When in Rome ... Day 4 (Vatican City)

I am finally getting around to finishing up writing about our trip to Rome.  I actually just watched "Eat, Pray, Love" and seeing Julia Roberts' character's time in Rome inspired me to get this all finished up.  And it made me really want to return to Rome. 

 

You can read about Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 by clicking on the links.

 

Day 4 was jam packed full of fun.  We started the day at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.  I didn't know a whole lot about the Vatican until I read Dan Brown's book, Angels and Demons.

 

One side of St. Peter's Square. 

 

Another side of St. Peter's Square.

 

 

 

Will and I in front of the church.

 

 

 

 

Entry to the church.

 

The Holy Door ... only opened for special celebrations.

 

 

Famous Michelangelo sculpture of The Pieta inside the church.

 

Many former Popes are memorialized in the church.

 

These massive pieces of art in the church are painted on ceramic tiles.  If they were painted on canvas or any other medium, they would not survive the humidity.

There were a couple of tombs of former Popes on display inside the church.  It was a little creepy!

 

A bronze statue of St. Peter ... it is supposed to be good luck to rub his feet.

 

The famous dome of St. Peter's Basilica ... designed by Michelangelo and modeled after the dome of the Pantheon.  This picture does not do it justice.

 

The large structure in the background is Bernini's baldacchino, which is the largest piece of bronze in the world.  It is 98 feet tall!  It stands under the dome and above the alter. 

 

The marble statues in the church were amazing!  This is St. Andrew and St. Veronica.

 

Looking up one of the bronze columns of the baldacchino to the dome.

 

The Vatican is a whole separate country from Italy.  This is the line that separates the Vatican from Italy.  So, technically, I am standing in 2 countries at the same time!

 

These are some beautiful photos of the Basilica that the professional photographer with our group took.  Get ready to be wowed!

 

 

The Swiss Guard serves as the de facto military in Vatican City.

 

 

 

After our lengthy tour of St. Peter's Basilica, we headed to the Piazza Navona for lunch and a little sightseeing.  It is a beautiful square and used to be the site of chariot races (which is why it is shaped like a track).

 

The Brazilian Embassy in Rome (it used to be a palace).  The small fountain is the Fontana del Moro.  There is a similar fountain on the north end of the square.

 

Lots of alresco dining on the square.  We had lunch here.

 

A better photo of the Pamphili Palace (current Brazilian Embassy).

 

Lots of local art vendors sold paintings in the square.

 

The famous Fountain of the Four Rivers (by Bernini) is in the center of the square.

 

Cute cafes along the square.

 

Afternoon espresso at Giolitti's (best known for its gelato).

 

Back to the Spanish Steps.

 

The fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps.

 

But wait, there's more ... Will's company rented out the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel for a private tour.  So, we headed back to Vatican City.

 

Entrance to the Vatican Museum

 

A beautiful view of St. Peter's dome at sunset.

 

Courtyard at the museum.

 

Lots of statues ...

 

The Hall of Tapestries.

 

Beautiful ceiling in the Hall of Maps.

 

Hall of Maps.

 

The Sistine Chapel ... we were told "no photos" but when we arrived, they permitted photos without the flash.

 

The ceiling of the chapel.  The center depicts stories from the book of Genesis.

 

Michelangelo's Last Judgment is painted on the wall above the alter.

 

The Eastern wall of the chapel.  The Southern wall was decorated with stories of Moses and the Northern wall was decorated with stories of Jesus.  It was really one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.

 

After we left the Vatican Museum, we headed back to Piazza Navona for dinner with another couple in our group.  Alfresco dining at night in Rome ... it really doesn't get any better than that.

 

After dinner, Will purchased an oil painting of the Colosseum from a local artist (pictured below).

Tot school dropout

I had grand plans to do some tot school activities with Luke while Claire and David did their school.  While I did have some structured activities planned, I was also going to have some independent play items set up to entertain him too. 

 

Luke's form of play is this: dump it out, strew it all over the room (and under mommy's feet), scream a little bit, and then move on to the next thing.  Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

We made it through Letter A week and then I just quit.  He pretty much just wanders around upstairs, destroys my house, and "plays" while we do school.  The ipad is an invaluable tool too.

 

FYI, Luke was 23 months old in August.  And I probably won't try to do any type of formal learning with him again until the 2013-14 school year.  Ha!

 

Here he is stringing beads.

 

 

On a side note, Luke always just has one shoe on.  It is miraculous that we haven't lost any shoes while out in public, but anytime we are at home or in the car, he takes only one shoe off.

 

The playdough tray was a big hit.  Except that he ate a lot of playdough.

 

David really likes to play school with Luke.  However, Luke is not the most willing student.  The next few pictures are a few of our formal tot school activities from here.

 

 

Luke would play with the dot markers ALL DAY LONG if I would let him.  But then I would also have dot paint ALL OVER my house!

 

 

He is also a big fan of the coloring.  I finally found some JUMBO crayons that Luke cannot break.  He can identify a few colors, but cannot say their names yet if you said "what color is this?"

 

Maybe we will give tot school another try after Christmas break.  I think he would do great if I could devote 100% of my attention to him for about an hour and then let him play on his own.  Unfortunately, David is not an independent worker at all and he would constantly interrupt us.

 

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to SHARE!

The B-I-B-L-E

We got to visit Claire's Sunday School class a few weeks ago for the First Grade Bible Presentation.  It was fun to see her interact with the other kids in her class. 

 

The kids are working on a craft before the festivities begin.  I thought it was funny that the boys all sat at one table and the girls at another.

 

 

My sweet Claire looking so grown up!

 

She was so proud of her new Bible.  We have been reading through the book of John everyday during her Bible time for school.

 

Many of Claire's classmates have been with her since they were itty bittys!  Her friend Tinsley and her family.

 

Her friend Kate.

 

Her friend Easton.

 

Claire and I.

 

Our family photo.

All About David

I had to post this because (1) I haven't done anything "scrapbookie" in a long time and I really miss it and (2) poor David told me yesterday that he was THE ONLY ONE in his class that didn't have his project turned it.  (In my defense, the deadline was "ASAP", not any specific date.)

 

This was a project for David's Pre-K class.  Each child was given an 11x14 poster board and told to put pictures, etc. about them, their families, etc.  It will be laminated and put into a book with the other classmates and put out in the classroom for everyone to view throughout the year.

 

Instead of printing the pictures and making a boring old poster, I decided to digitally scrapbook them (since all my traditional scrapbook supplies are in storage) and print 8x8, 5x7 and 4x6 prints to put on the front and back of the poster board.  Here are my scrapbook pages.

 

 

I think everything turned out so cute.  I worked on this on my laptop in the car while Will had the kids at soccer practice.  Whatever it took to get it done for my poor child!!

 

On a side note, David insisted on the Chick-Fil-A picture after we visited Chick-Fil-A for dinner and saw the mascot dressed as a fireman with a real-live firetruck and ambulance in the parking lot.  Apparently, it is community safety week (or month?).  The picture I had was on "pajama night" and David still (many months later) sleeps with the stuffed cow (in pajamas) they gave him that night.  (He also sleeps with a tot sock monkey from Sonic.)  Hey ... free stuffed animals are his thing!

 

And I love that Chick-Fil-A has kids' night the same night we have soccer practice each week.  We swing by there for dinner every Tuesday night after soccer.  Such a fun tradition!