Roma Day 3!

Once again so sorry for the delay! All this traveling makes it really hard to find a good internet connection. On day three in Rome the Alde family decided to tackle the Sistine museums and St. Peter's Basilica. It is impossible to comprehend the grandeur and beauty of this structure. The Sistine Chapel, the art from Michaelangelo and Raphael, and St. Peter's Basilica is so big and so detailed it's hard to take in all at once. We were told that if a person were to spend a minute on each individual item it would take them 12 years to cover everything!! 12 years!! That's unbelievable! And again there are no words known to me that can describe the experience. Above is one of the many hallways filled with painted ceilings and stunning art work.
And here is a video that can better justify what I'm trying to express.






Here we are in one of Raphael's rooms. Every inch of every wall is covered in fresco paintings depicting biblical and historical stories. For those of you who are curious as to what a "fresco" painting is..it's one of the hardest to create. Basically a plaster substance is applied to the wall and the artist has one shot to paint on the surface. The surface can't be too wet or too dry so you can imagine how brilliant these artists were to put that (above) on a fresco. If you think this is amazing, it took Michaelangelo four years to complete the Sistine Chapel ceiling and another four years to complete the grand wall. I was rendered speechless!






After our three hour tour of the Sistine Museums, we took a gander inside St. Peter's Basilica. Once again a structure so massive it's hard to fathom its existence. Carl (a.k.a. Stefanie's daredevil partner in crime) and myself ventured up into the grand dome of the basilica. This required us to climb 530 steps up to the top for a marvelous view of Rome.
We enjoyed a lot of sitting on steps and watching people walk by. It is very entertaining to see the many different types of characters that visit Rome.

We did a lot of walking around along the Tiber River taking in all the amazing scenery. Rome has sooooo much detail and history packed into the city that it's hard to appreciate everything in a short period of time. You could spend a lifetime here and still not see all the city has to offer.

Seeing that I am a bit behind on my blog, and we are already on our last day in Interlaken, Switzerland, I will try my best to cover our time in Florence, Milan, Interlaken, and Germany!! So hang in there, there's plenty more to come! Ciao!!