The Pantheon is so impressive. We visited around noon, when the sun was directly lighting the interior of the church (as shown in this photo), and we also went back around 6 to see it in the more diffused light. There's so much marble on the inside of the building.
Next we visited a Jesuit church named San Ignazio. The ceiling was gorgeous, and with so much depth it was like the legs were dangling down. Originally designed to have a dome, but when the neighboring convent objected to having their view blocked, the ceiling was painted instead.
Now that's a big head! We spent most of the day in Vatican City, soaking up all the artwork. The Sistine Chapel was really impressive; our necks got really tired from looking up for so long.
The floors often have mosaics like this example. We were really taken with them.
It looks like we were the only ones in Saint Peter's Basilica, which was not the case; For some reason they closed the altar area of the church early, so we were lucky we were able to tour it. This is the largest church we have ever seen!
This is Bernini's Baldacchino (in Saint Pete's) which is an extravagant Baroque canopy. I like how the light beams are also visible in the photo. Pete was reading the guide book aloud, and I asked him, "why do they call it bald?" - I guess I'm just used to chrome domes!
it was good to be outside after spending hours in the Vatican museums. It rained a bit, which helped cool down the city. Tonight we took a break from dining out and enjoyed a picnic in our hotel room: salame, bread, tomatoes, olives and wine.
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