Tracks of the StoneBear Odyssey ROF = Ring of Fire

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Venice Grand Canal 2

Tracks of the StoneBear  Copyright MMXV ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Saturday November 14, 2015

Venice, Italy Grand Canal 2

I have sailed into Lido... sailing north from the Adriatic into the Grand Canal of Venice, Italy.  I have breathed love... for a woman.... for a lady... that will live in my heart forever... this sight of the entrance of the canal...

  on this 28' sailing sloop... with the love of my life.... I cherish her dearly to come here for R&R... my heart is at peace.   

My soul rests for this woman.... she is my being. All that is left ... is hers.  I am surrendered. I am helpless... incapacitated.... She owns my heart.  For once in my life... I kneel for her blessing and approval. 

This is the place that brought me to my senses about a woman.

Rome, ITL 3B St Paolo outside the wall

Tracks of the StoneBear  Copyright MMXV ALL Rights reserved

ROF= Ring of fire journey

ITL= Italy Journey 

Sunday November 22, 2015

ITL  Rome, Italy 3B 

St Pauls outside the wall    same text, different pics

Rode the Metro subway out to St Pauls. 1.5 blocks from the subway station and there's a McDonalds on the corner for hot coffee on a cool day.

The bell tower is on the side. 

Go around to the front and it looks empty. 

Go inside,... Oh my god! 

We're just in time for Sunday am mass. 

the basilica is absolutely magnificent. 

The service in Latin is equally magnificent and a gift to participate and pray.   

I'm not Catholic but lined up for communion, crossed my arms to recieve the priests blessing and stepped aside. 

This is a very powerful, sacred place.    

After the service took some more pics inside the Basilica.  

St Paolos tomb.     

Absolutely breathtaking.   

Exit and go out past the gift shop....

And then come to the courtyard and it's a magnificent spectacle.  

The marble.... collumns,... statues...

And the palm trees.  Palm trees are all over Rome. Over near the Veterans monument are some orange trees - see other post -. 

St Paolo: 

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Saint_Paul_Outside_the_Walls

The Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls (Italian: Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura), commonly known as St. Paul's outside the Walls, is one of Rome's four ancient, Papal, major basilicas,[Notes 1] along with the Basilicas of St. John in the Lateran, St. Peter's, and St. Mary Major.

The Basilica is within Italian territory and not the territory of the Vatican City State.[1] However, the Holy See fully owns the Basilica, andItaly is legally obligated to recognize its full ownership thereof[2] and to concede to it "the immunity granted by International Law to the headquarters of the diplomatic agents of foreign States".[3]

The Basilica was founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine I over the burial place of St. Paul, where it was said that, after the Apostle's execution, his followers erected a memorial, called a cella memoriae. This first edifice was expanded under Valentinian I in the 370s.

In 386, Emperor Theodosius I began erecting a much larger and more beautiful basilica with a nave and four aisles with a transept; the work including the mosaics was not completed until Leo I's pontificate (440–461). In the 5th century it was larger than the Old St. Peter's Basilica. The Christian poet Prudentius, who saw it at the time of emperor Honorius (395–423), describes the splendours of the monument in a few expressive lines. As it was dedicated also to Saints Taurinus and Herculanus, martyrs of Ostia in the 3rd century,[4]it was called the basilica trium Dominorum ("basilica of Three Lords").

Under Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604) the Basilica was extensively modified. The pavement was raised to place the altar directly over St. Paul's tomb. A confession permitted access to the Apostle's sepulcher.

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You never drink twice from the same stream.