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We take the Pendolino (fast train) back to Rome. Time to see the
Vatican Museum. The wait in line was about 45 minutes - though it looked like about
3 hours when we arrived. |
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I have no idea what this is - we could see this from an open window into
the courtyard, but never walked by it. |
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The hall of maps. |
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The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. While the ceiling is great, the
room itself is small. Just a "little box" really - especially when you
compare to the size and scale of St. Peter's Basilica nearby. |
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Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's. His work on this (at age 24)
is beautifully described in The Agony and the Ecstasy (from which I read sections
when I could not sleep at night). |
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There must be some two dozen niches like this in St. Peter's. Each
with a 20 foot high statue of a pope. The scale is one of the most awesome things
I've seen on the trip. |
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We scale dome of St Peter's for a view of Rome and the gardens in Vatican
City. |
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St. Peter's Square. |
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The descent. As you reach the cupola, the stairway walls slope
toward the center of the dome; you have to lean against the wall while stair climbing. |
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A tiny little car we pass as we look for a place to eat dinner. |
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The Trevi fountain at night. The stone is carved to simulate an
outcropping of rock teaming with animals (and gods) right in the middle of the city. |
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Bright and early, the next day, we fly over the Arctic back home.
Great trip! |
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