Nyveldt Family

Day 123

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 07:00:00 -0500

Home to PA today! When Mom woke us up, it was still dark outside and I did not wait to get up until I remembered that we were flying home today! Bria and I got up right when Mom called, but the boys kept sleeping. Bria and I packed up our stuff, took all the bedding off our beds and brought it downstairs to the laundry. Downstairs Mom was finishing details. I ate breakfast even though I did not feel good.

We left the house around 7:15am, to go to the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris! It was quite dark outside so it felt really early but our host was concerned that we would not make it in time. Our plane left at 11:45am, but we had to return our car and that took some time. Dad dropped us off at the terminal and went to find where to return the car. We really did not have to wait for the plane very long. I had just started to listen to a story and when over the loud speaker “Boarding gate B10”. It was 10:45am that we got on a bus and rode out to the plane! The plane was white with big purple WOW letters, just like I was hoping for. We had flown from Baltimore to Iceland in a purple plane with white lettering and now the opposite.

Standing in the bus waiting to get off and board the plan it started to drizzle. When they finally let us off we walked up the ramp and said hello to the flight attendants and walked toward the back of the plane. My seat was 32C, and I sat with Mom and Landon on either side of me. Landon wanted the window seat and Dad, Jack, and Bria were right across from us and Bria got the window seat. As we flew out of Paris I looked down and guess what I saw?!?! I saw the Eiffel tower, and that was the last thing I saw of Paris! During the ride I played on the mini iPad and listened to an audio story.

The next thing we knew the flight attendant was saying please buckle your seat belts we are landing in Iceland. All that we saw of Iceland was ice, snow, and the airport in Keflavik, Iceland. We found the boarding gate E39, and bought more sandwiches for dinner, and as we were buying the sandwiches the gate opened up for us to board. We quickly hurried to get our stuff and we were one of the first people on the plane. The reason we like to be the first is so that Dad hash time to cram our 6 bags above our seats. We boarded the plane at 2:45pm and we were in the air at 3:30pm! My seat for this ride was 31B, and I again had the middle seat. Beside me toward the isle was Dad and to my left was a lady from the Netherlands.

The whole time we were in the air we saw the sun. It was cool to be able to see the sun the entire time. On the plan we ate our sandwiches which were not very good. Landon’s was the worst, Dad Jack, Bria, Mom and I had OK……sandwiches, but not great, some us could not even finish them they were so poor. Listen up Iceland, you might want to improve your airport food!

During the plane ride I listened to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I also watched Dad play solitaire. Landon played on the mini iPad and Jack and Bria played on the pink iPhone. This plan ride seem to last for a very long time. At one point leaving Iceland I saw water and as we got closer to the U.S.A, I saw land and wondered where we were, but Dad said not close to Baltimore. When the flight attendants finally said we had to put on our seat belts, we were all very excited! I remember the plane first hitting the ground and saying welcome home again!

When we were off the plane we walked to the checking line and waited a very long time. When it finally was our turn we stepped up, they said we were good and we headed on our way to get the checked bag. I found it, and we then headed to find Kenton Baer. By this time it was dark outside and the air was cooler. Dad and Kenton were texting back and forth, Dad telling Kenton where we were when I looked up the road to the left and saw the while mini van. A beat up old white minivan never looked so good!

We arrived home around 9pm. Inside the house we found lots of food, a banner welcoming us home and the fridge full of more food. There was even a jar of homemade granola that I had been longing for. What a wonderful welcome home! We were quite tired and it felt so good to climb in my own bed again.

Sneak peak into the next day! The next morning we were up at 8-8:30am. Mom and Landon then left to go get his cast cut off and the rest of us started unpacking. In the evening Dad drove me 1 hour to a friends house for a bible study!

Day 122

Fri, 13 Jan 2017 07:00:00 -0500

We spent the morning packing, going through everything, throwing junk out, going through our clothes and finding that numerous of them didn’t fit. Our hostess, Sophie, said that we could leave all the clothes and car seats behind and she would get rid of them for us. Mom spent the morning going through the big red hold bag packing souvenirs and the overflow from our carry-on bags for the trip home. When we had left home back in September of 2015 we had stuffed every available crevice with bags of dried apples; they were long since gone, and ditching the two booster seats left a considerable cavern in the bag. In retrospect we wished we had picked up a few more souvenirs. Dad worked all morning and by lunch we were ready to eat.

After lunch Mom wanted to walk to the Louis Braille museum just down the hill. When we got there we walked in and an older gentleman welcomed us. One could easily discern that he loved his job. While he readily spoke English it was with a heavy accent making him a bit hard to understand. Mom thought he was the most Dickens-esque character she had ever met. Everything from his deportment to his manner of speaking was fascinating and since he never once broke character one can assume it was his normal habit. He quickly warmed to us his lone inquisitors that bleak day and expounded at length on this his beloved hobby, job and pastime. The house that Louis Braille lived in was right across from the office of the curator. Below is a bit of copied information I found on the internet that gives a better description than I could have.

As soon as he could walk, Braille spent time playing in his father's workshop. At the age of three, the child was toying with some of the tools, trying to make holes in a piece of leather with an awl. Squinting closely at the surface, he pressed down hard to drive the point in, and the awl glanced across the tough leather and struck him in one of his eyes. A local physician bound and patched the affected eye and even arranged for Braille to be met the next day in Paris by a surgeon, but no treatment could save the damaged organ. In agony, the young boy suffered for weeks as the wound became severely infected; an infection which then spread to his other eye, likely due to sympathetic ophthalmia.

Louis Braille survived the torment of the infection but by the age of five he was completely blind in both eyes. Due to his young age, Braille did not realize at first that he had lost his sight, and often asked why it was always dark. His parents made many efforts – quite uncommon for the era – to raise their youngest child in a normal fashion, and he prospered in their care. He learned to navigate the village and country paths with canes his father hewed for him, and he grew up seemingly at peace with his disability. Braille’s bright and creative mind impressed the local teachers and priests, and he was accommodated with higher education.

He excelled in his education and received scholarship to France's Royal Institute for Blind Youth. While still a student there, he began developing a system of tactile code that could allow blind people to read and write quickly and efficiently. Inspired by the military cryptography of Charles Barbier, Braille constructed a new method built specifically for the needs of the blind. He presented his work to his peers for the first time in 1824.

Entering the house we started in the kitchen. In the kitchen was a small stone sink with a drain that went outside to a barrel. This feature alone signified that the Brailles were a more well-to-do family in town. There was a big fire place, a table in the center of the room, and on the far side was his parents bed. Beside the bed to the right was a small narrow stairs going up to the loft where Louis and his siblings slept.

Back outside again we walked to Louis’s fathers workshop. Many old tools were there, and a couple pictures on the wall. His father made harness for horses in his workshop. Straight across from the door was a narrow stairs going up to the room where there were shelves of all the things Louis invented for blind people. There were games, books of braille, tools to punch paper to make the marks for braille, and a typewriter. In the center of the room was a table that we sat down at and the man let us try our hands at punching the paper. We all did our names, and he did the word Pennsylvania for us. You could not count to 8 before he was finished punching the letters out. It was fun to watch him do it. We were very slow doing our names. I still have my name in braille and the Pennsylvania paper.

When the tour was over we walked back up the hill and on the way we found a bright pink flower that was blooming. Back at the house we put the finishing touches on packing and cleaned. We then ate leftovers for dinner so we would not have to discard them. Dad was double checking our plane tickets and ascertaining what time we had to be at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Dad then sent us to bed around 8pm, because the next morning we had to be up at 6am.

Day 121

Thu, 12 Jan 2017 17:30:00 -0500

For breakfast this morning we went down to the bakery to get our free pastries. The host of the house we were staying is the owner of the bakery below us and she allows her guests one complimentary pastry every morning. We loved it and all wished we could have stayed longer. In the picture below
1. Mom
2. Jack
3. Dad
4. Landon
5. Bria
6. Elizabeth

We finished packing our belongings and straightened up the house. When everything was out in the car we gave the key back to the bakery and headed to a little town outside of Paris called, Coupvray. There we stayed two nights before flying home.

The drive to Coupvray was a good 5 hour drive. In that amount of time we listened to a lot of audio story and enjoyed the thought of returning home in two days! When we arrived at the house we got the key and went in and made ourselves at home. Our hostess, Sophie, came later to welcome us. She was really nice and showed us the flyers of all the things we could do in our 1 full day there. She did not know English that well but she new enough to tell us about the house and where the grocery store was.

After our hostess left we went grocery shopping. At home again we sat around talking about PA. Around 8:30pm we headed off to bed.

Day 120

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 21:45:00 -0500

Chateau de Chillon! I personally don’t remember much about this castle, but this is what I found on Rick Steves website.

This medieval castle, set wistfully at the edge of Lake Geneva, is a joy. Remarkably well-preserved, it has never been damaged or destroyed — always inhabited, always maintained. The Savoy family (their seal is the skinny red cross on the towers) enlarged it to its current state in the 13th century, when this was a prime location — at a crossroads of a major trade route from England and France to Rome. Château de Chillon (pron. shee-yon) was the Savoys' fortress and residence, with four big halls (a major status symbol) and impractically large lake view windows (their powerful navy could defend against possible attack from the water). When the Bernese invaded in 1536, the castle was conquered in just two days, and the new governor made Château de Chillon his residence (and a Counter-Reformation prison). Inspired by the Revolution in Paris, the French-speaking people on Lake Geneva finally kicked out their German-speaking Bernese oppressors in 1798. The castle became — and remains — the property of the Canton of Vaud. It has been used as an armory, a warehouse, a prison, a hospital, and a tourist attraction. Rousseau's writings first drew attention to the castle, inspiring visits by Romantics such as Lord Byron and Victor Hugo, plus other notables, including Dickens, Goethe, and Hemingway. Follow the free English brochure from one fascinating room to the next. Enjoy the castle's tingly views, dank prison, battle-scarred weapons, simple Swiss-style mobile furniture, and 700-year-old toilets. Bonivard's Prison is named for a renegade Savoy who was tortured here for five years. When the Romantic poet Lord Byron came to visit, Bonivard's story inspired him to write The Prisoner of Chillon, which vividly recounts a prisoner's dark and solitary life:

And mine has been the fate of those To whom the goodly earth and air Are bann'd, and barr'd — forbidden fare…

You can still see where Byron scratched his name in a column. The chapel uses projectors to simulate the original frescoes. Models explain the construction of the castle. While the lakeside windows have grand views, the landward side has small slits facing the road — more practical for defense. The 130-step climb to the top of the keep isn't worth the time or sweat, but you'd be missing out if you didn't stroll the patrol ramparts. Before you leave, take a minute to curl up on a windowsill and enjoy the lake.
By Rick Steves

One thing that has remained with me about this castle is that a man, Francois Bonivard (1493 - 1570), lived in the prison for five years, being tortured those five years. He was chained to a post and, just had to sit there. He was by vocation a monk but lived a politically active and rather profligate lifestyle. He was imprisoned for political reasons. While this man was sitting there he carved his name in the huge supporting column and you can still see it to this day.

Barred doorways in the prison wall opened onto the lake. The water appeared bright blue, it looked good enough to drink, but we did not of course. ;) We were mesmerized by with watching the ebb and flow of the water on the rocks.

After exploring for a while we completed the audio guide and we left. When walking back to the car we decided to walk the path down at the water. As the waves would come in they crashed up on the rock and sprayed water everywhere. We then drove back home to have a wonderful dinner of pasta, tomato sauce, and a green vegetable. After dinner we watched a Little House On The Prairie and headed to bed.

Ps: I am now up to date on the posts!

Day 119

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 09:30:00 -0500

A day of traveling to France! We left Mark’s house around 8am, for the 8 hour drive to near Geneva, Switzerland. The day of traveling started out great! The land of hills rolling by, and the mountains with snow on top. Green fields and green trees, with animals grazing in the fields.

When we were about 2 hours from the border of France we drove into snow! It was snowing hard and the roads were getting worse as we went. We then came to a tunnel, a very expensive tunnel I might add, and we were glad to be going through a tunnel. This tunnel cut underneath huge mountains, letting us skip a lot of the snow. In tunnels, Dad’s GPS went blank. When we exited the tunnel, we drove through some heavy snow for awhile in an area that appeared to lead through some kind of station between Italy and France. The traffic patterns were very confusing, particularly in the driving snow but soon we were going downhill again and at lower elevations the snow disappeared.

As we drew nearer to our destination, a small town just outside of Geneva, while the snow had stopped, the sky was still gray. Traveling on a gray day is the best. You don’t get car sick nearly as much because the sun is not glaring on you. When we arrived at our next destination, a home above a bakery, we parked and the weather outside had gotten really cold. It was windy and freezing. Dad walked into the bakery and asked for the key. When he got the key he went to find the house. The house was small, with a tiny kitchen a regular living room/dinning room. There was a small with fireplace in the living room that I kept going. Upstairs there were 3 bedrooms, and bookshelves everywhere.

After settling down we then went to go find dinner. After eating dinner we went back to the house and slept.

PS: This was Tuesday's post.

Day 117 and 118

Tue, 10 Jan 2017 12:30:00 -0500

I missed yesterday’s post so I will have to write about it today. This will be a longer post, because I am writing about Pompeii and Assisi. Enjoy lots of information and pictures!

Day 117 (Jan. 8th), when arriving in Pompeii we had to find a parking place. There were people standing on the sidewalks holding signs. We picked a guy with a sign that said parking $5. We parked and had a quick lunch in his restaurant before we headed on to the city of Pompeii.

Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the commune of Pompeii. Pompeii is about 8 km (5.0 mi) away from Mount Vesuvius. It covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares (170 acres) and was home to approximately 11,000 to 11,500 people on the basis of household counts.

The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash. Evidence for the destruction originally came from a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger, who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved in ash for centuries because of the lack of air and moisture. These artifacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation concrete was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies. This allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died.

When we walked the long path to the starting place or where we thought we were to start, we all started our Rick Steves audio and he started telling us to look at this and that; but there was nothing around like it that he was telling us about. Pretty soon we discovered we had entered the town at the end of the tour. Rather than restart we just listened to everything in backwards order.

There was a lot of the city that was under excavation and restoration. Some parts that would have been nice to see, could not be seen. One place that I wanted to see was the mill, but it was under excavation. While walking around we found places in buildings where the tile floor was still there. A lot of the floors have some kind of an animal design in the tile. One floor had a big dog with a chain around its neck.

There were concrete sculptures, that were found when they were uncovering the city. While searching when they hit an area that was hollow they would fill it up with concrete and when it was dry they brought it out and they had the sculpture of a human. The ashes from the volcano had preserved the space perfectly.

In the city was The House of the Faun. The House of the Faun was named for the bronze statue of the dancing faun located, originally, on the lip of the impluvium, a basin for catching rainwater; it has been moved to the center of the pool. Fauns are spirits of untamed woodland, which literate and Hellenized Romans often connected to Pan and Greek satyrs, or wild followers of the Greek god of wine and agriculture, Dionysus.

The stone roads through Pompeii have deep ruts worn by the many rough wheels of carriages and other means of conveyance. The ruts were not good for the carriages, because when deep enough the wheels could get stuck and break. Road repair meant removing the over-worn stones and replacing them with new flat stones. The streets were also used as their drainage and sewage disposal system. Pompeii was a port city, therefore they were able to flood their streets to wash them clean, every day. Because of the daily flooding, large stepping stones were raised out of the ground at the intersections for people to walk across when the streets were flooded. Those stones were low enough for a carriage to go over, yet high enough that the water did not go over them. One way streets were designated by three stepping stone (one carriage entry) and four or five stepping stones for traffic both ways (two carriage passing)

As we made are way back through Pompeii we came to a big theater. Bria and Landon has running races around the theater. Crazy, I guess they had lots of energy to burn.

When we finished the audio guide we walked back towards our car. On the way back we got ice-cream and my ice cream was so terrible I threw a lot of it into the trash.

Day 118 (Jan. 9th), Assisi. What a lovely town situated on the top of hill! Many towns are situated on the tops of mountains in Italy; was that a means of defense in ancient time? The town of Assisi seemed asleep when we arrived. A few tourists (?) were walking around, but I guess it was too grey and cold that day. We drove one fourth of the way up and parked in a parking garage then walked up, up, and up. On our way to the top of the town we started our audio guide of Rick Steves (As you have guessed by now we listened to him a lot).

Assisi was the birthplace of St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan religious order in the town in 1208; and St. Clare (Chiara d’Offreducci), an early convert; who founded the Poor Sisters, which later became the Order of Poor Clares after her death. The 19th-century Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was also born in Assisi.

We got mixed up where we were to go with Rick Steves, and we had to backtrack some. The landscape from Assisi was unspoiled. The pathways through Assisi were small and curvy. At one point we walked to the top where a castle of some sorts was. We wanted to visit it but we could not quickly find the right path to it. The path down again was a long sloped stairs back to the more active part of the town. There were shops and a few restaurants. We walked through a lot of back pathways.

In the front side of the town there was a pink and white striped church called, Basilica of Saint Clare. Being locked, we were unable to enter it.

Out towards the end of the town there was the Basilica of San Francesco. The building was pink and white striped also. Inside the floors had beautiful mosaics and gorgeous ceilings. The walls had many pictures on and had paintings around. The alter was wonderfully painted with many colors and pictures.

The basement of the basilica was twice as decorated as the first floor. Again the floor with the mosaics and walls with many colors. In the basement there was stairs going down to the tombs below the church. There were big concrete caskets with carvings on that we could not read.

As evening came more people were out and the wind came too! At a street vendor Jack bought a hat that said Assisi on it and in a quaint shop along the way Mom bought a nativity set of Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus. She liked it because the baby was wrapped in swaddling cloths. As it got darker we headed back to the car. We then drove back to Mark’s house for one night, before heading to France to fly home. It was felt like we were coming home again when we arrived at Mark’s house in Tuscany.

Ps: This is Sunday's and Monday's post.

Day 116

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 20:00:00 -0500

Today we went into Rome again and spent the entire day walking around. First stop was Trajan's Column. This column was a glorifying monument, upholding Trajan as Rome's great emperor. After getting pictures taken we walked to the next stop, which was the Pantheon.

The building is circular with a portico of large granite Corinthian columns (eight in the first rank and two groups of four behind) under a pediment. A rectangular vestibule links the porch to the rotunda, which is under a coffered concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus) to the sky. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 142 ft.

Before entering the Pantheon there are 12 columns. Rick Steves too dos it takes 4 adults to go around the column. We did it, just Jack, Bria, Landon, and I. Landon only had half an arm, because it was in a cast. Taking pictures in this round building was very hard. Inside to the left of the door there is pulpit and bench for services. All around there are statues. The entire building is lighted through the opening at the top. The building is constructed that light will reach every corner in the Pantheon. It is perfectly round inside so it could fit a 43.3m diameter sphere under its dome.

The church that we visited next was called Chiesa di Sant'Igzacio di Loyola. This church is an amazing work of art with many beautiful colors. In this church is the tomb of St.Roberto Bellarmino.(1) One well known carving that was put in this church is called Glory of St Aloysius Gonzaga (1698) and it was carved by Legros.(2) Also another carving called, Monument to Pope Gregory XV (1697) and it carved by Monnot.(3)

The church has a Latin cross plan with numerous side chapels. The building was inspired by the Jesuit mother church, the Church of the Gesù in Rome (finished in the late 16th century). The imposing order of Corinthian pilasters that rings the entire interior, the theatrical focus on the high altar at the rear of the broad eastern apse, the church's colored marbles, animated stucco figural relief, richly ornamented altars, extensive gilding, and bold Tromp l’oeil paintings in the "dome" at its crossing and in the nave ceiling all produce a festive, sumptuous effect. Funds to build a dome were lacking, hence a painter to paint the illusion of a dome was hired. The church stages the triumph of its dedicatee most effectively.

The nave's west wall has a sculptural group depicting Magnificence and Religion (1650) by Alessandro Algardi. Algardi also helped design the high reliefs in stucco that run on both lateral nave walls just above the entries to the chapels and beneath the nave's grandiose entablature.

Andrea Pozzo painted the ceiling.

Here are more pictures from the Chiesa di Sant'Igzacio di Loyola below.

While walking around Rome we came across a huge building. This buildings is named, Roma Piazza Venezia Vittoriano. We did not have time to go in, so we walked on by. Next we came to an area of ruins.

Day 115

Fri, 06 Jan 2017 21:30:00 -0500

Another busy day of adventuring. Today we went to the Roman Forum, right across from the Colosseum. It took us a while to find the entrance to the Roman Forum. After walking around a little we finally found the entrance. Once inside we turned on our trusty Rick Steves audio guides.

The Roman Forum (Latin: Forum Romanum, Italian: Foro Romano) is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

It was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million sightseers yearly.

Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.

As we walked the sky grew dark and it rained hard, then it cleared and the sun came back out and it was warm. Most of the builds that used to be in the Forum are now a crumble of stone piles. But many of the tall columns still stand. One building still in good repair is still closed with its original bronze door dating from the Imperial Era! Quite amazing to see a door still in use for over 1,700 years. While exploring some fountains we found stairs going up to the second level. We walked up and found a nice place to look out over the city of Rome. We then had to leave, because the museum that Mom, Jack and I wanted to get to was closing soon.

We again left Dad, Bria, and Landon who went back home and the rest of us went on our own little adventure. First we stopped at a little shop and got a lunch of sandwiches. Then we headed on our way to The National Roman Museum or Palazzo Massimo alle Terme stopping at some nondescript church on the way of which we can’t even remember the name. To say it was nondescript is only in comparison to all the grand ones we were visiting. Compared to churches or cathedrals here in the states, it was quite fine. Anyway, this National Roman Museum contains, sculptures, tile art (mosaics), and an area underground full of mostly ancient copper, gold, and silver, coins.

First we started looking at the sculptures and tile art. Many of the marble sculptures were just heads, or half of a body; only pieces of once grand works of art. The tile art was many different colors, some using small pieces of colored marble and some using incredibly small tidbits of stone! One room that we walked into all the walls were a mural of one big fruit orchard. Two benches were in the room I sat on one and Jack sat on the other and Mom took a pano of the entire room with us in it. After looking through room after room, we headed to the basement. There is where the coins were displayed in a big vault. The doors were 10-12 inches thick! When I walked into the room I did now know where to start. There were just rows and rows of displays of coins of all shapes and sizes. In a case near the end I found big copper coins all dated 2002(the year I was born). There were also gold blocks underneath saying that all that gold was the same weight as those 8 copper coins.

Mom was just suggesting we go when over the loud speaker a voice said closing in 10 mins. We then walked upstairs and left. We needed to ride the subway back to our home. After getting off the subway Mom wanted to go to St. Paolo’s (Paul’s) Basilica. Walking up to the door we were checked by the police and then allowed to enter. Inside it was dark, with only a few lights on. Above the alter was a picture of Jesus with 2 men on each side. If you are standing at the alter and looking towards the back of the church there is a long hall. On the right side of the hall of a line of confession booths to talk with a priest. On the left side the wall was lined with statues. Frescoed around the ceiling there is a picture of every Pope dating the whole way back to Peter. The current pope is highlighted with a light. They don’t have too many spaces left for succeeding popes! This church is huge and right in the center of it is the apostle Paul’s supposed burial place. There are some ancient fragments of chains under glass that are revered as the ones Paul spoke of in his writings. When we were finished looking around we exited and went home.

Day 114

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 20:55:00 -0500

Dad did find a new place for us to stay, an apartment right in the city of Rome. The internet connection was much better! And apart from the increasing hazard of dog dirt everywhere, it was wonderful to be able to walk to the grocery store and the metro.

St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican museum. We walk about 1/8th a mile to the subway station just down the road. The ride to the heart of the city was loud with all the people talking and the wheels of the subways extremely squeaky. Once arriving at the stop for St. Peter’s Basilica, we de-boarded the subway and walked the rest way to St. Peter’s. St. Peter’s Basilica is located in a square area full of fences directing people into lines for waiting. In the center of the square was a huge monument and beside it was a pine tree decorated for Christmas.

While waiting in line it started sprinkling. As we got closer to the Basilica we pulled out our phones and started listening to the Rick Steves audio guide for the Basilica. One interesting thing that Rick Steves told us was where the Pope’s window is. In the picture below is a tan nonagon around the Pope’s window.

Well, I should get on to telling you about the inside of the Basilica. Inside is totally different from the outside. There are lots of statues and beautiful paintings. In the front is a huge black carved alter. And straight above it is a dome. There are 15 windows in the dome, and in the smaller dome on the very top there are also 15 more smaller windows. And on the roof of the small dome is a painted picture of Jesus. The dome of St. Peter's rises to a total height of 448.1 ft from the floor of the basilica to the top of the external cross. It is the tallest dome in the world.

Through out the Basilica there are many smaller domes, also with many windows. Most of the works of art are made with real gold, or are painted gold. To the right of the entrance there is the Pietà by Michelangelo. People were all crowded around the Pietà, and that made it hard to take pictures.

When we were finished with the audio guide, Mom, Jack, and I left Dad, Bria and Landon and went to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine chapel. Dad, Bria, and Landon went somewhere to have lunch and then headed back home. Bria and Landon’s legs were getting sore and they wanted to go home. Mom, Jack, and I went to a roadside stand and got sandwiches for lunch and then headed into the museum.

Inside, we followed signs to the Sistine chapel. As we walked more and more people appeared jamming the hallways to maximum capacity. Walking the halls with paintings and sculptures, was interesting. Most of the sculptures were parts or chipped —ancient. The golden ceilings of the halls were intricately painted pictures and designs.

Pictures form walking to the Sistine chapel below.

When we arrived at the Sistine chapel, there were men pushing us in the room, so that we would make room for all the people coming in. We were pushed in and tried to listen to Rick Steves guide for the chapel, but it was hard being constantly pushed and shoved. There were no pictures allowed in the Sistine chapel. When the audio guide had finished we exited and then found our way out of the museum. Out in the streets, Mom used her GPS, with my help, to get us to the subway station. Mom got us home just fine! We then walked to the house and then turned around and headed to the store. After a quiet dinner we started listening to a story and the neighbors on the other side of the wall, around 8:30pm started playing loud music. When we went to bed they were still playing the music, but we fell right to sleep.

Day 113

Thu, 05 Jan 2017 11:00:00 -0500

Hadrian’s Villa. Today was wet and rainy. It was the first day in the four mouth trip that it really rained. When we arrived at the villa, it was raining quite hard. We opened our ponchos for the first time and put them on in the car and then outside the car we buttoned them up. We also had umbrellas with our ponchos. While standing in the rain waiting for the lady to give us our tickets Landon was running through puddles and getting 2 times as wet. When we entered the villa the rain subsided to a sprinkle giving us quite a bit of explore time but after awhile resumed pouring.

With our map getting wet we walked down a long path with tall trees on either side. The first building we arrived at, had a huge map of the place we were going to explore. Below is some information about Hadrian's Villa and the man himself.

This paragraph is about Hadrian by Jack,

Hadrian, 117 -138 CE, was a very prestigious Roman Caeser in the golden age of Rome. Rome rose in power for 200 years, peaked for 300 years (in which was Hadrian’s era), and declined for 400 years. His main hobby was designing buildings. He stole ideas from lands he and other Caesers had conquered. Hadrian also built a wall in northern England, later named ‘Hadrian’s Wall’, for the purpose of keeping the raiding Scots out of Roman controlled England. His villa (summer home) is just outside of Rome which he used for escaping from bustling Roman life. It is very large residence, more like a small town, and [was] well decorated with mosaics and statues. It is amazing to imagine what it once was like. The numerous buildings included.

A private bath
An amphitheater
Uncountable temples to just a fraction of their 30,000+ gods (they had gods for everything you can think of!)
Apartments
Parks (does that qualify for a building?)
Guest quarters
Servants quarters
And many more! Quite a few of them were inaccessible due to danger of collapsing.

Throughout the maze of ruined buildings, there were patches of tile patterns of many bright colors. As we walked through we were listening to Rick Steves' audio guide. Some of the paths were full of water/mud and so we had to find our way around. When we finished the audio guide, we walked back to the car and by that time the rain had subsided.

Pictures of the day below.

This villa was one of Mom’s favorite places that we visited near Rome.

Back on the home front, our host, who was in Poland at the time, kept telling us that internet access would come tomorrow. But again it never came while we were away at Hadrian’s Villa. The housekeeper lady (the curator’s mom?) also kept telling us that internet availability was coming tomorrow. Dad was getting behind on his work and so he started looking for a different house to rent.