Roman Halloween

Actually, the churches can be spooky enough

Thus

We were back home by dark, so didn't really see all that many
kids dressed for the occasion; notably, in Italy, Halloween is
still a kid thing, not appropriated by adults

Except for these guys,who were apparently all going to the
same party...

Many stores had Halloween decor and products

Thus

And thus, in perhaps the most artful bread store we have yet
seen

Thus; not pictured...their display of Leonardo's various
inventions, all done in bread

Sort of Thai'd things together

Miscellaneous Walking In Rome

Thursday, Halloween Eve, was an administrative day mostly, getting the Grey Wanderer's engine oil and filter changed, then heading into Rome on bus and metro to walk around in hopes of finding an ATM, a post office, some bread, a big but inexpensive piece of luggage for our trip back to the States, and some miscellaneous sight-seeing. All goals were met, all expectations exceeded, all pigs fed and ready to fly.

Sprinter oil filter...many readers have asked what they look like

Circo Massimo; interestingly, the owner of the place where
we got the oil changed was named Massimo...

Us at the Bocca della Veritas

In case you ever need any pictorial insight into my personality
and character...

Inside the adjoining 6th century church of Santa Maria in
Cosmedin; very old; in the 8th century it was given to Rome's
Greek community

Very old

Downstairs was Hadrian's Crypt, which we thought might be
interesting, except it was the crypt built by the 8th century
Pope Hadrian 

Across the street, the Temple of Vesta,
more properly known as the Temple of Hercules
Victor; oldest marble structure to have survived
in Rome

And next to it, the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, more properly
known as the Temple of Portunus, the god of ports; the Tiber
river port was near here

And, just a block away, the Arch of Janus, a later empire
structure placed over a busy crossroads; Janus was the
god of gates and thoroughfares; one of the world's few
4-way arches

After all this miscellaneous sightseeing, time for a snack 

The walk continued; it was to be a 16,000 step day

And, before the markets at Termini and the
metro back to Laurentina, a stop at the Church
of St. Peter in Chains to see the very famous
Moses, one of Michaelangelo's greatest hits

Ostia Antica, 2

Continuing our day in Ostia...it is a huge place that we'll have to see again to take it all in....

In the House of Psyche and Cupid

Nice marble flooring

Anne Boleyn?

Tank farm; seriously, these are huge amphora, sunk in the
ground, for storing (olive) oil

Remnant of the Jewish temple; Ostia was half a millennium
old when the Diaspora began...

Long John Silver's; a seafood restaurant

Now in the Taverna of Diana (another restaurant), in the Insula
of Diana; an Insula was a large apartment building or hotel...
Augustus limited them to 65 feet in height

One of the many warehouses, Horrea Epagathania

Another of the many horrea, warehouses, in Ostia; it took a lot of
grain to feed the million people up-river in Rome

And bread to feed the people of Ostia; here, one of the many
bakeries

Ostia Antica, 1

Ten miles down the Tiber, Ostia was Rome's port for a millennium, give or take. At its height, 50,000 people lived and worked there, in the shipping businesses, import/export, warehousing, service industries, etc. Probably also cruises and tours. Ostia was abandoned in the 5th century because of raids, malaria, high cost of flood and pirate insurance, etc. Also Rome fell, so to speak. For the next several centuries Ostia silted up, up past the second story of many buildings. And so, a bit like Pompeii, much was preserved in Ostia. Treasure-hunting and then serious archaeology began in the 19th century, and today we have a very sizable and interesting Roman city--an important one--to examine. We took the Metro to EUR Magliana and then transferred to the Lido line and spent most of the day looking at Ostia.

In the necroplis. Minerva as Victory

Seriously, in the Baths of Neptune, a mosaic the size of a
basketball court; looking down--note shadows--from a three
story high observation platform; for Romans, baths were
not merely for bathing...they were multi-use community health
and recreation centers, with athletic facilities, etc.

Up closer, there's Neptune riding his chariot; the Baths of
Neptune were not even Ostia's largest...but certainly most
scenic now

Amphitheater

So it said

Of all the sights in Ostia, perhaps the most interesting and
impressive is the Piazzale delle Corporazioni, a large piazza
(with a small podium temple in the center) around which
were ranged some scores of business offices--the assorted
ship-builders, shipping lines, import/export dealers,
stevedores, warehouses, lighter shipping up the Tiber,
etc.--as the port of Rome, Ostia would have been the greatest
port of the world, and each office or corporation would have
had its own mosaic emblem

Palm oil--the amphora bears the letters MC, "Caesar's
Mauretania"

Suppliers and purveyors of exotic and wild game...for the
Coliseum, presumably

Typical scenery at Ostia, much more pleasantly vegetated
than Pompeii

One of the public latrines

Capitolium and Temple of Augustus

St. Peter's, 2013

We visited St. Peter's two or three times in 2011, and each time were thwarted by some religious observance--the nerve!!!--that closed the building off in the nave, even before the crossing. Each time we sat patiently in the area before Pope John XXIII (thinking of poor Anti-Pope John XXIII back in Florence), asking the marshals/wardens/whatever when the place might be open again, every time being told 5 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever, and then, hours later, giving up and leaving. This time we figured we'd sign up for the English language tour at the official Vatican Tourist Information office and would be escorted in by a prelate and given a real first-class tour and perhaps even some behind-the-scenes hocus-pocus. Maybe a minor miracle. Our tour guide, as it were, was a very nice and well-spoken seminarian, Stephen, hailing from Washington, DC, in his 2nd or 3rd year in the North American Pontifical Seminary or somesuch. Rather than walking right through security, however, we stood in line with everyone else while Stephen told us about Christianity, the history of Vatican City, St. Peter himself, the original St. Peter's, Julius II, Bramante, Michaelangelo, Bernini, the new building, and much else. For an hour. It was an hour well-spent, however, for he knew his stuff and fielded all our sometimes skeptical and irreverent questions very artfully. Not his first rodeo, evidently. Once inside, finally, we'd gotten only to the port transept when the barricade went up and all were shepherded back into the nave. We got to see a few more dead popes, both corrupt and incorrupt, corporeally, and finished up at the Pieta. We thanked Stephen cordially and went back to Pope John XXIII to sit and wait. The marshals/wardens/whatever told us, variously, that the service would be over in 5 minutes, 45 minutes, or 6PM. I guess they are trained to say whatever is necessary to keep the tourists in line. Or possibly they don't know, aren't told, whatever. Perhaps no one knows. Much as I like Bernini and friends, I did not feel like another hour or two of waiting and uncertainty. And disappointment. We left. I took just a few photos since this time I was more into experiencing the thing apart from the camera lens and processor. Oh well.

There, as you can see, people are being moved out of the
starboard transept to the left, then out of the port, and back
into the nave...

Bernini's Throne of St. Peter

Up closer

Bronze St. Peter; for centuries, pilgrims have
touched his right foot in order to earn time off
for good behavior; or maybe the opportunity to
see the rest of the building

The very well-worn right foot...

Still the main attraction, however, Michaelangelo's
Pieta

Boys lined up to process into the great church; I admit to
having had very unkind thoughts seeing them, as we were
leaving...

But we'll let them pass, as the sun sets on yet another
unsuccessful visit to St. Peter's