Here's the family in goofy "Enjoy Rome" caps that our tour company gave us. Yes, most everyone in our tour wore these hats! This is us at the meeting point for our tour. The graffiti on the wall behind us is very typical and all over Europe.
This is as we entered the Vatican. This area I believe is called Pine Cone courtyard. The pine cone is a pagan symbol of fertility. Yep, pagan. The Vatican is the largest holder of pagan art in the world. That was a surprise to us.
From the same courtyard, you can see the top of St. Peter's Basilica.
This is a Greek statue is a father and his two sons fighting off the serpents. Michelangelo used this sculpture as his inspiration in painting the Sistine Chapel. Yes, Kinzi has seen one to many male body parts!!!!!
One of many, many, two thousand year old mosaics in the Vatican Museum.
This picture, although it's not any good, is really interesting. This tomb was actually built for
Constantine. He died very far away from Rome, so they buried the remains of his mother, Helena, inside the tomb. She was incredibly important because she is the reason Constantine de-criminalized being a Christian. She brought the cross Jesus was crucified on to Rome while she was in Jerusalem and a twisted pillar and more artifacts. Long story short, her son Emperor Constantine allowed Christians and even converted to Christianity. The Catholic church has since removed her remains and buried them in a cemetery but the story is very cool!
The Pope's coat of armor.
Looking from St. Peter's Basilica out to the square.
The window in the grey above the statues are the Pope's personal residence.
St. Peter's Basilica balcony where they make announcements.
Inside St. Peter's Basilica.
Inside St. Peter's Basilica. These curved columns are replicas of what Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, brought back with her from the holy land.
We thought this was an absolutely fantastic tour!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment