A Roman adventure - part 6

After a dramatic thunder, lightning and rain storm in the night Laura's fourth day in Rome dawned bright and almost clear of clouds.  After breakfast she took a bus to the Vatican.  The queue for St Peter's Basilica was already starting to stretch across the square, however it only took 30 minutes from the time of joining the queue to getting into the church, which was a lot quicker than it would have been the previous afternoon.

St Peter's Square, Vatican City

Laura in St Peter's Square, Vatican City

Laura was glad it wasn't too crowded in the square.  She had dressed smartly for this visit, and was wearing a Vintage Sasha coat over her Union Flag sailor dress

Inside a side chapel in St Peter's Basilica was the very famous Pieta by Michelangelo

Michelangelo's Pieta was quite magnificent but was sadly behind bullet proof glass after a previous attack on the statue

One of the side domes in St Peter's with very detailed frescos, mosaics and gold leaf

Laura was overwhelmed by the number of side chapels, altars, paintings and sculptures in St Peter's

 One side chapel was reserved for quiet prayer, with no photos allowed (it was behind a large heavy curtain).  Laura did go in there, it was called Cappella del SS.Mo Sacramento Vaticano and you can find photos of it on the internet.

In the nave Laura gazed in amazement at the canopy and altar over the tomb of St Peter

The canopy over the tomb of St Peter was very high and richly decorated

Laura took a photo of the detailed decorations on the canopy

This dove and rays of light were over the high altar in the distance behind the canopy 

The underside of the immense dome of St Peter's was decorated in great detail with gold leaf, mosiacs and carvings, it looked amazing with the light shining through the clerestory windows

Laura saw the altar in the chapel which was only used for weddings, she took this photo through the closed gate.

The organ and choir stalls in the wedding chapel - there was a lot of gold

St Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world, Laura felt very small as she stood in the nave on the marble floor, some of which once decorated the buildings of the Palatine hill and the Roman Forum.

After visiting St Peter's in the Vatican Laura bought a ticket for the Vatican Museums so she could visit the Sistine Chapel.  On the way to the famous chapel she saw lots of interesting Roman and Christian art in the long corridor.  Her favourites were the Roman mosiac and a large tapestry.

A Roman mosiac with still life, found in the Villa of Numisia Procula on the Via Ardeatina (Tor Marancia).  Laura loved the fine detail of the still life, all done with tiny stones contrasting with the bold border of black and white stones. 

Laura felt very small compared to the huge tapestry showing the ascension of Christ

Laura was really disappointed as she was not allowed to take photos in the Sistine Chapel of the famous ceiling paintings including God giving life to Adam, or the High altar wall showing the Last Judgement, both painted by Michelangelo.  The chapel was crowded, the guides not very friendly and whenever the quiet talking of the crowd raised above a certain level the guides shouted 'silencio' from a loud speaker which instead of preserving the preferred contemplative atmosphere of a chapel destroyed it.  The paintings by Michelangelo, Giotto and others were amazing but the experience was disappointing and Laura was not sad to leave the Sistine chapel.

On her way back through the Vatican museum Laura saw this golden model of a church

 After lunch in the Vatican cafe, Laura found her way out to the one part of the Vatican garden which was open to the public.  It was beside the Vatican Art gallery building which was only built in 1932 to house the incredible art collection of famous and not so famous works which belong to the Vatican collection.

The Vatican Art gallery

Laura was pleased to be out in the fresh air in the garden

She had her photo taken with the dome of St Peter's in the background

Laura took a photo of the dome of St Peter's from the Vatican garden

Laura in front of the Vatican Art Gallery

Even the outside of the Vatican Art gallery was richly decorated

Inside the Vatican Art Gallery Laura was able to get up close to a plaster cast of the Pieta

In the Vatican shop Laura bought a couple of gifts for friends. After leaving the Vatican, she walked all the way to the Spanish Steps.  The real Spanish Steps were unfortunately under scaffolding and not accessible to the public, however in a restaurant around the corner Laura discovered a mural of the Spanish Steps.

Laura admired the Spanish Steps in Rome

The mural of the Spanish Steps was covered in flowers, so Laura took her coat off as it felt like summer

There was even a model of the boat shaped fountain in front of the mural of the Spanish Steps

Laura enjoyed her pizza in the restaurant then put her coat back on and walked all the way back to the hotel for another well earned rest.  It had been a fascinating day at the Vatican.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome and Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum, Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum and Part 5 when she explored the narrow streets of Rome)

A Roman adventure - part 5

After eating pizza outside the Colosseum Laura went around the outside of the Roman Forum which she had visited the day before.  It was raining so she peeped out from inside her girl's raincoat to see the splendid sight of the ruins in the rain.

Laura saw the Roman Forum from the Via del Fiori Imperiali

This building, now a church, was once the Curia where the Roman Senate met

The Roman Forum with the Monument of Victor Emmanuel (known as the wedding cake) in the background

Round the front of the Monument of Victor Emmanuel was the tomb of the unknown warrior.  Laura discovered this was guarded day and night by Italian soldiers.

On the side of a huge building on the Capitoline hill Laura saw the mother wolf with Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome

Laura admired the Roman Forum from the Capitoline hill

Laura decided to go and see the Vatican, so she traveled by bus with her girl.  It was still raining when she reached it and the queues were very long, snaking all across St Peter's Square.  It was too late in the day to join the queue to see inside St Peter's Basilica.  Instead she admired a shop window near the Vatican which was already decorated for Christmas.

The Christmas decorations, including an animated nativity scene in a shop window near the Vatican

Laura realised that Pinocchio was important to Italians when she saw this collection in the shop window

Laura walked towards the river Tiber and looked back at St Peter's Basilica from the river bank

After crossing the river Laura walked through the narrow Roman streets where the tourist buses couldn't go, she found a long street called Via dei Coronari.  It had a lot of quaint little shops and artisan workshops.  She saw a stonemason/plasterer's workshop, then came to a lovely antique and traditional model shop.

There were plenty of model soldiers in one window of the shop

In another window Laura saw a jointed wooden doll or model, it reminded her of a new friend who had come to join the doll family at home recently.  Unfortunately the glass window made it almost impossible to take a good photo of this girl.

And then Laura found the best ice cream shop in Rome - Gelateria del Teatro.

The amazing flavours of ice cream at Gelateria del Teatro

The ice cream shop had a window onto the street showing the kitchen where they made fresh ice cream daily using proper ingredients rather than sugared syrup flavourings.

Gelateria del Teatro kitchen window with ingredients on display

The ice cream shop was beside a little piazza on the street

It was very hard to choose from the enticing range of flavours which included unusual combinations such as Lemon and Rosemary, Tiramisu or Lavendar and White Peach.  Laura had a delicious chocolate mint ice cream on a cone.

Laura loved her Italian ice cream

Laura watched the ice cream chef mix up a strawberry ice cream, he was pleased to see that she was enjoying her ice cream and gave her a thumbs up and a big smile.

Laura discovered a wonderful antique shop with the best display she could wish to see - some wonderful porcelain dolls, a toy horse and many interesting objects were on display

The beautiful antique porcelain dolls in the shop window on the Via dei Coronari

There was even a dollshouse family on their wooden double bed

There was a shop with Murano glass on display

Laura loved the narrow street of the Via dei Coronari, on the map it looked like a main road and it lead Laura to a large piazza

At the entrance to the Piazza Navona was an amazing toy shop with magical window displays. The shop was founded in 1945.

Laura was delighted with this beautiful toy shop window display, all dressed for Christmas

Another display window of the toy shop showed a Noah's Ark with cuddly toy animals

There was also a display of elegant artist dolls

Another window of the toy shop had some antique items, part of a private collection belonging to the shop.  Inside the shop, which was on two levels (via spiral staircases) Laura saw more of the private collection alongside many toys for sale. 

Upstairs was a huge collection of toy animals for sale, including Steiff bears.  

The fountain in the middle of Piazza Navona included large carved statues and mythical figures

Through a couple more streets Laura found the Pantheon, a Roman temple to the gods which had been converted to a Christian church, hence its survival. 

The Pantheon was so impressive and monumental

There were enormous columns at the front of the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon Laura could clearly see the Roman features of the building, in this side chapel behind the columns the wall was no longer lined with marble, the holes in the brickwork showed where the support pegs for the marble lining would have been.

This side chapel in the Pantheon was still lined with marble

Laura gazed up at the large (9 metre) hole in the concrete coiffured ceiling of the Pantheon which was letting through the last of the daylight at dusk and making the ceiling shine with a soft glow

She took a photo of the main altar in the Pantheon

Laura was very impressed with the Pantheon

In the Via Aquiro she saw a Pinocchio workshop, filled with enticing toys and models.

It was getting dark as Laura and her girl went through the streets of Rome to find their way back to the hotel. It had been a very long and fascinating day in Rome, Laura was very tired but happy about all the things she had seen and experienced.

(see also Part 1 of Laura's adventures in Rome and Part 2 when Laura visited the Palatine Hill, Part 3 when Laura explored the Roman Forum and Part 4 when Laura discovered the Colosseum)