Italian whirwind - Rome part 2 (Vatican museums and Sistine Chapel)

Blur shot I know. And illegal too...oops. I couldn´t resist taking one photo and many people were taking too. It was way smaller than expected and pretty inconspicuous since there were so many other gorgeous paintings on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.

I know that this is so outdated and I did toy around with the idea of not blogging my last day in Rome. However, since I don´t have my camera yet, I took it as a sign that I should get down to sorting out my photos so I can give myself a pat on the back, knowing that I have finished what I started!

".... I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.....one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14

Its not how one starts, its how one finishes. I´m reminded to persevere and complete whatever God has given me to do.

On the second day in Rome, we walked around a bit before giving in to fatigue. All that walking around Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome really took its toll on our feet and my back. Hence, we opted for an easier alternative - To take the city bus with multi-lingual translations to go around various tourist attractions, while still being able to hop on and off to visit them.

We sunburnt ourselves sitting on the scorching upper deck of the bus. I never could understand why tourists did that in Singapore and now I did the exact same thing in Rome. Top:My overexhausted beanie towards the end of the day.
Bottom: What we looked like at the beginning

Il Foro Romano - ruins that must be more than 1,000 years old

Some nicer snapshots of the amazing buildings in Rome that I took from the bus. One marvels at the architectural advancement that existed in ancient times.

The Obelisk (center) was brought to Egypt by Augustus in 30 BC and dedicated to the sun

Looks a bit like Munich city centre, if you were to ask me

Il Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele Il

I just love the feel of this photo, old-style building, blue skies, framed by a bit of greenery

A snapshot of a street from the bus - not too bad eh. Considering how shaky it was.

Interior of the Vatican Museums - This place is sooo huge and there´s so much to see that 2 hours inside was barely enough to see 10% of the entire place! Any museum fan definitely has to visit this place.

Can you believe the entire roof is Mosaic? The sheer dedication and time one takes to complete something that size is indescribeable.
 
More mosaic - this time it was on the floor

Some Egyptian artefacts where I even saw a real mummified body in a coffin!

A typical hallway inside the Vatican museum - as I said, stunning....I´m not a fan of museums but I would really want to visit this museum again, if we go back to Rome
We took a walk along the river before heading back to the hotel. Night life in Rome reminded me a lot of Boat Quay in Singapore. Bustling with street fare and young people even past midnight!

Ending our trip in style. We had a couple dinner at another great Italian restaurant that was more than 400 yrs old. Here we had a live Italian band that sang for us. However that old man (in the middle) was so hilarious that it was more than worth it. He asked Stephan what type of songs he wanted, to which he replied "any love song". He ended up singing "Love me tender, love me true" only to Stephan! It was hilarious because Stephan turned red and everybody were rolling in laughter.

I wanted my beanie to give the camera back to me

We had grilled trout, tomato pasta, salad and Tiramisu (again)!

Another similarity to Singapore:- They have the coin machine with a surprise too! The watermelon was cut to look like the Colosseum.

So long for now, that´s all I have for my entire Italy trip! Yay hay. Finally finished it after 1 month!

Italy whirlwind - Rome part 1 (Colosseum, St. Peter´s Dome)

Ok, I´m so far behind in terms of my Rome trip. There´s a million photos to share, but I shall only upload the nicer ones.

We spent 2 gorgeous days in this ancient city and I can´t begin to describe how being in a city that is more than 2000 years old, fills you with so much awe about this Earth we live in. Besides, there are many famous Christians who were in this city, ie. Paul, Peter etc. that when I walk the streets of Rome, I can´t help but think of what its like for them to live at that time.

There was so much to see in such a short time that what we managed to see was just a drop in a ocean. The first place we visited was the Il Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, a government place.


Isn´t the architecture simply gorgeous?



The next place we popped by was the Colosseum - the place where Gladiator fights took place.

Couldn´t spare the time to enter but the sheer size of this place makes you think of the amount of courage it took the lone Christian monk to stand in front of the 20,000-strong audience to try and stop the senseless murder of those gladiators.

In those times, being a Gladiator was a ticket to freedom for prisoners who either had to face years behind bars or have a chance-in-a-lifetime to be a national hero - if they were the last man standing. Of course if they failed, they would have had to pay with their own lives.

Top left: LÁrco di Costantino, memorial erected for Constantine, a former emperor 0f Rome



Left: I took this photo and was marvelling at my photographic skills when I saw a postcard with the exact same photo, having the same angle and background!

The next place we popped by was in the Vatican City, St. Peter´s Dome (Piazza San Pietro). It was surreal to see the exact burial spot of the apostle Peter, who was also the first Pope of the Catholic church.

".. I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church...." Matt 16:18 This wasn´t just a symbolic prophecy to Peter´s life, since he was one of the 12 apostles. Guess where Peter was buried? Directly under the main altar of the largest church in the world. There was a literal prophecy in what Jesus said too! Isn´t the Bible simply awesome?

In front of the entrance of St. Peter´s Dome - strict dress code, I brought a jacket

Love this shot that hubby took of me!

I can´t begin to describe what the interior of the Dome is like, awe-inspiring wouldn´t even come close. This is the ceiling of the Dome.
 
Do you notice the hubby´s naughty pose with the anatomy of the angel?

View from the top of the Dome....more than 500 steps - we took the lift and saved ourselves 200, but still had to walk the remaining 300 steps ourselves (click to enlarge)


That´s the altar directly above Peter´s tomb. I remembered thinking, "Oh boy, Peter really DID exist!" Not that I ever doubted it, but the experience of seeing the real tomb really etches such a deep impression in the conscious mind that one really enters into a higher level of belief. I guess that might be a little bit of what it would be like to see God one day....I wonder if I´d actually think, "Oh boy, God really DOES exist" even though I´ve believed all my life that He does, but to see Him would be like beyond my human-level of imagination.

After that we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and then for Italian food! We got recommendations to go to this excellent family restaurant around the corner from where we stayed - Restaurant Al Fienaroli

I had the best Pesto with prawns pasta that I´ve ever tasted in my life! Seriously in 7th heaven after my first bite. Everything else, from the pizza, to tomato pasta to grilled vegetables were delectable!

The tiramisu tasted even better than my Mother-in-law´s recipe - which is pretty rare because hers is the benchmark. This one was so creamy, had the right mix of alcohol and espresso....the Panna Cotta was mouth-watering too. We literally rolled out of the restaurant. And the prices were reasonable too! My pasta was only 12€.