Italy: Day 5

The next pictures are from Santa Maria del Popolo. I can't remember what day we visited here. It might have been day 4, but I guess that doesn't really matter.  We started day 5 going to the Vatican in the rain, but I'll stick these pictures in first.

These paintings were a little difficult to get a picture of, but this is The Conversion on the Way to Damascus. Amazing and vivid.

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter.

We also enjoyed visiting Piazza Nivona - also not far from Giolitti's. :)

I loved every bit of our trip to Rome.  There wasn't one thing we did that I wish we hadn't done, but if I had to choose my favorite part it would be our visit to the Vatican. It was also the most crowded thing we visited as well.  For anyone planning a trip to Rome I highly recommend purchasing tours or tickets online.  The lines are crazy and the tours allow you to save time.  Even in Venice check online. Marc saw that we could pay 2 euros each to not stand in line to visit St. Mark's Basilica. We walked right up with our little computer print out with no wait.  There were hundreds of people waiting to get in for free (I think) and they probably waited in the hot sun for a couple of hours.

So back to the Vatican.  We had to be there by 8:30 and it was a solid 30 minute walk from our hotel.

I'll just let some of the pictures speak for themselves.

Tapestry

Take a close look at this ceiling.  It's painted, not sculpted.

A little bit of a closer look.  We were amazed that it was just painted on a flat surface.

I thought this painting was fun.  It was painted by Rafael and depicts many of the major educators and philosophers of the time (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Plato, and many more). He also added the faces of several artists into the picture. Plato is in the red clothing in the center of the picture, but it is the face of Leonardo da Vinci. The man in the white robe standing on the left hand side is Rafael. And supposedly the man sitting at the bottom middle was added at the end. It is the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, also known as the weeping philosopher. Michelangelo wasn't known to be the friendliest of kindest person so Rafael chose to use his face as Heraclitus.

 

We finally made it to the Sistine Chapel. They ask for no pictures to be taken, so we put our camera away.  We couldn't figure out why we couldn't take pictures without a flash.  After some research when I got home it seems that the company that paid for the restoration of the ceiling paid for the right to photograph. Ridiculous if you ask me.  And normally I'm a strict rule follower, but when will I probably ever be in the Sistine Chapel again? So I have a pretty cool phone that allows you to touch anywhere on the screen to snap a picture.  I was able to very discreetly point the camera to the ceiling and touch the screen from the underside. I probably took about 20 pictures having no idea what they were looking like.  I ended up with a few that turned out pretty well all things considered.

Artists didn't used to sign their names to their paintings.  Instead they would put their self portrait somewhere in the artwork. It was also common for paintings and statues of martyrs to in some way show the way of their death.  In this piece Michelangelo depicts the apostle Bartholomew who was believed to have been flayed and crucified. He chose to place his portrait on the skin that Bartholomew is holding. Twisted if you ask me.

Michelangelo was a sculptor and had no desire to paint.The Pope at the time had asked him to begin working on a large number of statues to be used at his tomb.  While he was working on this the Pope decided that he wanted Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In order for Michelangelo to complete the sculpting he must first paint the chapel. 

We ended our morning at St. Peter's Basilica. Truly breath-taking.

 Michelangelo's Pieta.

Underneath this bronze dome is supposedly some of the remains of the apostle Peter.  There is a crypt below the basilica where the bodies of many popes rest. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Rome and just enjoying ourselves. This is the Tiber River.

Egyptian obelisk brought to Rome in 10BC by Augustus to commemorate the conquering of Egypt by the Roman Empire. 

You never know when you will turn a corner and find more ruins.

 

San Pietro in Vincoli

Another one of Michelangelo's sculptures. 

Moses was often depicted as having horns due to an incorrect Bible translation.  When Moses returned from mount Sinai with the second set of ten commandments the translation said that he returned horned, but it means shining, as in the shining of a horn. His face was radiant. Interesting history there. 

The black part of the Colosseum has yet to be cleaned from the years of pollution.

The side of the Colosseum showing where the outer wall really was. Most of it is no longer standing.

And after a long day of walking miles around this city we returned to our hotel to finish packing for our flight home.  We had some babies to return to!

Italy: Day 4

I feel like I need to begin this post with an important part of our vacation.  Gelato. I probably shouldn't mention that I had it 6 times in 5 day, but it was vacation and we did a TON of walking to make up for it.  A local told us about this amazing gelato place called Giolitti. The crowds were crazy, but it was definitely worth it.  The first time we went I chose chocolate and nutella.  I'm not a huge chocolate ice-cream eater, but Marc said that it was amazing. He chose strawberry and white chocolate. He wanted me to try his and bless his heart he shouldn't have.  He was so sweet to trade with me and the next two times we went to this gelateria I ordered strawberry and white chocolate.  Probably one of the best sweets I have ever eaten. Nothing but full disclosure on the blog. ha!

Monday morning we woke up to some light rain and dark skies. No time to sleep in and take it easy as we had a tour of the ancient ruins scheduled. On our way we passed this beautiful building, The Altar of the Nation.

The Arch of Constantine

Ancient Roman roads.  Over time they have worn down and eroded.  All of the stones used to be touching with no gaps. Many of the roads were made of basalt.

In order to stack the heavy stone used to build the Colosseum the Romans build scaffolding to stand on.  Each hole here is where the boards of scaffolding would be placed as they moved up the columns.  Later they would be filled in a plastered over, but over time they became exposed again.

We chose a tour that took us underground below the main level of the Colosseum.  This area would have had a wooden ceiling with sand on top for the gladiators. Today the roof is gone, but you can see where it would have been laid.

The arched areas in the back of this picture are where they would have kept the animals.  They would have the wild animals that were used for hunting events, but the Romans also brought in exotic animals for a circus of sorts.

This model shows how the animals would have been put on a platform, raised by a pulley system, and then a trap door would open to give them entrance to the arena.

Arch of Constantine from the top of the Colosseum.

We were also able to go to the top level. What an amazing structure that was built so long ago! In this picture you can see where they have added some of the flooring to show you what it would have been like.

After the Colosseum we walked over to the Roman Forum which served as a political center of the empire. I'm sure it was a bustling area at the time. This is the Arch of Titus. It was built in 82AD to honor Titus who had captured the city of Jerusalem.  It has carvings of some of the items taken from the city including what is believed to be the first sculpture of a menorah.

We have seen many street performers over the years, but this one was a first for us.

The Trevi Fountain - unfortunately it was under restoration.

Another little gem that my friend Laura directed us to was Sant’Ignazio Church. This painted ceiling took our breath away. She said that it tricks your eye to seeing a huge expanse of space ascending to heaven. There are two marked spots for where to stand for the best impression. Outside of the Sistine Chapel this was probably my most favorite artwork.

We stopped by the Pantheon next. This is the most well preserved building from the ancient Roman empire and it dates back to the 2nd century AD. The painter Rafael is buried here.

Our little gelateria was near the Pantheon so there is a very good chance we swung by there after our visit.

Another amazing day in Rome came to an end.  It's still surreal to think that a week ago we were on the other side of the world walking among ancient ruins learning about the history of the Roman Empire - most of which I had forgotten since middle and high school.