People, Popes and a Segne de Dio

Well it has been three days since my last confession, er I mean blog post. Been visiting too many churches. Yesterday I swam against the tide of people intent on seeing the Pope. They were going to St. Peter”s Square and I was going to the Vatican Museums. I saw the Pope last time I was in town (33 years ago and then it was Pope John-Paul II three weeks before somebody shot him and they had to put bullet-proof glass around the pope-mobile). I remember it as a lot of waiting around, is that him? hard to tell, what is he saying? haven’t a clue. I did buy a reservation and it was worth every Euro. Despite roughly 90,000 people in the square to see Pope Francis, there were still a lot interested in the museums and I was very relieved to walk past them.

My children will be happy to know that I surpassed the National Gallery record and spent almost 7 hours touring the museums, then another 1 1/2 hours in St. Peters Basilica. I did stop for lunch. While I ate my big salad with a million olives and artichokes, I ease-dropped on a British family which included three teen/preteens who would have rather been anywhere else than Rome getting educated. Their mother was in despair that they were just not interested and did they want to be thick? She was one of those English women who are very intimidating (think Margaret Thatcher). The father had learned to keep his mouth shut. It ended with the oldest boy saying “could we go home then?” when his mother claimed she wasn’t ramming it down their throats. A lot of silence after that. Yikes! No comments from my kids please.

Among all the things in the museums, I really enjoyed a long hall full of Roman busts of people whose names have been long forgotten. They were just so varied and realistic. The women had an eclectic mix of hairstyles. The other highlight was the Sistine Chapel. Last time the frescos were dark and dingy, yet still impressive. Now, since their cleaning, they are bright and quite stunning. Can I just say well done Michaelangelo. I was so tired last night that when I was downloading my photos I panicked that I had lost my Sistine Chapel photos. Then I realized you aren’t allowed to take any photos in the chapel. Perhaps I stayed too long.

Tuesday was a day of 2 museums and a church. Why Museum of Imperial Fora did you charge me 9 euros for a few rooms with a few lumps of marble? And that included my Roma Pass discount!!! The National Museum of Rome was better at least with some interesting things and charged a lot less. While waiting for the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria to open, I wandered around hungry for lunch (which these days seems to fall between 3 and 4 in the afternoon. Don’t know what timezone I’m in yet.) I was seriously considering McDonalds because there were signs everywhere letting me know there was one somewhere around. As soon as I had given into the idea the signs disappeared. It was a segne de Dio that I should eat at the cafe with the clear acrylic chairs and yes I would like an espresso with that. No McDonalds for me.

Walking on the street to the church I smelled the heavenly aroma of orange blossoms and I looked up, and lo and behold there were oranges. Mmmmmm. Upon entering the church I thought someone had thrown up the Renaissance in there but I was wrong. It was the Baroque. Ha ha, a little art history humour. Anyway I was there to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa, as were several groups of art history students. It was hard to get anywhere near it. Luckily it is relaxing to sit in churches. They are cool, quiet oases away from the bustling Roman streets.

 

Today was one of those touristy days that could have been better spent. I wasted 3 euros taking the Metro out to the dismal area of Rome called the EUR to find the Museum of Roman Civilization closed. I only took 38 photos out of the more than 800 so far. The highlights were the Baths of Caracella with their stunning height and parklike setting, and Monte Testaccio, the mountain of broken olive oil amphorae. That is the truth, it really is.

And here it is, your moment of mosaic.