♪A Bicycle Built for Two♪

June 5th - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!! Hope it was fantastic :) :)

Today we were excited to wake up late and get ready at a leisurely pace because our reservations for the Borghese Gallery were not until 1:00. Mother had trouble making the reservations online before we left for Europe, but we had our hotel check prior to leaving and they called and confirmed our spots. (Guests are only allowed to view the gallery for two hours and reservations are required.) So we arrived happy because for once we couldn't screw anything up!

Mother went to pick up our tickets and...turns out we had no reservation. Hooray...but they said we could wait around until 1 and see if there were any no-shows. There were. :) Not only did we get to see the gallery at our supposed time, it was free with those handy Roma Passes.

The Borghese Gallery is a collection of art by various artists, most notably sculptures by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, for Cardinal Scipione Borghese's villa. My favorites were Bernini's David, Aeneas, and Two Babies Milking a Goat. I'm still amazed at the level of detail that these artists provide from tensed muscles to furrowed brows. Let's take a sculpting class! ...I bet I could make a slightly smaller, more jagged piece of marble.

No photos allowed...so thanks Google! Bernini's David hurling his sling at Goliath

Bernini's Aeneas meant to be viewed from all sides - you can't even see the small child in the back! He was only 20 when he sculpted this...imagine basically me being able to do this...woah

Bernini's Two Babies Milking a Goat....he was 11 when he did this. WHAT???

Afterwards, we rented a 2-person bike and rode around the villa's gardens. The brakes were a little more than squeaky, but it was a fun and interesting way to view all the beautiful scenery.

Even though we were still upset about yesterday, with jeans and jackets we were bound and determined to gain entrance to St. Peter's Basilica. After a taxi ride, it was raining...which meant practically no line! We walked right on through security and decided to head straight for the cupola because it closed earlier than the cathedral. We thought it was closed because there were no people around like we had seen the day before, but there was just no line! Turns out people don't want to go on top of domes in the rain... The church rooftop view was insane and we enjoyed entering the church to view the dome painting up close, then we walked up the 323-step, clostrophobe's nightmare climb to the top of the dome, where it had miraculously stopped raining just long enough for us to admire a sensational panoramic view of Rome.

yes...the walls got crooked

mother in front of the city

me climbing the dome to get an even better view!

We climbed back down the craziness and went into St. Peter's (heart pounding and fingers crossed, I got in this time). The church was incredible - it was huge, for one thing. The bronze canopy over the main altar is seven stories high, the letters along a band atop the pillars are seven feet high, and the entire church can accommodate 60,000 people. However, as massive as the cathedral already looked, it is actually designed to seem smaller - a 15-foot statue stands under another that looks the same height...but is actually six feet taller so that it does not seem so far away. Mass was happening again...so we went and got our worship on...again. (Sorry St. Peter, the Pantheon was better.)

7-story canopy!

Then, on our way out, we took in Michelangelo's Pieta ("Pity"), a sculpture of Mary mourning Jesus's dead body. It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo signed and now resides behind bulletproof glass because a madman decided to hack away at it with a hammer in 1972. I know...who would do that?? Thankfully, it was restored but now sits where cameras can't flash...

Michelangelo's Pieta

And finally, dinner! At a little place next to our hotel, we ate two different kinds of pasta, one tomato-based with bacon and goat cheese and one cream-based with goat cheese and...I don't know, chicken with saffron sauce and potatoes, and...two bottles of wine. I got some good stories out of mother :) it was really fun.

Teehee.