ITALY, July 20, 2011
Dear Friends and Relatives,
I am now writing you from the vantage point of a completed trip, but the last day was so chock-full of activities and goodbyes that it was impossible for me to write anything up that day, and I was leaving Rome rather early on July 21 and needed to concentrate on packing and getting from Point A to Point B in a timely manner, as transits can always be tricky animals. However, as it is about 4:30 a.m. on the morning of July 22, and things are quiet and settled at this point, I can go ahead and think rationally about the last day of the trip, its ramifications and memories for me as a human being and as a traveler. So here goes...
Today was a day to explore the religious aspect of the tour, with a concentration on the very pillars of Christian faith. Today's first guided tour led us to Vatican City, the world's smallest state. Situated on the west bank of the Tiber, just across from the city center, Vatican City was established as a sovereign state in 1929--a tiny territory surrounded by high walls on its far west side and on the near side opening its doors to the rest of the city and its pilgrims in the form of St. Peter's and its colonnaded piazza. The city-state's 1,000 inhabitants have their own radio station, daily newspaper, postal service, and security service in the colorfully dressed Swiss Guards. It is believed that St. Peter was buried in a pagan cemetery on the Vatican hill, giving rise to the building of a basilica to venerate his name and the siting of the headquarters of the Catholic church here. St. Peter's is obviously one of the highlights, but the only part of the Vatican Palace itself that you can visit independently is the Vatican museums--the largest, richest, most compelling and perhaps the most exhausting museum complex in the world.
We did not have the time to visit the museums for any great length of time, and you will see why from the list of them, each of which would take a week due to the treasures contained in them all: there is a museum of classical statuary; Egyptian artifacts, Etruscan sculpture, candelabra and tapestries, and maps, all of which we went through on our way to the Sistine Chapel. There were the private apartments of Pope Julius II (the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to complete the ceiling of the Sistine); the private apartments of his predecessor, and now host to a large collection of modern religious art; and then we finally reached the steps leading to the Sistine Chapel. I have never seen such concentrated riches in one place, but I was in for much more!
The Sistine Chapel is a barn-like structure that serves as the pope's official private chapel and the scene of the conclaves of cardinals for the election of each new pontiff. The ceiling frescoes here, and the painting of the "Last Judgment" on the altar wall, are probably the most viewed paintings in the world. It is estimated that about 15,000 people a day see them.
I wish I had had a pair of binoculars to see the details of the ceiling, but the experience of the entire cycle of amazing works filled my soul with wonder. It is officially forbidden to speak in the Sistine, but with the guides speaking softly to their charges and so many people crowded in to see the paintings on every available inch of ceiling and wall, the place was a lively enclave of awe anyway. The walls of the chapel are decorated with several prominent paintings of the Renaissance--Pinturicchio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio. Recently restored, they would be a massive highlight anywhere else. As it is, they are entirely overshadowed by Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes, commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508. They depict scenes from the Old Testament, from the "Creation of Light" at the altar end to the "Drunkenness of Noah" over the door.
Entering from behind the altar, you are to imagine, as you look up, that you are looking into heaven through the arches of the architecture that spring from the sides of the chapel. Michelangelo also incorporated pagan sibyls and biblical prophets in his scheme. They are perhaps the most dramatic figures in this entire work, and are clearly labeled by the painter. There is, for instance, the sensitive Delphic Sibyl and the hag-like Cumaean Sibyl. Among the prophets is Jeremiah, a brooding self-portrait of an exhausted Michelangelo.
The "Last Judgment" on the altar wall of the chapel was painted by the artist more than 20 years later. Michelangelo was not really interested in working on it, but Pope Paul II was eager to complete the decoration of the chapel. The painting took five years and is probably the most inspired and homogenous large-scale painting ever to be seen. The exuberance of the work is undeniable. The center is occupied by a muscular Christ, turning angrily as he gestures the condemned to the underworld. St. Peter, carrying his gold and silver keys, looks on in astonishment, while Mary averts her eyes from the scene. Below Christ, a group of angels blast their trumpets to summon the dead from their sleep. On the left, the dead awaken from graves, tombs, and sarcophagi, and are levitating into the heavens or being pulled by ropes and the napes of their necks by angels who take them before Christ. At the bottom right, Charon, keeper of the Underworld, swings his oar at the damned souls as they fall off the boat into the waiting maws of hell.
The visual experience of all these works was moving in the extreme, and I could seriously have used much more time here, but there was so much more to see and we had to move on. Furthermore, beyond the Sistine, there are museums of classical sculpture; the Pinacoteca, with its concentration of works from the High Renaissance; and another museum of classical sculpture, sarcophagi, and art and artifacts from the Far East, collected by Catholic missionaries. It is impossible, of course, to see just the museums over the range of a week, much less the heavy-hitting Sistine Chapel and the monumental enclave of St. Peter's, where we were headed next.
Perhaps the most famous of Rome's many piazzas, Bernini's Piazza San Pietro's size isn't really apparent until you are right on top of it, its colonnade arms symbolically welcoming the world into the lap of the Catholic church. The obelisk in the center was brought to Rome by Caligula in 36 A.D., and was moved here in 1586, when Sixtus V ordered that it be erected in front of the basilica. The matching fountains on either side are the works of Carlo Maderno and Bernini. In between the obelisk and each fountain, a circular stone set in the pavement marks the focal points of an ellipse, from which the four rows of columns on the perimeter of the piazza line up perfectly, making the colonnade appear to be supported by a single line of columns. The Basilica di San Pietro, known to many as St. Peter's, is the principal shrine of the Catholic Church, built on the site of St. Peter's tomb, and worked on by the greatest Italian architects of the 16th and 17th c. One of the channels on the right side of the piazza funnels you into the basilica.
The first thing you see when you enter the church is Michelangelo's "Pieta" on the right, completed when he was just 24. Following an attack by a vandal, it sits behind glass, which gives it a quality of remoteness. However, its power and serene, noble beauty in the face of death are undeniably moving, the limp musculature of a dead Christ in the arms of his ever youthful, yet grieving mother, a noble, resigned dignity on her face, a powerful and potent symbol of human dignity and nobility in the crushing face of death and mortality.
Further into the church, the dome is imposing, rising high above the supposed site of St. Peter's tomb. With a diameter of 41.3 meters, it is Rome's largest dome, supported by four enormous piers, decorated with reliefs depicting the basilica's major relics: St. Veronica's handkerchief which was used to wipe the face of Christ; the lance of St. Longinus, which pierced Christ's side; and a piece of the True Cross. On the right side of the nave, the bronze statue of St. Peter is another of the most venerated monuments of the basilica, its right foot polished smooth by the attentions of pilgrims. Bronze was also the material used in Bernini's spiraling baldacchino, a massive set of pillars topped by a roof--the high altar from which the Pope celebrates Christmas Mass, for instance. As, in one of the side chapels, Mass was being celebrated, I entered the space and sat down, to hear the Scriptures read in Italian. The sense of timelessness in this place was undeniable and potent, and I felt very privileged and humbled as a believer to be in this extraordinary place.
But time stands still for no one, and our guide was asking us to gather round again. It was time to get on the bus for a trip back to the hotel and an independent lunch before going on an excursion to the Catacombs and St. Peter's Outside the Walls, both slated for the afternoon for those who wanted to go (including, of course, yours truly). Down the street from the hotel we had a hasty lunch, and I had a very simple spaghetti and ragu sauce, plus Fanta, before moving on.
Our bus took us for a 3-hour excursion to descend Rome's ancient catacombs, which were underground labyrinths where 2nd c. Christians buried their dead. A guide was to lead us through the burial chambers, decorated with some of the earliest Christian symbols and artwork.
The graves were to be found along the Appian Way, the most famous of Rome's consular roads that used to strike out in every direction from the ancient city. It was built by Appio Claudio in 312 B.C. and is the only Roman landmark mentioned in the Bible. During classical times it was the most important of all the Roman trade routes, carrying supplies through Campania to the port of Brindisi, and it remained an important part of early Christian Rome, its edges lined with numerous pagan and Christian sites, including most famously the underground burial cemeteries or catacombs of the first Christians.
The church of Domine Quo Vadis is the first visible site on the Via Appia. Legend has it that this is where St. Peter had a vision of Christ. Peter asked him, "Where goest Thou, Lord?" ("Domine, quo vadis?"), to which Christ replied that he was going to be crucified once more, leading Peter to accept his fate of being crucified. The Catacombs, 500 m further on, are situated under a basilica that was originally built by Constantine on the spot where the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul are said to have been laid for a time. Niches inside the wall were of various widths, depending on who and how many were buried there. Narrow alleyways snaked in a kind of labyrinthine network underneath the church. At one point, extremely well preserved in the cool atmosphere of these lower reaches, was an altar featuring Peter and Paul and a host of Christian followers and worshippers.
Banking on the theme of the early apostles, specifically St. Paul, we then visited St. Paul's Cathedral or San Paolo fuori le Mura, or St. Paul Outside the Wall, one of the four patriarchal basilicas in Rome, occupying the supposed site of St. Paul's tomb, where he was laid to rest after having been beheaded nearby. Of the four, this basilica has probably fared the least well over the years, and a devastating fire in 1823 meant that the church we saw is a 19th c. reconstruction. However, the space of the building is awesome, and the crowds visiting it were much less, so that you could really have a good look at the church, with our guide. Some parts of the building did survive the fire. The bronze aisle doors date from 1070 and were rescued from the old basilica, as was the 13th c. tabernacle. The arch across the apse is original too, and the ceiling painting is beautifully jeweled with mosaics in a very Byzantine rendering of Christ and the Apostles. There is also a cloister featuring mosaic-encrusted columns enclosing a peaceful rose garden.
After this excursion we returned to the hotel for a washing up and departure for our final dinner, which began with ravioli, featured pork and mixed vegetables for a main dish, and ended with a lovely, light cake. Of course, toasts were made all round, and it was fortunate that Nancy's husband Jim was able to join us for it and the night tour of Rome afterwards.
The night tour, proposed by Gloria and seconded by us all, was done by bus, with three requisite stops in place. The first was the Trevi Fountain, a huge, very Baroque gush of water over statues and rocks, built on the backside of a Renaissance palace. It is the place you come to in order to toss in a coin if you want to guarantee your return to Rome. Of course, Anita Ekberg, who threw herself into the fountain in the movie "La Dolce Vita," came to mind as well. Recently restored, it is a major hangout place, and the square around it was full. We drifted there after about a 5-minute walk from the bus, and of course everyone wanted to toss a coin to guarantee return.
Monuments were lit up everywhere, and Rome was presenting its most magical side. As we made our way along the road bordering the Baths of Caracalla, we saw a performance of the ballet "Swan Lake" from afar. Magical!
Our second stop was the Piazza Navona, in the western sector of the centro storico or historic center. It is a pedestrianized oval that is picturesque. It is known to be best at night, when the inevitably tourist-geared flavor of the place is at its most vibrant. The piazza takes its name from the Greek word for "struggle" due to the games that were traditionally held here, and its shape from the 1st c. A.D. stadium of Domitian, the principal venue of the athletic events and later chariot races that took place in the Campus Martius. There are three main fountains in this square--the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, a masterpiece by Bernini, with figures representing what were considered at the time to be the four great rivers of the world--the Nile, Danube, Ganges and Plate; the Fontana del Moro, and the Fontana dell Nettuno, depicting Neptune struggling with a sea monster, surrounded by briny creatures in a riot of fishing nets and nymphs.
By now it was about 11:30, and the piazza was still filled with stalls or artists advertising their work, hawkers attempting to sell tourists anything from glow-in-the-dark light sticks to scarves; and two of the best gelaterias of Rome (according to Gloria, who ought to know, being from there) were located there as well and were still open. Of course about four of us had an incredibly decadent dark chocolate gelato that was truly monumental, covered with cream and featuring, at its core, cherries.
Walking back about seven minutes to the bus, our last stop was a fitting ending to the tour: a short stop in front of the brilliantly lit dome of St. Peter's. I attempted to take a photograph, but only the sweep of the eye can do it justice. By this time, midnight, the witching hour had set in, and the dome, by the light of a full moon, evoked pure magic and made me want to stay, or at least come back, for a second and third round in what has to be one of the richest historical testaments of the world, among cities.
And now I have finally finished a blog which it has been a pleasure to keep. The next morning, I was off to Fiumicino Airport (once called the Leonardo da Vinci Airport--why changed? who knows?), and the long lines for check-in, passport control, and security brought me back down to the world of reality once again. My flight itinerary took me on a 10-hour odyssey to Detroit, and then the entire passport control, baggage claim, customs control, security control phases had to be overcome once again under the severe detriment of jetlag. However, I made it to my last flight leg to DFW and arrived at about 9:30 last night, 4:30 a.m. Rome time. In other words, approximately a 22-hour odyssey, but well worth it. Arrivederci a Italia! Hope any of you who bothered reading it enjoyed my blog. As ever, Sylvia
I am now writing you from the vantage point of a completed trip, but the last day was so chock-full of activities and goodbyes that it was impossible for me to write anything up that day, and I was leaving Rome rather early on July 21 and needed to concentrate on packing and getting from Point A to Point B in a timely manner, as transits can always be tricky animals. However, as it is about 4:30 a.m. on the morning of July 22, and things are quiet and settled at this point, I can go ahead and think rationally about the last day of the trip, its ramifications and memories for me as a human being and as a traveler. So here goes...
Today was a day to explore the religious aspect of the tour, with a concentration on the very pillars of Christian faith. Today's first guided tour led us to Vatican City, the world's smallest state. Situated on the west bank of the Tiber, just across from the city center, Vatican City was established as a sovereign state in 1929--a tiny territory surrounded by high walls on its far west side and on the near side opening its doors to the rest of the city and its pilgrims in the form of St. Peter's and its colonnaded piazza. The city-state's 1,000 inhabitants have their own radio station, daily newspaper, postal service, and security service in the colorfully dressed Swiss Guards. It is believed that St. Peter was buried in a pagan cemetery on the Vatican hill, giving rise to the building of a basilica to venerate his name and the siting of the headquarters of the Catholic church here. St. Peter's is obviously one of the highlights, but the only part of the Vatican Palace itself that you can visit independently is the Vatican museums--the largest, richest, most compelling and perhaps the most exhausting museum complex in the world.
We did not have the time to visit the museums for any great length of time, and you will see why from the list of them, each of which would take a week due to the treasures contained in them all: there is a museum of classical statuary; Egyptian artifacts, Etruscan sculpture, candelabra and tapestries, and maps, all of which we went through on our way to the Sistine Chapel. There were the private apartments of Pope Julius II (the pope who commissioned Michelangelo to complete the ceiling of the Sistine); the private apartments of his predecessor, and now host to a large collection of modern religious art; and then we finally reached the steps leading to the Sistine Chapel. I have never seen such concentrated riches in one place, but I was in for much more!
The Sistine Chapel is a barn-like structure that serves as the pope's official private chapel and the scene of the conclaves of cardinals for the election of each new pontiff. The ceiling frescoes here, and the painting of the "Last Judgment" on the altar wall, are probably the most viewed paintings in the world. It is estimated that about 15,000 people a day see them.
I wish I had had a pair of binoculars to see the details of the ceiling, but the experience of the entire cycle of amazing works filled my soul with wonder. It is officially forbidden to speak in the Sistine, but with the guides speaking softly to their charges and so many people crowded in to see the paintings on every available inch of ceiling and wall, the place was a lively enclave of awe anyway. The walls of the chapel are decorated with several prominent paintings of the Renaissance--Pinturicchio, Perugino, Botticelli, and Ghirlandaio. Recently restored, they would be a massive highlight anywhere else. As it is, they are entirely overshadowed by Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes, commissioned by Pope Julius II in 1508. They depict scenes from the Old Testament, from the "Creation of Light" at the altar end to the "Drunkenness of Noah" over the door.
Entering from behind the altar, you are to imagine, as you look up, that you are looking into heaven through the arches of the architecture that spring from the sides of the chapel. Michelangelo also incorporated pagan sibyls and biblical prophets in his scheme. They are perhaps the most dramatic figures in this entire work, and are clearly labeled by the painter. There is, for instance, the sensitive Delphic Sibyl and the hag-like Cumaean Sibyl. Among the prophets is Jeremiah, a brooding self-portrait of an exhausted Michelangelo.
The "Last Judgment" on the altar wall of the chapel was painted by the artist more than 20 years later. Michelangelo was not really interested in working on it, but Pope Paul II was eager to complete the decoration of the chapel. The painting took five years and is probably the most inspired and homogenous large-scale painting ever to be seen. The exuberance of the work is undeniable. The center is occupied by a muscular Christ, turning angrily as he gestures the condemned to the underworld. St. Peter, carrying his gold and silver keys, looks on in astonishment, while Mary averts her eyes from the scene. Below Christ, a group of angels blast their trumpets to summon the dead from their sleep. On the left, the dead awaken from graves, tombs, and sarcophagi, and are levitating into the heavens or being pulled by ropes and the napes of their necks by angels who take them before Christ. At the bottom right, Charon, keeper of the Underworld, swings his oar at the damned souls as they fall off the boat into the waiting maws of hell.
The visual experience of all these works was moving in the extreme, and I could seriously have used much more time here, but there was so much more to see and we had to move on. Furthermore, beyond the Sistine, there are museums of classical sculpture; the Pinacoteca, with its concentration of works from the High Renaissance; and another museum of classical sculpture, sarcophagi, and art and artifacts from the Far East, collected by Catholic missionaries. It is impossible, of course, to see just the museums over the range of a week, much less the heavy-hitting Sistine Chapel and the monumental enclave of St. Peter's, where we were headed next.
Perhaps the most famous of Rome's many piazzas, Bernini's Piazza San Pietro's size isn't really apparent until you are right on top of it, its colonnade arms symbolically welcoming the world into the lap of the Catholic church. The obelisk in the center was brought to Rome by Caligula in 36 A.D., and was moved here in 1586, when Sixtus V ordered that it be erected in front of the basilica. The matching fountains on either side are the works of Carlo Maderno and Bernini. In between the obelisk and each fountain, a circular stone set in the pavement marks the focal points of an ellipse, from which the four rows of columns on the perimeter of the piazza line up perfectly, making the colonnade appear to be supported by a single line of columns. The Basilica di San Pietro, known to many as St. Peter's, is the principal shrine of the Catholic Church, built on the site of St. Peter's tomb, and worked on by the greatest Italian architects of the 16th and 17th c. One of the channels on the right side of the piazza funnels you into the basilica.
The first thing you see when you enter the church is Michelangelo's "Pieta" on the right, completed when he was just 24. Following an attack by a vandal, it sits behind glass, which gives it a quality of remoteness. However, its power and serene, noble beauty in the face of death are undeniably moving, the limp musculature of a dead Christ in the arms of his ever youthful, yet grieving mother, a noble, resigned dignity on her face, a powerful and potent symbol of human dignity and nobility in the crushing face of death and mortality.
Further into the church, the dome is imposing, rising high above the supposed site of St. Peter's tomb. With a diameter of 41.3 meters, it is Rome's largest dome, supported by four enormous piers, decorated with reliefs depicting the basilica's major relics: St. Veronica's handkerchief which was used to wipe the face of Christ; the lance of St. Longinus, which pierced Christ's side; and a piece of the True Cross. On the right side of the nave, the bronze statue of St. Peter is another of the most venerated monuments of the basilica, its right foot polished smooth by the attentions of pilgrims. Bronze was also the material used in Bernini's spiraling baldacchino, a massive set of pillars topped by a roof--the high altar from which the Pope celebrates Christmas Mass, for instance. As, in one of the side chapels, Mass was being celebrated, I entered the space and sat down, to hear the Scriptures read in Italian. The sense of timelessness in this place was undeniable and potent, and I felt very privileged and humbled as a believer to be in this extraordinary place.
But time stands still for no one, and our guide was asking us to gather round again. It was time to get on the bus for a trip back to the hotel and an independent lunch before going on an excursion to the Catacombs and St. Peter's Outside the Walls, both slated for the afternoon for those who wanted to go (including, of course, yours truly). Down the street from the hotel we had a hasty lunch, and I had a very simple spaghetti and ragu sauce, plus Fanta, before moving on.
Our bus took us for a 3-hour excursion to descend Rome's ancient catacombs, which were underground labyrinths where 2nd c. Christians buried their dead. A guide was to lead us through the burial chambers, decorated with some of the earliest Christian symbols and artwork.
The graves were to be found along the Appian Way, the most famous of Rome's consular roads that used to strike out in every direction from the ancient city. It was built by Appio Claudio in 312 B.C. and is the only Roman landmark mentioned in the Bible. During classical times it was the most important of all the Roman trade routes, carrying supplies through Campania to the port of Brindisi, and it remained an important part of early Christian Rome, its edges lined with numerous pagan and Christian sites, including most famously the underground burial cemeteries or catacombs of the first Christians.
The church of Domine Quo Vadis is the first visible site on the Via Appia. Legend has it that this is where St. Peter had a vision of Christ. Peter asked him, "Where goest Thou, Lord?" ("Domine, quo vadis?"), to which Christ replied that he was going to be crucified once more, leading Peter to accept his fate of being crucified. The Catacombs, 500 m further on, are situated under a basilica that was originally built by Constantine on the spot where the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul are said to have been laid for a time. Niches inside the wall were of various widths, depending on who and how many were buried there. Narrow alleyways snaked in a kind of labyrinthine network underneath the church. At one point, extremely well preserved in the cool atmosphere of these lower reaches, was an altar featuring Peter and Paul and a host of Christian followers and worshippers.
Banking on the theme of the early apostles, specifically St. Paul, we then visited St. Paul's Cathedral or San Paolo fuori le Mura, or St. Paul Outside the Wall, one of the four patriarchal basilicas in Rome, occupying the supposed site of St. Paul's tomb, where he was laid to rest after having been beheaded nearby. Of the four, this basilica has probably fared the least well over the years, and a devastating fire in 1823 meant that the church we saw is a 19th c. reconstruction. However, the space of the building is awesome, and the crowds visiting it were much less, so that you could really have a good look at the church, with our guide. Some parts of the building did survive the fire. The bronze aisle doors date from 1070 and were rescued from the old basilica, as was the 13th c. tabernacle. The arch across the apse is original too, and the ceiling painting is beautifully jeweled with mosaics in a very Byzantine rendering of Christ and the Apostles. There is also a cloister featuring mosaic-encrusted columns enclosing a peaceful rose garden.
After this excursion we returned to the hotel for a washing up and departure for our final dinner, which began with ravioli, featured pork and mixed vegetables for a main dish, and ended with a lovely, light cake. Of course, toasts were made all round, and it was fortunate that Nancy's husband Jim was able to join us for it and the night tour of Rome afterwards.
The night tour, proposed by Gloria and seconded by us all, was done by bus, with three requisite stops in place. The first was the Trevi Fountain, a huge, very Baroque gush of water over statues and rocks, built on the backside of a Renaissance palace. It is the place you come to in order to toss in a coin if you want to guarantee your return to Rome. Of course, Anita Ekberg, who threw herself into the fountain in the movie "La Dolce Vita," came to mind as well. Recently restored, it is a major hangout place, and the square around it was full. We drifted there after about a 5-minute walk from the bus, and of course everyone wanted to toss a coin to guarantee return.
Monuments were lit up everywhere, and Rome was presenting its most magical side. As we made our way along the road bordering the Baths of Caracalla, we saw a performance of the ballet "Swan Lake" from afar. Magical!
Our second stop was the Piazza Navona, in the western sector of the centro storico or historic center. It is a pedestrianized oval that is picturesque. It is known to be best at night, when the inevitably tourist-geared flavor of the place is at its most vibrant. The piazza takes its name from the Greek word for "struggle" due to the games that were traditionally held here, and its shape from the 1st c. A.D. stadium of Domitian, the principal venue of the athletic events and later chariot races that took place in the Campus Martius. There are three main fountains in this square--the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, a masterpiece by Bernini, with figures representing what were considered at the time to be the four great rivers of the world--the Nile, Danube, Ganges and Plate; the Fontana del Moro, and the Fontana dell Nettuno, depicting Neptune struggling with a sea monster, surrounded by briny creatures in a riot of fishing nets and nymphs.
By now it was about 11:30, and the piazza was still filled with stalls or artists advertising their work, hawkers attempting to sell tourists anything from glow-in-the-dark light sticks to scarves; and two of the best gelaterias of Rome (according to Gloria, who ought to know, being from there) were located there as well and were still open. Of course about four of us had an incredibly decadent dark chocolate gelato that was truly monumental, covered with cream and featuring, at its core, cherries.
Walking back about seven minutes to the bus, our last stop was a fitting ending to the tour: a short stop in front of the brilliantly lit dome of St. Peter's. I attempted to take a photograph, but only the sweep of the eye can do it justice. By this time, midnight, the witching hour had set in, and the dome, by the light of a full moon, evoked pure magic and made me want to stay, or at least come back, for a second and third round in what has to be one of the richest historical testaments of the world, among cities.
And now I have finally finished a blog which it has been a pleasure to keep. The next morning, I was off to Fiumicino Airport (once called the Leonardo da Vinci Airport--why changed? who knows?), and the long lines for check-in, passport control, and security brought me back down to the world of reality once again. My flight itinerary took me on a 10-hour odyssey to Detroit, and then the entire passport control, baggage claim, customs control, security control phases had to be overcome once again under the severe detriment of jetlag. However, I made it to my last flight leg to DFW and arrived at about 9:30 last night, 4:30 a.m. Rome time. In other words, approximately a 22-hour odyssey, but well worth it. Arrivederci a Italia! Hope any of you who bothered reading it enjoyed my blog. As ever, Sylvia
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