Touring Roma (UPDATED)

[UPDATE: All the pictures from Day 1 have been posted to a gallery.]

St. Mary Major Basilica
Saint Mary Major Basilica.

Fortune smiled upon me today, and I was able to travel to many destinations in Rome, mostly around the Vatican. After walking past Saint Mary Major Basilica (picture above), I walked to the Trevi fountain (a nice place for a pickpocket, I would think), progressed to the Triton fountain, and then hopped on the Italian subway (the Metropolitana, or something like that).

Trevi Fountain
Trevi fountain. Not much room around this area.

Subway Stop in Italy's Metro System
One of the subway (metro) stations in Italy - they're pretty nice.

I hopped off at the Ottaviano station, and walked down to St. Peter's Square. After taking a few touristy pictures, I walked with some St. Louis seminarians down to a wonderful little pizzeria (with some excellent 4-cheese pizza!), and then to a gelateria (for REAL italian gelato!).

Mmm... real Italian gelato!
Mmm... real Italian gelato! I had the Crema Fiorentia and some Biscotto in a cup.

We finally visited the North American College (NAC), which afforded an extremely pleasant view of the entire city of Rome, and most especially the Vatican:

Jeff Geerling in front of St. Peter's Basilica
In front of St. Peter's Basilica (photo taken atop the NAC).

Throughout the trip, I took a few pictures of the many occurrences of 'SPQR,' standing for Senatus Populusque Romanus, "The senate and the people of Rome." The inscription appears on almost all public works-related objects in the city. This image was taken in the "Piazza Navona," near Bernini's "Fountain of the four rivers:"

SPQR at Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers
S.P.Q.R. - Get with the program.

To top things off, here are a couple more cool shots of the Vatican (more will be posted as time allows!):

Fountain in St. Peter's Square
Beautiful fountain in St. Peter's Square

A view of St. Peter's Basilica from the Tiber River
St. Peter's Basilica, as seen from the Tiber river.

Comments

Have a great trip! Here's a question that you may be too busy to consider: Do you know whether the St. Louis archdiocesan website has a link for a full map, showing all parishes? The links for the individual parishes show the boundaries of each particular parish, but I don't see a "big picture" map that ties it all together. (I used to own an outdated, poster-sized version of that map, but tossed it for lack of space.) Thanks.

Unfortunately, they do not yet have the 'big picture' map. We're hoping to get this put together at some time sooner or later... hopefully sooner!