Friday, July 28, 2006

Climbing the Dome

Well, I've concluded that St. Peter's deserves its very own posting in this blog because it is absolutely marvelous. This is the biggest Basilica in Rome and absolutely marvelous. The way the light comes in through the domes is spectacular.
And the scale is absolutely enormous! The place is huge! Despite my lack of adequate funds for the trip, I decided to make the purchase to climb the steps for 4 euros. You get to climb up and see the interior of the dome and also the exterior of the very top of the Dome.
Unfortunately, the interior viewpoint was covered by a protective grid to keep people from falling in. It also prevented me of taking any pictures that were decent, either of the dome or the floor below. Anyways, I continued to the very top, where I could see the rest of the Vatican City and most of Rome as well. It was the best view in Town.
The only problem was, it was STIFLINGLY HOT! Climbing through a VERY narrow passageway, one could feel the walls and floors were wet with the sweat dripping off the thousands of people fililng through the tunnels. Not a pleasant line to stand in!
But the view is definitely worth it at the top.
The interior of the church was also very inspiring. There isn't anything I can say that would truly do it justice. It definitely ranks as the greatest building I've ever seen, if not the biggest.
St. Peter's is DEFINITELY the highlight of my time in Rome.
Tomorrow, I'm gonna have a little change of pace, when I go to the sleepy little resort village of Amalfi, which is down south near Naples. I intend to catch up on all that sleep that I never get in Japan or anywhere else for that matter.

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