Rome

We have been touring Rome extensively since our arrival last Friday. I have taken many photos and am editing these in the limited free time we have and will post these on our Picasa web albums ASAP.

Fr James has been sharing his deep knowledge of Rome with us as we visit the churches and Ancient Roman sites. We have been to St Paul's basilica, St Peter's basilica (we climbed 520 stairs to the dome and cupola and took great shots
of Rome and saw the incorrupt body of Pope John XXIII and the crypt of Pope John Paul II), Fontana di Trevi, the chruch of St Ignatzio, Piazza Navona, Piazza San Pietro, Piazza Venezia, the Pantheon, went past the Colosseum and Circus Maximus,
the Fori Imperiali, the Spanish Steps, Santa Sophia Sopra Minerva (where we saw the body of Santa Caterina da Siena), Monte Cassino (the home of the Benedictine monks and the bodies of St Benedict and St Scholastica), been to the Mercati Portese at Porta Portese, been on the Metro from Vitinia to San Paolo station @ Piramide and have eaten gelato from Giolitti (the prima gelataria in Rome where President Obama's girls visited a few weeks ago).

Will update when we get the time. (Joe)

KYLE’S ROME BLOG
We have been in Rome for 4 and a half days now, leaving to Malta tomorrow {yipeee} Rome is a beautiful city. In the middle of the day temperatures rise to extreme heights and it’s called siesta. Siesta is when you are as hot as a volcano & are about to erupt you lose all the salt from your body and become weak, not only do you become weak but you become extremely tired and fall to sleep even the shops close. There are people who are called gypsy’s and they ask for money. A gypsy can be a woman or a man, I don’t know for sure but I’ve been told. There are also pick pockets. A pick pocket is a very sneaky person now this is how I’ve been told one person puts on a very catchy show they will then get their eyes stuck on the show and suddeny a pick pocket steals your money or bag .
The Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
On our last day Fr James took us to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. In the Vatican Museum there are many different museums split up into sections. In one museum there are old bibles hand written and some take a whole life to write. The people who write in these books are mainly Monks. Back then they didn’t have proper coffins they were hand made and they made stone sarcophaguses and they have different designs. There was one coffin which had two boys in it. We also did the Coliseum and it was great there was two levels the main level is made of wood & sand, animals were lifted by a elevator to get on an arena, the name “arena” came from the Romans it meant sand.


Museo Vaticano & Cappella Sistina