So with our trusty Antonella leading the way we headed into the massive...”City Center”...of the Vatican.
Starting off with the Museum...so many sculptures..., Naked Boys, and Pretty Boys! Quite the scandal...Antonella told us about when the Pope decided that the nakedness was not appropriate at church...so he had all the "bits" taken off of the statues...so Antonella asked once..."is there a room with all the bits!" Ha!
From the Museum you could see the dome of St. Peter's, really one of the most incredible feat in architecture...I'm so amazed at how, with such limited resources they made such amazing masterpieces...the dome is so underutilized in our contemporary style world. It creates such great space and movement and such a grandeur!
We traveled though the Museum seeing the incredible tapestries with gold and silver thread...amazing! They have been masterly preserved by 40 nuns who have devoted their lives to keeping them for many generations to come! The floors were so incredible, I never knew how many colors marble came in...vibrant, fabulous colors.
Next, we headed to Sistine Chapel...a moment I've been waiting for since the moment I studied them in my history books. I floored...the pictures do not do this masterpiece justice. Michelangelo really did leave his mark… like no one else in history. The colors were magnificent and ...oh my goodness astonishing! Seeing the hand of God...a piece that I had spent hours staring at, sketching it in High School was such an...awe man moment! I couldn't even imagine how, for hours upon hours, Michelangelo laid on his back working. I didn't want to leave, I only had to because my neck was cramping...question...why the ceiling! Don't they know it's easier to see on the walls!
Moving on, we were off to St. Peter's ...This was one of my highlights of Rome! The biggest cathedral, the most unbelievable sculptures...just the scale alone was...grand! Being the genius artist they are they created scale by making the statues at the bottom smaller than the massive ones on the top, the letters at the top were 6 feet tall...6 feet!
One of my favorite sculptures of Mother Mary with the crucified Christ over her lap. This was one of the earliest sculptures by Michelangelo that he marked...just to stick it to the unbelievers. I really felt the depth of the moment he captured with this rough block of stone.
After a quick blessing from St. Peter ...and headed up to the dome. So the genius that is Bernini...he was asked to make a grand entrance for the Pope and because of the lack of space he manipulated the stairs to have more grand by perception. So up we went, up and up and up...500...something stairs...around and around! Some of the time I felt like I was in a crazy Willy Wonka moment! But...finally we reached the end and oh, my the view! I could see all the way to Paris from there! Yeah, not really, but close! Just seeing the bird’s eye view of the Vatican and the grand span of Rome…I realized I have a lot more of Rome to see!
We had a little breather outside in the court yard then headed out to find the Pantheon…not a problem I thought, wrong-o! So we got a tiny bit lost…what a great place to get lost! After a few walks in an iffy area and a couple switches of the metro we were shocked to find the Pantheon stuck smack in the middle of Italian city area…Freaking Sweet! I have dreamed of seeing that dome…the obelisk …at that time…about 5…it was shining brilliantly on the wall! We sat down on the floor, exhausted… and took it all in!
A trip to the corner gelato shop…strawberry and coconut…yammers! And back to the Villa Pamphili for a swim…sadly we didn’t get to use the hot blue shower caps that are usually required…shame! Then, off to dinner in Rome. We had a really great waiter…served we some fab Carpanora (pretty darn dang tasty) and…ah what a sweetie…gave us some free shots…well obviously we didn’t partake, but it was fun watching our friend Ashley take a swig! We hailed a quick cab…yeah I hailed a cab…look at me being all city savvy and headed to bed! What an eye full of a day!
Really, truly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my young life!
We later headed to meet our tour guide, Ms. Antonella, a guru of all things Romanesque! She carted us around to 5 different churches, one of which had 3 generations of Rome uncovered.
The first being the newest…4 thousand or so years old, the last dating to 600 A.D. or so! Yeah…really old! I thought it was interesting to see in the lower level the baptismal font, now no longer used! We traveled through Rome, one amazing architectural relic after another. Housed in the ………… was the statue of Mary and Christ done by Michelangelo, one of his only signed pieces! Absolutely stunning! There were the most exquisite mosaics and stunning architectural details…embellishment at every turn…They didn’t ever hear about the joke, “if it isn’t Baroque…don’t fix it!” They Baroque-d every nuke and cranny! These churches hold some incredible archives though, a massive sculpture of Zeus by Michelangelo and the chains of Peter, and one church was said to house and display at certain occasion, a piece of the crib of the Christ Child!
On the signal of our faithful guide we ran to see the changing of the guards at the President’s Headquarters. So cool to hear the people sing the anthem of Italy, we looked at each other, realizing that the 4th was tomorrow and in Rome, it would be just another day!
Another skip and jump and there we were at Treve Fountain. This is one of those iconic venues that I have dreamed of visiting. In anticipation I fished out my 20 cent euro and my shinny copper penny and properly threw my coins over my left shoulder, back towards the fountain…one to return again to Rome and the other to met an Italian man…I skipped the third coin thinking that my Momma might be mad if I met a man in Rome and got married! (could you imagine the faces at dinner when I say…I met a man in Rome, he’s wonder and amazing and were getting married…a little quote from Mr. George Banks!)
But in true Big D style…the travels continue…off to the Capitoline Museum, as we dripped on the marble floors we say awesome pieces of sculpture, beautifully painted walls and ceilings, and breathtaking views. 
As you enter there are fragments of a giant statue…the bulging bicep, the head…nice eyes, the hand…number one! Then as you enter…the most beautiful painted walls and elegant chandeliers, and city views that took my breath way. 
One of my favorite pieces was a bronze statue of a boy getting a thorn, absolutely amazing. There were Roman relics through out dating thousands of years! I just can’t believe I’m here, experiencing this…If it weren’t for the goose pumps and tender feeties, I would have had to keep pinching myself!
