Rome, Part 1

Well, that was an epic Spring break, if I do say so myself. Once again, I'll have to break it up, because there are too many darn pictures....and really, only a fraction of them are making it into the blog, because there are gazillions of pictures, and you just don't have time for that. Do you?

The plan all along was to go to Italy. We decided NOT to drive this trip. We could have gone with a tour group, on a bus, and seen a LOT more of Italy than we did (Florence, Venice, Pisa, etc.), but there are too many unappealing factors involved with that route (trying to sleep on a bus, traveling with strangers, on someone else's timetable, etc.) Ryanair is a super cheap airline over here in Europe, and we took full advantage of it. Since we were flying anyway (and again, it's so cheap), we figured we might as well hop over to Athens from Greece.  And then, since that airline doesn't fly from Athens to Frankfurt, it was just as cheap to hop over to London and then to Frankfurt, as it was to go back to Rome and then Frankfurt. So there you have it: Rome + Athens + London = Spring Break 2017. I already did it, and it still sounds crazy to me ;)

So, our first flight went pretty smoothly. We got off the plane and chose one of two different shuttle buses that take you straight into the city. Alas, I chose the wrong shuttle bus, because it was 1/2 hour late. Even better, while we waited we got quite the show from an older couple (60's?) who were completely drunk, and trying to eat each other's faces off - seriously hardcore making out.  Then, because we were late meeting up with the people from our Airbnb, we had to pay a late fee.  So, maybe not the best way to start our trip, but still...
Got to Rome - check
Figured out public transportation - check
Landed in a beautiful apartment, in a beautiful neighborhood, just a short walk from the Vatican - Check, check, and check!

The apartment was very old, and the owner was very proud to show us that the front door had the original hardware/locks on it and everything.

Seriously, these were the keys we had to carry around - they were HUGE (the smallest one is a regular sized key) :)

The neighborhood was beautiful and old and everything we wanted.

We got a good night's sleep and were ready to go the next morning.  First up - The Vatican!  This is a tiny (100 acres), independent country, complete with it's own postal systems, it's own version of the Euro coin, armed guards, mini-train station, helipad, gardens, and it's own king (the Pope) . Oh, and it's the religious center of the Roman Catholic church.

We started with the Vatican Museum, which is massive.  I think we spent about 2 1/2 hours there, and we skimmed the surface.  Helpful traveler's tip here - we reserved tickets online, and skipped a HUGE line waiting to buy tickets.  Huge.  When the Roman Empire fell, the Catholic Church really was key in collecting and preserving artifacts from many cultures that were dying off.  But most of what is in the Vatican Museum was collected by the Renaissance popes in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Here come the pictures.

The Egyptian Rooms (3000-1000 B.C.)

Mummies

 Egyptian writing

Animal gods

Sumerian writing - they basically invented writing about 5,000 years ago.

Built in 1506, this large courtyard is basically where and how the Vatican Museum got started.  There are a bunch of Greek and Roman sculptures (500 B.C - A.D. 500), and popes would bring VIP's and guests here to entertain them.  The galleries didn't open to the public until around 1800.

Apollo

 Roman river god

 Laocoön - he was the high priest of Troy, and warned his fellow Trojans, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts." So when the Trojan horse pulled up to the city gate, of course he wanted to stop them.  Unfortunately, the gods were totally biased and wanted the Greeks to win, so they sent huge snakes to kill him and his sons.  Poor Laocoön.  Awesome statue!  It is powerful and gritty, with it's twisted poses, rippling muscles, and bulging veins.  I didn't even know this statue was at the Vatican museum, so when I turned the corner and saw it I was like, "What?!"  Fun surprise ;)

 I am a sucker for all the mosaic floors!

 Another fun one - Belvedere Torso.  This is all that remains of a statue of Hercules seated on a lion skin.  Michelangelo loved this statue and would say, "I am the pupil of the Torso."  If he thought it was good, it must be good, right? ;)

 This huge basin is made of a single piece of purple porphyry marble from Egypt.  It's so big that the room was built around it in the 1800's.  Behind it you can see a bronze statue of Hercules.

 More mosaic floors - there were a lot.

 I love this picture of Madelyn (below).  She was not enjoying herself at this point.  She was happy to find a rare seat to take a load off and contemplate what she was doing with her life....it wasn't going to get any better in the next hour ;)

Then we came to what is called The Long March, which is (and I'm not kidding) a quarter of a mile long hallway with statues, tapestries, and maps.  It is well named ;)  Up until this point the museum hadn't felt too crowded, but this part was.

Here we started to see statues with fig leaves covering their unmentionables, like Bacchus below.  From 1550-1800 the Catholic leadership got a little prudish I guess, and covered up a bunch of the statues' crotches with plaster fig leaves.  I don't know if they covered ALL of the statues, and then some of them fell off over time, or if they only ever covered some of them, and if so, how did they decided which ones to cover?

 And finally we came to the Raphael rooms.  These rooms were SO crowded and stuffy, it was insane.  We didn't take much time in these rooms because we just wanted to get out of there so we could breathe.  But when we finished with the last room, I realized that I hadn't seen "The School of Athens", so Cora and I fought our way back through the crowd until we found it.

 It was much bigger than I anticipated.  So much going on in this painting - all the great thinkers and scientists of Ancient Greece, together in a mythical school setting.  Plato and Aristotle in the middle, Socrates to the left of them in green.  But Raphael also incorporates the current Renaissance thinkers by making Plato look like Leonardo da Vinci, and the "school" building is modeled after an early version of St. Peter's basilica, which was under construction at the time.  The symmetry is perfection.  Michelangelo was working on the Sistine chapel at the same time as Raphael was working on this room.  Raphael had just completed "The School of Athens" when he got a look at what Michelangelo was doing.  He was so impressed that he went back and added Michelangelo into the fresco (front center, leaning on the block of marble.

The very last thing in the Vatican Museum is the Sistine Chapel.  It's the only place you can't take pictures :(  On top of that, it was just as crowded as the Raphael rooms, and there were a lot of security workers there trying to get people to keep moving and get out.  They didn't want you to just stand there and stare at the ceiling, 'cause who would want to do that?! (shakes head defeatedly).  There were benches along the walls where you could sit and stare, but obviously not enough sitting room for all the people that were in there.  It was annoying, and we weren't in there for very long.

 And that was it.  Well, there was actually more to see, but we were done.  Our younger kids were DONE.  We exited down this long spiral ramp that slowly turned into a staircase, and out the door.

From the museum we went to find lunch at a little place that was recommended.  I forgot to take a picture of the place or the food, which is a shame because it was the best meal we had while in Rome.  Pizza and pasta, by the weight.  So flippin' good!  After lunch we head back to the Vatican to get a look at St. Peter's square and go inside the basilica.

[Oh my gosh, you have no idea how long it has taken me to write just this much!  There are too many pictures!  This is going to take me forever!  Rant over]

Walking up the street towards St. Peter's square (which is really an oval), you really don't get a good idea of how massive it is.

 St. Peter's basilica is one of the largest churches in the world - it covers about 6 acres, and holds about 60,000 standing worshipers.  It was designed by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  Started in 1506, it took 120 years, 20 popes, and 10 architects to finish building, and another 200 years to finish decorating the inside.  

 The obelisk in the center is 90 ft. tall and 300 tons.  It was originally erected in Egypt, but after the fall of the pharaohs, it was moved to Rome by Caligula.  Then Nero used this "square"/area for his Circus (chariot racecourse).  For the halftime show, Christians were made to fight wild animals, gladiators, or they were crucified.  Peter was one of the latter, and chose to be crucified upside down, because he felt unworthy to die the same way that Christ had. Supposedly he was buried in a small cemetery, which was located exactly where the altar inside the Basilica is.  

 284 columns ring the square, welcoming you in.

 140 statues of saints, each 10 feet tall.

This isn't the best picture (below), but it's the only shot we got from this vantage point, and shows you two different things.  First, the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel.  When a pope dies, this is where the church leaders meet to elect a new one.  Thousands of people wait in the square each day.  If they see black smoke come out of the chimney, they keep waiting.  If they see white smoke, they know a new pope has been chosen.  The building on the right is where the pope usually lives....until the recent pope, that is.  When Pope Francis first saw the papal suite, he reportedly said, "You could fit 300 people in here!", and he chooses to live in one of the Vatican guest houses instead.  I like that he walks the walk, ya know?  Respect.

 The closer you get, the less you see of the magnificent dome, designed by Michelangelo.  That's because Maderno decided to extend the nave so far.  The only way to see the full dome is from down the boulevard (first picture), which wasn't opened up until the 1930's by Mussolini.  Thanks fascist dictator Mussolini! ;)

 It took us almost an hour waiting in line (no tickets, it's free, so you have to wait in line no matter what), but we finally got through security and got up close and personal.

 St. Peter's basilica was extremely expensive to build and decorate.  The popes financed it by selling indulgences (you could buy forgiveness for your sins), which eventually led Martin Luther to protest such corruption, and start the Protestant Reformation.

 The plaques on the floor show where other churches of the world would end if they were placed inside of St. Peter's

 The dome is higher than a football field.  The base of the dome is ringed with a gold banner and blue letters that are 7ft. tall.  It quotes from the bible, "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (in Latin).

 Directly under the dome is the altar, and below that is where Peter's remains are....maybe.  It's the story, but who really knows?  Not even the pope ;)  This is as close as we could get to the altar.  It was all roped off.  Not sure if it always is or not.  I know it's only used when the pope himself says mass.  The small altar wouldn't even be noticeable if it wasn't for Bernini's massive bronze canopy (7 stories high) that tops it.

 Bronze statue of Peter.  This is one of the few pieces of art that saved from the original church built here before St. Peter's.

 The painting below is a copy of Raphael's "The Transfiguration".  The original is in the Vatican museum (one of the parts we didn't go to).  They don't keep original paintings in St. Peter's because they can't control the humidity in there.

And finally we came to what I'd been waiting for my whole life.  Michelangelo's Pietà.  In a curtained off section of the church, behind bullet-proof glass (because some idiot attacked it with a hammer a few years ago).

 To me, this captures, more than any other work of art, the sadness and love of this moment.  A mother with her son.  Christ's body sags, and flows with the folds of her garment, showing the weight she is trying to hold, but she is larger-than-life compared to him, emphasizing the mother-son relationship.  He is enfolded in her love.  His sacrifice is her sacrifice.  It is a masterpiece, and I cried when I saw it.  I didn't want to leave.

This was truly an amazing day, and not even a huge tantrum by one of my kids, who shall remain nameless, could ruin it (almost though....seriously).  Only the first day, and I was already in LOVE with Rome!

Now to wade through hundreds of more pictures for my next post....ugh - first world probelms ;)