Trafalgar Termination

Rome

This is the last day of our Trafalgar tour and the group is already beginning to disperse. Last night our new friends from NZ said their farewells. They had an early start to take the train back to Venice and board a cruise ship for the Adriatic and the Greek Isles. They are a lovely couple in their late seventies,with health problems and tons of heart.

The rest of the group headed out to explore not only a great museum but also a great church at the one site - the Vatican. We didn't see Pope Francis today but we are coming back tomorrow and you never know.

The amazing museum first but only the highlights as it would take weeks to cover the full collection.

Castle Sant'Angelo once the Papal fortress.

The scarf in green and yellow is the" flag" of one of the tourist guides. They enable us to follow our guide in the crowds.

This reminds you of the opulence we have already seen in the palaces of Paris and Venice, but their religious themes give the nature of the place.

One gallery had accurate and detailed maps painted from an aerial perspective centuries prior to any flights.

The highlight was the Sistine Chapel. Because of the nature of this, the world' s largest fresco by Michelangelo, no photography, no flash, no speaking. You may suspect that this means a dark and dull hall of frescoes... Wrong!!! The art work has been cleaned and very recently the stained glass replaced to allow more light into the chapel. It brought tears to our eyes.

Although we are not able to provide pics of this experience you can take a tour and see the wonder of what we saw.

vatican.com/tour/sistine_chapel_3D

So we then passed into the great basilica of St.Peter itself. We were not prepared for the dimensions of this sacred space - enormous or huge really does not do it justice. We recalled the great council of VaticanII and now realize how they could fit over two thousand bishops into this space. Each statue is in itself a monument. 

It is in many ways surreal. To be here were so much of the Church's focus has often been. The sense of grandeur and ritual which is kind of nice but at the same time out of touch with the real mission of our church - that is the option for the poor and marginalized, which is the call o f the current Pope.

Here again the timeless work of Michelangelo in the Pieta 

Here the symbol of God's Spirit shining from the most central position on saints and sinners alike.

And in this side chapel we paused and prayed for each and every member of our family, our friends both living and dead, and for our world which is in need of some help at present.

As if understanding our solemn mood the Vatican provided people for some light relief. As Bailey calls Bendigo Cathedral "the prince's castle on the hill" , she will no doubt love these 'clowns'. But they did not do anything but simply stood there.

This is our last night with Trafalgar. Our dinner overlooking Rome was again top quality. We finished with a few drinks on the terrace of our neighboring hotel.  Tomorrow on our own again. If you want to do the major sight of Europe and not drive, hassle with luggage, long lines queueing to get in then you must  get a tour guide or company for extended travel - not an advert but we have been very happy with our Trafalgar experience. End commercial!

Pick up with you all in a day or so. Tomorrow we intend transferring to our B&B near the Vatican and going to mass in the 'Big House'.

Love to you all,

Poss and Pop