a beautiful city. It was warm and perfect. An absolutely amazing day.

The Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum

The Colosseum:

Built in 72 A.D. by Jewish slaves captured after the Hebrew wars, the Colosseum is now one of the most recogonizable symbols of Rome. It was used as a stadium for Gladiatorial games (fights with others, or animals killings--and sometimes executions) and held up to 70, 000 people. Interesting fact: arena means 'sand'. Stadiums are called arenas, because of this one, named for the use of sand to soak up the blood on the stage.

This cross was raised by Pope Benedict XIV because it was believed that the Colisseum was a site where Christians were killed.

standing in 2000 year old history

a mosaic from the Colosseum

just a small section of restored seats to demonstrate what the entire arena would have looked like. All 50, 000 seats.

A view of the underground 'backstage' workings

Stairs leading from one of the 4 levels of seating

On half of the Colosseum the fourth ring of seats is missing. Here is a view of the stairs that would have led to the next level.

Here you can see the extra layer that is there...and then not.

From the Colisseum you can see the Arch of Titus that leads to the Forum

The Arch of Constantine

The Colisseum was cool, but the coolest thing for me as a celebrity loving person was....

Will Smith was there. We were simply walking around and I just happened to notice a tall and very attractive black man, then realized who it was.

He looks exactly the same in real life as he does on the screen.

You can see the crowd of people starting to grow. I really wanted to stay around and just be near him (yes I'm obsessed), but Mat just couldn't understand it.

Rosario Dawson was with him as well. Who knows why they're there, but Jada wasn't around. Maybe it's prep work for a movie, or just a day out while filming another one, or possibly they're here to promote something. Either way...it was very cool! And I finally got a decent picture of a celebrity.

The Palatine Hill:

This is a huge hill in the centre of ancient Rome. It is also the place where Rome began (according to the legend) and is where basically all of Rome's leaders lived (including Mussolini)

ruins

a fountain with very cold and fresh spring water standing on the hill

Here is the Emperor's seat at the ruins of the Stadium of Domitian.

The Stadium would have been a private stadium where the Emperor could have experienced his own personal mini-charriot races (not mini like you can't see them, but mini like pulled by ponies)

This green hill marks a portion of the area that was once the Circus Maximus. It was the site where the real chariot races would have been held. Major entertainment for the population. Think Ben Hur.

The Roman Forum

All road lead to Roman and to this main strip that runs through the Roman Forum. This would have been the 'downtown' area where all of the important businesses, buildings and people of ancient Rome would have been. There isn't much left (you can find pictures of reconstructions on the internet), so it takes some imagination, but it's still cool to walk around a place that is more than 2000 years old.

The Roman Forum from above
This is the Bacilia of Maxentius. It is huge. And what remains of it is only a very very small portion.

Look at how tiny Mat is in comparison to this massive place.

What remains of the Temple of Saturn

Arch of Septimius Severus

Rome's most loved Emperor, Caesar.

Rome is certainly a city with history. We took a walk through some of the oldest structures in the world. There is still alot to see...and we are eager to do so.

I still can't believe how lucky we are that we're actually here.