The Vatican: we had a tour guide take us around. She was great and we learned a lot. Right above Allen's head is the balcony the Pope comes out on and the chairs behind us are always set up. We learned that the Pope's through the years have collected A LOT of art. They would travel and when they saw something they liked, they would just take it back with them. We walked through gallery after gallery of sculptures and art on our way to the Sistine chapel (loved learning more about it, but it wasn't as grand to see in person as I expected-much smaller than I thought). Allen is standing in one of the galleries that was just full of detailed maps-very impressive.
This is one of the hundreds of sculptures there...this is one of the first to have faces show emotion.
Artifacts: Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and the story goes that his mother went on a quest to collect artifacts from Jesus' life. The things she brought back and now are in churches around Rome: wood from Jesus' crib in the manger, a nail that was used on the cross, wood from the cross, the crown of thorns, the chains that held Peter, and the stairs that Jesus walked up to meet Pilot. Who knows if these things are real or not, but it was neat to think about.
When we went to see the stairs, people only go up them on their knees to show respect. And they pray/meditate while going. We didn't have the time or knees/backs to do this, but we did kneel on the first step and it was neat to think, what if? Pretty neat.
The Forum: something I knew very little about. Amazing to see and learn about it. We didn't have a guide here, but we listened to Rick Steve's tour on our phones.
As we were walking around Allen kept talking about how this is where Julius Caesar walked. I questioned if the stone pathways were the same or newer. Then as we walked along them, Rick Steve's talked about the large black stones we were walking on and said, "you are walking where Caesar walked". Very cool. I took a picture of Allen doing just that.
We saw so much more, but I am tired and I am sure you are too. It was an unforgettable trip!
The Vatican: we had a tour guide take us around. She was great and we learned a lot. Right above Allen's head is the balcony the Pope comes out on and the chairs behind us are always set up. We learned that the Pope's through the years have collected A LOT of art. They would travel and when they saw something they liked, they would just take it back with them. We walked through gallery after gallery of sculptures and art on our way to the Sistine chapel (loved learning more about it, but it wasn't as grand to see in person as I expected-much smaller than I thought). Allen is standing in one of the galleries that was just full of detailed maps-very impressive.
This is one of the hundreds of sculptures there...this is one of the first to have faces show emotion.
Artifacts: Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and the story goes that his mother went on a quest to collect artifacts from Jesus' life. The things she brought back and now are in churches around Rome: wood from Jesus' crib in the manger, a nail that was used on the cross, wood from the cross, the crown of thorns, the chains that held Peter, and the stairs that Jesus walked up to meet Pilot. Who knows if these things are real or not, but it was neat to think about.
When we went to see the stairs, people only go up them on their knees to show respect. And they pray/meditate while going. We didn't have the time or knees/backs to do this, but we did kneel on the first step and it was neat to think, what if? Pretty neat.
The Forum: something I knew very little about. Amazing to see and learn about it. We didn't have a guide here, but we listened to Rick Steve's tour on our phones.
As we were walking around Allen kept talking about how this is where Julius Caesar walked. I questioned if the stone pathways were the same or newer. Then as we walked along them, Rick Steve's talked about the large black stones we were walking on and said, "you are walking where Caesar walked". Very cool. I took a picture of Allen doing just that.
We saw so much more, but I am tired and I am sure you are too. It was an unforgettable trip!
2 comments:
not tired at all, tell more!
btw, i dragged that sculpture pic into Google "search by image" and it identified it as "Laocoön and His Sons". i seem to remember a comic strip where a kid makes a snow sculpture of it (Linus?) but i can't find it.
where were the stairs exactly? i don't remember seeing that.
More great, great pictures. Thanks for explaining each one in such detail. Loved hearing about each place, statue, steps, etc. So interesting. Great pictures. It is weird to think about walking on something that has been around for centuries.
Thanks, Joel, for your added information. I think it was a Peanuts cartoon. Keep checking on that.
PS ~ I, too, don't remember seeing those steps or the tradition of going up them on one's knees. Very interesting.
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