VERY heavy picture post………….you’ve been warned!
ALL of these can be clicked on to see a bigger version.
Friday April 7th Rome, Italy.  Inside St. Peter’s Basilica. 

The
Basilica is huge but it gives the impression of being much
smaller.  You don’t even realize how big it is until someone says
oh that statue is xx feet tall.
We were here the Friday before palm sunday and while we were in the
Basilica there was the most beautiful choral music coming from all the
speakers. (Bose by the way) I kind of figured that it was being piped
in but then when we were almost ready to leave the church a choir came
marching down the aisle in their long dresses and dress pants.

Actually everything is so ornate that you need a lot of time to absorb it all. 

Baroque and renaissance so there is lots of decoration and gilding etc.

This
is called the Baldacchino Canopy it was designed and made by Bernini in
the 17th century.  The spiral columns are Bronze and are 66 feet
high, that’s not counting what’s on top of the columns.  We are
quite a way back and its blurry but you get the idea how big this thing
is right?  It is situated right below the main dome of the
Basilica.  If you took this and floated it straight up all but 6
feet of it would fit in the top part of the dome.  The small
part. 

Notice there’s no stained glass, I was expecting it to be everywhere and instead there wasn’t any at all.  surprise!

Oh, only the pope is allowed to celebrate mass on this altar.  The
altar itself is just a huge slab of marble but our guide told us it
came from the Nervi forum so it’s probaly a couple thousand years
old.  The crypt just in front of the altar is where they tell
people St. Peter is buried but there’s a lot of speculation on that one.

Bernini’s last work before he died.  It’s a papal monument to Pope Alexander VII.

This picture is bad as are most from inside the basilica, I couldn’t
keep my camera steady and my tri pod was clear across town. 
That’ll teach me.  But the thing is I saw this from clear across
the Basilica and hoped that our guide would take us for a closer
look.  If he hadn’t I would have asked him too.  Bernini
really had that unexplainable “it”  you can see something by him
from a long way off and it just draws you in for a closer look. 

Did you notice the floors?  Three different part of the Basilica so three different floors.
All of the floors are beautiful.

We
don’t really even remember which papal monument this is, after awhile
your brain just starts hearing a bunch of names and dates.  A lot
like high school now that I think about it…lol

The Pieta
by
Michelangelo
25 years old when completed in 1499.

Stunning
Luminous
Sad
Moving

One of those “you had to be there” things.

It still amazes me that I was in St. Peter’s square.
Me!  This lucky person was in Rome and stood in Piazza San Pietro!

Wonder
how many times they get their picture taken in a day?  Because
when I took this there were 15 or 20 other people right there with me
snapping away.  Neither one of the Vatican Guards even looked up
much less posed.  I imagine its completely normal after the first
month on duty. 

The
Pope’s apartments are on the top floor all the way on the right. 
His bedroom is the second window.  Obviously our guide told us
this, how else would I know. 

Still in St. Peter’s square.  Which was also designed by?…………
you guessed it,

Bernini!

All the chairs are set for the masses that will be said on Palm Sunday and then again on Easter.

The Sunday before we arrived was the memorial for Pope John-Paul. 
There were a quarter million people in the square and in the road
leading up to the square.

That’s all for now.  To much already huh?  I didn’t even put up any Vatican Museum pictures yet!

Maybe we can skip those and go straight to Historical Rome instead? 

I think I may understand why Osama Bin Laden is still running around free.
The Army HAS my address and it took them over three months to find me, so you can imagine if I was trying to hide.  It was nice to get a Christmas card on my birthday though. 

Edit:I
finally got the picture to attach so I thought I would let everyone
take a peak.  The text is the same though, so if you read it
yesterday skip it today.  
Now I
feel like I can start pick out pictures to post.  Tell me if you
think I should make them bigger or smaller would you?  Also you
can click on the picture to make it bigger than what’s in the blog.

We had the best time in Rome.  We got back to the apt. at about
4am Mon. morning and literally fell into bed.  When we woke up
about noon Mon. it felt like I had tried to swallow a live coal and the
thing got stuck halfway down my throat.  My nose was running like
a sieve and my head was throbbing with every heartbeat,  all my
muscles felt like they had been pounded with a meat mallet.  It
was bizarre.  I’m just so very grateful that it didn’t ruin our
trip.  So for the last couple of days I have been in bed
recovering from the lightning cold virus from hell.  I feel really
bad too because I was probably contagious the whole time
I was in Rome and didn’t know it which means that soon it will not only
be all over Rome courtesy of our tour guide but it will also be in
Kentucky and New York City.  Sorry!!!  This is why I wash my
hands so often!!  Not that it did me any good since my husband
thinks he’s the one that gave it to me in the first place.  But
seriously I find it very weird that I felt fine up until we got
home,  my immune system has perfect timing. 

I
have started the slow wade thru of pictures.  I took 390..….umm
yeah!  So there’s bound to be at least 10 or 12 worth
sharing. 

One
of my favorite pictures so far was my first glimpse of St.Peter’s thru
the window of the vatican museum.  We had come in from the metro
and hadn’t seen anything but the entrance to the museum and the all of
a sudden you go around a corner and there it is out the window. 
WOW!  I wanted to post it today so you could at least see one but
once again my picture editor isn’t working.  I’ve tried attaching
it a half dozen times and it won’t show. So sorry. 

We got lucky on a couple things.  The first one was going when we
did.  One week after the huge memorial for Pope John-Paul II and
one week before Easter Sunday.  We were there on Palm Sunday and
the National elections which was bad enough but a week earlier or later
….. we were told the crowds were ten times worse, that 250,000 people
came for the memorial. And Easter at the Vatican!  I can’t even
imagine!  But we had great timing crowd wise.  After Easter
and it starts getting to hot and even more crowded, and in Feb. many
things are still on Winter hours and it’s rainy.
The weather was perfect in Rome.  When we left Germany it was 9C (48.2F)
and raining.  In Italy it was 19C (66F) then it got to about 21C (69.8F) and sunny.  THE SUN! 
You just have no idea!  For three days I walked around with my
face turned up. (yes, I had sunscreen.)  When we landed at
Midnight Mon. it was 4C (39F) and yup! Raining! and its been raining ever
since and the temp has not gone over 9C.  This Spring is going to
eventually be gorgeous, I can’t imagine all the flowers that will bloom
thanks to all the rain, but meantime I’m losing my mind.  I can
still feel the warmth sitting on the colosseum.  (I still can’t
believe I sat in the colosseum.)  It was Sunday, our last day in
Rome and I was draggin’ butt from all the running around we had done
for the past three days.  There was a ledge and I just sat myself
down.  At first people just stared but then this old lady sat next
to me and in about 2 minutes the whole ledge was full of groaning
women.  Believe me those warm rocks felt like the most comfy couch
ever.  I would have sat there a whole lot longer too except our
guide was getting to far ahead and I didn’t want to totally lose the
guy. 

More about Rome later.
Time for another nap.  lol, maybe I’m turning into a cat.
I’ll keep trying to figure out why my pictures won’t attach.      If anyone knows what’s going on will you drop me a line. 

Friday Mike showed up.  That was really cool for me because ever
since the %#&* company my husband works for transfered my shopping
partner 2 hours west things haven’t been the same.  Funny thing
is, the company never asks me what I want.(bastages)   I’ve been
lobbying to get
him back ever since the transfer….rofl.  It’s hard losing your
best shopping partner.  Just ask Bear man, now he has to take me
and he does but its just not as much fun when you know someone is just
going thru the motions and is faking an enthusiasm for yarn or whatever
has caught my fancy.   So Sat. we went off to Rothenburg
for the Spring Fest and the rain actually stayed mostly away.  It
was one of those Spring days that if it started sprinkling we only had
to wait about five minutes and it quit.  Then it was sunny
again.  I think I popped open the umbrella about 4 times, and put
on and took off my coat about 8 times.  It’s the first time I’ve
ever lived in a place where the cliche “Don’t like the weather? 
Wait ten minutes.”  is really true.  I’ve heard that all my
life but this April in Germany it’s really true.  So while I was
in Rothenburg I got the flowers for my man.   One for each
year.  12 roses and a mixture of tulips and  daffodils for
the other
12.  For some reason this is the only picture I took and its not
very good, oh well.

So I brought the flowers in and he was surprised and I think secretly
pleased.  Guys like flowers too, whether they would actually buy
them for themselves is another thing.  Me, I’ll buy myself
flowers.  Maybe I should say I buy them for the house.  Nah,
they’re for me, they just brighten the house up.  But these
flowers we’re for him and I think he liked them.  Mike had invited
us out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary and when he came and
picked us up I was still getting ready so I wasn’t in the room but I
could hear them talking about them.  Or me as it turned out.
Mike: “So we’re you surprised?”
Bear:  “yeah, but they’re okay.”
Mike: “I thought she should have went all roses.”
Bear:  “If you think all 24 year were rosy….well let’s just say
we had our daffodil years too. This is a good mix, not all red but not
all yellow and orange either. Some roses, tulips, daffodils yeah a good mix.”
Mike: “Never is all roses is it?”
Bear:  “Nope, but wouldn’t that be dull.”
Mike: “She’s not dull, that’s for sure.”
Bear: “I’ll say! but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
pause…..
Bear: “Are you about done in there?  I’m starving!”  and that
was that, hmm.  Makes me wonder what they talked about all those
months they carpooled.

Since I was done and basically just being nosy by then, I came out and we left.  We went to Burg Colmberg.
It was SO wonderful.  This was taken from the castle wall.  Looking toward home.

If you go straight across the fields for about 15 miles you’ll run
smack into our town.  We went to late to get really good pictures
so click on the red link up there.  This is the place that I wanted to
go at Christmas and we didn’t.  I got so ticked off about that one
that when we were eating supper and it was casually mentioned, I flared
up again
Bear said “Geez, Liz just go get a room.”  But you know since he’s
taking me to Rome on Friday I thought that would be a bit much, and
since he only said it to shut me up,  I will allow that maybe its
time to let that one die.  Spoiled much?

This was the first time I’ve ever eaten in a castle and unless he has
another life I don’t know about,  it was a first for my husband
too.  Castles are smoky.  Those big fireplaces, the ones big
enough to roast a whole ox in….they’re smoky.  Luckily the
ceilings are pretty high and I’ve had wood heat in my house for years
so we’re pretty used to the smell of wood smoke.  There was a
renaissance party there
at the same time so that was cool.  The clothes were
fantastic.  Every little detail perfect from the lace caps to the
shoes.  And you could tell these people were there for the
atmosphere and were ready to party.  The tables and such were
pretty normal for every German restaurant I’ve ever been in so nothing
cool about that.  But 2 foot thick rock walls and arched doorways,
lead glass windows and a beamed ceiling that looked like it was cut
from an old growth forest, that is unusual.   When the three
of us go out to eat we order three different things.  That’s so we
can share or at least get a nibble.  So we got Beef steak with
bacon and mushroom wrap, Pork tips in pepper sauce and Veal strips in
cream sauce.  three different potato’s too.  Can you say we
ate it ALL.  It was so yummy that there wasn’t one scrap left
anywhere.  And then to top it all off we got three different
deserts too.  We never get desert but it was our special dinner.
(I went to the gym twice already this week and plan on going back
tomorrow) We got apple strudel, homemade vanilla ice cream with hot
raspberry sauce and we got a dish of vanilla with chocolate whiskey
sauce.  Nobody shared….rofl.  It was one bite of each
persons and then hands off its mine.  I had the raspberries, so
bloody good I could cry.  So that was our anniversary and dinner
thanks to Mike’s surprise trip back.  And we weren’t going to do
anything.  Glad he came home. 

We leave for Frankfurt Thursday evening and fly to Italy on Friday
morning.  I have a feeling we’re going to feel like cattle on this
plane, but I would rather spend the money in Rome than on the airline
seat.  So I will put up with a lot of discomfort for a cheap
ticket.  Don’t know if I’ll get the chance to go around and say
bye before we go so if I don’t here’s an Auf Wiedersehn, Arrivederci,
Goodbye.