RHS'69
This is a rolling blog. It will be updated daily as they check out Italy and Spain. New stuff will be posted as it comes in.
Check back often.
Let's get the obvious out of the way...
Vincent, Wendy and another couple are going on a cruise in the middle of this pandemic?
We'll let him explain.
Our ship docked in Civitavecchia spot 29, at 6:00 am. Do you see it? It's right behind the building. We shall remove the building.
The day before everyone on board were tested with the antigen nose swab. No one tested positive. Plus we filled out documents answering a bunch of questions.
This morning we all disembarked and no official asked for any of those documents. They just passed us through...easy.
Daniel, our private driver was there to greet us.
There are lots of things to see in Rome. More than lots. But at the top of many people's list is the Vatican.
Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It's home to the Pope and a vast collection of iconic art and architecture.
Its Vatican Museum's house ancient Roman sculptures as well as Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for Michelangelo’s ceiling.
As our tour to Spain and Italy comes close to is end, this is going to be a special day.
it is 8:00 am we are outside the perimeter walls of the Vatican City.
Our tour starts in 30 minutes. The limit is 30,000 visitor per day, But during the pandemic, visitor count has dropped to 5,000 daily.
We pull out our masks, adjust carefully and get ready to line up.
Just a bit later we are inside Vatican City about to enter the museum.
The Basilica dome is in the background.
Our tour guide, Raffle, explain several posted boards, ceiling and wall paintings before going in. A lot of hidden meanings.
She knew her stuff!
Yes...a hall of statues and stone carvings.
Not hundreds but thousands of ancient works of art.
It's easy to understand how some researchers can spend their whole careers in the Vatican.
One of the great artworks of all time. The Vatican's Sistine Chapel.
The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescoes that decorate the interior, most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment, both by Michelangelo.
The chapel's ceiling is considered a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization.
That was a fast and furious two weeks.
Tomorrow we look forward (no way) to the 20+ hours to get home.
The torso (the one of the right) was carved in the 1st century.
Michelangelo admired it, (not the one of the left) and decided to study it. Don't know who broke it.
I forgot the name of this room.
It's full of maps so I consider this the Google Maps of ancient Rome.
The Resurrection of Christ in the magnificent Tapestry Gallery. Jesus seems to stare at us in the eye, and follow us down the hall with his piercing gaze in a miracle of artistic illusionism.
This is one of a series of 12 tapestries first hung in the Sistine Chapel in 1531. They were moved to their current location on the left wall of the Tapestries Gallery, almost 250 feet long and decorated with illusionistic 18th-century frescoes, in the 1830s. The first 6 tapestries portray scenes from Christ’s childhood, while the remaining works relate to the events after his crucifixion.
This Spiral walkway was built for a former Pope. He was said to not like the old flighted stairs.
He wanted his entourage to have a even flow walking up to the balcony to give his sermon overlooking the square.
If you look carefully, or follow the arrow, you'll see us.
Here we are...
These are one of 4 sets of bronze doors leading into the largest Basilica in the world.
Some numbers...The length inside is over a football field (300-feet) long. Just the alter is over 90-feet high and the dome above the alter is over 400-feet high.
Michelangelo carved this statue depicting the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother after the Crucifixion.
The Pietà or "The Pity" is the only piece Michelangelo ever signed.
This work made him world famous. It was carved out by a single block of Carrara marble.
Once inside St. Peter's we could climb to the top of the dome. It bwgins with 231 steps to the dome’s first level, or we could take an elevator. Yup, elevator.
On the dome’s first level, we were just above the alter and could see the elaborate mosaics that detail the circumference of the dome.
After that, we climbed 320 steps to get to the very top of the dome.
The space was very tight and the steps rather steep but the view was priceless.
After the Vatican City tour we had to get a Antigen nose job test, all of us negative. Rome had white tents fronting some Pharmacies stores and it cost $24 euros per.
Here’s Alan with his seventh test, negative. Now he can say he has a super clean nose.
Then back to pack for our journey home.
One more ride in the hotel's dinky, narrow, small elevator.
Dinner at La Soffitta with a Smart car to protect us from the traffic of Rome.
That wraps up our Rome visit except for another fun ride in that elevator so we can get some sleep before we head for home tomorrow.