Ava's Dance Recital

Ava was a little star in her dance recital this year. She did SO well and wasn't shy at all. She loved her dance teacher, and was excited every week to go to her lessons all year. Ava was the youngest girl in her class. It was so fun to see my little girl perform!

Finale!

Our tired little dancer on the way home

Rome

Here are the pics I promised to post. My wonderful friend watched our children, and we enjoyed four days in Rome.

Constantine's Arch

The Colosseum

Walking into the arena

Where gladiators and beasts died, all in fun and games

It started raining and pouring on us, luckily we had our umbrella

Church of San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains)
This church was built above the court building where St Peter was condemned

Michelangelo's Moses sculpture. We had a great guide here, who told us some interesting information. Michelangelo worked on this sculpture while also working on the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius II was impatient and demanded him to work faster. Michelangelo told him his work would be finished when it was done. The pope hit Michelangelo with his cane, permanently leaving his cheek concave. When Moses was unveiled the Pope was angry about the horns on his head. Apparently Michelangelo was not only sarcastic but had quite the sense of humor as well. He told the pope that according to the Latin Vulgate, Moses had horns. This is believed to be because of the mistranslation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Latin by St Jerome. Moses is actually described as having "rays of the skin of his face", which Jerome in the Vulgate had translated as "horns". The mistake in translation is possible because the word "keren" in the Hebrew language can mean either "radiated (light)" or "grew horns".


St Peter's chains from Jerusalem and Rome. Catholics believe when the chains were compared they miraculously linked together

The grim reaper is strategically placed to remind Catholics to go to confession,
or so our guide told us

Tiramisu- "pull me up"

This is Italian hot chocolate. Oh my gosh, I died and went to heaven.

This is literally liquid chocolate

The Forum

You can see the indentations in the road from the chariots

The following photos are from the Capitoline museum

Medusa

Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city of Rome according to Roman mythology

Nice! Ha ha ha

I love it! All marble

Part of the colossal statue of Constantine

The head is 8 1/2 feet tall

St Peter's Square

Garden in Vatican City

Mummy from Egypt at the Vatican museum

Scarabs

Looking up from a courtyard

Every inch of the walls were painted and look at some of the amazing floors

Mosaic floor

Beautiful tapestry, the largest I've ever seen

These painted maps that lined the corridor were beautiful

Ok, it was a little difficult to get a picture without someone in the way ;)

Intricate carvings

'The Battle of the Milvian Bridge'. I have been reading about Constantine and the early Christian church, and was excited to see an artists depiction of Constantine's war by which he became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire, and also brought about his conversion to Christianity. He and his army saw the sign of the cross in a dream and was told, "by this sign, you shall conquer". Where would the Catholic church be if Constantine didn't use Christianity for political reasons?

The Sistine Chapel was one of the most amazing places I've ever been. We stood and sat gazing at the frescoed ceiling for at least an hour. Sadly, we couldn't take any photos.

On the steps at St Peter's Basilica

Sumptuous, glorious, and ornate!

St Peter's tomb

La Pieta by Michelangelo
Bellissima!

St Peter's tomb

St Peter

Gorgeous mosaics, polished marble, and gold everywhere

Vatican guard

Jason and I at St Peter's Square

I won't even try to explain this guy...

Trevi fountain at sunset

SO romantic!

So beautiful!

The best place to get gelato is near the Trevi fountain. Yum!

Now THIS is chocolate gelato!

Tossing my coin, with my back to the fountain.

According to legend, anyone who throws a coin into the water is guaranteed to return to Rome.

Bernini's fountain of Triton

The Spanish Steps

What a view!

Posing for the camera

We stopped at this church called Sant Maria della Concezione to see the crypt. The monks buried all their brethren under the church and used the bones of over 4000 more brothers to create altars, crowns, stars and crosses. The bones line the walls and ceilings in different patterns. It is very creepy to see the full skeletons dressed in robes like the grim reaper.

I learned how to make Tiramisu, and it was the best ever!

The Pantheon

Do we take enough pictures? Oh my

Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon

Amazing!

Piazza Navona, a beautiful square and THE place to buy art. We walked away with three beautiful oil paintings

I LOVED this door

We went way out of our way to see the ancient catacombs and walk the most important Roman road, Via Appia Antica (312 BC). We couldn't take any pictures in the catacombs, but I will never forget it. Here, early Christians buried their dead. We saw early forms of Christian art, and went through a maze of layers of tombs carved out of the soft stone. It was amazing to be standing where thousands of Christians lie to rest,and during the worst times of persecution, they held church services.

Walking along the Appian Way

It was so quiet and peaceful

Ruins

A little further, The Basilica of St Paul's is also outside the walls of Rome

Paul's sarcophagus

The chains that bound the apostle