Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Second Half of Rome
Second Half of Rome
You could spend lifetime learning in Rome. Perhaps more important than the cultural history is the religious history. The only architecturally intact monument of Roman classical times is the Pantheon.
It was built in 27 B.C. as a temple to some pagan Gods. It was damaged by fire in 80 A.D. and restored. It continued as a pagan temple until 609 A.D. when it was changed to a Christian church and became the burial place for the bones of Christians transferred from the catacombs, and dedicated to St Mary of the Martyrs. This assured it preservation as a holy part of the Church. 
On Friday morning we rode the bus over to Vatican City. We saw the Swiss Guar
ds, which I thought were a bit gaudy. We went to the Basilica of St Peter, the Vatican Mus
eum and the Sistine Chapel. We went through the Crypt
at St Peters and saw the burial place of the Popes. We also saw the tomb of St. Pe
ter. Mary had bought a shawl in Venice because she could not get in St. Marks Basilica with a sleeveless blouse. She bought one for both Liz and Darlene. When we went to St Peters, she wore one and tied one around
her waist. She changed while she was inside so the she could be sure that both were consecrat
ed. After we visited the Crypt, we went up to the main door of the church and they would not let me enter because I had on shorts. I had to sit outside and wait fo
r Mary. I was able to enter the Sistine Chapel. That ceiling is the most imposing thing I ha
ve ever seen. The art in the entire Vatican Museum is overwhelming. There is so much, as each Pope had to add his own personal touch. That is not a one day visit, but that is all we gave to it. One thing which I must note is that the pictures which Mary took all look a little blurred because we were not allowed to use the flash in the Chapels.
As I said earlier, it started to rain on Friday afternoon, so after the Vatican we went shopping so we could stay in out of the rain. When we got up Saturday morning and found that it was still raining we decided that we would skip the follow-up visits we had planned for that day and try to get to London earlier. NOW WE ARE BACK TO THE GOOD PLAN!!!
We were able to change our reservations. We g
ot a train to Milan and changed there onto a sleeper train which would take us all the way to Paris and get us there early on Sunday morning. We could cross on the ferry from Calais, France to Dover, England and a train to London by early afternoon. We were fifty minutes late getting to Milan and we missed our connection. I g
ot our trip re-scheduled, but by the time we were finished we ended up going all the way up to Bonn, Germany, over to Brussels, Belgium and back down to Paris so we could get to the ferry at Calais. Mary 
and I both were very happy to see the White Cliffs of Dover, even if they were almost invisible through the 
clouds and fog. We got to London in the middle of the night and only got about five hours sleep before we had to go to the airport.
It seemed strange to have to arrive at the airport six hours before of flight, but we needed all of that time. The crowds were huge and they had had some kind of terrorists scare a couple of days before so their security was real tight. We ended up having to repack our bags and get some things out of our carry-
on bags and into what we were checking. We went through all their electronic things and even when we got to the gate they divided us into lines for men and women and patted us down as we boarded the plane. 
When we got to Atlanta our Son, Bill, was to be there to meet us because they had kept our car at their house while we were gone. To our surprise, when we arrived at near midnight we found Bill and his family, along with Sam and his family all waiting for us with signs and balloons. We had a little welcome home party in the airport. It made the six hours
getting through security worthwhile. 
This is probably the best trip we have ever taken. If we are fortunate enough to get to do it again, I think that we should be able to choose fewer places to visit and devote more time to each. After all, we have had a great over view of Europe.
You could spend lifetime learning in Rome. Perhaps more important than the cultural history is the religious history. The only architecturally intact monument of Roman classical times is the Pantheon.
It was built in 27 B.C. as a temple to some pagan Gods. It was damaged by fire in 80 A.D. and restored. It continued as a pagan temple until 609 A.D. when it was changed to a Christian church and became the burial place for the bones of Christians transferred from the catacombs, and dedicated to St Mary of the Martyrs. This assured it preservation as a holy part of the Church. On Friday morning we rode the bus over to Vatican City. We saw the Swiss Guards, which I thought were a bit gaudy. We went to the Basilica of St Peter, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We went through the Crypt at St Peters and saw the burial place of the Popes. We also saw the tomb of St. Peter. Mary had bought a shawl in Venice because she could not get in St. Marks Basilica with a sleeveless blouse. She bought one for both Liz and Darlene. When we went to St Peters, she wore one and tied one around her waist. She changed while she was inside so the she could be sure that both were consecrated. After we visited the Crypt, we went up to the main door of the church and they would not let me enter because I had on shorts. I had to sit outside and wait for Mary. I was able to enter the Sistine Chapel. That ceiling is the most imposing thing I have ever seen. The art in the entire Vatican Museum is overwhelming. There is so much, as each Pope had to add his own personal touch. That is not a one day visit, but that is all we gave to it. One thing which I must note is that the pictures which Mary took all look a little blurred because we were not allowed to use the flash in the Chapels.As I said earlier, it started to rain on Friday afternoon, so after the Vatican we went shopping so we could stay in out of the rain. When we got up Saturday morning and found that it was still raining we decided that we would skip the follow-up visits we had planned for that day and try to get to London earlier. NOW WE ARE BACK TO THE GOOD PLAN!!!
We were able to change our reservations. We g
ot a train to Milan and changed there onto a sleeper train which would take us all the way to Paris and get us there early on Sunday morning. We could cross on the ferry from Calais, France to Dover, England and a train to London by early afternoon. We were fifty minutes late getting to Milan and we missed our connection. I got our trip re-scheduled, but by the time we were finished we ended up going all the way up to Bonn, Germany, over to Brussels, Belgium and back down to Paris so we could get to the ferry at Calais. Mary and I both were very happy to see the White Cliffs of Dover, even if they were almost invisible through the clouds and fog. We got to London in the middle of the night and only got about five hours sleep before we had to go to the airport.It seemed strange to have to arrive at the airport six hours before of flight, but we needed all of that time. The crowds were huge and they had had some kind of terrorists scare a couple of days before so their security was real tight. We ended up having to repack our bags and get some things out of our carry-
on bags and into what we were checking. We went through all their electronic things and even when we got to the gate they divided us into lines for men and women and patted us down as we boarded the plane. When we got to Atlanta our Son, Bill, was to be there to meet us because they had kept our car at their house while we were gone. To our surprise, when we arrived at near midnight we found Bill and his family, along with Sam and his family all waiting for us with signs and balloons. We had a little welcome home party in the airport. It made the six hours
getting through security worthwhile. This is probably the best trip we have ever taken. If we are fortunate enough to get to do it again, I think that we should be able to choose fewer places to visit and devote more time to each. After all, we have had a great over view of Europe.
