So Vatical

I've kept you waiting long enough. It's time for another installment from my Europe trip! First, I have to tell you about this past weekend. I went to San Antonio for a Beth Moore conference with some friends from A&M, and it was great to spend time with some of my favorite ladies!

OK, on to Italy! I last left off in Rome. July 22 Jonathan, David, Zach and I got up early to see some sights before we left town. Our first stop--mandatory--was a cafe. I ordered a cappuccino, which I quickly discovered was a delicious alternative to super-strong espresso, and nothing like the gas station varieties here. Look how cute it is!

Our first destination was Old Rome, about ten minutes away from our hotel. We had to capture ourselves in early-morning glory in front of the Forum. :-)Unfortunately, the Forum was closed because people were excavating. While we were glad they were discovering new treasures, we were a little disappointed we couldn't go in. I was amused by the sign telling us to keep out. Really, isn't it funny?It worked out for the best though, because we only had a little time to explore Roma that morning and I think we would have spent hours in the ruins.Next stop was, in my mind, the Eiffel Tower of Rome. THE Colisseum. Of course, the magnificent building is in ruins, but it's still impressive. I had expected it to be smaller, like everyone said, but it was a substantial size. 
This is the Arch of Constantine. I don't have my guidebook right here to fill you in, but I am reminded of the Arc du Triomphe in Paris... What do you think?This picture just boils me up when I look at it. :-) This man dressed like a Roman guard grabbed David and convinced him to take a photo with him, and then all of us with each of our cameras. This is the photo that came out of my camera. Oh, how fitting. After we took our photos, the guy and his sidekick told us it would be 5 euros... EACH. So enjoy this photo. It cost me almost $10.We opted out of going inside the Colisseum because the line was wrapped around the building, even at that early hour, and it cost money... plus I was still annoyed about the tourist trapping photo guys. :-) Looking back, I kind of wish we did go inside because I've seen other people's photos and the inside is very cool. In any case, here is a view of the inside!After our morning jaunt, we grabbed a cab back to the hotel, ate some breakfast, packed up our gear and took another taxi to the Vatican by about 11 am or so. (I told you we got up early!) We initially decided to wait in line with all our bags at St. Peter's Basilica to see the inside. We were worried we'd have to miss the Sistine Chapel because it was part of the Vatican Museum a mile away. HOWEVER... if any of you readers are thinking about visiting the Vatican... listen up. We were approached by a lady who informed us of an English-speaking tour starting almost immediately. We decided to join it, and I'm pretty sure it was the best investment of our entire trip. The tour was run by Eden's Walks, and our guide's name was Grant. I highly recommend using them. The tour was very educational, fun, reasonably priced, 2.5 hours long and helped us skip the line to the basilica. We walked over to the Vatican museum where we got to stow our luggage(YES) and got an in-depth yet quickly moving tour of the vast buildings. Our guide spent 15 minutes explaining the history of the Sistine chapel with all the juicy drama between the artists and the Pope at the time. Interesting and entertaining stuff. It allowed us to simply enjoy the chapel by the time we got inside. This presentation in itself was worth the price of the tour! In the photo below, the pinecone looking thing used to be a wine fountain!!This round monument was given to a Pope. Popes always get gifts from people, but apparently they didn't have any room in the museum, so they stuck the artwork outside. It's supposed to represent the earth slowly breaking apart, and the two halves can rotate on those gears.Our tour guide said this was an important sculpture... I wish I remembered more about it now, but it's crazy how intricately you can carve up marble hmm?Here begins my obsession with ceilings in the vatican. I just love the relief carving and the immensity of it.This is the ceiling from the Hall of Maps. On the walls are painted maps of all the known world at that time. The purpose of this room was to intimidate callers coming with their requests of the Pope. All kinds of pomp and circumstance surrounded this hallway, and the guards did their best to make the callers feel insignificant... all of the artwork on the ceiling is facing the opposite direction, so that visitors have to turn around--the direction the pope comes from--to see it, to show the Pope's importance. Sneaky sneaky! Our guide says the Vatican is not the only building to have this kind of construction. Remember the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles? Same purpose--to show how awesome the leader is.There were tapestries, sculptures and more painted ceilings, but I wasn't sure when the Sistine chapel was coming and i didn't want to have my camera confiscated, so I put it away and just enjoyed the tour. The Sistine chapel was stunning. My neck hurt just looking at it. I can't imagine how they painted it all! 

At the conclusion of our tour, the guide gave us an overview of the history of St. Peter's Basilica. Directly to the right(in this photo) is where the disciple Peter was martyred--long before the church was built. The basilica is the 2nd largest church in the world, and the most impressive i've seen. I can't even describe to you the majesty of it. It's overwhelming. There are hundreds of life-size sculptures in this piazza of saints.
The ceilings were my favorite part of St. Peter's basilica. I'm not catholic, and I'm not familiar with the history behind each of the Popes or saints immortalized in marble, but it was still beautiful artwork.

Zach took this photo. Isn't the light streaming through the window beautiful?

When we were thoroughly pooped from touring the Vatican, we caught a cab to the airport and headed to Venice. I think my photos from Venice were my favorites from my entire trip. I can't wait to show you! But for now... ciao!