So, my computer is broken so blogging on time is presenting a 
challenge. But I'll do as much as possible. On July 4th, we visited Vatican City, the Pantheon, and miscellaneous parts of Rome. We started out the day in Vatican City and walked through the Vatican museum. Before the museum, we were able to look out over the gardens that the Pope walks through with important visitors. The length of the museum is 1.3 miles. It contains many artifcacts that were discovered during Roman excavations that were done in order to build the Vatican after the Pope's cam back from living in France in about the 12th century. One really impressive part fro me was the hall of tapestries, done mostly by Rafiel. The color was spectacular, some of it using really gold and silver that was made into threads. Forty nuns at a time dedicate their lives to protecting the tapestries and keeping them in good shape. 
Throughout Rome, it never ceased to amaze me how intricate and complex their design methods were. At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel. When you walk through, most of it is backwards because the design was meant for walking from the chapel to the museum, but today we walk the other way. The ceiling is divided into 4 corners, triangle pieces, and rectangle pieces down the center. The rectangles represent the story of the creation, the triangles represent women who gave birth to important figures, and I don't remember what the corners mean :) The wall at the entry door is on is the depiction of judgement. The scene goes in a story about souls in heaven, hell, and purgatory, and their transitions between the three. Many of the figures were later covered because Michaelangelo
originally painted them all naked and the church did not find that appropriate for the Pope's quarters. A cardinal made a particularly rude comment around the images, so Michaelangelo in revenge represented the cardinal in hell with a snake biting off his genitals. Though the Sistine Chapel is no longer used for services, it is used for conclave, the ceremony that selects each new pope. Though it's often said the Michaelangelo laid on his back to pain the ceiling, we now know that this was not true. He was standing for 16 hours a day with his neck tilted back. After the Sistine Chapel was St. Peter's Basilica. It was amazing! It is the largest Catholic church in the world and is the pope's church. He occasionally conducts mass in the basilica. Some Catholics did not believe that it was the largest Catholic Church so measurements of other large churches were laid into the ground to prove it. The church is designed and built to look much smaller than it is. The smallest statue is about 7ft high. The letters around the top of the church are 6ft tall, and the dome is 900 feet high from the inside floor of the church. From there we went to the top of the dome on the outside. 
To get there, you climb 517 stairs. Fortunately, they have an elevator that goes half way, so we only had to climb about 350 stairs. It was a way hard climb and a really tight fit (single file), but the view was definitely worth it. All you see was Rome spreading for miles. It was so fascinating to see urban apartments and cars all over just sitting right next to ruins and historical architecture. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We went back down the stairs and into St. Peteràs square where you can look back and see the basilica, occulus, and fountain. We did jumping pictures in the colonade which was quite entertaining. After leaving the square, we planned to go to the Pantheon. We could not figure out how to get there because no one could agree on which way to go. So we walked around for 3 and a half hours before we finally got there. When we got there, it was worth being lost in the heat. It was built as a temple to all of the Gods, and the one that is currently standing is actually the third one built because the previous 2 were destroyed by natural disasters. The way the current one is designed is to be
able to fit a complete sphere inside of the building, meaning that the diameter of the building (it's round) is the exact same length as the floor to the top of the dome. We saw the oculus and the ceiling which is the oldest surviving roof in the world. We also saw Rafiel's tomb. For only being one large room, the Pantheon was really impressive.We finished the day by eating some gelato in front of the Pantheon. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday...or any day for that matter!
challenge. But I'll do as much as possible. On July 4th, we visited Vatican City, the Pantheon, and miscellaneous parts of Rome. We started out the day in Vatican City and walked through the Vatican museum. Before the museum, we were able to look out over the gardens that the Pope walks through with important visitors. The length of the museum is 1.3 miles. It contains many artifcacts that were discovered during Roman excavations that were done in order to build the Vatican after the Pope's cam back from living in France in about the 12th century. One really impressive part fro me was the hall of tapestries, done mostly by Rafiel. The color was spectacular, some of it using really gold and silver that was made into threads. Forty nuns at a time dedicate their lives to protecting the tapestries and keeping them in good shape. 
Throughout Rome, it never ceased to amaze me how intricate and complex their design methods were. At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel. When you walk through, most of it is backwards because the design was meant for walking from the chapel to the museum, but today we walk the other way. The ceiling is divided into 4 corners, triangle pieces, and rectangle pieces down the center. The rectangles represent the story of the creation, the triangles represent women who gave birth to important figures, and I don't remember what the corners mean :) The wall at the entry door is on is the depiction of judgement. The scene goes in a story about souls in heaven, hell, and purgatory, and their transitions between the three. Many of the figures were later covered because Michaelangelo
originally painted them all naked and the church did not find that appropriate for the Pope's quarters. A cardinal made a particularly rude comment around the images, so Michaelangelo in revenge represented the cardinal in hell with a snake biting off his genitals. Though the Sistine Chapel is no longer used for services, it is used for conclave, the ceremony that selects each new pope. Though it's often said the Michaelangelo laid on his back to pain the ceiling, we now know that this was not true. He was standing for 16 hours a day with his neck tilted back. After the Sistine Chapel was St. Peter's Basilica. It was amazing! It is the largest Catholic church in the world and is the pope's church. He occasionally conducts mass in the basilica. Some Catholics did not believe that it was the largest Catholic Church so measurements of other large churches were laid into the ground to prove it. The church is designed and built to look much smaller than it is. The smallest statue is about 7ft high. The letters around the top of the church are 6ft tall, and the dome is 900 feet high from the inside floor of the church. From there we went to the top of the dome on the outside. 
To get there, you climb 517 stairs. Fortunately, they have an elevator that goes half way, so we only had to climb about 350 stairs. It was a way hard climb and a really tight fit (single file), but the view was definitely worth it. All you see was Rome spreading for miles. It was so fascinating to see urban apartments and cars all over just sitting right next to ruins and historical architecture. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. We went back down the stairs and into St. Peteràs square where you can look back and see the basilica, occulus, and fountain. We did jumping pictures in the colonade which was quite entertaining. After leaving the square, we planned to go to the Pantheon. We could not figure out how to get there because no one could agree on which way to go. So we walked around for 3 and a half hours before we finally got there. When we got there, it was worth being lost in the heat. It was built as a temple to all of the Gods, and the one that is currently standing is actually the third one built because the previous 2 were destroyed by natural disasters. The way the current one is designed is to be
able to fit a complete sphere inside of the building, meaning that the diameter of the building (it's round) is the exact same length as the floor to the top of the dome. We saw the oculus and the ceiling which is the oldest surviving roof in the world. We also saw Rafiel's tomb. For only being one large room, the Pantheon was really impressive.We finished the day by eating some gelato in front of the Pantheon. It was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday...or any day for that matter!
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