Finally got to Rome on 4th March, so this post is a little tardy. I've always wanted to come here since sitting in history class in secondary school. A slightly inauspicious start: fact - when wearing a heavy backpack one shouldn't skip blithely down sets of stairs. Anyway, I think using my hiking pole as a cane gave me a distinguished character for my first couple of days. Those eccentric English!
I had a list as long as a baby's arm of things I wanted to do in Rome but time was short.
St Peter's Basilica & Pantheon (day 1)
My first stop was the Pantheon. In an unprepossessing little piazza stands what is still one of the largest unsupported concrete domes in the world, with its cheeky little 'occulus' right at the apex. The dome is amazingly high yet, as I found out a few days later, it is possible to totally fill it with incense. A fragrant mass indeed.
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| Pantheon interior |
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| The 'occulus', Pantheon |
St Peter's Basilica is grand in a different way. At study in imposing giganticism, it is chock full of sculptures, shrines, relics and tombs, including of course that of St Peter. The art and decoration was overwhelming but does religion need such grand trappings? If anything, it shows the creativity of man. Nevertheless, it was impressive to see what faith and devotion can inspire!
It was gratifying to see a small mass being said in the middle of the Basilica (not just a tourist attraction) but a bit weird to see the small congregation being photographed by sightseers - a bit like invasion of privacy.
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| 'Pieta', St Peter's Basilica |
See below for a photo of Michengelo's 'Pieta' sculpture. The talent, focus and time it must have taken to create these items is humbling.
And yes, it wasn't sunny all of the time!
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| St Peter's, cloud and bloke |
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