St. Peter's/Hard Rock with Amy

Gooooood evening from good ol' Roma! Another update waits you below. I know I've been updating a lot, so if you've missed an entry, rather than aimlessly scrolling down along the contents of the page, I'd say it would work better to use the quick links on the right margin of this page. Just click the title of the entry you're looking for (they're all listed chronologically). Also, I'm sure many of you have noticed the problem where you try to click on the pictures to enlarge them, and some of them work, but others don't. This is a fault on the way blogger works when I upload pictures, and I just got a handle on how to compensate for it, so this entry will (hopefully) be the first where that doesn't pose a problem. Anyway, without further hesitation, here is my day in a nutshell.

I started off the day with a hike to St. Peter's. As many people know who have read this blog from the beginning, I have been to St. Peter's before, but I have never gone inside, and I certainly have never climbed the 500-some odd stairs to the top of the main dome of the basilica. So I spent my day at St. Peter's, and then met up with Amy to go on a hot air balloon ride in Villa Borghese. Unfortunately, we were told by the local police, after inquiring, that the balloon only runs from March to September every year, so no luck there. But the good news is on the way back from the "balloon ride," we stumbled across the Hard Rock Cafe Rome. So, we had a bite and a drink there, and that capped off my day. Below is a large series of pictures showing the events/views of the day with explanations below each... as usual. Enjoy!

This is a picture I took while standing on the grounds of St. Peter's, looking through a portion of the colonnade onto an adjacent building which is NOT part of the St. Peter's Basilica compound... basically just a photo I like.

A shot of one of the two fountains within the St. Peter's colonnade with the sun behind it, and a portion of St. Peter's, too.

The outside of the largest religious building in the world... St. Peter's Basilica, in case you couldn't guess.

After I cleared all the metal detectors, this was the view that awaited me from atop the entrance steps to St. Peter's, looking back into the colonnade-encircled area. The altar-looking thing in the foreground on the right is the altar which the Pope gives mass at.

Thankfully I was dressed to impress, as the sign stipulates.

Michelangelo's Pieta, inside St. Peter's.

One of my favorite shots of the inside of the Basilica. Those big bursts of light are not artificial lighting. They are actually cross-shaped openings in the roof which emit a fair amount of sunlight each. There is no artificial lighting within the basilica... not even in the endless stairwell which leads to the top of the dome. By the way, look at the scale of this building! People look like ants.

One of the many chapel domes within the Basilica.

One of the many many unbelievably-crafted statues within the Basilica. You would swear the wind was blowing here.


Another example of the beautiful architectural decoration utilized throughout the Basilica. Also, the cross-shaped light wells make another appearance.

Bernini's Baldachinno. This is the indoor altar which the Pope would give a mass from. The scale of this thing is absolutely immense. Every detail on it is both purposeful, meaningful, and beautiful. This was Bernini's final contribution to St. Peter's Basilica.

I was fortunate enough to witness a mass going on inside the Basilica. While this isn't the Pope strolling through, it's still a Priest at St. Peter's, which is cool enough. Though I didn't stay for mass, I was able to go into the prayer room within the St. Peter's and have a little one on one time with the Big Man to thank him for the life I've been to carry on since my accident some 7 weeks ago.

This picture marks the first in the series of my ascent up the Basilica onto the highest dome of the church. It was 500-something stairs. You could opt out of 200 or so by taking an elevator part of the way up, but I didn't want to, as I didn't want to miss anything. This is a shot of the mass going on from about 300 stairs up, while still inside the Basilica.

A picture of me on top of St. Peter's. Below me is the beautiful circular colonnade designed and constructed by Bernini himself. If you notice a glow around my head when you enlarge this picture, it's just because of some shoddy Photoshopping... I had to get this on the blog, and had to play with some brightness values in specific areas of the picture. I'll have a better crafted version eventually.

The first of the two panoramics from the top of the dome that I stitched together. Definitely enlarge this one, and have a look at the colonnade, as well as the surrounding areas in the Vatican and beyond.

The second of the panoramics. Enlarge this one too and enjoy the green side and the cityside of this wonderful Roman Empire.

Later on, I met up with Amy, and we got a bite at the Hard Rock ROMA!

Amy and I awaiting our food and enjoying our drinks in the Hard Rock!

One of TWO Ferrari's that I saw today. One drove by me at about 2 kph, but this one was parked and begging me to take its picture. It's a 360 Spider if you're wondering.

That'll do it for my entry today. I hope you enjoyed all the pictures and the story! Tomorrow I'm headed back to the Vatican for the Sistine Chapel and for the Vatican Museum. Thursday I'm off by train to Cinque Terra to check out the famed cliff towns of Italy. Until tomorrow, buona notte!