A Week in Rome: Wrap-up-the-First

Rome is a big city, too big to wrap up in just one post. For all the places I've shown you, there are dozens of little pictures and tidbits that just didn't fit. So it'll take two photo-filled posts to finally get The Eternal City out of my system.

I don't know where to start. So let's just hop randomly through the week, shall we?

The Pope's death this week brought millions to Rome, and according to today's New York Times, 4 hundred thousand in the last two days have visited St. Peter's Square. All I can say is thank you, John Paul, thank you for not taking your bow while I was in town. Because St. Peter's Square photographs so much better when your dearly faithful are not in it.

A lone monk wanders by the fountain in St. Peter's square, looking for his cloister.

From the top of the Spanish Steps, you can see the ritzy shopping streets framed by towering old buildings, so close you pray for no earthquakes.

Gargoyles and little creatures peek out of stone all over Rome. I can't remember exactly, but I think this fellow was in the Villa Borghese.

Let's stop in St. Paul's Outside the Walls, subject of a lovely visit earlier in the week, where parishoners gathered below towering statues as a Cardinal gave his service.

And here's a masterpiece. We made a special stop on the metro to see this (get of at Pyramide). It seems that some 2000 years ago the Romans were very much into anything Egyptian. You can tell because Rome is littered with obelisks and other Egyptian artifacts carted off from the Middle East. In this case, a Roman aristocrat liked the Egyptians so much he decided to be buried like one. So he had a pyramid built to contain his empty vessel, hoping for immortality.

Well his name isn't too well known, but anybody who's been to this part of Rome sure knows about the Roman guy and his pyramid. 2000 years old but looking good as new. The city walls, this section built much later by the barbarians didn't disturb the structure, building neatly around it.

At the moment most Romans simply known it as a landmark that guides them to the metro station, but we had to take a peek.

Let's give a shout out to the spectacular Borghese Gallery, still owned by the Borghese family, still opulant as all get-out, and still to snippy to allow pictures. So this is all you'll see. But it's worth a stop. You must reserve in advance to get in.

At the National Museum of Rome, near Termini Station, the sarcophogi are plentiful, and beautifully preserved despite thousands of years in age.

Somewhere in central Rome the stray cats are fed by volunteers in a garden of ruins. They come in every possible color.

The Roman Forum, free of charge, is worth more than one visit. We must have walked through it four times and never stopped seeing something new.

The church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is humble on the outside an spectacularly beautiful on the inside.

It's just a short hop from there to Piazza Navona, Rome's biggest square, for a bite to eat.

The people watching and the pizza can't be beat.

If you wander back toward Santa Maria, you might peek out around the Pantheon in all its 2000 year old glory.

The Pantheon's columns dwarf anybody who wanders near.

Well, that's half a goodbye to Rome...stay tuned for Wrap-up-the-Second. Let's leave off with a church that overlooks the forum on a sunny day.

Next installment: I wrap up the trip to Rome, with some weird pictures that we missed before. Coming later this month, Monterey, San Francisco, Northern Minnesota, and much more, as The Human goes into photo-overdrive.