Rome day 3

Day 3 was our trip to Vatican City. We started with a tour of the Vatican Museum which contains many great works of art and sculptures as well as the Sistine Chapel.

This is one of the staircases in the museum. If the stairs are this amazing you can only imagine what can be seen within the walls.

This is the grand museum. It has a beautiful outdoor courtyard seen below.

My most favorite part of the museum was the hall of statues. I think we hit it at the perfect time of day because the lighting was beautiful and it made each one of the carvings come to life. The one below is Silenus with the child Dionysus. It was breathtaking. So rare to see a man and a baby sculptured this way together.

We saw many fabulous pieces of art but the most beautiful of all was the Sistine Chapel. It was different than what I was expecting when I first walked in. Maybe it is because it is filled with wall to wall people but it seemed smaller to me than I thought it would have. It was interesting though once we took a seat and pulled out our book that went over each section of the painting the room started to feel bigger and bigger the longer we sat.

As you can imagine this is another place that is IMPOSSIBLE to try and photograph. You actually are not supposed to take any pictures at all but everyone does (not sure if that makes it ok...but I did anyway).

The chapel was painted over a 4 year period by Michelangelo. It spans 5,900 square feet. What is most interesting was when Pope Julius II asked him to do it, he said no thank you and that he was a sculptor, not a painter. Amazing that a non-painter pulled this off, right?

I also found it interesting that the wall below, which is known as The Last Judgment, was painted some 23 years later by Michelangelo. Again, this is all something you really have to see to believe. It was beautiful.

Then we were off to St. Peter's Basillica.I'm not really quite sure what to even say about this church. Everything about it is massive. It can hold 60,000 worshipers and the church covers 6 acres!

The light pouring in from the upper windows was simply beautiful

This golden canopy was built over an altar and 23 feet under that is where they say the tomb of Peter is. Many archaeological studies have been done and they have every reason to believe that this is actually where Peter himself is buried. To give you an idea of size, this golden canopy just itself is 7 stories tall!

This is looking up from the canopy to the dome that we climbed to the very top of.

Below is a picture looking down into the church 1/2 way up our climb to the top of the dome. The words you see there completely surround the entire church. They are all done in tiny mosaics and each letter is 7 feet tall. Yup, like I said this place is massive. The words that encircle the church are every documented word that Jesus ever spoke to Peter in the bible. Pretty cool.

Before I get to our great hike up to the dome I have to tell you about this picture below. It is called Pieta. It was carved by Michelangelo at age 24. It is a sculpture of Mary cradling her crucified son in her lap. Shortly after it was completed Michelangelo over heard someone giving credit of the sculpture to another artist so later that night he went in and carved his name in the ribbon running down Mary's chest. This is now his only signed work and it is said that he later regretted his actions .

Then we were off to climb the great dome. You could pay to take an elevator up most of the way but I thought it would be fun to say we climbed every single step, so we did. I think it was close to 500 steps. Even if you take the elevator you have to do the last 320 alone in a tiny little staircase where the walls curve in towards you. Pretty claustrophobic but I'm glad we did it. We were the only ones who did not take the elevator but it was fun.

This is almost at the very top where it is so narrow that there is not even enough room for a handrails so you get to hang on to a rope hanging from the ceiling. Ahhhh, we made it. The view was spectacular, and my legs got their workout in for the day.
This is just outside of St. Peter's in the main square. You see those statues behind us, there are 140 of them, all 10 feet tall that surround this entire square.
That night we headed to the Pantheon which is just outside our hotel. This is the ceiling inside the Pantheon. The dome is 142 feet wide and 142 feet high exactly. The hole in the middle is 30 feet across and is it's only source of light. The 1,800 year-old-floor has holes in it and slants towards the edges to let the rainwater drain out. I think it would have been cool to have been in there when it was raining, but we had blue skies the entire trip...thank goodness!

Later that night we hit one last fountain, the Trevi. Probably the most famous but not my most favorite. The fountain itself was amazingly beautiful but it was the only one that was not put in the middle of a large piazza and therefor was very crowded. I guess there was one time I felt crowded in this trip, and this was it. There was no room to just sit back and enjoy it's beauty, but we did go see it on a Friday night with beautiful weather so that may be why it was so busy.

Legend has it that if you throw a coin into the fountain you will return to Rome. We threw in our coins and I can hope that the legend stays true. It is reported that some 3,000 euros are thrown in daily and then are retrieved to feed the poor.

Wow, what a day!

Rome Day 2

This is sightseeing at its best. I again will mention my disclaimer that none of these pictures do any of these sights any justice. It is impossible to capture the enormity of these places.

We started the morning with what will probably be my most favorite run of my entire life. We got up early before any of the tourists were out and did a 2 mile run to the Colosseum and back. We literally ran down the streets through all the ancient ruins and ran up and touched the Colosseum and then headed back. We had the roads to ourselves and it was awesome!

Here we are at the grand Colosseum. We did some research on how to skip lines and also downloaded free audio guides that were awesome and helped you really learn about what you were seeing and took you back in time.

The Colosseum was massive. It was built in A.D. 80 and could hold as many as 50,000 roaring fans. At the far end of the picture above you can see where they have rebuilt a portion of the floor that would have originally been there. The whole bottom section was where there were rooms and halls where the gladiators roamed and where they held the animals about to face battle.

In it's glory days there was a 100 foot tall bronze statue of Nero in the front. I would have loved to have seen that! It took 200 ox-drawn wagons going back and forth every day for 4 years just to get all the stone here to build this massive structure.

The games went on here for nearly 500 years until they were finally banned at which time the Colosseum was left to be used for various purposes for over 1,000 years and was slowly dismantled by Romans themselves taking the stone to build other churches or temples. What remains is a sight to be seen and one I will not soon forget.

The other area around the Colosseum is known as The Roman Forum. The forum was where the most important temples and halls of justice were built. This was where all the political speeches took place and elections and parades were held.

It is breath taking now to see. I can only imagine how it must have looked in it's day with sparkling white massive temples and lush green garden and pools all around.

Above is Charlie standing by one side of the Basilica of Constantine. These arches are about 100 feet tall and there used to be a marble statue of the Emperor Constantine at the end of a great hall. Pieces of this actual statue are seen in the photos below.

The following pictures are just different views of all of the temples and basilicas and the main square.

This was my favorite day of sightseeing. I am amazed at the genius minds it must have taken to build such beautiful and massive buildings. It was exciting to think that the very stones I was walking on, Cesar Augustus himself walked on 2,000 years ago!

That night we came back to the hotel for a little rest and then got fancied up for a dinner at a posh Roman restaurant called Il Pagliaccio. I am not what you would call an adventurous eater so this night certainly put me to the test.

We ate lots of plates of food like this. We did the 8 course tasting menu where you have NO control over what the chef is going to prepare. I was brave and at least tried everything that was put in front of me. We ate lots of foam of something or other, and I ate rabbit, and veal, and liver of something....lots of interesting things. I either loved it or pretty much had to force it down but it was definitely an experience.

This was one of our most favorite Rome days although I would have been just as happy with some burger and fries at the end of the night instead of the fancy pants dinner. I guess Charlie should be happy I don't have a "refined" palate.

Next up Rome, day 3 & 4 and then we are off to Paris!

Rome Day 1

There we were...a husband and wife, 12 years into marriage with 5 kids...sitting in an airport surrounded by people yet totally alone and looking forward to a week of adventure and relaxation. We knew it would be great but I don't think we could have known just how great.

It was a LONG day of flying. We had to fly to Detroit and then to Atlanta before embarking on a 9 hour flight to Rome. I was worried about not being able to sleep on the plane and sure enough I did not get much more than 30 minutes of shut eye total but we were able to check in to our hotel early and took a little nap before heading out for the day and it was just what I needed to adjust to the time change.

After a change of clothes we were off to discover Rome! Our first stop was Cafe Sabatini for our first real Italian pizza.

I must say I think you can take the girl out of Chicago but you can't take Chicago out of the girl. I have long been a fan of deep dish pizza with everything on it. This was no Chicago pizza. It was simple and thin, but tasty. If I had to choose a pizza to eat the rest of my life I would have to go back to my roots but I love that I can say I have eaten a real Italian pizza. Once we were nice and full our first stop was a church right across the way from where we were eating.

This is the St. Ignazio Church. We were not planning on going here but it was looking at us smack in the face and so we thought we would just pop in and boy am I glad that we did. I soon learned that you don't ever just walk past a church in Rome. Each and every one is beautiful and ornate and different.

This is the ceiling in St. Ignazio. I thought for a second I had just walked into the Sistine Chapel, but no, this was just your every day run of the mill church in Rome. Below is a bigger overview of the inside of this great church. Keep in mind that there are little alcoves off the sides that are filled with more beautiful frescoes and sculptures.

One of the coolest parts about this church is it's dome. You see that dome below, well it's not really a dome. The church was finished in 1650 but the money set aside to build the church ran out before the dome could be built so the artist built a 65 foot canvas to look like an actual dome. As you move through the church the dome changes shape and only looks like a complete dome from certain spots in the church. It was amazing to see in person and mind boggling to imagine how one could be so talented.

Next stop was The Spanish Steps but we made a pit stop for our first gelato. While this was our first I can promise you it was not our last. I think we had gelato everyday in Rome (maybe even twice some days). It was just that good. YUM!

Here are the Spanish Steps. They sit in the middle of the Piazza di Spagna and are at the end of one of Rome's most high end shopping with stores like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Armani, just to name a few. This walk of shops is definitely fun to look but not touch. The spanish steps are a famous place to go and sit and take in some people watching and that is just what we did.

We sat and sat and then sat some more. Listening to the buzz of all the quiet conversations and watching all the different people and soaking in some rays. It was for sure a nice moment of our trip and again was one of those moments that even though there were tons of people it never felt busy . It was amazing.

We did lots more walking and saw some more cool fountains and churches and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. That night we went to Campo de Fiori that was another busy square filled with cafes and shoppers. Just around the corner from there is Piazza Farnese with another beautiful fountain but it was quiet and filled with the warm light of Rome at night.

We ate dinner right next to this fountain and enjoyed the company of one another. It was nice to sit and eat at a slow pace knowing we were not needing to rush home to pay a babysitter.

We took a long slow stroll home through the Piazza Navona where the Four Rivers fountain is located. This is a picture of the piazza during the day.

This is the fountain at night. The piazza is filled with people selling their beautiful hand painted pictures of sights all over Rome. This piazza and fountain was probably one of my most favorite places. The four great river gods represented the four known continents in 1650.
A great first day it was. We got to the hotel and collapsed from exhaustion. We had a great night sleep and were ready for one of the most amazing days of sightseeing ever. Day two, here we come!

Rome

We are home from our trip of a lifetime. We enjoyed every second of it and we owe a HUGE thanks to my wonderful sister in law who came to watch the kids for us to make this all possible. We came home to healthy, happy children and a clean house. What more could you ask for? Thank you Bridget for caring for and loving my kiddos even though I am sure it was crazy and difficult at moments.

I am giving a disclaimer right now that not a single one of my pictures will do any justice to what we actually saw. The places we went and the things we saw were so amazing and while the camera can capture a bit of it, the memories of sights and sounds and colors and smells in my head will always be better than a picture. You will just have to trust me when I say it was beautiful and if you ever have the chance you should go!

We stayed in the Grand Hotel De La Minerva right in the heart of Rome. The location was perfect. We walked to everything except for The Vatican. We were literally a stones throw away from The Pantheon. This was the lobby of our hotel. We had a huge room over looking The Pantheon. It was so nice to be able to come home for a bit in the late afternoon and take a little nap and head out again to stroll the streets at night and have a late dinner.

Our hotel was right outside a piazza with a beautiful church, but in Rome there is a jaw dropping church around each and every corner.

All the streets in Rome are covered in these small cobble stones. It was very charming. As you can imagine, high healed shoes are a catastrophe here. All the women wear flats. I wore heals one night to a fancy restaurant and it took us twice as long to get there because of the care I had to take each and every step.
I can't say enough about Rome. I loved the language, I loved the people, I loved how they dressed, I loved the streets, I loved the sights and sounds....I LOVED IT.

It was such an interesting blend of old streets and homes and stores that transported you to another time, yet they were filled with the most modern and expensive displays and clothing and high end labels one after the next after the next. Every street you went down was filled with cafes or amazing shops. The blend of the old and the new somehow mingle together in a beautiful and perfect way in a maze of twisting and tangled streets.

There were many charming shops with vines of beautiful flowers growing up the walls. I loved that the streets and piazza's were filled with people but for some reason you never felt crowded. One of my favorite memories of Rome was the late night walks back to our hotel. The cafes would be filled with people the lighting on all the old buildings was warm and beautiful and every night there was a man playing beautiful guitar right outside our hotel. We would sit on the ledge of The Pantheon and listen to him quietly playing as we watched people stroll on by enjoying the night as much as we did.

Rome was perfect in every way. I enjoyed every second of it and I would love to go back and explore more some day. I have never really thought that much about learning a language but after this trip if I ever did, it would be Italian. Stay tuned for more posts of all the sights and experiences!