From Roma to Amelia

I could not allow my family to leave Rome without seeing The Pantheon or the Piazza Navona. So on the day that we were scheduled to head out to my beloved Amelia, we squeezed these two in.

The Piazza Navona. Absolutely gorgeous in person. In ancient times they used to flood the entire square to use it to stage maritime fights. I wish I had seen that!

To the right is the Church of St. Agnes in Agony (why was she in Agony? They cut off her head). In the center is the famous Bernini sculpture of the four rivers.

Upclose. Some of you may recognize this from Angels and Demons. :-)

The Church.

The fountain and the church.

Still playing catch up on the blogs. More to come soon!

Ciao ciao!

The Holy See

No self respecting Catholic can visit Rome without going to the Vatican. I would argue that no self respecting person could go to Rome without visiting the Vatican, but that is your own call. The Vatican is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, and every time I go I seem to find something new that I am in awe of. 

This is a picture of the Dome at St. Peter's, and a new modern sculpture by some guy named Arnaldo Pomodoro (which means Arnold Tomato, something our lovely tour guide pointed out). Our tour guide was hilarious, it was by far one of the best tours I have ever been on. This is supposed to show a link between the past (the dome) and the present (the sphere).

This is one of the many Papal seals that adorn multiple rooms in the Vatican. Typically, if the following room was "remodeled" by a certain Pope, then his seal or some form of identification will be on the entrance to that room. 

I particularly find the sculptures that have fig leaves where other objects should have been/used to be very entertaining. 

This sculpture is funny for two reasons. 1) the fig leaf. 2) This is a perfect example of a horrible restoration. This is a woman's head on a man's body. 

Another mixed sculpture. This one is particularly funny because it is a sleeping woman's head on a mans body. (Close up below)

Really??? You mean to tell us that there were NO other heads?? No other heads with eyes open that they could have used? A sleeping figure standing up fully engaged?? Very funny.

There is a map room in the Vatican. The maps are amazingly accurate, particularly because there was no way to see these things from above. So the artist created these by walking around. You can see Amelia, it is actually listed as Ameria. (It is sorta center top... a little to the left)

This is the hallway that the Popes walk to get to the Basilica.

The Basilica.

It is impossible to grasp the enormity or the beauty of this place with my camera. I suggest everyone get on a plane and come over and see it for yourselves. :-)

My sister, Mother and I in the Basilica.

The ceilings... so beautiful!

After the Vatican we had a wonderful dinner in Travestere the "restaurant" district of Rome. Our family friends Connie and Chrissy Wendlek were with us, but I can't find any group pictures! 

After dinner we walked around a bit on our way back to the hotel. Here are some Roman scenes at night. This is the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. It is the most remarkable memorial I have ever seen, which got me wondering, who was Victor Emmanuel II? Well, Victor Emmanuel II was the first King of unified Italy. The monument was designed in 1895, inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1935. The monument also holds Italy's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with an eternal flame. (so there's some history for you)

Another one of those fantastic situations you stumble onto while in Italy. When walking around we saw this, Julius Caesar the play being performed at the ruins of Caesar's Forum.. so where the original murder actually occurred (I think). Very surreal.

The Colosseum at night. 

Kelly's tongue and me in front of the Colosseum.

Quite the busy day. Incredibly hot, and tiring, but memorable and fantastic!

Ciao, ciao!

Family Times in Roma

On July 16th my mom and Kelly arrived in Rome ready for an Italian tour! We met at the hotel at 10am and then started a tour on foot. While walking around I left them to get my hair done and then met them at the Column of Trajan, which happens to be right next to this restaurant which is where they had their first Italian meal.

This is the Column of Trajan.

Here I am with the lovely ladies. The view behind us is the view we had during lunch. Our restaurant was directly to the left. It is amazing the views and places that you can go to while in Italy.

These are the ruins of Caesar's Forum.

More ruins at The Forum.

Me tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain.

As seems to be usual in Italy in general, we happened upon a wonderful surprise. While walking around after dinner we heard music and started walking in the direction of the music. When we rounded a corner this is what we saw.

What was most entertaining is that while looking around I saw one of the speakers that came to speak at the Conference that my program held. (He is the Carabinieri in the pictures from the Conference dinner night.) He came over to meet my family and informed us that this is the Carabinieri Orchestra.

He is a fan of pictures, so we were told to wait while he went and got his "two favorite officers" to take a picture with me. I am laughing because of something Kelly said or did, but I don't quite remember it. :-) 

And that, my dear friends, is the Ogden Girl's first day in Rome.

That is a very abridged version of Rome. :-) Many more days to catch up on!

Ciao Ciao!

Video Fun: Parte Due

I will blog more about this later. This is another one of those amazing things that we stumbled upon while walking around Rome.

via Roma

I live on via Roma (Rome Street), so every time I goto write this blog I start out with via Roma, even though it isn't quite what I mean to be explaining. I figured you guys would allow me that liberty. So two Saturday's ago we went on a field-trip to Rome, I know, that in and of itself is amazing to say, a field-trip to Rome. However, because it was a class trip we weren't really able to run around everywhere. 

One of our first stops was at San Luigi dei Francesi, a beautiful church in Rome. We were stopping here because of the Caravaggio's that adorn one of the chapels there. Here they both are, the top one is The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, and the bottom one is The Calling of Saint Matthew together they are The Inspiration of Saint Matthew. Obviously they are both much more impressive in person, but I thought you might appreciate it anyways.

I found the following angels to be quite interesting. If you look closely you can see that they are actually holding the balcony area up. I thought that was a nice touch. 

Next we went on to the Pantheon. I had missed this the last time I was in Rome, so I was very excited to see it (especially after seeing Angels and Demons). I cannot believe that I missed this the last time I was in Rome. Let me start with stating that this is by far one of the most amazing buildings I have ever entered. 

Once you walk into the building you are amazed by the enormity of the space. Here is a view of the dome with the famous hole at the very top.

However, my favorite part was this stray dog that wandered in. He was this adorably scruffy little dog and he simply walked in and relaxed on the floor. Once the security saw him this older man (below, in the blue shirt) tried to shoo him away (yes, I was "that" tourist taking pictures of all of this). What I loved the most is that when the security guy went to get reinforcements (he refused to touch the dog) the dog got up and proceeded to walk around the entire building as if he was a human visitor. When he got to the end and the police guy showed up he simply walked out of the building. I swear he must have been a person stuck in a dog's body, it was hilarious.

After the excitement of the Parthenon we all went on our own for lunch, then met at the Borghese Gallery for some more art fun! :-) No cameras allowed inside there, but here is a picture of us lounging outside (from left to right: Kate, Lindsey, Me, and Harasyn).

That's all for now! Ciao!