April 24, 2017

Our ship landed at the port of Civitavecchia, about 40 miles outside Rome.  We purchased our tour of the city before leaving the States.  There was no problem at all locating the tour company and our bus to take us to downtown Rome.  The roads were not very crowded and we were looking forward to spending the day in the Eternal City.  

Our first destination was Vatican City.  The bus parked about a half mile from St. Peter’s Basilica and we walked into the Holy See.  We saw thousands of people waiting in a line that never seemed to end trying to enter St. Peter’s.  We had purchased a ticket to “skip the line” but there’s also a line to skip the line.  

We finally entered the Basilica and immediately treated to Michelangelo’s famous Pieta, a piece of art I’d seen as a boy at the 1964 Worlds Fair in New York.  That work has always amazed both of us and we could hardly take our eyes off of it.  There were all kinds of surprises including the tomb of Saint (Pope) John Paul II.  We didn’t expect to see that.  We also learned that there are no paintings in St. Peter’s, but copies of masterpieces done entirely in mosaics.  Truly amazing.  In the Vatican, you can see first hand the story of Catholicism, whether you are Catholic or not; whether you are critical or not.  

The Pieta.

The tomb of Saint (Pope) John Paul II.

We walked back to the bus and saw some unforgettable images of St. Peter’s and Rome’s Tiber River.  

The bus then took us to the Coliseum.  We were very surprised about the Roman city layout.  Rome is rather small and everything is crowded together.  The Coliseum is located in city center.  

Ancient is mixed with modern.  It was actually kind of disconcerting; it just didn’t feel right to us.  From there, we were thrown into the “mob” that had gathered at the Trevi Fountain.  

There were literally thousands of people.  We couldn’t get near the fountain to throw our coins in so we threw them over people’s heads and hoped we wouldn’t hit them.  I believe we both were successful.  

All in all, it was amazing seeing such sights.  Locations we had only read about until today.  But I’d say this was the least favorite day of our European tour so far.  

The ship set sail at 7 pm and we’re on our way to Livorno, Italy.