SPQR Fellowship

Europe in general lives quite a different life than your average American. Italy is of course no exception.

Siesta – lunch – everything closes besides food places for two or so hours over lunch and we tourists are left to feed our own stomaches as well – probably a good thing I guess.

Honoring the Sabath? – tried to go to the grocery store a little too late – after 6 pm – didn’t work out. Not sure, but this is probably rooted in the tradition of not working on Sundays.

Tourists – we are everywhere – getting disappointed when timing is not working out. I am super happy I research the Sant Ivo hours! While waiting for the rest of our group to meet up with us, I witnessed a lady who did not get the memo about it closing its door at noon and was extremely downtrodden thereafter.

Our Sunday was really much like any day that we’ve had here so far. Get up early see the sites go home and go to bed. If you haven’t already see “Sant Ivo della Sapienza” in the blog roll to get the story from Sunday morning. After meeting the group at noon-ish – they had been at a market – we found an awesome pizza place and then took Kelly’s advice in trying the Rose gelato at  the place by the Pantheon. I am bad with remembering the names. We then went toward St. Peter’s Basilica to try the lines for the second time. They were long, really long, but we opted to wait and actually didn’t have to wait that long. The wait was worth it of course – I got an audio guide this time around so that I could get a little more info on everything I was seeing. So many great works by great artists! Borromini designed the iron gates leading into the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and quite possibly pieces of the Baldachin – alter of the pope.

We climbed to the cupola – not as treacherous as the one in Florence, but exciting all the same. Every surface (slightly exaggerated) in St Peters is mosaic by the way. A wonder really because until you look closely, it is difficult to tell. Getting to go into the dome of the church reveals this. The tesserae are about a 1/4 inch square – maybe 1/2 in in some places. Wouldn’t it have been a sight  to see the mosaic makers working on Michelangelo’s dome! or to have been one! So high above the ground working with the tiniest of pieces creating a masterpiece of scenery. Needless to say the experience blew us all away.

We hit up the Spanish steps and Piazza del Popolo before heading home where I crashed pretty early. Getting some good sleep allowed me to wake up and and get these posted though!