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Rome, ItalyMay 10, 2006
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We have arrived in Rome, Italy
We left the ship for our tour of Rome early this morning. We were very happy to have an English speaking tour guide. She did a great job of keeping all of us in line and kept MOST of us from getting lost. We did lose one lady at the Colosseum, she did not get back on the bus. She did make it back to the ship two days later, we felt so sorry for her. It would be a nightmare to be lost in Rome and not speak Italian.
We left the cruise terminal in Civitavecchia, after approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes we arrived directly in front of the Vatican Museums entrance. We explored some of the most incredible art in the entire world: the Vatican Museum. We walked through the Tapestry and Geographical Map Galleries, the Candelabra Gallery and the magnificent Raphael Rooms that lead to the fifteenth century Sistine Chapel which holds an invaluable collection of masterpieces. We saw Michelangelo's ceiling painting of the "Creation of the World" before entering St.Peter's square through the Bernini's colonnades into Christendom's largest church resting on 800 pillars with 44 alters.
We saw the gilded Papal Canopy suspended over the altar where the Pope celebrates mass, the splendid gilt and the bronze throne and one of the best known pieces of sculpture in the world - the Pietà , Michelangelo's masterpiece in marble.
I am adding quite a few pictures. Some of places did not allow photography, but I was able to sneak a few with my camera set without flash. :-) Check back tomorrow for Part Two of our visit to Rome.