We made it back to St. Peter's Basilica with 30 minutes to spare. We just hung out & enjoyed the beautiful statues & architecture until 1:00 when the family met back up with us again.
Our tour guide led us past one of the big doors where we got a glimpse of the Swiss Guard in their colorful uniforms.
All of the doors leading into St. Peter's Basilica are huge & beautiful. They have intricate carvings & the most beautiful scenes on them.
I especially loved the door that nobody is allowed to go through except for every 10-20 years. There is a cement wall behind this door & only on those specific day anniversaries, they break down the cement & people are able to enter for a remission of their sins. I don't know a lot about the Catholic Church, but it was really neat to listen & learn about them & what they believe. They are good people.
Everything in St. Peter's is spectacular. St. Peter's is the biggest church in the entire world. It has to be spectacular. There are carvings, mosaics, paintings, & statues everywhere. It's incredible.
No matter where you look, there is beauty. From the tile on the floor to the gorgeous carved ceilings. Pictures do not do it justice.
Bernini had a lot to do with the building of St. Peter's Basilica. He is one of those artists you don't hear much about but should. He was a master & his creations move you to your core. Look at this alter! As the sun rises, it comes through that small yellow stain glass window illuminating the entire room with a literal ray of sunshine. It's spectacular.
And of course his iron frame that stands directly over the tomb of Peter (below the cathedral in the catacombs). Made of iron & other metals, this is carved to perfection. My kids had a great time looking for Bernini's lizards. There are cute little lizards carved into the metal, kind of his signature touch to it. It's incredible.
And you cannot forget Michaelangelo's famous "The Pieta" sculpture to the right of the cathedral's entrance. It was one of Michaelangelo's first sculptures & the only one he signed. It's gorgeous.
Our tour guide took us all around the cathedral & told us about the art & artists who created everything in it, then she took us downstairs into the catacombs where we could view the tombs of the popes as well as Saint Peter himself. That was really cool to me.
After that we took an elevator up to the dome of St. Peter's. We were able to look up close & personal at the paintings & mosaics from the dome itself.
After that we could choose to go back down to the ground level, or attempt the climb to the very tip top of the cathedral. Some of our family opted to go down (several hundred sets of stairs can be daunting after all the walking we'd done that week), while some wanted the challenge of going up.
I remember this climb very well from the last time Trek & I were in Rome. It was kind of scary so I was excited to do it again with my own kids to see what they thought of it. It's several hundred stairs, & the walls start to close in on you as you go up up up. If you have claustrophobia, this climb is NOT for you. The dome leans as you go up as well (with the same falling forward & backward sensation we felt climbing the leaning tower of Pisa.)
But it's so worth the view from the top.
I was super proud of Lorien. She is scared of heights, but she went all the way up anyway. She stuck close to the wall, but she did it. I love how willing she is to face fear straight in the face.
After spending a good half hour on top of the world, it was time to go back down. For me, going down is a lot scarier than going up, especially with the small stairs & the leaning feeling you feel.
Once down the stairs, we could enjoy the top of the basilica (not the tip top where we were before, but the roof where the statues are).
The bells were chiming & it was just beautiful up there.
We took the elevator back down & met back up with the family. Luckily, we got to watch the Swiss guard as they changed the guard.
After the tour, we opted for a final family Italian dinner. Tylee picked out this great restaurant. . . kind of a ma & pop place that had been in their family for several generations. It was amazing. I had ravioli & it was the best I've ever had.
Trek got spaghetti that is put into a wheel of cheese with sauce. It made the pasta taste incredible.
And then we started saying our goodbyes. Tylee & Olive would be the first to leave so we said goodbye & headed back to our hotel apartment one last time.
The next morning we'd be up at the crack of dawn, pack everything up, leave our apartment, catch a bus to the train station, & then finally take a bus to the airport. Opa, Oma, Tuhk, Carolyn, & her kids were all coming back to Germany with us for a little more adventuring.
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