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Us in front of St. Peters
We are really getting good at the self timer mode on my camera! Hello everyone! Hope all is well in Canada, we heard you had snow! All we can say is... today, at 6:00 in Rome, in our air conditioned restaurent it was 31 degrees. Think of the outside world...
So, we finally arrived in Rome, after only 2 hours of sleep in 36 hours, planes cancelled, air traffic controllers striking, and some adventuresome buses and metros. So when in Rome, do as Romans do, which is run across the street to avoid getting hit, push in the train station, and go to the Vatican! Which is what we did once we dropped off our bags at our hostel.
The first view of the Vatican is breathtaking. I was shocked, and my jaw dropped. Dennis had to lead me because I was standing quite still in the middle of the street. The basilica is massive, bigger than I imagined, and the square is huge too. We went through security and made it into the basilica, but not without seeing several people being turned away because they had shorts on or tank tops. One lady tried to push her way past, but the Swiss Guards were having none of that (deadliest fighting
Berniniàs masterpiece
Only the Pope is allowed to use this high altar. Its 39 feet high to the top. force in the world, thank you very much). Once again, walking into the basilica, took my breath away. THIS CHURCH IS BIG! There are so many little tiny chapels in the naves everywhere, and it goes on forevever. There are like 30 different confessionals with all different languages. Our pictures do not do justice to this beautiful church. We tried to take in everything, but it was hard to with all the people everywhere.
So Kim is getting tired so I am taking over...
The good thing is, we have many days in Rome so we dont have to take it all in right then. We walked around and spent some time in adoration with the blessed Sacrament. I just love spending time in adoration there...my goodness...it just feels so safe and warm and at home. It was really beautiful. So we walked back outside after a bit and went down through the Vatican Grottoes to see some of the tombs of the popes including JPII. It was so amazing. I had not seen in and neither had Kim. Very simple just like he would have wanted. I am glad he is at home where he spent his
The Pieta
This was created by Michelangeo when he was only 25. It is also his only autographed work. whole life teaching about.
After we went to pick up our tickets to the Audience. Yes, we had a nice little white envelope from the Vatican with my name in it. It was soooo cool. I could not believe that the Vaticano had something for me!!! We made our way out and to the Castel del San Angelo. The summer residence of the pope or something. We did not go in because both of us were getting tired and we had both had a lot o sun so we decided to go back to our hostel. We showered and then went downstairs for guess what, free pizza and beer tuesday! Woot Woot!
So the bad news Deano, no Keiths buddy, but we did have 3 Horse Beer, yeah, lets just say that Kim and I agree, we will stick to our Keiths. Piss in a can, piss in a can. After we let the sun go down before we walked to the Trevi fountain. For pretty much all of my groomsmen, you know that this was my original plan for proposing to Kim before my impatience and prayer led me otherwise. Well lets just say that the second
The Trevi!
Isnt it wonderful??? This picture does nothing for it still. I seen it, I knew that I had made the right decision.
The Trevi at night is so amazing and beautiful. We spent a lot of time just sitting there right in front of the trevi just looking at the masterpiece. It was so cool. The only thing that sucked was these vendors being very persistant in trying to sell us roses. But despite being a little annoyed at that, Kim and I loved it! The light reflects off the water and it is just so beautiful. I hope some of our pictures do it a bit of justice. We of course both threw a single coin in to the fountain hoping we would return to Rome (The other two coins seemed useless to us, we think they are already coming true 😊 ). THen we walked down the street and around the cornedr to the the best gelato in Rome supposedly. We grabbed some gelato and headed home for a nice sleep.
Kim has just gotten her second wind so I am going to pass it back over to her..
Alright, I know this is getting long guys but bear with us. Its been two big
Theres Benny!
Not as close as last time, but still.... its the Pope! days. So this morning we woke up at 7:30 to get to the Vatican early for our general audience with the Pope. We had the tickets so we got seats, but there was still probably close to 10 000 people in the square. Benny drove around in his little mobile and then spoke in about 8 different languages or more. We lost count. Either way, it was hot, stuffy, but still awesome. We grabbed lunch and headed back to the Vatican but the lineup for security was huge. We waited through it in the heat (probably about 35 today or more) and then took a bag check before heading up to the cupula to see Rome from the top of St. Peters. It was a climb of around 600 stairs but the view was worth it!
Then we had our amazing Scavi tour. This is a tour beneath St. Peters to see the ancient necropolis they discovered in 1939. It houses St. Peters bones which we got to see. It was really cool, like a city of the dead, and we are so blessed to have gotten this opportunity. Once it was finished, we headed home to grab our
Looking down from the inside..
This is from the inside high dome.. it was another 320 stairs to the very top. big bags, grabbed dinner, and hopped on a train to Florence, which is where we are now. Its late here so we are getting to bed soon. Tomorrow, the David and the Duomo!
Less than a week til we are home. Miss you and love you all!
Yours in Christ,
Dennis and Kim
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Greg
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Wow, crazy amazing.