Sarah and Steve See the City: Day 2+

After Gallerie Borghese, we were ready to do something a bit less structured. We found Bill snoozing back from his trip to snowy Jerusalem. We woke him up and headed out. We wandered over the Quirinal with it's view of the dome of the Vatican. More consultation of maps, then into the Centro Storico, with many of the most famous sites of Rome: the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (sadly, none of us threw coins in backwards - I hope this doesn't mean we won't return!) and then, perhaps most importantly, Giolitti's. Ah, gelato! If this place does not have the best gelato in town, it is right up there. I think Sarah and Steve's tower of yumminess won for most gorgeous ice cream at the table!

On the way home we almost literally stumbled into the Gesu', the first Jesuit church built in Rome sometime in the mid to late 1500's. Its' style is referred to as Counter-Reformation Baroque, and it is incredibly opulent. There is a mirror in the center of the nave that allows visitors to look at the ceiling without straining their necks. Rather thoughtful and it gives a viewer an interesting perspective, somewhat unreal, and so I saw that most people also looked up to verify what they had seen in the mirror! This is just a peak up into the dome. I suspect it would take weeks to see everything in this one church alone. However, I am still very uncomfortable in these places thinking about where the money came from that built and even now supports them. I cannot imagine that the poorer Catholics see enough benefit from them to make them appropriate, and for me that destroys most of what others see as beautiful about them. For example, there is a statue of Sant'Ignazio in one of the little side chapels that is framed by columns made of gilded lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone. Of course, for many of the artists of the time, these buildings were a real opportunity to experiment and show what they were capable of doing in sculpture and painting as well as in architecture. And that was a lot!

The Vatican

The next day we went off to see the most opulent and wealthy church of all! (Wringing of hands! The photo to the right is a detail from a de Chirico in the modern art section of the Vatican Museums.)

Here we separated to wend our way through the museums at our own paces. I confess that I am grateful to the Vatican for maintaining such beautiful museums. From a guest perspective, with the new improved entrances and guest services, this is a great place to spend a day. (I really can't understand all the guide books that say you can see it all including St. Peter's Basilica in half a day. It will take me several visits before I even feel I've had an introduction to the place, let alone "seen it"!

I'll do more on the Vatican later, but I did want to show this photo I got of Raphael's School of Athens. The light was very poor and there was a whole tour looking at something (exciting?) in the other direction, but look carefully and you'll see Steve and Bill joining the tour temporarily.

Bill and I enjoyed many parts of the museums including the Museums of the Vatican Library and the Modern religious Art rooms. I wonder where the reproductions of fake documents are to be found?


I also really enjoyed the room with the animals. Many were quite beautifully done such as this lion and deer, a favorite theme of the Romans and the Church, hmmm. Perhaps my favorite animal sculpture was the head of a camel, life size and looking at me and laughing. What could it have been thinking...