Paintings and Popes

WHAT!?!?!  A blog?!?!?!

I know…I’ve been MIA for almost a month! (Know how I know this?  My last post was A Piece of Me.)

I just haven’t been in the writing mode.  And since I have been traveling, I know I have to write about the places I’ve done and share photos…and I just don’t feel like it.  I mean…I want to…but I don’t feel like typing “And then I went here…” “And then I did this…”

Anyway…I’ve got a whole list of things that I need to write about.  Hopefully I will have the motivation to get through them all.  I don’t have anything to do this weekend, so we’ll see.

Anyway, there’s a bunch of pictures, and post of them don’t really need explanations (besides an explanation of what they are.)  So the next couple posts are just going to be the pictures…with the explanations…ok?

So let’s get right down to it…

Remember when I went to Italy?  Well after Venice and Florence, I continued on to Rome.  And I went to the Vatican City.  Ok here's my one beef with the Vatican...their website.  It's very well put together, and extremely easy to navigate, especially compared to some tourist sites I've been to in this past year.  And you can translate the website into over eight languages.  But one of them is Latin.  And you know what?  That's just showing off.

Ok end of that.  So I went to the Museum…

And the soldiers who guard it (known as the Swiss Guard...)

I mean…WOW!  That place is incredible.  I’m not usually a big fan of the coffee table art books, but had I the money, room, and strength, to buy one and fit/carry it in my backpack I would have.  Because there’s no way you can see everything!  I mean, every inch of most of the walls is a piece of art.  Including the ceilings…

Including the famous “Creation of Adam” in the Sistine Chapel…

Now, I did not know that it was just one of many paintings…

And after seeing everything else as well as the works of art that surround it…I wasn’t blown away.  Don’t get me wrong, I was blown away by the Sistine Chapel no doubt, but just the one painting?  I don’t see why when there were so many other’s to discover…

Of course, there were some rooms without painting wall paper…the sculpture rooms.  Which were just as awesome…

After the Museum, I made my way over to St. Peters Square.  The square itself was awesome.  Not much there…just an obelisk, and a whole lot of people, but the architecture of the columns and the saints on top are pretty cool looking...

The line to get into the church was super long so I decided to come back another day.  Later when I did come back, I snuck in at the end of the day without any wait.  The church itself is beautiful.  However, I made the mistake of going into it after discovering several other Roman churches.  And after a while…they kind of all start to look the same.  Anyway, it was impressive none the less…

So...yea...basically the Vatican City is AMAZING!   And it's pretty cool how people of all religions seem to feel the awe when they're there.  And fortunately people are respectful of it as a place of worship.  Well most people at least.  Some people are still stupid tourists.

Anyway...it was definitely a highlight of Rome.

Oh and did I mention…I saw the Pope…

Boo-Ya!!

Word of the Day: La Santa Sede - The Holy See (official name of The Vatican) (Italian)