One more day in Rome

The dome of St. Peter's
Entrance to the Vatican Musuem or, as the closeup shows, Museu Vaticani

We lined up outside the wall that surrounds the Vatican City.

The first thing we saw was this model of Vatican City. We are looking through St. Peter's square toward St. Peter's Basilica. We entered on the right side. Once inside we went through miles of beautiful hallways filled with gorgeous tapestries, statues and painted ceilings.





In the Sistine Chapel we were packed in shoulder to shoulder but fortunately what we wanted to see was on the ceiling. I did remember with much envy, my aunt Peggy saying that when she saw it she was able to lie on the floor and enjoy all the paintings.

The Creation of Adam
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
From the Sistine Chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It is very beautiful, overwhelming and special. I took off the headphones and just walked around looked and felt what was there. Good feelings were present there.


Bernini's "Baldachino" or Canopy which is over the high altar and St. Peter's Grave.

Michelangelo's "Pieta" my all time favorite over the years. I saw the "Pieta" in New York at the Worlds Fair. I was just returning from my mission in Brazil. It was and still is the only time that the "Pieta" has been out of Italy.

Leaving the Basilica we went out into St Peter's Square where we saw the a Swiss Guard on duty
I was so enchanted by the guard and wanted to get the perfect picture that when I looked up no one in our group was anywhere in sight. I frantically looked for them everywhere. I couldn't find them. I had no money with me, I could not remember the name of our hotel and my Italian is non existent. After a hour of unsuccessful looking I was frightened. A police officer who spoke some English ask me to think back could I remember anyone in my group mentioning a future destination. I remembered the guide telling someone that she would have an opportunity to buy some books. I had already check all of the shops within the Vatican but the policeman knew of a small book store just outside the wall. There they were.
This is a picture of the balcony that you see in the news with the Pope waving to the people.
They tell us that this is the Pope's apartment. He was in Spain the day we were there.

One of Marvin's and mine favorite spots in Rome was the Pantheon

Four Rivers Fountain
Trevi Fountain

Back to Rome

I'm going to step back for a little bit to our first day. As I mentioned we had a horrible flight experience and at the end of it Marvin was more sick than I have ever seen him. We did get to see the Arch of Triumph and the Coliseum but spent the rest of the day in the hotel room.
Arch of Triumph

It took Emperor Vespasian's crew ten years to build the Coliseum. It was completed in 72 AD. They used Travertine limestone and concrete in construction pinned together with iron pins, but pins were extracted through the years to make weapons. You can see the holes left when they took the pins.

It is hard to describe the size of the coliseum, it is huge. This picture taken inside the coliseum is for you to get a size perspective. Notice the size of the people.

The floor of the coliseum no longer exists and hasn't been replaced so you can see where they kept the lions, gladiators, Christians etc. etc. It was the back stage scene down there.
The Coliseum was used for gladiator battles and staged hunting of animals until 523AD. It became a fortress and condo site from 1300 through 1700 AD. At this time much of the Travertine was hauled off and used on other buildings and homes in the area.

Rome was founded in 800 BC. At the time of Christ it was about one million. Under Vespasian it grew to 100 million population. This was about a quarter of the world's population at that time.

Continuing with the Italy trip

On to Sorrento.

I can't tell you enough how much I loved Sorrento. Can you tell?

I've tried to list all the reasons but I just felt like I had arrived at a place I would like to live out my life. I know it had something to do with the beauty of the place, which was fantastic, the just right amount of humidity, the ocean, the exceptionally friendly people, and the element of art present there.

Our guide was Sabina. She was the guide for Pompeii as well but she lives in Sorrento. Her family has lived there for generations and she loves it. Also included in the picture of Sabina is Nanello. He was our Italian bus driver and we all enjoyed him. He tried hard to teach us Italian and he was anxious to improve his English which was quite good.


Sabina made sure we saw all the impressive spots including this deep ravine that runs right through the middle of town. It is very deep, many generations deep and you can read history as you look down the rock facings. Greeks founded a colony here in 800 B.C. Ulysses is said to have heard the sirens in the area of Sorrento. The area is known for it's lemons and olives.

We attended a demonstration on wood inlaid art. It was impressive. I'm not sure how they can do such incredibly intricate art, by cutting infinitesimal pieces of wood so exactly. We are waiting right now for the arrival of a beautiful Lazy Susan that we bought while we were in Sorrento.
I'll add a picture of it when it arrives.

Sabina told us that the Naples area of which Sorrento is a part, is the most densely populated area of Italy, about a half million people. It has 18 active volcanoes including five of the most active in the world. Soil is very fertile because of the volcanoes. She also told us that 80% of Italians own their own home and live in condos.

Sixth Wedding Anniversary

Time out for a Super Saturday report. To mark our six year anniversary Marvin and I went to Salt Lake for an over night stay. We stayed at Little America and crossed the street to have dinner at the Grande.
That dining room is so beautiful and the food is so good it is one of my favorite places to eat.
I especially like the china and elegant place settings. Not to mention that the food is wonderful!

After dinner we saw a really good film called Mid August Lunch. The film was Italian so we had to read the sub titles but it was well worth it. It is about a man who is caring for his aged mother and ends up tending three additional old ladies for a Mid August lunch. The story line doesn't sound all that great but it was really well done, a lot of fun and tender.

After the movie we took a wonderful evening stroll through City Creek Park and Brigham Young historical park.

In the early morning we went to the Jordan River temple for a session.

Before driving back to Logan we went to Bruges for some Belgium Waffles for breakfast.

This is a specialty food stop that Bryce introduced us to. It is on third south just a block east of the Rio Grande Depot.
Now I know you think that this looks like dessert but it is definitely breakfast!!!! :) :) :)

It was a great twenty four hours but the best part was being with my sweetheart.
Thanks Honey for six wonderful years.

From Rome to Pompeii and back again.

I'm going to skip the trip from Salt Lake City to Rome and the first day in Rome because we are trying to forget that part. We had a terrible trip over and Marvin got sick. So on a happier note.

On the second day we drove from Rome to Pompeii. It was so beautiful and green.

I wasn't really excited to go to Pompeii but much to my surprise it was very interesting! It turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the trip. Pompeii was huge - not the little village that I have always imagined getting covered in lava. One of our first glimpses of Pompeii -an apartment building.

It was a very rich commercial city of about 15,000. We were told that the people who were living in Pompeii at the time Vesuvius erupted didn't know that Mt. Vesuvius was a volcano. Kind of like living on a major fault line in Utah. :)

All the streets in the city went downhill from the center of the town for drainage improvements that helped reduce malaria. Everyone bathed everyday to help reduce disease.
They called this the super market. A series of stores.
This is the bakery where they found the loaves of bread. Well burnt.

We were told that this was their fast food store. Hot and cold food offered right on the street.

This was a typical patrician's home. They wanted things to be beautiful. In there homes were many statues and murals. They had garden areas in the middle of their homes.



This is a mural on one of the living rooms.
Courtyard in the middle of a residence.

Very large amphitheatre. The theater was free for all citizens. The politicians paid to keep the voters happy. At least that is what they told us.



The streets are lined with stone and every few yards they have stepping stones that are about six inches higher bridge like so you won't get your shoes wet.
Pompeii is only about 3/4 excavated they are busy working on it. The covering of everything when the volcano erupted was so abrupt that everything is frozen in time. Bread in the oven, sales clerk trying to escape with the cash, gladiators hiding in a closed off room.

This is the gladiator area where they trained and lived. It is where they found a lot of their remains in the little room at the bottom left of picture.



The Temple block was particularly memorable. Temple to Diana (Roman name) or Artemis (Greek name)
We are in Temple square with Mt. Vesuvius in the background.
Here they used a lot of marble.
Steps into temple.
The Altar for sacrifices.

Marvin standing by a statue in the temple square.




From Pompeii we drove to Sorrento. We'll talk about that next week. Just let me say we would move to Sorrento in a minute. Fantastic!

Something Super Saturday June 9th 2010

This will be starting at the end of our trip but today something that we bought in Venice on the last day of our trip arrived and I want to share it with you. We went to the Vetreria Murano glass factory in Venice and watched them make different sculptures. This is one that we really liked. We took a water taxi to Murano. Loved it.


Since we've started in Venice we will take the trip backwards. In Venice we took the traditional Gondola ride.


The morning was a walking tour with a guide. We saw St Mark's cathedral, Rialto Bridge and many many apartment buildings on the canals. The canals follow the path of old rivers and the buildings are shaped to the canal. No straight canals with intersections at right angles.

Saturday's "Something Super" May 7th 2010

A few days ago my eight year old granddaughter came to see me with a basket full of nail polish, and all the necessary items for a plus A manicure. She did my nails beautifully and insisted that every nail be blessed with a sticker of my choice. She did a beautiful job and I have been enjoying them a lot. My friends are all jealous. Gracie plans to set up a table in the park and do manicures for twenty five scents. If you live in the Pleasant View area look for her.

I'll be gone for a few weeks but I'll catch up on my Super Saturdays when I get back. Let's be honest, when I get back I'll probably tell you way too much!!! :)