So here I remain, wandering around Rome as the weather begins to take a turn for the worst and the homework really begins. Honestly, I do not have that much work to do at all compared to any real schooling. It is finding the time and the energy to stop wandering around this beautiful city to take the time to do what little reading I have. The hardest class I have is Italian, where all I have to do is memorize about 40 words every two weeks. It is not that arduous in the least, I just don’t want to take the time to do it. Tomorrow is my first Italian test, so we will see how much my studying today pays off.
On Sunday Anne, Joe, and I went to the Vatican. We walked from school, along the river, up a hill, through a parking garage, and magically popped up right into Piatza Del Popolo with an incredible view of the Swiss Guards and St. Peters. Though I had seen it in pictures, just as you are seeing it here, it is much larger than I could have imagined. We walked around outside for a good twenty minutes admiring the perfect maintenance of the area of the Vatican and eventually wandered into the line for security in order to go inside.
Our first stop inside was to the crypt, where we filed under St. Peters along with a bazillion other people to view the old tombs of Popes long dead. We eventually passed our most recent Pope John Paul II, but were not allowed to take pictures of him. Unlike the tombs you can see here, his was a slanted low laying marble slab in white marble and inscribed with gold lettering.
We exited the crypt and walked around the back of the basilica and entered from the front into a gargantuan space that contained so many artistic details that we stood in the door way for at least a minute attempting to decide which way to go first.
Directly to our right was the Pieta, created by Michael Angelo, considered to be one of his three great masterpieces in marble (the David and Moses being the other two). It was much smaller than I had imagined it would be, and was hidden behind a bulletproof screen. If anyone remembers, someone wandered into St. Peters a few years back and shot at the Pieta for reasons I cant remember, and since then they have protected it with a flash reflecting window. I managed to get the best shots of it, but I wish I could have gotten closer. This one statue is my favorite of all the Renaissance bodies presented in marble. Mary actually manages to look fleshy while Jesus appears drained and very dead. How someone could have sculpted it out of stone baffles me.
While I was busy being captivated by the Pieta, Joe and Anne moved deeper into the basilica. When I finally pulled myself away we covered the left hand side, mostly because it was best lit and have more interesting paintings and sculptures than the other side. In the center of it all, where the cross meets inside, is the Bernini baldachin and was built to fill the space beneath the cupola, and it is said that the bronze used to make it was taken from the Pantheon.
Behind the baldachin is the Alter of the Chair of St. Peter, and is only open to the public during mass. Since it was Sunday, and we really wanted to get closer to take pictures (which isn’t really allowed) we went to mass. It was interesting to see what it is that they practice at the Vatican, having gone to catholic school myself and being of the Jewish faith. The whole service was in Italian, and the organ was amazing.
The whole thing only lasted about 45 minutes, and we watched as the light slowly faded in the windows behind the alter. By the time we wandered away it was 5pm, and therefore everything was closing down. We plan to return to see the museum sometime soon, and to walk the stairs that take you to the top of the basilica (it’s a really long climb even for the likes of me). I do have a few more things to talk about but I think this is enough for one post. Don’t want anyone to get too confused. Ciao for now!
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