Continued from yesterday”¦ When it looked like the rain had slowed down, we ventured out and caught the bus. It turns out we caught the right bus, but going the wrong direction. Oops. We decided to ride it out, knowing that sooner or later it would get us to the Castel. This was not a good of an idea as we originally thought, since it took us way out of downtown. At least we were warm, out of the rain and got to see more of the city than we could on foot. Rome has a lot of nice looking churches, buildings, and sculptures all over the city. After an hour, the bus turned around. Hmmm”¦ it would be at least an hour back to the Castel. We saw Continue reading →

Continued from yesterday… Then we hopped on the subway and went back to the Vatican, this time to see St. Peter’s Basilica. As we walked around the Vatican walls towards St. Peter’s, we noticed a white line painted in the street paralleling the walls. We think that is the border. We passed by the entrance into Vatican City, guarded by two real Swiss guards. Their uniforms are Continue reading →

Continued from yesterday”¦ Going back to the dozen or so painted rooms “¦ Some of the rooms were chapels, some living quarters or offices of the popes. Most of these rooms were painted by incredibly famous artists, such as Raphael and Perugino. Most were done in roughly the same time period as the Sistine (late 1400’s through the 1500’s). Every inch of ceiling and wall were painted. Each painting had a religious theme. Something that really struck us as odd is that many of these paintings incorporated images of pagan Greek/Roman gods and goddesses, as well as Greek scholars and philosophers, alongside Jesus and bishops. There were also scenes depicting stories from pagan mythology, both Greek and Egyptian. We think the paintings are bizarre given how adamant the church was at destroying heretical pagan religious beliefs and repressing Greek knowledge. There are some bible scenes depicted, as well (of course). Probably the majority of the artwork was depictions of martyrdoms, conquests, miracles and other significant events from post bible Christian history. Every one of these rooms was spectacular. Every one of the rooms you could sit in for days just staring at the walls and ceilings before you really could fully take in and appreciate the artwork. Here are a couple photos. We know the paintings look small, but remember that these are whole entire walls in fairly large rooms.

In addition to the regular tour, there were several optional galleries along the way, as well, usually doorways off to the side where you could leave the main trail. Every single optional gallery was huge, with a trove of exhibits. The Greek & Roman art gallery has Continue reading →

Human settlements dating back to 700,000 BC have been found around the Italian Peninsula. Several distinct people groups emerged over time, including the Latins. One of the cities the Latins formed was Rome, named after the legendary founder of the city, Romulus, a descendant of the goddess Venus, and founded in 753 BC.

Another people group was called the Continue reading →