First of all I finished up a fun trip back to the States last week. It was nice to spend some time with the family and see all my friends. I had a fun lunch with Drew, got to watch his intramural basketball games, and even meet Jessica, his girlfriend. And to make it all EVEN better I was in town for Youth Sunday at my church. And it just so happened that my baby sister was giving the sermon and singing a solo at church. She did an absolutely beautiful job and I was/am very proud of her. We got a family picture after church and then had a nice lunch at Pucket's in downtown Franklin. The trip was a much needed re-energizer :)
But by the end I was ready to get back home and get started on work! I was VERY lucky to actually make it back to Italy. I was scheduled to fly stand by out of Baltimore on Monday night. If you remember, Baltimore had a record setting snow storm on Saturday. The airport had been closed for two days and it just opened Monday morning. All flights had been cancelled from Saturday all the way through Monday morning. My flight was in the afternoon and was delayed a few hours, but I made it into Baltimore. I got my bags (2 large rolling suitcases) at 6:30pm...the time I was supposed to be at the Air Mobility Command terminal to check in to (hopefully) fly Space Available (stand by). So me, my 20 pound backpack, my purse, and two 50 pound rolling suitcases were BOOKING it through the airport. Literally from one end to the other hoping to make it in time. I got to the counter out of breath, sweating, with my arms shaking...but I made it! And luckily because of all the crazy weather most the people on the flight didn't make it to Baltimore and not only did I get a seat, I got two, and a window! Success.
Funny little side story. As I'm sitting in the terminal in Baltimore waiting on the (delayed) rotator I decided to get a bottle of water. So I walk over to the machine and put in a $5 bill to pay for the ridiculously priced $2 bottle of water. As I'm watching the mechanical arm go up and grab my water, I start hearing my change coming out of the machine...literally. Quarters are shooting out of the machine at me and spinning all over the floor! So I'm trying to step on the quarters to stop them from rolling as if I'm stomping bugs, one after the other. Twelve quarters shoot out at me, to be exact. By this time I am dying laughing, out loud, by myself as I'm picking up all my change off the floor. Major design flaw. I seriously then start thinking it might be like a hidden camera thing to see how you react. Someone is getting a good laugh somewhere.
Anyway, I made it safely back to Italy. Phew, what a trip. And I'm happy to report, I got home on Tuesday night, got in-processed for work on Wednesday, went to employee training on Thursday and had my first day of work on Friday. Yes people, I really do have a job. I know my family was starting to doubt I was ever going to work or that I would still have a job available after waiting 2 1/2 months for paperwork to clear. But I do!!! And I'm a working girl now. And Taylor is loving it! As am I.
So I mentioned previously that we were planning to take a trip for President's Day and it was my job to plan it. We were going to leave the country, but when looking into travel options Rome worked out much better then a few of the others because of time contraints. So Roma it was. We booked an overnight train on Friday night leaving Pordenone (train station 10 min from our house) at 10pm and arriving in Rome at 7am. We got a sleeper car and we were set to go.
So Friday night after work we both are packing and getting stuff together for the trip. I mentioned to Taylor I thought something was wrong with the washer because when I opened it earlier the clothes were still soaking wet like the spin cycle hadn't run right. I ran the cycle again and this time I couldn't open the door (of our front loading washer). So Taylor is in the basement and I hear him say, "I got the door open". As I'm sitting on my computer looking stuff up I realize I'm hearing what sounds like lots of water being poured into the sink in the laundry room. So I go downstairs to see Taylor with the trashcan as water is gushing out of the door of the washer. Yikes. He says, with an unpleasant look on his face, that he thinks I've been stuffing the washer to full. I'm not entirely convinced this was the problem, and I'm now pretty sure that it, in fact, was not the reason for the flooding, but it probably didn't help. (Today, Wednesday, we had the washer technician come out and tell us the filter was clogged with two coins and some crazy rubber thingy that must have come from the previous people...it's now working fine)
So anyway, we take out all the soaking clothes and put them in the utility sink in the laundry room and soak through lots of towels cleaning up the mess and just leave them in the sink, close the door and leave for Rome. What timing...but nothing we could do that night, and we CERTAINLY weren't missing our train for it!
So we spent the night and attempted sleep in our little...and I mean LITTLE sleeper car.
But really, it's all you need. Taylor got a few hours of sleep, but I hadn't recovered from jet lag and got maybe an hour. Last I checked the clock it was 4:30am. Luckily we were busy, busy, busy all day Saturday and I didn't have time to be tired. We hit the ground running. We stayed in a hotel about a 5 minute walk from the train/metro station. We checked into the hotel first thing in the morning and they let us leave our bags in a locked storage area since our room obviously wouldn't be ready til much later. And off we went with a map and a list of reccommended sites to see.
We started with the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum is the largest museum in the world with a collection of art and artifacts that is just unbelievable. We weren't quite sure how to approach it and chose not to do a guided tour. Looking back, we would have taken a guided tour, as much of it would have been more significant with the stories behind the art and pictures. History just comes to life that way. We were very wary about being ripped off in such a touristy place, but really I think it's beneficial. None the less, it was an incredible place. Every ceiling was painted/decorated, the columns, and mosaic tiles, and marble pillars, sculptures hudreds of years old everywhere. Just unbelievable. Here are a few pictures from the Vatican below.
Every hallway and room was decorated with the elaborate design and detail.
One of the many intricately decorated ceilings along the way to the Sistine Chapel.
There were no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel. As I've done before, I am including a link to my Facebook album that includes many more pictures from the trip. I can't include them all on the blog or this post would be an even bigger novel then it already is! And it would take me FORever to upload them all to Blogger.
Next we went into Saint Peter's Basilica. It is the largest cathedral/church in the world. It was both of our favorite part of the trip. This church was UNBELIEVABLE. It is the church in St. Peter's Square. You would recognize it from Angels and Demons, among other things I'm sure :). The basilica took 120 years to build and much of the church (granite, marble, gold, etc.) is taken from the former palace and other buildings from the Roman ruins.
This view is from first walking in. We both were speechless, I had chill bumps all over my arms. I encourage you to click on the pictures to enlarge them and really look at the detail. There are sculptures carved in the top of all the columns and paintings, designs, and gold all the way up the walls and ceilings.
Along the left aisle. Notice the ceiling with a gorgeous painting.
Towards the front of the basilica. This canopy is called the baldacchino. It was built by Bernini (the same man who built the pillars in St. Peter's Square) in the mid 1600's. "It is made from 927 tons of dark bronze taken from the roof of the Pantheon" (another building from Ancient Rome). It is a shelter for the papal altar and also serves to fill the large space below Michaelangelo's dome (in the ceiling above).
I know I'm a super nerd, but I had to look up the information about this and couldn't think of better words to describe it, so I'm siting a website in my blog. The info came from http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-st-peters-basilica Okay, phew, I feel better.
This is Michaelangelo's sculpture "Pieta". It is now behind glass because of an attempt to vandalize it with an axe in 1972. It is a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus's dead body after the crucifixion. Michaelangelo completed this sculpture at age 24! Absolutely beautiful.
This is a view of the basilica from above in the dome on the way up to the cupola. Sorry a part of it was blurry, I was taking the picture through a gate/fence like thing. You can get an idea how tall it is though, and we weren't even at the top of the dome!
This picture is taken in St. Peter's Square. The pillars that encircle the Piazza (the town center) were built by Bernini. The pillars are built out of limestone taken from the Colosseum! They made up a plaza type ground outside the Colosseum.
Getting a little artsy with my pictures...but it was just so pretty against the blue sky.
After seeing a whole list of sites on Saturday and Sunday, on Sunday night we went back to many of them to see them all lit up. Rome was very easy to get around, it wasn't a HUGE city, distance wise, and we were able to make quick stops at all the sites. Taylor was the talented night time photographer. He took all of these pictures, mine kept coming out blurry!
This is a picture of St. Peter's Square from above. This picture was taken from the Cupola on top of St. Peter's Basilica notice all the statues at the bottom of the picture that are located on the top of the Basilica. We waited about an hour and a half in line to go up to the Cupola, but we had no idea what we were waiting for. We decided we wanted to do everything we could at the Basilica because we didn't have a tight time schedule and we really loved the Basilica. So we walked through the tombs of all the former Popes and then there was a second line we got in, but had no idea what it was for. When we finally got up close enough we read a sign that said "After taking the elevator you will still need to climb 320 stairs, must be in good health". What in the world were we waiting for??? We soon figured out it was to climb to the top of the dome. We both agreed it was worth the wait.
The front of the Basilica.
And the gorgeous building at night. Love it!
On Sunday morning we started off with the Colosseum. We chose to take a guided tour as a good sales person convinced us as we were walking into the ticket line. We were very happy we did this because it made the experience much better. It also included a complimentary guide to Palatine Hill, which we really enjoyed. The company was Romaround if you are planning a trip I recommend looking them up online. Our guides were great.
This is a picture of the inside of the Colosseum. It was built in approximately 30 years by 40000 slaves. The portion you are seeing only shows the bottom two levels. There is a third section above it (where it isn't torn down). The bottom level was for the wealthy men of society and the third section was for the women, who had to stand for the whole event.
Women were the lowest class of citizens at that time. The only women who were worth anything in society was a cult of 6 virgins, the Vestal Virgins. Their job was to keep the eternal flame burning in the temple of Vesta. It represented Rome's eternal life. They were chosen through a beauty contest at age 6 and they served for 30 years. The first 10 years they were in training, the second 10 they were tending the flame, and the final 10 they were training the new group. If they failed to keep their vow of celibacy they were buried alive. This actually happened to 10 women. They had many perks though and got to live a luxurious life in a mansion with 50 rooms and lived a much better and respected life then most women at this time. After their 30 years they were free, although their life span was only about 40ish years, so really, they dedicate their whole life to the tending of the flame. Anyways, I just found that story to be interesting.
And again, Taylor's magnificent photography skills.
Part of the ruins. Many of the ruins in this picture within the grass are part of the house/mansion the Vestal Virgins lived in. The large arches you see are part of an old political building. You can see the Colosseum on the right, next to the trees. As well as one of the Arches in front of it. Arch of Titus or Constantine...I'm not sure which, they both looked the same to me!
This is Trevi Fountain. Fontana di Trevi. This was one of my favorite things, it was so gorgeous. The fountain was completed in 1762. It is said that if you throw a coin in the fountain it will ensure your return to Rome. There are other myths about throwing 3 coins in and hoping for divorce or marriage...not really sure about all those. I'd say it's a myth created by the city to generate some revenue! Taylor was curious how much money the fountain actually made, and I just looked it up and it says the fountain makes about 3000 Euro (approx 4300 dollars) a DAY! It says it funds a Roman food pantry for the needy, but that they have a problem with people stealing the coins from the fountain. I threw my one coin in and hopefully I'll make it back to this cool city.
And again at night...
This is a building built to honor Emmanuel Vittorio, the first King of a unified Italy. It also houses their tomb of the unknown soldier. The building is made out of pure white marble. The left side is currently under construction...something is being fixed, I suppose. We have a day time picture, but you'll have to click on the Facebook link to see it. This blog is taking WAY too long, I started it on Wednesday and it is now Saturday night!
And one last picture...
Another archaeological site in the Forum, the Roman Ruins. So many cool things through out this city. And this one looked even better at night!
Anyway, as you can see, we had a great trip! Oh, and we are expecting our first visitor next Saturday! Thomas (Taylor's brother) is coming in town on Saturday morning. T&T are skiing in Austria all week, Monday through Friday...I know they're excited about that...and I'm just excited to have a visitor!! We're four months in people...start making your plans!!!!
Oh and can I mention I love the Olympics? And how cool is Shaun White? USA, USA, USA!!!!!
Okay, check out more cool pics from my Facebook album!!
Ciao, bella!!!
LOVE IT! I've been anxiously awaiting your blog about Roma! I love all the stories!
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