April 18th, last day in Rome

Today was our last full day in Rome. Tomorrow we would be checking out of Hotel Ponte Sisto and departing for Venice. I really desired to magically lengthen the day, wishing that it could be 48 hours or longer, as I wasn’t ready to leave Rome yet. As usual, we did pack in a lot for one day. In retrospect, too much.

We started at the Borghese Gallery with a 9:00 reservation. In order to visit the gallery, one must first secure a reservation, which offers visits for a maximum of 2 hours. This proved to be plenty of time to view both floors of the gallery, with most of the time spent on the first floor. No photos were allowed unfortunately, and bags had to be checked at a desk. The two photos below are from the Guide to the Galleria Borghese that we purchased in the gallery’s store.

The first floor galleries were the ones to see the well known sculptures like Bernini’s David and Rape of Prosperpine, his Apollo and Daphne, and Canova’s Venus. It was also the place to see such Caravaggio’s as Boy with a Basket of Fruit and David with the Head of Goliath. The audio guide was of great help in examining the sculptures and obtaining background information. In the Rape sculpture, one notes Pluto’s fingers grasping firmly onto his victim’s thigh, digging into her flesh. We see the concentrated stare of David, as he gets ready to sling the rock at Goliath. In Caravaggio’s David, one sees the face of the artist depicted in the scary, evil countenance of Goliath. To see these masterpieces in front of you, which so far you’ve only seen copies of or heard about, is astonishing. Breathtaking. Works of pure genius. Like so much of what we’ve seen already, it’s hard to take it all in. You think of how fortunate the Romans are, and other Italians, to have such greatness in their backyard. You can’t imagine that they wouldn’t visit these places.

Before our two hours are up, we head outside to the back of the gallery, for a rest and to view the beautiful garden. It is carefully landscaped in triangles of privet and dark aubergine tulips, interspersed with small yellow flowers, bordered by sculptures on pedestals. Everywhere that you look in Rome, there is beauty to behold.

After a short rest, we made a fatal mistake. Instead of hopping into a taxi, which would whisk us off quickly to the Vatican, we decided to walk there in an effort to see this part of Rome and to enjoy the warm, sunny day. Gee, it looked so close on the map, the area between the Borghese and the Vatican. We walked about two miles and really didn’t see anything of note along the way, except the Hall of Justice at the Ponte Umberto. All this long, arduous journey accomplished was to exhaust us, the time it took preventing us from eating lunch before heading off to a 4 ½ tour of the Vatican and St.Peter’s. Today we asked ourselves, “What the hell were we possibly thinking?” We had been on our feet since 9 am, touring the Borghese for 2 hours, then walked 2 miles, and then had a 4 ½ tour on our feet after that.

We first came to Castel Sant'Angelo and then the Ponte Sant'Angelo, where we paused to admire Bernini's Angels. We were overwhelmed with the sheer number of street vendors lining the bridge, constricting foot traffic. Vendors also lined the way to St. Peter's piazza.

When we drew closer to the basilica, we became aware of the massive crowds in the piazza and suddenly knew why. Wednesday's are the days for pilgrims to come to hear the Pope give mass. We could hear him speaking but didn't see him.

True to their word, Angel Tours guides were under the yellow umbrellas and right outside a popular souvenir shop. Our guide thought we might face an impossibly long line to get into the Vatican, due to the pilgrims. Mercifully, he proved incorrect, as we saw as we made our way across and up several blocks, with no line at all.

He began in San Pietro Piazza, where he gave us background information and showed us the Pope's escape route, called the Vatican Corridor. It leads from the Vatican Palace to Castel Sant'Angelo and was built in 1277 to protect the pope in case of danger. One inside the Vatican Museum, we began in the courtyard at the Belvedere Palace. In front of it is a huge bronze pinecone, known as the Cortile della Pigna, once part of an ancient Roman fountain.

Next, our guide led us to picture boards of the Sistine Chapel, which were reserved for tour groups. We were probably there for at least 30 minutes as he explained in minute detail about the ceiling and artist. Since there was supposed to be no talking in the chapel, it was imperative to give the tour outside and in the courtyard, and there was plenty of room. Our tour was comprised of a group from England travelling together and us. The guide was pretty irreverent when talking about the church, the power it wielded, sometimes unkindly, and Michelangelo's resentment at being forced to take on the design of the Sistine Chapel. The Last Judgment was commissioned by Pope Farnese, and the artist worked on it, alone, for 7 years. Michelangelo painted faces of those he disliked on the figures, and has a self-portrait, showing an unhappy man poised between heaven and hell. Our guide noted that in the artist's interpretation, it is Adam, not Eve, who reaches for the serpent's apple. The talk was entertaining and definitely not the "Vatican line."

We then went inside and walked down a long hallway until we came to the famous Laocoon, which depicts the Trojan priest and his sons struggling with two serpents. It is a beauty, with fine detail made of marble. "Wow," is all I could think as I snapped photos.
We walked down the long hallways of the Gallery of Tapestries and the Gallery of Maps, admiring the beautiful ceiling and the long length of the corridors. The guide explained that most of the statues we were viewing did not have the eyes they had originally. Joe snapped a photo of cherub still with its baby blues.

The Raphael Rooms were being refurbished, so we didn't get a chance to see these important works. At this point, I didn't care what we saw. The misstep of not relaxing beforehand prevented me from really enjoying the tour. It may have been different if it occurred earlier in our stay, but this was the 5th day of nonstop touring. Our guide was very knowledgeable, entertaining and informative. I was just too burnt out to appreciate it. Joe soldiered on much better than I did, paying more attention to our tour guide and thus gaining more knowledge than I did. I often wandered off from the group, taking photos, and trying not to burst into tears every time the tour leader stopped and talked for 20 minutes at a pop.

By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel, I looked up at the ceiling and thought, “Yeah, it’s nice enough, I guess.” The guards were very strict this day in allowing no photographs, so I didn't even try. They also kept reminding visitors to be quiet.

Next up was the basilica, whose enormous size is hard to put in perspective. I had thought a church like Santa Maria Maggiore was huge, until I realized about 6 of those could have handily fit into St. Peter’s basilica. The length of the nave is 715 feet. That's really, really long. There are 11 chapels and 45 altars in the basilica. The dome, designed by Michelangelo (who else?), is a cupola measured 448 ft high. Bernini's baroque baldacchino is richly decorated, but very dark and ornate. At the base is the coat of arms of Pope Urban VIII which features the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

There were lines at both the statue of St. Peter, whose foot the faithful like to touch, and at the tomb of Pope John Paul II. The last stop was to see the Pieta, sculpted by you know who. The man who never slept.

After saying farewell to our tour group and guide, we left the basilica and grabbed a taxi from the nearby stand in the piazza. At the end of a long day, a taxi driver seems heaven sent.