Stairway to heaven...

7/20 "And on the third day" … we rose again, at 6AM to be exact, in order to enjoy an in-house breakfast and to catch the Metro to the Vatican in time to catch our nine o'clock tour.

Our voucher told us to meet our guide at the bottom of the staircase across from the entrance to the Musei Vaticano, and so began a day of stairways - stairways up - a LOT of stairways, stairways down, and stairs and steps across the town.

We went up stair cases to see the works of Raphael and Michelangelo's Sistine chapel - whose vision and execution stun the mind. Then down stairs to enter St. Peter's Basilica - whose shear enormity and quantity of visual riches stagger imagination. 

And then up again, and up, and UP - a veritable stairway to heaven as we shunned the convenience of elevators and climbed hidden stairs, slow sweeping inclines, and ever narrowing spiral staircases, in order to reach the inner and outer heights of the dome of the Church, beneath which our own Statue of Liberty might raise her torch with room to spare! The views down unto the altar and transverse, and later across the sweep of the city, ignited our sense of awe. Of course the 551steps up, required 551 steps down before we could return to the square and enjoy its settings of obelisk, fountains, colonnades and open expanse.

After a VERY late lunch at a sidewalk cafe beneath the medieval Vatican wall, we stepped out once more to cross the city, marking our progress by the ancient landmarks we encountered: Castel Sant' Angelo - an underground retreat away for the Pope during the sacking of Rome in the 1500's - an event which gave birth to the famous Swiss Guard; past the Palazzo di Giustizia and across the Tiber on the Ponte Umberto I; on through the carnival atmosphere of the Piazza Nevona, and finally to the Pantheon whose giant bronze doors had been closed for the day - except for a small crack which tempted us with the vision of the high dome and ocular within; pause for a late dinner at a cafe on the square at its front and then more foot steps, up and down alleys full of evening strollers, open air cafes, tourist shops and not, winding our way back to our hotel for a final climb up three flights to our room. 

Three days in Rome - and thousands of foot steps transecting the Old City - from Piazza Popolo in the North to the Circo Massimo in the South; from Vatican City in the West, to the Santa  Maria deli Angeli in the East… a baptism by immersion into the glory of Rome both historic and contemporary.  But now its time to turn our backs - if not our hearts, on the ghosts of the the ancient city as we set our sights on Foggia. But that is a story for another day…