Day 6 – April 24, 2015: St. Peter’s Basilica and the Coliseum

Today, I decided to take the hop-on, hop-off again because I am too lazy to figure out the regular bus schedule and the metro doesn't get as close to St. Peter’s square.  Besides, I thought, that since the first bus departs from the train station at 9am, that would get me to the Vatican WAY before 10 am, when I had to check in.   I didn't count on Roman traffic.  I got there a bit after 10 and made check in my the skin of my teeth. 

The same tiny athletic woman led us through the metal detectors and to pick up our audio guides (nothing like a morning jog on cobblestones to get the blood moving).  The audio guides had to be returned by 12:30 and we left our ID as collateral.  I did turn down the way toward the climb up to the dome, but decided that I'd had enough of stairs this trip and turned back.

I fought my way through the crowds of tour groups and inside the Basilica.

The first thing I saw inside was what I wanted to see all along, Michelangelo’s Pieta.  It really is that awesome and breathtaking and beautiful.   I have to say that it affected me more than the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  Although the man was no slouch with a paintbrush, he considered himself to be, first and foremost, a sculptor…and he was right.   He was also the architect of a good chunk of this building.

This is the inside of the main dome, which he designed. 

Here we have the main altar and canopy, which is fantastically enormous.   They were preparing for some sort of ceremony, so you couldn’t get really close or get past the first 2/3 of the basilica, which was a bit of a bummer.  I could not get a good photo of St. Peter’s throne or the stained glass window above it because of the angle of the sun.

However, here is St. Peter himself.  He’s buried underneath the main altar and pilgrims come to kiss this statue’s feet, which is why they're so shiny.  That wasn't happening today as it was past the blocked off area. 

At this point, I found myself accidentally wandering down to the crypt where a good bunch of the Popes are buried.  Some are buried at St. John’s, some are here, and a few (including John XXIII) are enclosed in clear crystal shrines for all to see.  It’s more than a bit creepy, if you ask me and I took no corpse photos.  Anyway, the crypts run underneath the basilica and contain parts of the original building dating back to Constantine.  The crypt of St. Peter is also there and I was entranced by the gold mosaic on his tomb.  There are no photos allowed in the crypts, which kinda makes sense I guess.  It’s a graveyard of sorts, so I was prohibited from my graveyard photo hobby.

The crypt actually dumps you out of the basilica near the gift shop, so I had to fight crowds again to get back in to see the other half.  I only had a half hour left before I had to return the guide.

Here is the enormous baptismal font.

There are a great deal of things to see, including the mosaics that look like paintings

Since it is so damp, the artwork is actually mosaics.  This way, they are more easily preserved than oil paintings or frescos. 

There are also sculptures, in the form of shrines.

I found the details of some of the shrines to be fascinating.

I made my way out toward the audio guide desk to retrieve my driver’s license and was amazed to find the tour group crowds had dispersed. 

I was able to get a shot of the Holy Door on my way out.

After dropping off the guide, I checked out the tiny, narrow gift shop which was staffed by a bunch of cheerful nuns.  I bought a couple of things (including a Christmas tree ornament) and headed to the front of the basilica.

This is looking out to the square from the front.

And this is looking directly up at the pope’s balcony.

Heading out of the square, I decided another shot of one of the fountains would be in order.

I hit a couple more souvenir shops and got a gelato on my way to the bus stop.  This time, I plugged my headset in and listened to the commentary on the bus on the way to the Coliseum stop.

When I got off, tourism was in full swing.  Stalls selling everything from keychains to pope bobbleheads (got to get me one of those!) and those annoying selfie stick guys!  Found my way to the special Roma Pass entrance and paid for an audio guide (apparently, the Roma pass doesn't cover as much as the Vatican version) and I was off…

We started upstairs, which gave us a good view of the whole of the interior.  Wow, this place is huge!

The western side is the one most intact.  Most of the Coliseum actually was scavenged for building materials for the rest of Rome and the Vatican (some of it was used for St. Paul’s).

A lot of the building has been built up and shored up with bricks over the years.  Here, however, you can see some of the original structure.

There are some great views outwards too.  This is a bit of Constantine’s Arch and out toward Palatine Hill.

Looking toward the Forum is a good view of the Temple of Venus and Roma, which I didn’t get a chance to visit yesterday.

Then, I checked out the upstairs bookshop, where I bought nothing! And downstairs.

This is where the better seats were.  There are even a few marble seats still here.  The peons sat up high on wooden bleachers.  There was an enormous canopy covering them.  Even though they were further away from the action they had shade and seats that weren’t stone.  Who had the better deal?

Here’s a rather blurry view of underneath the floor.  There was a wooden floor, covered by sand, over top of this.   Gladiators and caged animals waited here and there were also areas for storage.

Here’s a random cool shot thrown in for funzies.

I returned my audioguide to the downstairs gift shop, where I bought nothing. I exited and decided to walk completely around the structure.  About a quarter of it is behind scaffolding for restoration.

This is the eastern side, which is less famous as it mostly collapsed in an earthquake, then was scavenged for building materials.

On the western side, some of the original gate numbers can still be seen.  Ancient tickets (which were pottery) were stamped with your gate number, level, and seat.

This side is way tall!

This is a more traditional photo of the western side.

Even though I was really close to my apartment, it was still pretty early, so I decided to ride the bus again for awhile.  I took it all the way around to Termini and decided to hit a street market I had seen from the bus.  Got a shirt and an Italian leather purse and hoofed it home.

Tomorrow is another day…