Bueno Serra from Rome again.
Today we had a long day. Tomorrow is going to be even longer. I'm exhausted and I don't feel well. It is probably because I ate too much pizza. I hope I don't throw up.
Anywho...
Today we got up early to get to Vatican City to go to the Papal audience. You can either stand at the barriers to see the pope or you can go get a seat in front of the alter/stage they had set up where Pope Francis sat. We opted for the seat. We had readings and a blessing from the pope. So many different nationalities were there. I was so happy to hear French and English again. Others included Spanish, Portuguese, German, and two others that I didn't know.
Ticket to get into the Vatican for the papal audience:
One of the Egyptian monuments (they have a name, but I don't know what it's called) is located in St. Peter's square. There are 7 of them, if I'm remembering correctly. They were confiscated from Egypt during the crusades...I think. I could be wrong.
Pope Francis:
Afterwards, we went shopping and then had peach gelato and cherry ice cream. Gelato really isn't creamy and has a stronger taste. Pretty good.
Then we met up with a local guide named Flavia. Just hearing the name, I thought it was a man (it sounded like they said "Flavian"), but nope: a woman.
She explained a whole bunch of things around Rome as we travelled to the Holy Stairs, St. John of Laterene (the Pope's official cathedral), St. Mary Major, and St. Paul outside the walls.
Here's the bell tower on the church of The Mouth of Truth. If you've seen Roman Holiday, it was in that movie where they stuck their hand in the stone face's mouth. The story goes, if you are a liar, your hand will be bit off.
The Roman emperors'' palace ruins:
Before going to St. John's we went to see the holy stairs. They are the stairs that Jesus had to walk up after being flogged to go to Pilate. St. Helena brought them to Rome, along with other relics at the top of the stairs. You have to go up the stairs on your knees. If you don't want to go up them, you can go up the marble stairs on the right side and down the left side.
I may have to finish this blog post some other time. I don't feel good and it's 10 pm...
Okay, maybe I can write a little more before beginning our 3rd day in Rome this morning:
St. John at Laterene is the official cathedral for the pope. All cardinals and the pope are bishops and have their specific cathedral where they are in charge. In the picture, you can also see the red attached building where the pope used to reside before the Vatican and everything in it was erected. This cathedral, including St. Paul Outside the Walls is actually outside of what Flavian called the "main city" of Rome. This was due to the fact that they were both built when the official religion(s) of Rome were pagan and the Catholics were trying not to fight so much with them.
Some more pictures of St. John's are below. The big green door is the oldest door in Rome. It was in a different building for a while. Can't remember which, but pretty sure it was a political building.
The very right side door is only opened every 25 or 50 years...I can't remember which, but I think it was every 25 years from Christmas to Christmas. At that time, the door is opened by the pope and if you walk through it, you gain a plenary indulgence.
Above the door is a plaque that has all the times it has been opened previously. You can see St. JPII's name there. Wonder what they're going to do in 2025 when the door is opened again, because doesn't look like much room to me.
Inside the cathedral:
The oldest fresco in Rome:
Off to the side, there is a piece of wood from the table of the last supper. You have to zoom in to see it. Sorry. When I get home, I probably can get you a better picture. Time's a wastin...
At the back where the pope sits. The mosaic above is actually a copy of the original. Some time, an artist wanted and was given permission to redo the entire cathedral in Baroque style. This bothers me, but whatever.
I found it interesting that the entire day was filled with cathedrals where the candles were fake. Just an observation.
One of the chapels is closed to the public. It is for one of the Italian family's who donated the majority of the funds for the cathedral. It is literally gated off, but I got close enough to take a picture through the gate.
Outside, there is a statue of Constantine. Really, throughout the entire cathedral, there are paintings of him up above. See me when I get back for more pictures.
Apparently my pics got out of order. Here's a close up of the Last Supper table piece.
I should probably stop there. Have to get ready for today. I may just start posting pictures of the day on Facebook and come back and blog later. So very busy.
No comments:
Post a Comment