Along the way I spotted this car. Trust me, the one to the rear is very tiny. The other would likely fit into the trunk of my Pacifica!
We thought we were taking the shortcut and that we were getting there before the Museum opened. Well both were technically true, but we ended up waiting over 3 hours to get in anyway. The line was incredibly long. The wait was well worth it.
Here are my girls with a model of Michelangelo's Pieta.
This is a view of the dome from inside of the Museum as Donato Bramante intended it to be viewed.
This is one artist's depiction of the garden of eden:
Here is Raphael's famous Transfiguration:
And Carravaggio's Deposition from the Cross:
But this was my favorite exhibit:
Believe it or not, this is Michelangelo's favorite sculpture of an unfinished torso. He felt that it was his best depiction of man. Not surprisingly then, he used this sculpture as his model for the figure of the man as Adam in his Sistine Chapel ceiling depiction of The Creation of Man.
Here are some other exhibit pieces and some of the halls in this magnificent building:
From one Mummy . . . to another!
This is one of Raphael's most famous pieces depicting some of the greatest thinkers of all time including Plato, Aristotle and Socrates. (He even painted himself into this one!)
This is the exit hallway from the Museum, followed by the exit past the Swiss guards and back out onto the square in front of the Basilica.
We attended Mass at Santa Susanna, which is the home of the American Church in Rome. The Masses are in English (I preferred the Latin Mass at St. Peter's!).
From there we walked to find a place to eat and ended up passing right by the Bernini Bristol Hotel which is where my bride and I stayed on our honeymoon trip throughout the Spanish, French and Italian Rivieras that ended with four days in Rome.
Before finding a restaurant, we strolled by the Trevi Fountain one last time and it looked awesome that New Years Eve night!
We actually ended up eating at a restaurant's outside tables which turned out to be a lot of fun for our farewell meal! Thank God the Hard Rock Cafe was closed for a New Years Eve party as I didn't want to have a hamburger for my last meal in Rome as some others in my party (who will remain nameless) wanted to!
From there we headed back to our apartment to pack and then dashed out onto the rooftop solarium just as the clock struck midnight! You would not believe the amount of fireworks that were being set off all over the city. It was a great way to end an amazing trip. No doubt we created memories that will alst a lifetime for our family!
THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO SHARE THIS BLOG WITH YOU! WE FELT LIKE WE HAD YOU ALONG WITH US.
GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU, AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
