Day 31...Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple...where are all the People???

ok...which 2 of you voted for Buffalo????  Stu and Jim?  Christine? Jeff?  fess up....
Also, a BIG shout out to Steve and Elva for being so faithful in comment posting ... I know it can be a bit of a technology maze, but for us, it is a thrill to receive and read and smile at every one that gets through...
now on to our regularly scheduled update....


The Hotel Romae surprised us big time...they have renovated the rooms, the bathrooms and all the bedding to the point where we were as comfortable in this place as we have been anywhere on this trip...and we slept until 9:30!  Breakfast including omelets and egg and bacon sandwiches, toast, potatoes and 2 coffees across the street, 11 euros, 2 Metro subway passes, 2 euros, no line for the Vatican...priceless!!!

We were ready to search out as many Caravaggios as possible...when we arrived at the normally 4 hour Vatican line and saw there were no people...we kept walking to see where the line started, and to our delight, we walked right in and bought tickets and got an audio guide and started our 3 hour tour...all within 5 minutes....so we started to take all the requisite photos: of the courtyard:

 of me in the mirror...I mean Hercules...

 This is actually me in the mirror this morning...see the resemblance???  I thought I'd sport the Greek looking cap with the Tobin James logo...since we are going to Greece on a Tobin James cruise...I just didn't expect to be so in style...as Peggy says "right..."

The big, and I mean big, bath tub...

 some great maps done 500 hundred years ago of "new" Italy...

 and "old" Italy:

 The frescoe representing the dream Constantine had of putting the Cross of Christ as His Banner, and thus achieving victory in the battle, and proclaiming Christianity the state religion...

 of Peggy faithfully listening to every word of every numbered artifact...thus the 3 hour tour...instead of my highly requested, normal supersonic fly by...

We actually enjoyed about 45 minutes just in the Sistine Chapel...there weren't large crowds, so folks weren't expected to keep moving...only to be silent and not take photos...I obeyed, but there were many others being escorted out for trying to flash a digital camera, albeit discreetly...

We then walked around the block and came to St. Peter's Basilica...Basilica is the special category of locations that actually contain bones/relics of past saints...  In this case Peter's grave...First to be seen as you come in on the right is the famous Pieta....protected from vandals and good photos...

 Many beautiful sculptures and this one, although invisible in my photo, has an amazing skeleton under the drapery in the front...maybe you can catch a small glimpse of the desired effect of being dragged into eternal hell...

 the Bernini Altar is also beautiful

 as are the uniforms of the world famous Swiss Guards

 What do you say after a death defying photo while standing smack in the middle of a busy street with policemen all around...during the 13 seconds there were no cars screaming around the intersection...and Peggy yelling at me to jump out of danger???  2 words....Nailed It!!!!

We also made it, in the 100 degree Rome stifling heat, to 2 churches and saw 4 original Caravaggios...which were heart stoppingly awesome...then a heart stopping public bus ride back to Termini station, with an old woman jamming herself into the last centimeter of floor space...and then for the remaining 5 stops refusing to let the bus driver even open the door...Made it to our Welcome cocktail with the 150 Tobin James Cruisers...met some great folks, Jim and Linda, from Visalia, who I'm sure we'll have photos with before too long...and then headed back to our hotel...duct-like tape in hand, ready to reinforce Peggy's slightly damaged luggage so no human can ever enter it again...Ciao Bella...tomorrow we cruise....