An ancient Roman aquaduct. ( I am making an amendment. We found out later this is not an aquaduct but a private passage for the Pope to go from one place to another.)
Craig got another hat!!!!
Craig and Tucker stood in two different hemispheres while in Ecuador and now two different countries while in Europe.
In front of St. Peter's
Ellie and Cynthia.
First of all, I'm so excited for you, Aric and Emily! Oh boy! :)
We went on our Vatican tour today. Our guide is named Cynthia and she was so much fun. I wasn't really looking forward to 4 whole hours at the Vatican, I'm more of the "hit the highlights" kind of girl, especially with 4 kids who either have to eat or go to the restroom every 20 min. but this was a great tour. She kept us all totally entertained. She immediately took to Ellie and dubbed her a princess and said since we were with royalty we got to get in the Vatican ahead of everyone else. It was a good thing we were with her because the line was BLOCKS long and it looked like a line of umbrellas because it was raining. Cynthia said it was raining HARD but they must not know what hard rain is 'cause to us it was just a heavy drizzle. We got these nifty audio cases to hang around our necks with an earplug and Cynthia had a microphone on hers so we could hear her all the time. Very cool. We walked right into the Vatican where Cynthia introduced Ellie to everyone she knew working there and said now everyone of importance knew Ellie. (Ellie was eating this up. By the end of the tour she was hanging on to C's audio cord and following her everywhere.) The Vatican City is actually its own country. Tucker, smart alec, I mean smart boy, of course knew this already but managed not to say I told you so. The Vatican has its own radio station, its own mayor, its own license plates, etc. The 2000 workers there live in Italy but work in a "different" country so, no taxes. :) As we quickly walked around other groups of people C told the kids about "flanking", attacking from the side, and used that term a lot as we moved from place to place. She would also say, "move, we are under attack" when another big group would come near us. Or she would say, "Japanese attack, or German attack" depending on the group. Tickled the kids, and us!
She told us lots of fun stories about the Sistine Chapel before we went it. It took Michaelangelo 6 years to paint the ceiling and another 5 to do the wall behing the alter (done at different times). He didn't like to paint, that was girls work, but the Pope said paint so he did. At first he painted all the figures with no clothes on but the Pope said no, no, no, so he added pants and scarves. While he was doing the wall one of the Vatican guys kept telling him "I don't like your work, or, I don't like that picture" so the big M painted his face on the judge of hell in the painting. Of course the guy didn't like that so he complained to the Pope and the Pope said, "If M had painted you in pergatory I could have gotten you out but I can't get you out of hell." HA The Sistine Chapel was stunning. I could have stayed there all day. I always thought it was in the dome of St. Peter's and that it would be round but it's in a long, rectangular room. We saw the window where the smoke is sent out as a signal when the Cardinals are choosing a new Pope: black means not yet and white means we've got a name and will tell you soon. C said the men are given two weeks to pick a name and after that will be given bread and water until a name is chosen. They never take more than two weeks. We saw the place where the Pope lives. If the shutters are open, it means he is home. Closed, he is out of town (just like the flying flag in London). He was home but we didn't get to see him.
St. Peter's Bascilia was fascinating, too. Beautiful and very Catholic. There was a mummified Pope and you could see his nasty little shriveled up hands. Ellie said, "I don't lub that. I'm going to close my eyes." The boys said, "COOL!"
Tomorrow we go see the Christian Catacombs with Cynthia and after that ride 2 hours to the coast to get on the cruise ship. Craig said to warn you all that I won't be able to blog as much because internet costs $.50 a minute on the boat. I'll try to write but probably won't get to do as many pictures because they take so long to download. :( sorry. I will try!!1
We went on our Vatican tour today. Our guide is named Cynthia and she was so much fun. I wasn't really looking forward to 4 whole hours at the Vatican, I'm more of the "hit the highlights" kind of girl, especially with 4 kids who either have to eat or go to the restroom every 20 min. but this was a great tour. She kept us all totally entertained. She immediately took to Ellie and dubbed her a princess and said since we were with royalty we got to get in the Vatican ahead of everyone else. It was a good thing we were with her because the line was BLOCKS long and it looked like a line of umbrellas because it was raining. Cynthia said it was raining HARD but they must not know what hard rain is 'cause to us it was just a heavy drizzle. We got these nifty audio cases to hang around our necks with an earplug and Cynthia had a microphone on hers so we could hear her all the time. Very cool. We walked right into the Vatican where Cynthia introduced Ellie to everyone she knew working there and said now everyone of importance knew Ellie. (Ellie was eating this up. By the end of the tour she was hanging on to C's audio cord and following her everywhere.) The Vatican City is actually its own country. Tucker, smart alec, I mean smart boy, of course knew this already but managed not to say I told you so. The Vatican has its own radio station, its own mayor, its own license plates, etc. The 2000 workers there live in Italy but work in a "different" country so, no taxes. :) As we quickly walked around other groups of people C told the kids about "flanking", attacking from the side, and used that term a lot as we moved from place to place. She would also say, "move, we are under attack" when another big group would come near us. Or she would say, "Japanese attack, or German attack" depending on the group. Tickled the kids, and us!
She told us lots of fun stories about the Sistine Chapel before we went it. It took Michaelangelo 6 years to paint the ceiling and another 5 to do the wall behing the alter (done at different times). He didn't like to paint, that was girls work, but the Pope said paint so he did. At first he painted all the figures with no clothes on but the Pope said no, no, no, so he added pants and scarves. While he was doing the wall one of the Vatican guys kept telling him "I don't like your work, or, I don't like that picture" so the big M painted his face on the judge of hell in the painting. Of course the guy didn't like that so he complained to the Pope and the Pope said, "If M had painted you in pergatory I could have gotten you out but I can't get you out of hell." HA The Sistine Chapel was stunning. I could have stayed there all day. I always thought it was in the dome of St. Peter's and that it would be round but it's in a long, rectangular room. We saw the window where the smoke is sent out as a signal when the Cardinals are choosing a new Pope: black means not yet and white means we've got a name and will tell you soon. C said the men are given two weeks to pick a name and after that will be given bread and water until a name is chosen. They never take more than two weeks. We saw the place where the Pope lives. If the shutters are open, it means he is home. Closed, he is out of town (just like the flying flag in London). He was home but we didn't get to see him.
St. Peter's Bascilia was fascinating, too. Beautiful and very Catholic. There was a mummified Pope and you could see his nasty little shriveled up hands. Ellie said, "I don't lub that. I'm going to close my eyes." The boys said, "COOL!"
Tomorrow we go see the Christian Catacombs with Cynthia and after that ride 2 hours to the coast to get on the cruise ship. Craig said to warn you all that I won't be able to blog as much because internet costs $.50 a minute on the boat. I'll try to write but probably won't get to do as many pictures because they take so long to download. :( sorry. I will try!!1
Praying for Beverly!
Praying for Ivy & Co.!
Wow! 4hrs in 0.2 sq miles is soo cool.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I managed not to say told you so throughout reading this post even though I knew Vaticsan City is a country!!!!
This makes me want to go!!!! And I have never had any desire. We have been studying all of this in humanities this semester. Love to you all...have fun on the boat!!!
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