Rome Vacation, St. Peter's Basilica

The Risen Christ with his cross, in front of the dome of St. Peter's

What better day to post our photos from our visit to St. Peter's Basilica than today, Easter 2011! Viewing them again, I remember the sweet time Herb and I spent praying in the chapel there. We thanked God for Herb's own resurrection from an impending death due to kidney failure through the grace of a kidney donation and transplant on October 5th last year. We count our blessings everyday.

To view all 153 photos, go to my MobileMe Gallery at http://gallery.me.com/lelandalee#100569.

Lelanda in St. Peter's Square

We visited on a bright sunny Thursday, March 24th. We were blessed by great weather our entire Roman holiday. On this Thursday, the Vatican was relatively sparsely visited, compared to the vast crowds and buses taking up half of St. Peter's Square when we rode by on a bus two days later on Saturday morning, thinking we'd visit the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We quickly changed our minds and went to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon instead, and those photos will be in a subsequent posting. Our appetite is definitely whetted for visiting other sites in Italy and a return trip to Rome.

Lining up to get inside St. Peter's Basilica

The lines were very efficiently and courteously managed, guiding us through a metal detector and our belongings through an X-ray machine. We only waited about 20 minutes and were glad to have chosen to tour at our own pace instead of using a paid guide. That turned out to be good strategy for taking numerous photos and spending extra time in front of the paintings and in the prayer chapel. With the relatively light visitor load, it meant that I could almost always wait for a clear shot of the art without competing with other photographers.

Looking out onto St. Peter's Square from the basilica's entrance

The area directly in front of the basilica had been set up with hundreds of folding chairs, and we didn't know if an event had just happened or was scheduled to happen.

On Saturday, this area was packed with lined-up tour buses

This was not our entry, but the guards were picturesque

Herb in the portico, the entry hall, to the basilica

Our first view of the nave, facing the baldachin

St. Peter's baldachin is the huge bronze carved canopy of state at the center of the crossing and directly under the dome of the basilica. It marks the place under which St. Peter's tomb lies. Under the canopy is the high altar of the basilica.

Looking down into the Confessio near St. Peter's tomb

Interior view of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

An interior view to show the vastness of the basilica

One insight I had as I visited not only St. Peter's Basilica, but other archaeological sites in Rome, was how spot on the builders of Caesar's Casino and Resort in Las Vegas were. It always seemed to me that the over-sized Vegas Caesar's was somehow contrived, but now that I have seen the sites in Rome, I understand that the colossal size is accurately reminiscent of Rome.

St. Andrew, who was crucified on an X-shaped cross

Even the floor offered beauty to inspire

A confessional for the Sacrament of Penance

One of numerous altars in St. Peter's Basilica

These photographs were taken without flash and adjusted for exposure using the iPhoto software that comes with a Mac computer. It has been my experience that when natural light is present, even if it's dim light, adjusting the exposure on the computer provides a better photo than using a flash in the field. To see the rest, please go to my MobileMe Gallery at http://gallery.me.com/lelandalee#100569, where the photos can be viewed as a slide show.

One of a pair of doors on the way out

Turning around for a final look at St. Peter's Basilica as we leave