Traveling Part 2: Roma

    Almost everything in Rome is smaller: the houses, apartments, roads, cars, people, elevators (as you can see below), ect... But bigger is not always better. What they lack in size they make up for in flavor and passion.                                                                                                                                   

On our 10 hour flight over I finished the book, Angels and Demons, which takes place in Rome. I seriously love that book, as does Phil, so we just about walked the path of Illumination. A lot of that book takes place in Vatican City. Here are just a couple...


The Santa Maria del Popolo Church. (In Angels and Demons the first church, Earth )

Castel Sant' Angelo (In Angels and Demon The Church of Illumination)

I'm pretty strong, as you can tell ;)                                                                 

We couldn't see all of the amazing museums (because there are a gazillion), but we decided that we HAD to see the Vatican museum. It was huge and had so much amazing art that by the end you almost get sick of it. 


Here is some of the art work within. Lots of cool statues. Some are pretty realistic eh?

This is the hallway leading up to the Sistine Chapel, which unfortunately you cannot take pictures in. But, in my opinion, this hallway leading to it was just as spectacular as the chapel itself.

And this is the impressive exit of the Vatican museum: a long spiral staircase down.

This is Saint Peter's Basillica. You can see it all around the city because its one of tallest points of the city. It is in Vatican city. 

Like I said, it is one of the highest points of the city so we climbed all 300+ steps to the top to see one amazing view.

You can see  Saint Peter's square in the picture above.

This is a picture of the Swiss Guard which, has existed since 1506. These soldiers protect Vatican city and have a high reputation for discipline and loyalty. Recruits to the guards must be Catholic, single males with Swiss citizenship who have completed basic training with the Swiss military and can obtain certificates of good conduct. Recruits must have a professional degree or high school diploma and must be between 19 and 30 years of age and at least  5 ft 9 inches tall. (According to good ol' Wikipidia). As you can see they have some pretty funky uniforms that are made of strips of fabric.

Okay, now Ancient Rome. This first one is the Pantheon, which took us three days to find because we kept getting lost on the way. Of course, that has a lot to do with the fact that Rome is so congested that you can't see  anything one block away from you. :) 

Now the majestic Colosseum. This is probably my favorite. What is not to love? I mean besides the fact that anciently people were brutally killed within it


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  As you can see from the picture below, there are chambers that existed underneath the arena floor which were used as passageways and to store animals, weapons, and supplies. To show us what it used to look like they have reconstructed a portion of what the floor used to look like (the sand colored area).

Now, The Roman Forum, which was the political center of Ancient Rome. You can tell this was a happening place centuries ago. It is just incredible to me that we are able to stand in a place where one of the first republics stood.                                                        

Below is another building in the Roman Forum, just half as you can see. I am standing in the middle of it, so you can tell the size. It is said that churches were later modeled after the dome shape seen here and that this unsupported dome is only possible to make because it is made out concrete, which is much lighter than stone.

  

This was my favorite Church. The Chiesa di S. Ignazio di Loyola. My brother-in-law Brian told us to go to this place and I am really glad he did because the ceiling art was spectacular.

The Spanish Steps covered with people. Can you find me?

Trevi Fountain 

 Okay, this is getting REALLY long. But there are so many things I loved: The wild flowers that popped up in between the ruins, the cute old accordion players on every street, the food, the bridges, the beautiful mossed covered buildings, the street entertainers and MOST of all, the gelato!

Rome is not what I expected, but it left an endearing footprint in my heart. I can picture myself living in the country of Rome as an old woman. We squeezed in as much as one can in three and a half days we were there and it only left me wanting more.


* As always click to enlarge photos