A visit to Rome & Vatican
By
R. Bhakther Solomon
Wednesday, the 18th July
2012, started the day from Hotel President (Western) at 9 a.m. to explore the city
of Rome. The first stop was the Colosseum. After two hours of exploration of
the place, became tired, so headed to Centre part of the city, near the main city
station to have lunch. Then headed to Piazza Navona. It was built in 1st
century on the site of the stadium of Domitian, the Piazza follows the open
space of the stadium. In the centre of the Piazza lies the famous Fontana Quattro Fiumi. (Foundation of
the Four Rivers).
Then went sight seeing by bus and enjoyed the one hour crossing all the important landmark sites / buildings of the city. Then at about 4 pm reached Saint Peters Square. Before we went inside Saint Peter’s Cathedral, we headed up to the Dome. We had read this was a very difficult catastrophic climb – 356 (or 340) steps up a very narrow and curved stairwell. The view from the top of the Dome was amazing.
Saint Peter’s Cathedral is the largest
Catholic Church in the world. Well over one hundred years of design and details
went into the structure along with thousands of works of arts. It is almost
disturbingly opulent with gilded moulding and ceilings with mural.
The next day, the first stop was Castle of
Saint Angelo. It had been a fortress and was used to hide Pope during war time.
After this we went shopping. After a tea break, we went to see the Ferrari
Showroom as my son was very particular to visit the showroom. Earlier in Paris,
we had been to Mercedez Benz showroom. While
abroad, we never fail to take food from Mc Donald. We saw the biggest
M-Store in Rome. More than 100 people were lined up at 7.30 p.m. to have the
last meal of the day.
At the hotel, we were advised to avoid
carrying anything in our pockets! Yes,
during our last visit in 2008 my wife’s handbag was snatched by a
person and he soon disappeared from the
scene. Luckily this time, nothing happened in Rome.r
