We then walked towards the Holy steps. Tradition says that the stairs were brought from Jerusalem by St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. The staircase is claimed to be from Pontius Pilate’s house that Jesus ascended to face his trail. The devout climb the 28 steps on their knees.
They were closed until like 3p.m which meant we had to wait for about an hour. Which we were tired and decided we could pass on them. We did go into the church, Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Basilica was Rome's first church. The Basilica was burned, sacked, ravaged by earthquakes and rebuilt several times over the years.
There are six papal tombs inside. The papal altar is said to contain many relics, including the heads of Saints Peter and Paul and part of St Peter's wooden altar
We were so tired of walking we sat down on a bench leading to the church. Let me explain something before I go on! One thing we really noticed about Italy is that there are so many guys pushing their wares; especially roses and scarfs. They all are foreign looks like from India. They are VERY annoying to say the least!!
They just don’t take no for an answer. They hand you a rose and tell you it’s a gift and if you take it, they follow you telling you that you need to now pay for it!! They focus on the girl then go after the guy for money. I even took a picture of one! We watched this happen so much we got sick and tired of it! There was a guy pushing his scarfs while we sat on the bench he would not leave us alone!! All we wanted to do was rest for a second! Finally Michael took out one of the T-shirts we had bought and said how much? The guy was kinda put off and didn’t know what to say. Mike said a gift (the way they get you to take the rose) the guy said ok gift Mike said no $20. This Italian guy was walking by and started to laugh! The pusher knew the T-shirts weren’t worth $20. It was a crack up to turn the tables on him!! There are also a ton of beggars. There are a lot of old people. When we were at the Vatican there was an old bent over women with rotten teeth begging.
She came right up to us and pushed her cup in our faces. Mike and I ignored her but as we got right up to her Mike said; “Nice teeth! I about died. I knew she didn’t understand but it was still so funny!
Twelve Apostles
