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 Happy New Year everyone! You probably have noticed by now that I have not posted in a while. I have been running 2 blogs and have sadly decided to close this blog to concentrate on my other blog (which by the way includes the same posts from this blog and more). So stop by and check it out: shave ice & gelato. 

*Stopped by to do a little maintenance to make sure all links are still working. Not sure what happened to many of my photos. Many of them no longer show up (boo!!).  I put a link on the sidebar to all my 2007 blog posts on my new shave ice & gelato blog. Hopefully all the photos missing on this blog are up on that blog!

views from the roof of the Basilica di San Pietro

After taking in the 360 views at the top of the Cupola, my last stop on my " Cupola climb” adventure was a visit on the roof of the Basilica. Because it was extremely crowded at the top, I was relieved to find a lot of open space down on the roof. This was my favorite part of the climb.

The roof houses a coffee shop, a gift shop, and restrooms. I must comment that I was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the women's restroom on the day I was there.

While on the roof, you are allowed to walk around, get up close with the statues, and you are rewarded with more incredible views. I spent quite a bit of time just hanging out and enjoying the views.

I also went inside the bar to get a cup of coffee. I mentioned in my July post about a possible trivia question about the roof coffee bar. “Where in Italy will you get an espresso served in a tiny paper cup (and I mean tiny, even smaller than a dixi cup)?” Answer - at the bar on the rooftop of the Basilica.

A few of my favorite pictures from the roof of the Basilica:

Once you are ready to head back down, you again have the choice of taking the stairs or the lift (with a lift ticket). When you take the stairs, you come out right into the basilica. I am not sure where you end up when you take the lift back down. Here is a view of the walk back down.