The Husk Adventures: Rome - The Vatican, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Circus Maximus

We arrived in Italy the afternoon of the 10^th. Being tired we opted to get rested up before continuing sightseeing. The morning of Monday, the 11^th, we headed for the Vatican. Shortly after arriving, it began to rain so our visit was split over two days. First we didn’t want to stand in long lines in the rain to visit the Sistine Chapel and then we were informed that they had closed the Vatican museum that day. We did however visit the Basilica of St. Peter and St. Peter’s Square. The Basilica is a massive structure with many statues, much artwork, elaborate architecture and below the main floor, the crypts of the popes. Monday was also the day the current Pope Benedict XVI resigned – probably why they had closed the museum. As we were leaving the Basilica, the courtyard was filled with media, their cameras and satellite uplink trucks. It wasn’t until after we had returned to our hotel room and turned the TV on that we found out he had resigned.

Remember to click on each picture to enlarge it.

The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Peter's Square

The Dome from the inside of the Basilica

The Canopy over the main altar

Mass in a side chapel

Examples of sculpture work in the Basilica

Saint Veronica Sculpture

Examples of paintings

Artwork over the crypt of Pope John Paul II

Papal Guards

The following day we returned to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel with tickets and tour guide in hand. The Vatican allows photos to be taken inside parts of the Museum but not in the Sistine Chapel. The security people in there were removing people continuously for taking pictures with their Ipads, cameras and cell phone cameras. Also silence is observed in the Sistine Chapel so if visitors started to talk, a security person over a loud speaker would broadcast shhhhhh!, which immediately quieted the crowd.

Photos from inside the Museum

Returning from the Vatican the first day, the rain stopped so we visited the Spanish Steps area. The Spanish Steps is named for the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican 300 years ago. It has been the hangout for many Romantics over the years such as Keats, Wagner, Goethe and others. Now it is known as the ritzy shopping area of Rome. Walking down the Via Condotti, the Gucchi store is across the street from the Prada store which is next to the Rolex store, etc. Obviously we didn’t do any shopping on that street!

From there we followed the Via del Corso south toward the ruins of the Roman Empire. On the way we were attacked by a Roman soldier, but Dale got the best of him before she turned the sword on me.

The Colosseum and the remains of the Forum are amazing. The floor (arena) of the colosseum where the gladiator fighting took place was an oval of 280 feet long by 165 feet wide. The Colosseum held 50,000 people in it and segregated people by class. The senators had their own section with their names on the stones they sat on as did the Vestal Virgins, the emperor ,etc. It rained off and on while we were touring these ruins requiring us to spend some time huddled under our umbrella while under arches and trees. The pictures don’t do this massive area justice. West of the forum area are the remains of Circus Maximus, the 2100 foot long arena which could seat a quarter million people cheering on chariot races taking place there. Remember Charleton Heston in Ben Hur?

The Colosseum