Reach Out and Touch...

I climb out of the Metro and head to Castronis, a delectable Italian food products shop meets pastry bar. Wow. Yes to marzipan. Yes to regional spices. Yes to Italian chocolates. It's my rendezvous spot for my big day at St. Peter's Cathedral. Alberto's mamma, Gabriella, appears. And we're off---marching straight into St. Peter's Square--which to me looks invitingly round---with it's magnificent columnar wrap. Wow. On this sunny, warm autumn Roman day---as I look ahead at the ancient obelisk flanked by two fountains and on to St. Peter's Basilica, I'm awed by the magnificence. Pilgrims. Tourists all. Drawn in and to this, the largest church in Europe. We process (not planned, but we're in a massive line, so it become a bit of a processional shuffle.) Now my camera's on overdrive. Swiss uniformed guards. Bronze doors that are stories tall. Gilt. (Also some guilt...as my guide mischievously cuts a little in the line. Just a little.)

Disclaimer: I'm no religious historian. Nor an art historian. And plenty has been written about the magnificence within. Here's my experience of St. Peter's: smorgasbord of the senses...

•  There it is. Right inside the door. The light glints off Jesus' muscular leg in Michaelangelo's "Pieta". Mary's face is non-anxious. To think that he carved this at age 24. It's so clear that this is a masterpiece, even to my untrained eye. It glows. It moves. It's lifelike and stunning.
•  There is art and marble and color and shape and sculpture and light everywhere. Every single inch. Telling stories. Honoring popes. Crypts burying the dead. Reaching to the heavens. Speaking of faith. It goes on and on. I say---"A person could look at this a lifetime, and not see it all."
• Looking up...the ceilings, the cupolas, the domes all look like they are covered in amazing frescoes/ paintings. But, they are not. They are, remarkably, all mosaics. Absolutely incredible.
• The scale of the gold gilt lettering that provides a horizontal wrap of the cathedral is perfect. Huge huge letters. Clear and powerful. The message proclaimed energetically by the messenger.
• St. Peter's Basilica is flooded with natural light. Brilliant. Not dark as so many ancient religious spaces. Glorious!
• We enter one of the side chapels for prayer. The sensuous drape of the magnificent, heavy velvet curtain blesses my hand. I'll remember the soft weight of it's touch. I kneel, say a prayer--and unite with you all in that moment.
• The marble...oh the marble. All colors. Floors. Walls. Covered with it. As we walk, I imagine all the footsteps that have gone before. Over time. I reach out and stroke it with the palm of my hand. Feel it's coolness, how smooth it is...how my hand loves this sensation. Again, there's a connection to all time. And to my God-given senses. 
• Somewhere in the day, Gabriella and I bond. Right there in St. Peter's. Two wild adventuring women---one 70, one 55. She's an amazing companion and I'm blessed to have her as my guide. We play with the translation---Italian to English. We embrace this holy place.
• Sneaky...she says, how the legend has it that when St. Peter's was being built, they "stole" the giant bronze creation (the size of a large room---statue doesn't even begin to cover what this is) from the Pantheon and put it here. Right in the center of the Basilica! It's wild and crazy and magnificent.
• Dragons. Signs of the Zodiac. Skeletons...yup, all here.
• A nun prays in an off-limits zone, and I remember that this is a working Cathedral.
• Sculptures by Bernini. Tributes to the great family Barberini (whose symbol is bees). And so much more!
• Asian woman in wedding dress. Being photographed by a man in a suit. I inquire if it's their wedding day. Yes, today. I ask if they'd like me to take their photo. Yes! She's from Vietnam, he from Germany. I give them joy. They give me gratitude. 
• Now...I'd love you to try to imagine this. This dome designed by Michaelangelo---in its vertical form---is longer than a football field. Wow. Wow. Wow. It's time to climb it. An hour's line (our feet get cold) and we're on the elevator. Only 323 steps to go. At one point, we are able to step out INTO the basilica and look down. I'm right next to a mosaic. I reach out and touch a foot of a cherub. And am awe-struck.  Back into the steps, spiral now---getting narrower and narrower. Soon, we are near the top of the dome, and can feel the angle on our left shoulder as we ascend in slope.  A full-body experience...with every breath and muscle engaged. And then---out we emerge with a 360 degree vista of Rome in her afternoon sun and glory. Vatican and gardens. The Tiber snaking its way through town. Domes of cathedrals and churches as far as the eye can see. More gardens than you'd imagine. Windy, windy streets. Monuments. Castles. Hadrian's Wall. All rolling out below us.

We descend. Stroll out across the piazza/square. I reach out and touch the Bernini fountain one last time. We catch the bus.  Wind through an ancient Jewish neighborhood where we say goodbye at my next stop, a Hammam. I'm struck by the convergence of traditions, right here in my day. All calling Rome home. And so do I, for a few more days...