Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Wandering around St. Peter's ...

After the Museums, we went shopping -- one of my favorites is this little store off on the south side of the Piazza. The Signora there is really friendly. Was waiting for my 1 pm lunch appointment with a friend, so wandered around the Piazza, enjoying the weather ...

 

Finally got a picture from the spot where all the columns merge so that the colonnade looks like it has only one row of columns.

We wandered around for a bit looking for the marker that marks the spot where Pope John Paul II is shot. Couldn't find it. It may just be an urban legend ... ?

 

A CNN crew was filming a segment ... the reporter had a thick British accent, and the text was something like, "And this is where they came, in their thousands, to pay their respects ... " probably for a one-year look back at the Papal transition ...

 

Another view of St. Peter's Dome, from behind the Vatican ...

We met John in front of the Ancora bookstore (where he'd just bought the Annuario Pontificio, yes, the one which doesn't list "Patriarch of the West" as one of the titles of the Pope). I ducked in to see if they had a copy of Deus Caritas Est in Latin. Nope. Finito. (San Paolo, where I'd looked earlier, was out. "Magari domani ... " Too late though! ::sigh::). We went to lunch at a place behind the Vatican, (I think he called it Pontificale, but I don't recall), which has commissioned portraits of all the Popes since Pius XII. The one of Benedict XVI is simply hideous and barely resembles him! I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo. Lunch was slow, leisurely and delightful. I contented myself with some caprese and a primo (spaghetti alla amatriciana) and dolci (Macedonia -- fruit salad).

 

This one is from later, as we're taking #64 ("pickpocket express") to the V. del Corso for more shopping. Realized I haven't actually ever been to Castel Sant'Angelo ... on any of my visits to Rome. Something for the next time!

[Now off to get some pizza for dinner ... last evening in Rome!] Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The stone is there - it's sort of pink, not dark red. The day we were standing there staring at it, Greg Burke of FoxNews came up with a crew to film - it was the day after the report on purported Soviet involvement in the assassination attempt was relased. Weird, because I had just met Greg the night before. Anyway, as we left, they were arguing with the police about filming...

Fr. Gaurav Shroff said...

Hmm --- the one who suggested it was an urban legend was John Allen. I thought I remember you saying that y'all had found the place ... I'll have to look into it --- the next time! :-)