When in Rome, do as the roamers do..... so we did!

Monday was a busy day. We left for a 90 minute drive to Rome at 7:00 am.

Great tour guide! She gave us a lot of detail on what to look for in case we decided to go off on our own. I had no idea what to expect but a couple quick impressions jumped out at me. First, I thought that the city would be divided into old and new areas but that's not the case. What struck me was that you could be walking through the very narrow streets filled with 'new' buildings and suddenly you would turn a corner and find a magnificent cathedral, fountain, building or statue dating back to ancient times. The city was peppered with ancient ruins scattered among the newer buildings. Second, the definition of 'new building' around here is 500 years old. Which brought me to realization that we have an extremely limited history time line in Canada because the oldest architecture we have would only be a few hundred years old at best.

Again, I would encourage you to check for pictures on the internet to see the full view of some of these sites. I couldn't even fit the entire structures in my viewfinder. The Pantheon was beautifully preserved. The interior was exactly as it must have been when it was first built. Our tour guide really wanted to make make sure we saw everything and she sure knew all the shortcuts!

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

The Patheon

I love these guys!

Oh when the saints!

As we walked up to the rear entrance of the Vatican to start our tour, I came across these guys playing a rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In”... sounded good to!

I've never seen an art collection like this before. Sculptures, paintings, tapestries, mosaics, everything.

We were allowed to take pictures in many of the areas, but photos in the Sistine Chapel were not allowed. Apparently a group of photo/video companies paid to have the paintings restored in exchange for exclusive photo rights. If they catch you taking pictures, they take your camera. The restoration project took 14 years to complete.

The hallway leading up to the chapel is very impressive. The ceiling was painted from one end to the other along this long hallway, with the walls adorned with tapestries and paintings. I have a picture below of what appears to be a three dimensional sculpture, but it is actually a flat 2D imaged painted to appear three dimensional and believe me you'd swear the images are jumping off the ceiling. The entire ceiling was covered in similar works.

The Vatican

Hallway To Sistine Chapel

3D or 2D?

The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel beautiful. The only downside was that we were literally shoulder to shoulder inside the chapel. It's lucky the artwork is on the ceiling because the only thing at eye level was the next persons ear!

Saint Peter's Basilica was even more impressive as far as the decor goes. Michelangelo's statue Pieta is one of the first things you see as you go into the cathedral. This apparently was one of his first great works created at age 24. Beside the statue is the tomb of John Paul II.  

Pieta

Having as many statues as they do at the Vatican, it is very important to have effecting bird control. Apparently this was recognized even in ancient times.

Animal Control

All in all, the Vatican tour was very impressive and was our last stop in a 13 hour day of touring.