"Most Inspiring View". Winner: Our Hotel. This is the view from our hotel
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entryway. To say we were in the shadow of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican was a slight understatement. Since we arrived after dark, it really got us excited for the coming days to have this greet us on our first night. Although all we did the first night was get dinner and go to sleep. It was a good thing, we needed it for all of the walking we did and did and did. Rome is not really a large city but a few years back they decided to cobblestone most of it and that is pretty hard on your feet. At night we imagined our feet doing the cartoon thing of throbbing two sizes too big and red. I could almost see it."Most Annoying English Translation". Winner: Daniel, tour guide at the Coliseum. We took this tour mainly because being in a tour gets you to the head of the line. Truthfully most of the lines in Rome at this time of the year were not that bad, I understand they are hellish starting in April.
But this was one of the few lines we encountered and it was worth the price of the tour to get to skip it. As he gave us the information about what we were seeing, it became apparent that his English skills were limited. He kept saying the same facts over and over again but in a different way. For example, "Gladiators fought many different types of animals. We know about lions and those kind of animals, but did you know they fought hippos too?" Several minutes later, "Guess what types of animals gladiators might fight here? Lions and Hippos!!" Then a few minutes after that, "Surprising - gladiators would battle against lions and hippos". One of the things that he would say that drove the kids up the wall (but we repeated it throughout our remaining days in Rome) was the way he pronounced "marble". He would say "mahbul". "Look at these columns, imagine them covered in 'mahbul'". Later, "All the mahbul is gone now, but look at the stripped down columns". After a while Snake started counting how many times he said "mahbul". I think he lost track.
"Weirdest People in St. Peter's Square" Winner: Strange Clown Type People with Bells
Sewn On Their Clothing Wearing Masks. (Whew is that a mouthful). I don't know who these guys were but they lined up and kind of danced/pranced through the square and the bells on their clothing made kind of a rhythmic jingling sound. 
I was also excited to see (and confirm by the way) the two windows of the Pope's apartment. Almost two years ago (I can hardly believe it has been that long)they showed these two windows on all the news shows when Pope John Paul II was ill and close to death. These lights seem to be on all the time. I guess no energy crisis in the Catholic Church. Hmmmm. "Most Embarrassing Moment for Teenagers". Winner: Wendy at Sistine Chapel. We had a great tour guide at the Vatican. He really taught us alot about the time frame historically and pointed out some interesting pieces. Interesting fact? You know how all the sculptures you see are white or some version thereof? In the days the sculptures or statues were first created, many of them
were painted. They painted flesh tones on the parts that were supposed to be skin, they painted the clothing in vibrant colors, and they painted the faces specifically the eyes. All of those statues that have that vacant look because the eyes are all white? Most likely wouldn't have been that way when they were created. Sometimes when you see a particularly old statute or sculpture and it has a rust color on it,(that I always attributed to age or being in the dirt a REALLY long time), nope it was a remnant of the color they put on the statue many years ago. The tour takes you through the museum and you wind your way to the Sistine Chapel. In the Sistine Chapel itself, the tour guides are not allowed to talk. A few minutes before we entered, our tour guide gave us some interesting things to look for and that was great. When I got in the Chapel, I was surprised. It was a bit smaller than I thought. For some reason I thought it was huge and long, which I think it is but it really gives off an intimate feel. Of course, it might have felt that way because there were quite a few people in there. I can't even begin to describe it. You can't take photos in the chapel, so you have to commit it to memory (or buy the postcard in the Vatican gift shop). It is more beautiful than words can describe and I was pretty moved by it all and became somewhat verklempt. I am not sure why, but I think it had something to do with seeing something that I have known for a very long time that I wanted to see. A highlight, a culmination, a dream. So I had tears in my eyes. I wasn't sobbing, I wasn't screaming about how beautiful it was (well at least not on the outside). But both of my kids saw my eyes, and were surprised and I think I can say embarrassed judging by the way they quickly moved away from me and only came back later when they had determined "my moment" had passed. Did you know about the mistake in the Sistine Chapel? One of the scenes on the chapel ceiling is Michelangelo's interpretation of the biblical story of Jonah and the whale. Problem? He had never seen a whale so he painted what he thought one would look like based on the description in the bible and what he knew of sea creatures already. Yeah, so apparently Jonah was swallowed by a large carp. "Weirdest Thing We Saw in A Church". Winner: Immaculate Concepcion Church, Rome. This church is founded by the Capuchin Monks. Now I had never head of this particular order of Monks but had heard of Capuchin Monkeys, which apparently were named for the monks because they look like them when the monks are in vestments. Alrighty. The Church itself is pretty usual, although most churches in Rome are fairly spectacular. (On a tangent, you could walk through the smallest little street, enter a non-descript church from the outside and then discover the most beautiful church on the inside with beautiful mosaics, or sculptures or such.) Now the interesting part of this Church is in the basement, the crypt. The crypt is decorated with the preserved bones and skulls of over 4000 previously deceased capuchin monks.
The bones are decorations, made into light fixtures, put into patterns etc. Very freaky. You can't take pictures but I found a picture on a website so you can take a look. All those items on the walls? Bones. I also noticed that just about every other group in there had a teenaged type person with them. It either changes your perspective or drives you to do the strangest things on vacation.
"Best Food Item on Vacation" Winner: Three Way Tie. The competition in this category was stiff. We had many entries but we needed to narrow it down to a deserving three with one honorable mention. First, can we really say anything new about gelato? Except maybe that it is possibly the best ice cream on the planet. We tried many flavors during our time there. The kids had a minimum of 2 gelatos per day. That's right, 2. But remember we were on vacation and we are very bad parents. (See the many, many bad parent posts) We also learned the Italian word for Chocolate Chip (stracciatella)the very first day. Our second category is Pizza. Snake decided on a quest, to discover the very best margherita pizza while in Rome. He had it for every meal except two not counting breakfast. After much contemplation and chewing on it for awhile (ha-ha), the winner was a pizzeria called Wanted. Not to be outdone, Kiki decided that she would judge tiramisu while she was there. I don't think she had the stamina Snake did but she did manage to have quite a bit of tiramisu while she was there. I only know of one she didn't like (too much alcohol - is there such a thing?). The runner up? The little Baci chocolate put in the room by the hotel every night. The kids would fight over ours every morning unless Chizz beat them to it. We bought some to take home with us as well as some Limoncella, a lemon liqueur that I particularly liked. We also had bruschetta,red wine, risotto, red wine, penne, red wine, pepper steak, red wine, fettuccine, red wine, veal, and red wine. So much to judge, so little time.
Well I can hear the annoying "cut to commercial music" starting now but let me just finish by saying I will be doing a separate blog soon on our side trip to Pompeii. This blog only mentions some of the highlights, we also walked up to the top of St. Peter's Basilica, saw Trevi Fountain, sat on the Spanish steps, walked into just about every church in Rome, walked through the Forum and Palatine Hill, toured St. Peter's, heard a cheesy lounge singer in the Hotel, and . . . . (cue applause - cut to commercial).
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