Authorities determined the air quality was so poor there would be no cars allowed to drive in the city center of Rome (with the exceptions of buses, taxis, hired drivers, and the disabled). It was a beautiful, cool, bright and cloudless day; wonderful day to walk around Rome without having to dodge traffic.
We meandered through St. Peter’s Square; the line to get in was exceptionally long today. You have to wait to go through a metal detector to get into St Peter’s Basilica. I guess the extra security has been in place since 9/11 since we didn’t have to on our honeymoon in June 2001 but my mom and I did in April 2005.
We went into a few gift shops just outside St. Peter’s Square looking at amazing mosaics, sculptures, statues and nativity figurines. We then went into another gift shop that had a Christmas tree set up in the middle of the store. Now let me first remind you these shops are about 250 feet from the end of St. Peter’s Square and they were shops geared towards Vatican/Catholic gifts.
First off there was a Santa Claus in front of the tree. I happen to love Santa but I was very surprised to see him sitting there in front of a tree in a store dedicated to selling Catholic souvenirs. The tree was covered in various ornaments, such as birds, tea cups, shoes, comic little frogs in red and white striped stocking hats and santas in airplanes, trains and sleighs. It also had regular large balls that had photos of Rome glued to them (the coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s and Pope John Paul to name a few). Around the edge of the photo there was a bit of glitter and a few silk or ribbon flowers glued to a corner. These looked like a 1st grader made them and they were selling them for €15 (over $20). The majority of the ornaments were secular in nature; I would say only about 15% had a religious context. A little bewildered about why they were selling these things I moved on.
Near the tree there was a huge wall of every saint imaginable; medals, medallions packaged with a prayer card, key chains, fridge magnets of Christ or Mary, patches and stickers of Rome and the Vatican. It was a massive display of cheap…stuff.
In another part of the store was the calendar rack. You can get the one of Rome highlights, Cats of Rome, the Vatican, Pope John Paul or hot priests of Rome. Now it wasn’t labeled “Hot Priests of Rome” but it was 12 incredibly gorgeous looking guys that happened to be priests so what else are you to deduce.
Now, I am not religious (spiritual yes - but not religious), and I was both irritated and amused by the mixed messages all this was sending. So we left all this behind and found gelato. That is something I can really understand.
We went into a few gift shops just outside St. Peter’s Square looking at amazing mosaics, sculptures, statues and nativity figurines. We then went into another gift shop that had a Christmas tree set up in the middle of the store. Now let me first remind you these shops are about 250 feet from the end of St. Peter’s Square and they were shops geared towards Vatican/Catholic gifts.
First off there was a Santa Claus in front of the tree. I happen to love Santa but I was very surprised to see him sitting there in front of a tree in a store dedicated to selling Catholic souvenirs. The tree was covered in various ornaments, such as birds, tea cups, shoes, comic little frogs in red and white striped stocking hats and santas in airplanes, trains and sleighs. It also had regular large balls that had photos of Rome glued to them (the coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s and Pope John Paul to name a few). Around the edge of the photo there was a bit of glitter and a few silk or ribbon flowers glued to a corner. These looked like a 1st grader made them and they were selling them for €15 (over $20). The majority of the ornaments were secular in nature; I would say only about 15% had a religious context. A little bewildered about why they were selling these things I moved on.
Near the tree there was a huge wall of every saint imaginable; medals, medallions packaged with a prayer card, key chains, fridge magnets of Christ or Mary, patches and stickers of Rome and the Vatican. It was a massive display of cheap…stuff.
In another part of the store was the calendar rack. You can get the one of Rome highlights, Cats of Rome, the Vatican, Pope John Paul or hot priests of Rome. Now it wasn’t labeled “Hot Priests of Rome” but it was 12 incredibly gorgeous looking guys that happened to be priests so what else are you to deduce.
Now, I am not religious (spiritual yes - but not religious), and I was both irritated and amused by the mixed messages all this was sending. So we left all this behind and found gelato. That is something I can really understand.