Vatican, St. Marks, and stuff

Well, I forgot to put a few things on from the day before so let's catch up a little. The first day in Rome we walked and walked and walked. We saw so many things and here are a few other things that we did. This is the Trevie Fountain (don't know how to spell it). This fountained is carved into the side of a building. You walk around the corner and there it is. You don't think you are walking up to the fountain other than you can hear water. You don't expect it to be in the side of a building though. There were a ton of people walking around and we think that there was a guy having his bachelor party because they hoisted him up and started singing and carrying him through the streets. It was odd and a little funny.
Notice how small the people are in comparison to the fountain. It is HUGE and I really liked it. I would have wanted to hang out in the piazza more there weren't so many people there.

Below is the Pantheon. Today it is owned by the Catholic church and there are a couple of dead people inside it and that is really it. There are a few statues and stuff, but the main thing is just the building itself. It was designed with a hole in the roof and made so that the water would dissipate before it reached the ground inside the building. How did the Romans figure that one out???

OK, no look at the little people standing right next to the columns. Each column is I believe 60 or 80 feet tall. That is huge, but not the impressive part. Each column is a single piece. There are no cuts and it is out of 1 rock!!! AND - they shipped it to Italy from EGYPT!!! Again - what? How? uhhhh?

This is the Piazza Navona. This is where all the artists come to paint and you will hear it in many different movies. One movie it is in is "Return to Me". There were literally hundreds of artists out selling their paintings and just milling around. You can see some in the background, but not to many. This is the fountain exiting the piazza on one side.

As we were wandering through the streets to get back to the train station to go home, we had to stop. We didn't really know why, but kept trying to make our way through the crowd. Finally, when we got up closer this is what we saw. The ladies under the Max & Co. sign are models and were doing a photo shoot there in the street. We just happened to be going the same way they were so when they started moving and the crown dissipated, we actually followed the for about 1o minutes walking. They had their own body guards and all. I would say it was cool, but I was too tired and my feet hurt too much that really I could think was "get the skinny girls out of my way!!!"

This was one last interesting thing we saw in the way of sculptures. This is a coffin. If you are able to zoom in on it, you can see the veins in the horses necks and the muscles in the bodies of the scene. Wonder how much that would cost in these days?

So, that rounded up basically the first day. There is again, so much more that I can't show here or explain, but it was cool. The next day we took off to the Vatican and St. Marks Square. The Vatican actually was about a 5 mile walk inside. The whole time there was so much stuff on the ceiling and you spent almost the entire time walking up on ceiling while you are walking. There was so much Pope art that I really was disgusted at walking through and seeing the Pope and Jesus giving everyone the peace sign. I can't imagine Jesus ever giving people the peace sign! SO, after 3 hours of art that was starting to get on my nerves while just trying to get to the Sistine Chapel. Man they make you walk forever to get there! Anyways, here is one piece of art that I loved and will try to find a copy of someday. It is unnamed and the artist is unknown. I just can't help but imagine how that hug from Christ would feel and how it would cool your soul. I love the colors and the style of the art. This is one of my favorite pictures that we saw in Rome.

After 4 hours in the Vatican, we finally got back out into fresh air. This is St. Mark's square. Michelangelo designed this and this is also where the Pope comes out on Wednesdays and blesses the people.....with the peace sign I might add.

OOPS - this is a picture of the inside of the Vatican and the ceiling details....which is what you really look at going through the whole thing. Also, you spend the time looking ahead of you and wondering if the hallway is ever going to end!

This is one of our favorite Pieta's that we saw. It is in St. Mark's.

Now, the last picture here is blurry I know, but the purpose was to show you how tall the building is on the inside. You can see the people at the base of the columns there and the columns are probably 40 feet tall. NOTE: YOU STILL CAN'T SEE THE CEILING!!! The detail inside the churches are extraordinary and we loved seeing it all. I must admit though that it is hard to appreciate it because there is so much going on that you really can't interpret all that your eyes are seeing. In American museums, there is a piece of art and then blank wall around it so that you can focus on the art. In Italy, the wall is the art and so is the stuff they hang on it and so is the buildings and the sculptures and the and the and the. It is just so hard to actually take it all in and try to remember what you saw and how you felt. Good thing we kept a journal of our trip.

Tomorrow - Pompeii and Kareoke