Rome - 3rd Installment

Part of the reason we ended up in Rome to begin with was that Michael wanted to see some of the statues and buildings that were part of the setting for the movie "Angels & Demons". Unfortunately some of the things we wanted to see were under renovation. For example the center fountain of the Piazza Navona, The Fountain of the Four Rivers, was closed and blocked off for renovation until October. The Piazza del Popolo was full of equipment and stages for "Roma 2020", a rally to promote their next Olympic bid. And the Chigi Chapel was closed for renovations. But we did get to see other monuments that you would recognize from the movie. I should say that their "real-life" history is more of a recommendation to see them than just their use in a movie setting.

Castel Sant'Angelo
This is another great example of adaptive reuse by the Romans. Originally the Mausoleum of Hadrian, it was later used, mostly by the Vatican, as a fortress, a castle, and now a museum.
The pictures below show the architectural changes as you work your way up through the passageways. From left to right: A curing, ramped corridor constructed as part of the original mausoleum. A stepped corridor transitioning from the lower original portion to the "newer" sections of the fortress. Finally a very detailed coffered ceiling from the upper levels that were used as a papal fortress and residence. The remaining two photos show the exterior of the structure were you can just make out the remains for the original rough mausoleum.



Chigi Chapel
As I mentioned above, the center piece of the Chigi Chapel was draped off for renovation, but the remainder of the chapel as well as the rest of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo was available for viewing.


Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
This is the center sculptural group in a set in the Cornaro Chapel of the Santa Maria della Vittoria. It was sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Trevi Fountain
This is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome. The fountain and its details were amazing in daylight; but were breath taking at night. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. The night we visited, there were people everywhere trying to through coins over their shoulders.

Rome - 2nd Installment

It may be that the Romans were the first to practice the concept of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Michelangelo reused the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian to house the unique Renaissance church, Basilica of Santa Mariadegli Angeli e dei Martiri. The shot above is from an interior 3 story courtyard where you can see the original brick work.

No trip to Rome would be complete without a stop at the Coliseum. It appears to be one of the many archaeological sites of Rome that will forever be a work in progress.

Some portions of the Roman Forum were left very much intact. The detail to be found on the reliefs is extraordinary, and it is mind boggling to think what the forum must have looked like during its prime.

The scale of the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, also part of the Forum complex is just amazing. And this view is only of the side aisle. You can see at the top of the arches that the central aisle went even higher.

Also in the same area as the Roman Forum, is the Trajan Market. Sort of like the modern day shopping center it housed more than 150 shops and offices.

And of course, just for the boys, some pictures of Roman Firetrucks. This was taken in one of the internal courtyards of the Vatican.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Stephen's 3rd Birthday. He survived his first trip to the dentist in the afternoon, and was able to enjoy his new "big boy" two-wheeler bicycle after dinner. Although he was quick to point out it wasn't a two wheeler, but a four wheeler. Two big and two small. And he's quite right.

Stephen was also excited about the present Christopher got for him, a track to race their monster trucks. (Don't you just love Stephen's Alfalfa hair? It was bath night...)

Rome - 1st Intallement

In April, Michael and I went on a special vacation, without the boys, to Rome, Italy. It was to celebrate our birthdays, 10 year wedding anniversary... you name it. We had a lot of fun, in spite of the few little hiccups we had along the way. Including the Iceland Volcano.

In several places around the city we found these beautiful purple flowers. Sometimes in arbors or trellises, other times the vine was just growing up the side of the building.

The oculus of the Pantheon. Unfortunately most of the portico at the front of the building was covered up with scaffolding.

Chiesa Di Sant'ivo Alla Sapienza - part of the original University of Rome. Built over a long period of time, the last architect was Borromini.

View the Tiber river from in front of Castel Sant'Angelo.

View back towards the bridge, Ponte Sant'Angelo.
I still have a lot of pictures to sort through, so I hope to post some more again soon.

Easter

Before Easter Sunday, we did some practice egg hunting at Grandma's house. Christopher, Stephen and Cora had a lot of fun running around trying to find all of the eggs; even though they were empty!

Brothers...Aren't they sweet? (You should have seen the next shot when they were yelling at each other.)

For Easter Sunday; we headed up to Pacopson Pennsylvania to go egg hunting with my sister Christine and her two girls. We are invited by Christine's in-laws, the Haldemans, to join in the fun. The boys had the system down, and were all over finding as many eggs as they could. And this time they had all kinds of loot; candy and coins! Fun was had by all.

Disney Recap

Our trip to Disney back in December was probably our best ever family vacation. (So far of course!) The boys had a blast, and so did Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Pop-pop. I won't try to go back and recap everything, but here are some pictures with some of our favorite characters.

We met Donald Duck when we were at Animal Kingdom. Unfortunately Stephen was asleep by then.

We met Jiminy Cricket too!

And of course, no trip would be complete with out meeting Lightning McQueen at Mater.

When we visited Mickey's house in Toontown, I saw that they had the kitchen closed for remodeling. I'm not sure who his architect was; but I think they need to go back to the drawing board!

We met Donald again during Christopher's Birthday breakfast. Both Chris and Stephen said that Donald was their favorite.

This shot is from Canada in the World Showcase.

And this is a few over the lake that was outside our hotel near Epcot. We had a great time, and hopefully we will get to go back again, maybe for Stephen's 5th birthday!

Long Time No Post...

Sorry we haven't posted in such a long time. No excuse except that life gets busy... Lots have happened in the last few months. Michael's had to travel some more for work, the boys have been busy at school and at home, we are all excited about Spring being here and getting outside...Here are a few highlights from the month of March.

The boys managed to both climb into my laundry basket while my back was turned. It was really funny watching them try to get out again!

We had a roof leak fixed back in the fall, and once we were sure it was good, we arranged to have the walls repaired. Daddy and Christopher did a great job priming and painting the wall. Now its as good as new.

Stephen had a lot of fun playing with Christopher's Lego's. Things got a little crazy when he started crashing them though. We had to going hunting for some missing pieces.