Deep pursuits and light-hearted pursuits

We got a very early start again this morning and went back to one of our local cafés for café lattes. The café's barrista/counter guy is very "Italian" cranky but his latte's are really good. When properly caffeinated, we headed off to St. Peter's Basilica. Although we had been in the square several times, this was our first trip inside the Basilica. It was nice because at 7:30 AM the crowds were still very light. Cecilia was impressed with the size, scale, sculptures, and especially the mosaics. The picture here is of Cecilia touching the foot of the ancient bronze statue of St. Peter.

At 9:00 AM, we went around to the South entrance for our Scavi Tour of the archeological excavations under St. Peter's. The tour starts at "ground" level (one level below the floor of the current basilica) and goes down from there. The entire tour is in tunnels that have been excavated out from under the current basilica. This tour is not for the claustrophic as all three of us had little bouts sweats and palpitations. Fortunately the information that we were learning was so interesting that it quickly took our minds off of the surroundings. The first part of the tour is of the ancient cemetery that was buried during the construction of the first basilica in 320 AD. The archeologists have uncovered about seven of Roman aristocracy burial tombs. However, as you get closer to the burial place of St. Peter, you begin to see early Christian burial tombs. The highlight of this section was seeing the oldest known mosaic image of Christ.

We then moved farther west to the area where St. Peter was buried. We first saw the marble table that the early Christians built around St. Peter's remains (the view from the south looking north.) Next we went to the west (looking east) and saw the head chapel (named because the altar is right next to where St. Peter's head would have been (albeit on the other side of the ancient wall). Finally, we moved around the north (looking south) and were able to look into the opening where St. Peter's bones are encased in a small glass case. Truly amazing. None of this is visible from the "public" side of St. Peter's. In fact, the guide books don't mention that Peter's remains are actually several feet to the north from where you would expect when looking down from in front of the altar. To end our tour, our guide led us in a prayer. The experience brought some members of our tour group to tears. Even Cecilia was "crazy-impressed."

After such an intense morning, our afternoon was given over to much more light-hearted pursuits. We walked (and walked and walked) through a couple of miles of Roman back streets visiting dozens of little shops and boutiques. We are happy to report that Cecilia found a leather purse (not quite the leather purse) and a cute pair of hot pink leather gloves. After so much walking, we decided to relax at a sidewalk café on Via Veneto to watch the Romans, tourists, and cute little cars go by. Cecilia decided she either wants a Smart Car or a Short Bus (picture included here) for her 16^th birthday. Luella and I brought her to Rome so the Smart Car (or Short Bus) gift is going to be up to Chris and Nora.