# 9 Friday, March 14 "Happy Birthday, M.R."

We are up to start a full day of Roman sightseeing. We eat breakfast in a different dining room this morning, but the food is pretty much the same fare that we have had every morning. There are more sweet pastries than anyone could ever eat and more wonderful cherry jelly.

We gather in the lobby to catch our bus that takes us to meet our guide Marina at one of the gates to Vatican City. We cue up for our turn to have the electronic wand passed over us and to go through a sort of customs before we enter the city. As we ride up the escalator, the blue green dome of St. Peter's Basilica comes into view through the window. For most of us, we have only seen pictures of St. Peter's in books and on TV when there is a news highlight of an Easter or Christmas mass being led by the Pope. But no picture or film clip can do this place justice. It is a place that has to be experienced. We follow Marina into a piazza lined with statues and carvings of which she explains the importance. She also explains the Sistine Chapel to us with the help of a display board on one side of the piazza.

The piazza inside Vatican City. Above is the bronze pine cone that is the symbol of the Pope.

As we enter the chapel area, we walk through several museum halls that display statues, paintings, frescoes, and tapestries. Before we enter the chapel, we are given instructions that we are not to take pictures and to talk quietly. The Sistine Chapel is so striking, and I can't remember a time I have enjoyed getting a crick in my neck.. We get to stay 15 minutes looking at the art work and comparing our guide book to the real thing. I have seen Michelangelo's hand of God and it is truly awesome. We go outside the chapel and into St. Peter's. Overwhelming is the word that comes to mind. It is big! It is beautiful! It is crowded! We make our way around the basilica to see the important points of interest, the statue of St. Peter, the toe of which has been rubbed and worn down by pilgrims from all over the world. But, most importantly, we view the bronze canopy that is above the tomb of St. Peter, which brings to mind "Upon this rock I will build my church . . ." We also get to see Michelangelo's Pieta, the statue of Mary with the dead Jesus in her lap, and the red piece of porphyry that marks the place where Charlemagne knelt to be made the first Holy Roman Emperor in AD800 After spending time inside the basilica, we venture outside to St. Peter's Square. It is imposing and amazing with the statues of the saints and the apostles looking down on us. We venture out to the front of the square and look back to the front of the basilica. TV doesn't do it justice. The square is being prepared for Palm Sunday services. We will be leaving early that morning. What a shame to be so close and have to miss an experience of a lifetime.

Art work on the ceiling in one of the areas of the Vatican museums that lead to the Sistine Chapel.

The bronze canopy over the tomb of St. Peter. Only the Pope can lead mass from this spot.

Shirley, Cathy, DK and Mary Kat outside of St. Peter's Square.

The Pope's residence is on the top floor of this wing. When he speaks to those gathered in St. Peter's Square, he does it from the second window from the right.

We eat lunch at a sidewalk vendor and wander around St. Peter's and then meet back with our group to go on a bus tour of some of Rome's well-known sites. We ride along the east and west side oft he Tiber River; see the remains of Circus Maximus, home of the well-known chariots such as the ones in Ben Hur; view the remains of Palentine Hill, the first site of the Roman caesars' palaces. We ride to the Jewish Ghetto where we learn of the fairly strong Jewish population after the dispersion with the fall of Jerusalem. We drive to the site of the ruins of the Coliseum and debark for our tour. Marina takes on an informative tour, and it is amazing and humbling to be be able to see this site, knowing what death and destruction it meant for many of the Christians who met their end on the floor of the Coliseum.

Remains of an ancient harbor on the Tiber River

Ruins of the Circus Maximus

Palentine Hill

View of Coliseum from the street

Inside of the Coliseum. In the lower right is a section that has been added to show where the floor of the Coliseum would have been originally. To the left is the under ground area that had rooms that held the wild animals and the people who fought them for the entertainment of the people.

The marble area was the place where the Caesars and other rulers sat

Yep. I was there.

The day has come to an end, and we load on the bus again for a ride back to our hotel. Shirley and Cathy and I walk to the Pharmacia to get more meds for Shirley's pain and then find our way to the wonderful pastry shop: "Some of these; Oh, two of those; Ah, there are some mini canolis." It can't get any better unless it is some of the tomato gravy I have been eating all week.


We get back to the hotel and go visit Mary Kat to present her with a demitasse set we purchased for her in Sorrento. We hope it will be a welcomed addition to her collection. We snack on some of the pastries and get ready for dinner. We gather for supper and eat fairly close to the hotel. We eat yet another great meal : tomatoes in olive oil, rigatoni in tomato gravy, along with austi spumante. We save room for some of our pastries in the room.


We have a birthday to make note of and sing to M.R. We have sung to her several time during the day, but tonight's version makes it official. The 3 Traveling Buddies give her a silver salt cellar we bought in Sorrento, and I give her a lanyard with Italia written on it for her keys and ID when she gets back to school.


We are so tired and as we have done every night, I set the cell phone and we fall into bed. Tomorrow is our last day in Rome and there is so much to see and so little time to see it.