St. Peter's

Buon Giorno!
You may have noticed a glaring omission in my last trip to Rome--one that I remedied today.  I visited the Basilica San Pietro.
I wanted to last time, but the four hour line was daunting.  This time I got smart and booked an audio guide tour that let me skip the line.
I am still exhausted and jet lagged.  I got between four and five hours of sleep and still woke up bone tired, but one thing about coming back to a place is that I know where things are and how to get around.  My first stop was the local grocery store.
I must have presented as a clueless American because the nice grocery clerk spoke to me in English.
Now that I am marginally more aware of my surroundings I realized my apartment has a balcony, and that there are instructions to label food and drink in the kitchen.  After my trip to the grocery store, I obtained labels from Reception, labeled my food, and put it in my room's section of the refrigerator.
Then I walked to the metro and got a transport pass.
Now this audio guide tour has no precise time. You show up between A hour and B hour, so I had some leeway.  Impulsively I took the metro out to Flaminio to say hi to the Caravaggios at Santa Maria del Populo.  I also had my first (of many today) opportunities to ignore a beggar.  Caravaggio's wonderful, unconventional take on The Conversion of St. Paul stands opposite the Crucifiction of Peter.  Both are marvelous, and I enjoy seeing art in its "natural setting"rather than a museum.
Speaking of which, and since it was a day for Baroque, it was time for me to go to St. Peter's to admire Bernini.
First one needs to get from the metro stop to the Vatican.  This involved dodging touts.  I swear, the next time I come here, I'm going to be wearing a t shirt proclaiming,"I've already Booked my Tour."  It's the only thing that slows them down.  And then one swims against the tide of tour groups.
Eventually I fetched up at Bernini's sweeping double colonnade of Tuscan columns and found my check in point.  I was given a sticker and directed to the next stop.  Getting in was fast and easy.  The nice young lady at the desk set my phone up for me, and I was launched.
The interior of the basilica is magnificently beautiful and remarkably harmonious in its grandeur.  I soon tired of the audio guide.  I knew what I was looking at, and the guide gave me little real information.  It was pious rather than art historical.  I abandoned it and just wandered and looked.
Bernini didn't design or build St. Peter's but the whole church breathes his spirit.  He wanted to render religious power and awe in material form. Good job, Gian Lorenzo!  I think you did it.
The Baldacchino or canopy over the high altar is huge and nearly overwhelming with its spiraling columns and ornament.  At the apse sits Bernini's Cathedra Petri arranged so heavenly light shines on the papal throne supported by the Four Doctors of the Church.  Apparently Bernini enclosed the original wooden seat or cathedra in his bronze version.
It's not all Bernini.  Other art treasures adorn the church, but the one you'll really want to see is Michelango's Pieta.  It is both beautiful and touching.
But in the midst of this, I had to seek out facilities.  I had to wait in line for the women's toilet far longer than it look me to enter the church.  Of course there was no corresponding line for the men's bathroom.
By the end of my visit I was really tired and needed to come home. Fortunately my room had been done, so I could take my shoes and contacts off.
Apero is some whole wheat crostini with prosciutto crudo, and the package assures me that the latter was made without gluten or dairy.  It's still delicious.  Even supermarket brands are far better than what we can find at home. I got some fancy Prosecco, since the day promised to be warm.  It's pretty nice.
Dinner involves bucatini, a pasta Romans like, but which may be hard to find.  Think macaroni elongated to look like spaghetti with a hole in it.  It is the traditional vehicle for sugo All' Amatriciana, a favorite of the Romans and visitors even though it was invented elsewhere.  It's a tomato based sauce most authentically made with pork cheek or guancale, but Americans can get away with using pancetta.  While going on the metro I passed some ads with enticing looking bowls of the stuff to put me in the mood. It's somewhat messy to eat but very good!
Ciao