This round, stone building is known as the Castel Sant'Angleo. It was originally a mausoleum for the Emperor Hadrian, then was a fortress and castle used by the popes, and it's now a museum. 

 

The reason it got its present name is due to the legend that the Archangel Michael appeared on top of the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign that The Plague of 590 was over.That is probably why there is a statue of Michael putting a sword away on top of the castle.

We went there too late for admission one night, but we got some neat outside pictures. 

 

   

 

The next day, we went back and waited in a long line to get inside. 

These guys were hanging around outside.

And it was FREE! Hooray for Culture Week in Rome finally scoring us a free ticket!

 

There were gloomy bits.

 

And pretty bits.

   

Short places

 

And high up places

        

 

The view from the top was great!

                 

While we up there, Michael tried to photobomb every picture he could get into. We had some good laughs. (This isn't even a photobomb!)

 

Then he climbed into an archer window with an arrow slit, and he got some funny looks. 

I tried not to drag the family to too many museums and churches. And if we did go to one, I tried to make it a short stop. One place I did want to go was to the church that housed The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. I am not sure if it was reading in the guide books or Rick Steves' DVD or just my own wondering made me want to go.  So, we found the church and went in.

 

It was a standard church, not very big, with lots of gold, paintings on the ceiling, and such.

   

 

There was another sculpture there I liked. It's not often you see sculptors combine marble and Christmas lights. 

Still, I liked it. 

We spent a lot of time doing this in every church we went to.

 

Now, for what I came to see. First, a bit about St. Teresa of Avila. (There is a well-written and quirky biography of her at http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=208.) She's the patron saint of headache sufferers and Spanish Catholic writers. (Grammarian wonders if there should be a comma there. Writers who are Spanish and Catholic? Or writers who are "Spanish Catholic"? The website I found was comma-less.)   She was born in Spain in 1515. Like the rest of us, she struggled with worldly temptation and longed to be closer to God. After a long while (like 20 plus years!), she began to have "delights" from God. Her friends and fellow workers thought this was from the devil. But as she said,  "If these effects [peace, inspiration, and encouragement] are not present I would greatly doubt that the raptures come from God; on the contrary I would fear lest they be caused by rabies." She had one vision of an angel repeatedly driving a golden spear into her heart. She said of it, "I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire wth a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it..."

And that is what Bernini sculpted.

           

There was a lot of criticism of this work because her expression seems rather sexual.  But then again, Saint Teresa herself had a heap of criticism over her visions and "delights," so it only seems fitting that a sculpture in her honor should as well. I think Bernini expected this, as to the right of the statue, he sculpted these guys. 

Marble men do not approve of Saint Teresa's ecstasy. 

The construction of this was interesting. Bernini put yellow glass in the skylight to make the light seem more golden. The statue is of a single piece of marble, and the gold rays are stucco that was gilded.

 

 

 

 

I like to utilize my guide book. And one of the top-rated things to see were the Spanish Steps. So, I dutifully walked the family to them. And guess what? They were a set of steps. 

    

The steps were finished in 1725 and were made to link the Bourbon Spanish Embassy and the Trinità dei Monti Church. It's a place where people sit and hang out. 

Rachel and I walked up the 138 steps, and they were pretty with azaleas and other flowers. 

 

There was a church at the top, which is not surprising, since there are about 900 churches in Rome. No joke. 

 

The view was supposed to be incredible. And it was nice.

    

 

But the addition of sunset improved the view significantly. 

    

 

 

 

We did a lot of walking in Rome. Libby even walked the heels off a pair of half boots. It seems every street has something delightful to see, every corner has a monument, every square has a fountain.  These are just a few of the things we saw while wandering around. 

This is the Pulcino della Minerva. It was designed by Bernini and made by one of his students. I thought it was cute. 

   

 

There were a lot of Egyptian obelisks scattered about. Cleopatra and all that, I suppose. 

Here's a garbage truck. Hey, someone's got to dump the trash!

 

This building is called the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel. Romans don't like it and contemptuously call it the "Wedding Cake."

] 

 

This is us standing around figuring out which street to take. 

 

Fountain!

 

This is a close up of one of the columns we saw. 

 

I wondered what this was. Realized it was a palm tree without any fronds.

 

This church reminded me of Cambridge.

    

 

Just stumbled across a carousel!

 

Just some random

                  

 

I did not mention one dining experience we had.  Our new friends, the Moores, said they try to find a Hard Rock Cafe when they travel. We don't usually eat at them, but wandering from one location to another in Rome, we stumbled across it.

 

They kept the Hard Rock theme of loud music videos. But being Rome, they also had a local touch. These cherubic rockers were painted on the ceiling. 

   

 

We were glad to sit down, skip the candy bars for real food, and rest our feet. Then we saw the menu--AMERICA!!!

And... they had sodas with FREE REFILLS!

To illustrate what a big deal this was, once the waitress took our drink order, we all looked at each other and simultaneously said, "Free refills!" 

 

I have pictures of the food, but to you Americans who see this stuff on a regular basis, it will mean little.  A mushroom swiss burger!! Yum.

 

Libby's favorite food is mac and cheese. She said she almost cried when she saw it on the menu. 

 

Strangely enough, I wanted to cry, too. I teared up a little bit. I guess I am homesick. I'm never going to make it dry-eyed through airport security if they show that Welcome to America video of little kids eating watermelon on the Fourth of July and families playing football in the backyard and soldiers saluting and all that. Nope. I'll need tissues for sure. 

 

 

Italy is known for having amazing food.  We Sellers are known for eating incredibly bland food. How did we get along? 

Well, you already know we went to Burger King for lunch on Michael's birthday. And we also ate gelato.  And we didn't want to spend loads of money. A bottle of soda is almost 4 euros there!  We developed a good system.  We had a buffet breakfast at our hotel (which was supposed to be 10 euros a person a day, but I emailed and asked for a cheaper rate and got it for 6 euros a person). It was typical European: lots of breads, cereal, yogurt, fruit, lunchmeat, cheese. Sadly, there were no eggs and bacon for Michael. Anyhow, we'd stuff ourselves at a late breakfast, eat a snack of pretzels/candy bar around 4:00, and then have supper.

In Rome, restaurants don't open until 8:00 pm. By that time, we had gone back to our hotel. So, we mostly ate supper at the two restaurants near our hotel.

Our first night, we went to an osteria.

 

I believe this is the Italian equivalent of a diner. It had low prices and was full of Italians after work and hanging with friends.  James and the kids got pasta. 

They didn't really like it.

Libby got roast beef.

It was almost still-mooing rare.

I got meatballs. 

They were delicious.

The next night we tried a different restaurant down the street. It also had low prices. And it had the most incredible bruschetta I have ever had.

The family tried fried mozzarella. They didn't like it. (It tasted like motz. cheese. They were used to more breading.)  

I also had a fried rice ball. We watched a Rick Steves DVD before we traveled, and he mentioned these fried rice balls. I got one with tomato and cheese mixed with the rice.  It's that brown thing I cut in half in this picture. 

It was DELICIOUS! 

Rachel tried a salad. The salt dispenser was fun. It was battery-operated and ground the big salt crystals. Then, the bottom of it just fell off into her salad. Good laughs, so-so salad. 

 

Mostly, though, we just ate pizza. 

   

 

Although, Rome McDonald's knows how to be classy! A kiwi on a stick? 

   

 

Rome's a big city. You've probably heard horror stories of people trying to drive in Rome. It was busy on the streets, and there were so many motorcycles and Smart Cars.  But, we opted to use the bus (mostly) and subway (when it was useful). Unlike Berlin and London, there are only two lines on the Subway.

One day, there was a transportation strike. It was well publicized, and it must happen often enough that on our bus tickets to and from the airport it was printed, "This bus is not affected by transportation strikes." (or is it "effected"??)

During strikes, some lines run and some don't. We got right on one bus, and then waited 90 minutes for a second one. 

 

In the rain.

 

When the bus came, it was a mob scene. People we so smashed on, they could not shut the doors, and people had to get off. We didn't even try for the first bus. The next bus came a few minutes later, and we got on. It was just as packed! I sat on James' lap (sort of), and Rachel sat on Michael's. 

 

But the buses weren't always so crowded!

 

And it wasn't always rainy.

 

We were very glad for our maps and tour books. (HIGHLY recommend Frommer's Day by Day series for any city that you might choose to visit.) 

 

Getting around Rome was part of the fun, and we enjoyed it. 

     

Everyone said, "Oh! Have gelato in Rome!"  So we did. 

What's gelato? It's the Italian word for ice cream! The recipe is made the "old-fashioned" way with eggs and cream, but I am sure there are some places that make it differently. We'd been frequenting a gelato stand in Linz, so it wasn't an uncommon taste to us. 

I like how they just stuck the fruit on top of the flavor to spare the endless questions from tourists. "Oh, what flavor is the pink one?"

Gelato is not just fruit flavor. It's all flavors!

I enjoyed a scoop of Nutella and a scoop of stracciatella (chocolate chip)

 

There are literally gelato stores on every block in Rome. I guess they are pretty popular!

 

YUM!

The largest church in the world is Saint Peter's Basilica. The reason it has its name is that it is where Saint Peter is buried. There is historical evidence, as well as a lot of church tradition, that says he is buried under the main altar in the church. It's this wooden thing he's supposedly buried under, not the shiny gold altar in the front.

 

This current church building was built over previous church buildings, and it was completed in 1626. 

I have a confession to make. I don't remember much of Saint Peter's. I am reading stuff online about it and saying to myself, "Did I even see that?"  So, I will give you some pictures and what I remember the most. 

The pope was giving an address the day after we were there, so the courtyard had a lot of chairs set up.

Here's Saint Peter, holding the Keys to the Kingdom.

   

First of all, we stood in line. You have to go through metal detectors to get in. It's free to get in, though. 

 

While walking up to the line, Libby came to me, eyes wide and excited. Her enthusiasm didn't seem to match our destination, so I assumed something else was going on. 

"Mom! Mom! Gregg Sulkin is here! And he has David Henrie with him!"  

Now, you may remember from my Colosseum post that the kids saw a Disney Channel celebrity and had a picture taken with him. That was Gregg Sulkin. David Henrie is another actor from the same show.  I walked up to them, hand out. "Hello, we met at the Colosseum yesterday."

"Oh, yes. That's right." (very smooth or he recognized the odd, middle aged woman in a black, floppy hat)

"My kids were wondering if they could get another picture."
"Sure!"

  

Inside, it was a big church. I probably should have been more impressed, but I will blame the Birthday Dinner Burger King I had right before I went in. It made me not concentrate. (Yeah, right!) Saint Peter was inside, too. 

 

So was Michelangelo's Pieta

 

I enjoyed this font. The cherubs made me smile. 

        

 

Many popes are buried here. We saw an Incorruptible Pope, Saint Pius X, who died in 1914.  What's an incorruptible? It's a body that does not decay even though no special embalming was done to it. (It's interesting to read about. Do a Google search.)

In the middle of the basilica was an area that was marked off by curtains. I wondered what it was.

Turns out, it's the area set aside all the time in case the pope wants to come into the church. Here's an internet picture of him doing that. 

The funny part was that a tourist was trying to get a good picture of it and dropped her cell phone into the middle of the area. They had to call a guard.

 

Not this guy. He guards the doors. (And he actually stopped someone while we were outside!)

 

I also enjoyed seeing a list of all the Popes. Their names are carved into this large, marble slab. 

 

This is the entrance to the crypt. It was closed when we were there. 

Here are a bunch of pictures. I am not even sure what they are, but you can figure out the altar and and a statue and such all on your own. 

 

                          

We also enjoyed taking pictures outside at the gate.

And that is not much information about the most famous church in the world. 

 As I mentioned previously, our tour guide centered his tour around Michelangelo and told us some interesting stories about him and his art which was on display at the Vatican Museums.

Michelangelo is known by his first name, sort of like Cher.  His full name was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni. He was born on March 6,  1475, and even in his own lifetime, he was famous as a sculptor and painter.  He loved the human body, and he spent time as a youth dissecting and examining dead bodies. If you compare his work with other artists of the time and a bit previous, the attention to the human form and how it moves and how muscles are shaped is unparalleled.  Michelangelo loved sculpting and thought painting was for "sissies." So, why did he paint the Sistine Chapel? It's a good story.

Meet this guy.

This is Pope Julius II. His nicknames were "The Fearsome Pope" and "The Warrior Pope." In other words, he was not a doddering, old man. He was elected Pope in 1503, and in 1505, he summoned Michelangelo to come to Rome. The first thing Julius wanted was a tomb for himself. That should have been easy enough for a sculptor like Michelangelo, but it turned into a "forty year nightmare." M. put in tons of work and drawings and searched for just the right marble, and then the Pope stopped work on the tomb.  M was pretty ticked and left in a huff.  

In 1508, Julius II summoned M. again, this time to decorate the Sistine Chapel.  Michelangelo was less than thrilled. First of all, he didn't like painting. Second of all, he feared it was a set-up by his enemies. It was a major project, and the Pope and he did not get along. If he failed to complete the work or the Pope didn't like it, well...

 

 

 Michelangelo agreed to do the job. He was originally just supposed to paint the twelve apostles, but he was later given the freedom to paint what he wanted. He chose scenes from the Old and New Testaments. It was said that "Michelangelo read and reread the Old Testament while he was painting the ceiling, drawing his inspiration from the words of the scripture, rather than from the established traditions of sacral art." 

His first paintings, Noah and his sons, for example, were too small when viewed from the floor, so the later paintings have less detail and larger figures.  

Michelangelo did the ceiling and the rear wall (which is where the door tourists enter is located. It's dead ahead in this picture.) The side walls were painted by other famous painters of the time. 

.

The most famous image on the ceiling is of God's creation of man. 

 

It's been re-created for years in many contexts. Sometimes imperfectly, but oh well!

     

At one point, Michelangelo was painting, and the Pope came into inspect. M. came down from his scaffolding, and the Pope sort of reamed him out about why did he do this or not do that. Michelangelo got really mad and told the Pope off. Maybe you can tell off some popes, but not The Warrior Pope. Julius II punched Michelangelo in the cheek with the hand that had his big ring on it. For the rest of his life, Michelangelo had a scar and a sunken-in cheek.  You can sort of see it in this picture by Raphael of young Raphael and Michelangelo. 

 

Our guide said that Michelangelo showed how he felt about the Pope in this painting on the ceiling. 

 

The back wall of the chapel was a later commission for Michelangelo. (The Pope was impressed with the ceiling, bare bottoms excepted.)  M. painted the last judgement with Christ in the center. Our guide told us that Michelangelo, who was really into bodies, chose the most perfect sculptures upon which to model his painting of Christ. 

 

He chose Laocoön's arm (which if you remember was still missing at the time).

 

He chose the Belvedere Torso. It's a fragment of a Greek statue believed to be of Heracles. 

 

And the face of Apollo. 

 

There are some other stories about this fresco, but I want to tell you another story!  

 

This one is about the Pieta. 

 

Michelangelo sculpted this masterpiece when he was 23 years old. It's one of the few pieces he signed. One day, a group of artists were standing around looking at it. Michelangelo said to them, "Do you know who sculpted this?"  One of the men said, "It was done by one of the masters from Milan." This upset Michelangelo so much, he took a hammer and chisel and carved his name on the sash that runs across Mary's body.

This statue has had criticism because Mary looks so young and Christ, who should not fit on her lap at all, fits so well.  Our guide told us that what this statue is supposed to be is Mary holding her infant son on her lap. She had a vision of what would happen to him. Her face is serene, knowing all is in God's hands.  That is why Mary is young and Christ fits like he does. The statue is incredibly detailed. It's behind glass at St. Peter's, but they had a model of it at the Vatican Museums so you could get close to it. 

I am sure there are dozens of other stories of Michelangelo that could be told, but that's enough for now.