St. Peter's Rome

I've been to New York.  I've seen canyons of impossibly tall buildings that apparently stretched on forever. I saw the Empire State building and Chrysler Building.  However, none of them were as impressive to me as St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  Perhaps its not as big as those towering skyscrappers, but when you go in you're immediately shocked at how vast the space is in the church.  It's like a church built for giants. The pillars inside are thicker than my bedroom and it seems to go on forever.  You look up and you see an endless array of domes, windows and breathtaking statues. 
                                                     Don't believe me?  Check this out.

That's not even the main dome.  That's just some little thing off to the side.  Seriously though, it is hard to grasp how large this building.  You may look at pictures and say "Oh, it isn't that big."  It doesn't really look that big...until you get close to it.  Then you realize how mindblowingly ginormous it is. 
Did I mention that this church is big?
As you walk inside you'll find Michelangelo's Pieta to your right.  No biggie.

And that isn't the only statue you'll find inside. The walls are covered in niches with huge statues in them.  They look small, but once you get close you'll realize that they're larger than life.  Each one is a masterpiece and there's dozens of them.
Check 'em out.

And here's st. Juliana.

And St. Francis (Perhaps my favorite Saint, but I'll get more into him when I cover Assisi.)

And St. Veronica.

And one more, St. Mary Euphrasia.

So you wander past looking at all the amazing art that literally covers the place. You have to stop and gawk for a while just to take the place in.  Every photo I have doesn't do the place justice nor give you the correct impression on just how huge and beautiful this place is.

When I lived for a short time in Rome I would wander over to St. Peter's and bring my sketch book. It was there, drawing one of the statues that I had one of my coolest Italian experiences ever. I was sketching some angel or something and I look over and there's this very pretty Italian girl looking over my shoulder as I draw.  She has an approving and very Italian look on her face as she says "Brava." She nods and then walks off. I'm Italian approved! I went there often as it was only three blocks away after all.  One of the guards even commented on my sunglasses and said they were "beautiful." They were my gold Elvis shades.  (No one ever accused me of being normal.)
St. Peter's is a cross shaped Basilica, but was originally designed to be a Greek Cross, equal on all sides.  But Michelangelo was asked to redesign it and make it "better-er."  (A direct quote, I'm sure.) So, he made it longer and betterer and then Bernnini the famous artist made a whole army of statues for it.
At the center of the cross, under the giant dome, you'll find something that looks like a really giant four post cupola, or band stand or fancy bed.

 This supposedly marks the spot where St. Pete is buried.  It looks big, but not THAT big, right?  Well, keep in mind that it's about a hundred feet tall and doesn't even touch the base of the dome.  It's friggin' huge.
At the very end of the church is this work of art by the always theatrical Berninni.

Now for the dome. How high up is it?

You can climb all the way up to the very top of the dome.  It feels like mountain climbing.  It takes forever to get just to the roof of the church, let alone the dome.  On the roof there's a rest area where you can get something to drink and a snack to prepare you for the rest of the climb. I hope you're not claustrophobic because you're climbing between the outer skin of the dome and the inside supports.  It's a long climb. But it's worth it.

You can see the whole city and then some! Down below is the piazza with it's branching arms. Lining on top are dozens of statues of saints.  In the middle is an Egyptian obelisk stolen from Egypt by the Romans.
This is one of my favorite places in Rome, a city I love a great deal.  I wandered by on Easter and got to see the Pope!  Well, from hundreds of feet away, but I did see him!
Here's a few parting pictures to give you a better idea.