The Vatican

We spent our third day in Italy in the smallest country in the world:  Vatican City.  Yes, it is small for a country but gigantic for a collection of art.  I never thought I could get sick of admiring beauty and grace in the form of paintings, sculpture, and architecture, but I can honestly say that the Vatican had more of all of those than I could take in.  We had a very patient ten-year-old Abbey tagging along with us, but my interest and energy ran out long before hers did.  I think she was truly made for this kind of experience.  We've talked to her lately about the scripture that says, "Where much is given, much is required." I don't think she truly knows the responsibility she has in this life because of all the experiences she is being given, but someday I hope she realizes how amazingly remarkable her young life is and comes to know what the Lord expects her to do with all of these worldwide adventures.

Sometimes I look at this girl and wonder how such a little person got to be in such BIG places.  I felt lucky to go to Lagoon every summer when I was her age!

Here's a question:  Why is she always pulling a frowny or serious face when she is posing with me?!  My theory is that when I am taking the picture I'm a lot more entertaining than Brett is when he takes our picture.

The Vatican Museum starts with Egypt and Mesopotamia - the beginning of civilization.  I've heard that the Vatican houses more Egyptian artifacts than any museum in Egypt.  Hmmmm . . .  This mummy was difficult to take a picture of because it is so REAL, but Abbey told me Ben would want to see this, so I obliged.

 No sculpture hall in Italy would be respectable without Caesar presiding over it.  There truly are miles of marble sculpture in this museum.

This is the sculpture that started the whole Vatican Museums thing.  Laocoön and His Sons was probably created in about 20 BC but was found in 1506 in Rome.  Pope Julius II bought it at an ancient Roman garage sale for pennies and then gloated about his "steal" by placing it in the Belvedere Gardens at the Vatican.  Laocoön was killed after attempting to expose the ruse of the Trojan Horse by striking it with a spear. The snakes were sent by Athena and were interpreted by the Trojans as proof that the horse was a sacred object.  He tried to tell those people of Troy, but they refused to listen.  To get the full story we would have to consult the Aeneid, but that is for another day's pursuits.  While in the museums I heard someone mention that if a person took two minutes to study each written description of each piece of artwork it would take years to get through all the treasures.  We just didn't have that kind of time!

The statues of women were my favorites.  How a sculptor can create something that looks so human, so graceful, and so powerful at the same time is moving.

This is the Belvedere Torso which is 2,000 years old and apparently had a great impact on the art of Michelangelo.

This interesting, over-sized cereal bowl was used in the large banquets of the Romans who, as you know, helped pioneer the wonderful pasttime of gorging and vomitting. YUCK! How would you like the job of cleaning that out?  It was much too heavy to lift or tip, so you can only imagine . . . .

I just love this picture!

For some reason this view from one of the museum windows made me think of Tom Hanks zipping around Rome with the Vatican Police.

Even though we weren't allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, this painting reminds me of my favorite part in the chapel.  I love how the artist paid so much attention to even the turn of this woman's foot.

After walking through miles of museum, right before we reached the Sistine Chapel, there were some very contemporary pieces of art displayed.  Most of them were pretty indulgent and screamed, "Look at me because I am placed right before the big finale, so I must be important." This piece was the exception though.  It reminded me of a baptism.

The Sistine Chapel was amazing.  We filed in through a very small door, so I wasn't even prepared when I crossed the threshold into the glories of Michelangelo.  Here are some images from the internet, because photography was not permitted.  The funniest part of the whole tour was the museum guard in the chapel who kept saying, "NO PHO-TO," in the most monotone deep voice I have ever heard.  He also kept sshhhhhing people.  It was very interesting that people continued to take photographs and talk even with this very intimidating voice repeating the rules.  I don't remember that same situation happening at the Bountiful Temple Open House that I helped host.

 This is my favorite detail from the chapel.  Again - what a beautiful foot!

This is Brett's favorite detail of Michelangelo's masterpiece.

Everything after the Sistine Chapel was kind of anti-climatic except for these last two items.  I don't know anything about this stained glass beauty, but I wish I could have brought it home.

The most photographed spiral staircase in the world was designed by Giuseppe Momo in 1932 and is in the Vatican Museum.  Its broad steps are somewhere between a ramp and a staircase. The stairs are actually two separate helixes, one leading up and the other leading down, that twist together in a double helix formation.  I can tell you it is quite a tactile experience to just walk down these stairs and I got a little dizzy, but they are impressive.

After the museums we headed to St. Peter's Basilica and walked past the border patrol to Vatican City.

Here is the largest church in the world.  Along with most things in Rome it is impressive and massive.  I guess they don't know how to do anything on a small scale.

The line to get into the basilica was quite long but it moved quickly.  This is the only place in Italy where we had to go through security.  Even with all the signs in the line that showed pictures of the things that were prohibited like a picture of a Swiss army knife (yes it was that specific), the guy right in front of us had a Swiss army knife in his pocket.  The security guard grabbed the guy and pulled him out to the last set of signs and gave him a very demonstrative, loud lecture in Italian.  We translated it in our minds to . . . "Are you blind or just stupid?!!!"

Yes, it was beautiful, but not my idea of sacred beautiful.  I guess I go for a more austere atmosphere for my places of worship.  While we were there I kept thinking to myself how there are millions of Catholics all over the world who will never have the opportunity that these three Mormons from Utah are having.  It almost made me feel guilty!

This is a mummy of one of the popes - I guess it is fairly common to have a pope in a Snow White glass box in the Vatican.  Who knew? 

This is Michelangelo's Pietà and clearly the best thing in St. Peter's.  To me it out-shown the building and this is the kind of thing that brings tears to Brett's eyes.  This photo does not do it justice.  It is one of those pure pieces of art that are incomparable.

It was a long day of walking, being quiet, and not touching, so you can imagine how rowdy . . . Brett was.  Abbey gave him a good wrestle and earned herself another gelato. 

Ahhhhhhh!  The best end to another Italian day! Ciao!

Italy: Rome Wasn't Built In a Day

What do you think is going through Abbey's mind here?  Put your guesses in the comments section for my reading pleasure!

Robert Browning said, "Everyone soon or late comes round by Rome." So I guess it was our turn.  We took an open air bus tour on our second day and saw the lay of the land.  It is an impressive city, even by bus.  So sitting on the top of a green double-decker bus with our green ear buds in, we did our best to soak up as much of the city and its history as we possibly could, knowing our legs wouldn't take us to all the beauties it had to offer.

"The Creator made Italy from designs of Michaelangelo." Mark Twain



Vittoriano (The Victor Emmanual Monument)



 The Colosseum (Colosseo) - Don't you love all the bald heads of the German tourists on our bus?

 "Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life." Anna Akhmatova



Campidoglio (Capitol Hill Square)



"Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy!" Percy Bysshe Shelley





The Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin where the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) is located - remember Roman Holiday?

The Palatine (where the emperors lived and from which we get our word "palace." This is where Rome began.

A Catholic Mass being held above Circus Maximus where many Christians were killed.



There were several masses being held on that Sunday.  Circus Maximus was also a private chariot race course for the emperors of Rome.



Abbey didn't mind her first encounter with a Roman Centurion . . . . . .

. . . until he asked her dad if she was an obedient daughter and offerred to inflict a severe punishment!



"Traveling is the ruin of all happiness! There's no looking at a building after seeing Italy." Fanny Burney

Our stop at the Vittoriano (Victor Emmanuel Monument) was our first real up close look at the architecture of Rome.  This monument, to Italy's first king built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the country's unification, was gigantic, including the 43 foot statue of the king on the horse which is the biggest equestrian statue in the world.  The king's moustache alone is over five feet wide, and a person could fit into the horse's hoof.  So what I'm saying is that everything about it speaks of SIZE.  It is over the top, and it came to be known as "the wedding cake" to the Allied troops when they invaded Italy at the end of World War II.  I understand that Romans don't like the structure all that much and call it "the typewriter" or "the dentures." I think they are most upset at the placement of this inferior building on a priceless acre of ancient Rome.  Soldiers guard Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Solder with the eternal flame here.

We investigated the Museum of the Risorgimento at the monument where they had an exhibit of artsy flags from a national contest.

The view of Rome from this monument was the best part of the building.

There is nothing like Italian sculpture, but we were just getting started.

We walked along the Via Dei Fori Imperiali street that was closed for Sunday strollers. 

I can't even name all the ruins that we saw along our stroll from the Vittorino to the Colosseum, but they included the Roman Forum, the Temple of Saturn, The House of the Vestal Virgins, and the Mamertine Prison where the apostle Peter was chained and baptized his jailers who were later martyred.



There were a lot of street performers and these are some of the most interesting.  Many of them played hauntingly beautiful music, but some of them were just downright terrible and out of place, like the quasi Native American Indians with their drums and feather headdresses who weren't worthy of a photo.

Near the Colosseum is the Arch of Constantine built in 312 to celebrate Constantine's victory over Maxentius in the battle of the Milvian Bridge - you know that one battle which was one of the great turning points in history and allowed Christianity to become legalized.  :)  Constantine was no dummy and had the arch covered with exquisite recycled carvings of high Roman art that glorified previous emperors - Hadrian, Marcus Aurelilus, Trajan, and Augustus.  Constantine hung on to the glorious Roman past and took his place with the big dogs.

Wasn't the sky gorgeous?!

The Colosseum is 2,000 years old and looks it!  This is the embodiment of the magnificence of Roman engineering in how they pioneered the use of concrete and the rounded arch.  Its real name is the Flavian Amphitheater.  Nero's gigantic long ago destroyed statue called the Colossus was adjacent to the ampitheater and it is where the Colosseum name came from.  This is where the gladiators did their thing.  This was where the Romans got their kicks watching animals hunt each other and then criminals and gladiators hunting the victorious animals and humans.  They would even have mock sea fights called naumachiae where they flooded the arena with water.  I guess this was the ancient version of Survivor, complete with animal lifting elevators that would rise from the subterranean holding cells to surprise the entranced audiences and elaborate sets designed by professionals.  There was even an enormous canvas awning that could be hoisted over the spectators' heads for shade - it just required a full-time army of sailors on site to pull it into place.  Listening to our guide tell of the brutal cruelty that was witnessed by 50,000 bloodthirsty people at a time made me think of The Hunger Games series of books I read recently.

Our guide was well-informed and entertaining as she used her delicate, very expressive Italian hands to describe the building and horrors of the arena.  She said it is a myth that Christians were killed in the Colosseum, but they were killed in the Circus Maximus.

You can see the subterranean maze here that would have been underneath the arena floor during the Colosseum's heyday.  It is amazing to think of the "modern" technology they had with the elevators.  Instead of machine powered though, they were slaved powered. 

The cross marks the area where the emperor would sit and watch the games as they unfolded.  There were over 100 festival days each year during the Flavian Empire which were national holidays of celebration and entertainment.  Our guide told us that there was a very intricate system in place to protect the audience from the wild animals and cutthroat antics in the ring - archers were positioned every few feet at the perimeter to kill anything that crossed the line and threatened the crowd. They say they are still uncovering ruins with animal skeletons from the killing that took place.  Yuck!

Vogue . . vogue . . . vogue . . . vogue

Abbey is a pretty good photographer, don't you think?

Eating in Italy was always a pleasure, but I made the mistake of ordering this.  My idea of prawns has nothing to do with eyeballs staring at me, so Brett was delighted to help out and Abbey was kind enough to share her pizza.  Italy is the place for kids to eat.  Pizza, pasta, mac and cheese, and gelato every day!

This was one of the happiest surprises of our trip.  This Vincent Van Gogh exhibit featured many of his self-portraits and the famous cypress trees painting.  There is nothing like glorious art in person and Van Gogh's thick paint strokes were divine.

The sun was starting to set so we decided to hop on the green bus and end our touring where it began.  We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a very chilly ride through the sparkling city.  I think Abbey was feeling blessed that she didn't have more energetic parents at this point.  She was well on her way to sleep and, even though she is ten, she let her dad hold her on his lap because he is a human heater.