Czechers: October 2007

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Pantheon

Pantheon Our second day in Rome was full of seeing Old Rome. This was Vinson's favorite part by far. He could run around, mostly free and climb on the old rubble.

It's amazing to see how much is still standing from years and years ago. Dan's favorite part was thinking, "Maybe Peter walked here." Dad's guide book told us all we wanted to know about the sights.

Wow, if I were in trouble, I'd want this soldier to save the day! SO HOT!

After we had our fill of the Forum we went to the Colesseum!

Next we saw the Pantheon by the day light and had a yummy sandwich afterwards.

What a FUN TRIP! We were excited to go back to beautiful Prague, but sad to leave the family.

Our last stop on our Italy trip was Rome! We had enough time the first day to see some of the sights. We saw Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. We loved trying out our new tripod and taking night shots.

The next morning was our Vatican day. We made it in line at 9:00, and even though the museum didn't open until 10, the line was moving pretty quickly. We found out why when we got to the front of the line a half an hour later. This line was for those who already had tickets, not to purchase tickets. The purchasing line was 4 blocks long. But we made it into the museum by 11 :)

Dan and I were all museumed out from our 11 hours of museums in Florence, but still enjoyed ourselves. That's the hottest statue I've ever seen!

Doesn't Dan look like the statue just above him and to the left?

The further into the Vatican we got the more ornate the decorations were. Here is the ceiling for the map room. I was way more interested in the ceiling than the maps. Dan just wished they were maps of the Czech republic.

Then we made it to the Raphael rooms and saw School of Athens. I had no idea it was painted on a wall! Walking throught the museum was like one huge crucendo with a climax at the Sistine Chapel. It really was amazing! It was almost cruel, though. By the time I got to the Sistine Chapel my neck was so sore from looking at ceilings that I don't think I was able to appreciate it as much as I would have liked. After we had our fill of the Sistine Chapel we went to St. Peter's Basilica. For me it was kind of a let down.

It was huge, but not nearly as pretty as I had imagined. The statues were gigantic and ceiling wasn't nearly as impressive as the museum rooms. Vinson's favorite part was "hiding" in the confession booths.
The guards really do wear funny costumes like Angels and Demons said. I was glad we got to see some. We got to the hostel in time for their free Pasta, and then Dan and I went out for more. Mom and Dad were pooped and were going to stay a day longer than we were. I made friends with Pinoccio.

Then we went to the Pantheon! I can't believe how awful some people take pictures! The second one was with more direction. It made me realize how nice it was to have mom to boss around with taking pictures :).