Ah Rome, Thankfully Sunny, Always Glorious!

Took the train from the port of Civitavecchia (Ancient City in Italian).    It takes about forty minutes to the first stop in Rome which is very conveniently St Peter's.   It's about the only bargain in Italy at nine Euro round trip (about thirteen dollars).   Went up with one of the piano players from the ship and and a former purser from the QE2 who also remembered my dad and me.   The station is just behind the great basilica and your first view is of Michelangelo's magnificent dome.   We walked into the piazza and there to my surprise was the biggest nativity scene set up in the middle,  just under obelisk (genuine Egyptian--stolen) and an enormous Christmas tree.  I liked it!   The goal of the day for me was to climb to the top of the dome, which I had last done when I was 15, traveling to India with my aunt and cousins.  We went into the Basilica first where Mass was underway, what a treat to hear the great organ, while taking in the beauty of it all.  The Pieta of Michelangelo is just inside to the right, now behind the most invisible sheet of glass.   The scale of the entire basilica is epic--cherubs, frescos, mosaics, cupolas, saints, no doubt a few sinners--it's all a feast for the eye and the soul!   There was also inside the most over the top nativity you could imagine.   Then it was back outside to queue up to climb the cupola--short line, 5 euro fee and up you go.  It's really cool, just as I (barely) remembered.   It's double walled, you're right in between and it slants more the higher you go (of coarse).   You start thinking this is 400 years old, and then you think well,  Michelangelo did design and engineer it's construction.  And then you  think besides that he carved the Pieta, painted the Creation of Man and the Last Judgement (Sistine Chapel)-- don't forget David and Moses and everything else he did, and all I've done for the last 20 years is work on my silly (well beautiful) house and you feel really small, and then all of a sudden  you emerge into the sunlight at the very top and all of Rome is at your feet!   All you can say is wow!    Hung out up there as long as I could , then down to the crypt under the main alter where the Popes are interred, including of course John Paul II.   Then just time for lunch-- lasagne and a side of spinach,  mmm,  a walk along the Tiber and a dash back to the station and back to the ship.  A great day!