April 2, 2015


Well, today we witnessed an Easter miracle.  I hope that statement is not blasphemous – read the following and forgive me if it is.

We were once again today in St. Peter’s Square.  We went to the Coliseum (impressions momentarily) then back to the Square for a tour of St Peter’s Basilica.  While we were sitting in the square eating lunch and waiting for our tour to start, two police officers walked down the sidewalk, and a beggar, who was hunched over, shuffling along on a cane, straightened right up and walked away at a rapid pace.  It’s a miracle!  For about 15 minutes there were no beggars and no peddlers.  Very nice indeed.  That was another miracle.

We were approached by 4 beggars today, one of them twice, told them all no with a wave of the hand, and the double-dipper (who had a picture of Mary in a begging cup) said something ugly to us.  I’m sure Mary did not approve!

We walked to the Civitavecchia train station and got our tickets for Rome early this morning so we could do a couple things and get back at a decent hour.  Two girls from a P&O Cruise ship in the harbor were struggling with things, and we helped them.  One girl, Megan, is from South Africa, and Nikita is from Australia.  They said they wanted to go to the Coliseum, and we said that’s where we are going.  Come with us if you’d like.  They liked.  When we got there, the Que was too long for them to wait and buy tickets (they only had a few hours break and the train ride up and back took 2 hours) so they went to see the Trevi Fountain (even though it is closed for repairs).

We stood on the street opposite the famous view of the diagonal wall of the Coliseum and then went inside.  Our fast pass took us about 15 minutes, but better than the great unwashed.  Inside we toured the public areas.  There are some places you can only get in with a certified guide, and we didn’t want to do the extra, plus we wanted to get back for St. Peter’s.  Incredible building.  I’ll show you pictures when we get back to Augusta.

We hopped on the hop on hop off bus and rode back to St Peter’s where we registered for our tour, and had lunch – half a hot dog each, two drinks, shared a bag of chips, and two snicker candy bars.  I laid 4 euros on the counter (an outside vendor) and the guy said, “5.”  I said, “It was 4 yesterday!”  He said, “Okay,” and waved me on.  Cheater!

As we were walking back from the bus, I saw a girl selling tours.  She was wearing a shirt that said “SISLEY.”      There is a store here by that name.  I asked her, “Where did you get your shirt?”  She said, “Your shirt?”  I said, “I know where I got my shirt.  Where did you get your shirt?”  She explained the location, and I told her my last name, and she thought that was special.  Or she acted like she did.  Actually there is a Sisley here in Civitavecchia, and I may go in it before we leave.

We were inside St. Peter’s Basilica in about 15 minutes, versus the 30+ minute walk of two days ago to the Sistine Chapel.  The line for the GUW was around the square (which is more of a circle) and we were inside rather quickly.  The biggest delay was waiting for our group to get through the metal detector.  There were about 50 in our group and we had to split into three groups and go through security with the GUW.  Shoulda had one just for us. 

Once inside we picked up a free audio tour, but with the building being set up for Easter Services we couldn’t get to everything and it was difficult to keep up with the recording, so we turned them off and just walked.  Beautiful building.  Some people were praying, but most were pushing, shoving, and being anything but worshipful.  Maybe they’ll be better behaved on Sunday.  BTW: the Pope, with whom we were in St. Peter’s Square yesterday (but he did not see us) will do a Good Friday service tomorrow in the Coliseum, duplicating the stations of the cross.

At our place for supper here in C’town, our host invited us to come to his store tomorrow night to watched the Passion Parade, it being Good Friday.  We will do, and I’ll let you know about it.

A good day.  Old folks are tired, so TTFN.