Sunday, September 30, 2012

Day 4, 5, 6, 7, 8


               
Sorry for not posting any blogs this last week, we have been too busy to even be able to sit down and take a breather. We’re currently in Naples after a long day on the trains and let me tell you this place is a little rough. My girl is definitely not going anywhere by herself.
                Alright let’s get you all caught up before my girl decides not to do this blog at all. On Wednesday we went to Tarquinia to the Etruscan Necropolis, it was  very cool but also very creepy. We had to tromp underground to see the underground frescos.





                On Thursday we stayed in Roma and went to the Villa Guila where the Popes once lived. It was amazing there, everything was beautiful and stunning and it was like a castle almost. We also went to Ara Pacis where the Emperor Augustus was buried with his wife. The Ara Pacis was also a large marble offering temple that Augustus had built to enforce peace and family (to guarantee the continuation of the “royal” family).
Villa Guila
Ara Pacis





              




 On Friday we went to Ostia where my girl gave her presentation on the port city. She did a really good job though she did try to encourage Moak to do his thing where he takes over with more details……it didn’t work he ended up asking her questions because he didn’t know as much about the city as my girl (very proud of her). This trip was actually our funniest me and Jazz ran through the old ruins climbing random stairs and over walls. He even crawled through a little crawl space into a door less room where we had to climb up a slanted wall to get back out again. Needless to say my girl ended up taking some pretty cool photos from the other side of blocked off areas. Though don’t worry Jazz didn’t get in trouble but that could be there were no guards or museum attendants……and cameras.




My girl crawled through this hole!!

Class time!!



  








             Saturday was a free day and we ended up going to the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican. There are no words to describe the breath taking scenes we saw. We saw old clothing the Popes wore, some of their jewelry, the art pieces the Vatican has collected over the years and finely the rooms Rafael and Michelangelo decorated (use this term loosely). I can’t even tell you how amazing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is! It was filled with people and the guards kept asking for silence and shushing people when it got to loud…….unfortunately, we didn’t see the current Pope.
St. Peter's Square


APPLE OF EDEN!!! no not really.......

The suspense was killing us!!!!

freshly restored. . . . . . . notice the bright colors?

1/2 of Raphael's room


other half of Raphael's room



Now doesn't this look familiar?




Stained glass......so beautiful!!


Do not miss with this man!!


                And finally today we arrived in the dirty city of Napoli. My girl ended up falling asleep on the 2 hour train ride and for an hour here at our eco friendly hotel. I think it was just a very long exhausting week from cultural shock and all of the information intake we went through.


With tired love,

M.D. and Jazz

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Day 3

Staircase to Capitoline Hill

                We took a lot of pictures today….like 620 or so….Jazz went a little crazy. We had went to the Capitoline Hill and the museum on top. The museum consisted of three buildings with the parts of a the giant statue of Constantine along with many more marble statues and oil, tempura, and other medium paintings.
              
The Penitent Magdalene
                My girl had a very good day, she found a new love for art inspired by an oil painting titled “The Penitent Magdalene”. She even found her favorite marble sculpture (that she failed to tell me the name of) and took nearly a photo of every angle possible all the while complaining about how the Art History books failed to take enough photos.
              

Copy statue of Marcus Aurelius

Colossal marble statue of Constantine

Of course you should know her

She-wolf and the babies Remus and Romulus

Real statue of Marcus Aurelius

Remnants of a colossal bronze statue of Constantine

It use to be covered in gold


This one painting was massive and drew its own
 attention in a room full of paintings


We were able to see several groups of people
restoring priceless works of art.

This is one of the most beautiful women you
 will ever see.
Chelsea and the Flavian woman


One of my girl's favorite statues!

 And all of this had taken place in the morning. By one or two we had moved on in our own little group consisting of Anna and Chelsea and headed our way to the Villa Medici, which was the palace of one of the largest ruling families of 1500 Italy! We had also managed to get a couple of souvenirs and explore several Italian stores.
                It was actually a very relaxing day that left us content and happy to explore Italy without being in a rush. We also took in a lot of sights and information in the museum but it was so overwhelming my girl was almost in tears from the huge cultural shock that had just set in with the actual actual realization that we are in Italy and shall be here for nearly two months!





Just to let you know....jetlag sucks!

With love,
M.D. and Jazz