Okay Vatican City. Cool cool stuff. We spent the morning in the Vatican Museum. Saw lots of Rapheal and ancient Roman sculpture. We got to see the Papal Apartments, with his frescoes. The library was really cool--it had a fresco titled the School of Athens. There was another neat fresco of an angel leading St. Peter out of prison. Then we got to see the Sistine Chapel. Just the night before when we were going out to dinner, one of the guys in our group, Brett, said the Sistine Chapel was overrated. He said it was popular because everyone knew Michangelo. . . he couldn't be more wrong.

Okay getting kicked out of the internet place. More tomorrow I guess.

 
There just aren't enough words. My vocabularly is going to embarass me.
Rome
Day One: We spent most of the day on the bus. Most everyone slept, but I watched the countryside. It's so beautiful, with rolling hills and dormant vineyards. Cows and trees and little villages. Great ride. When we got to into the city, our first stop was at the Galleria Borghese. This was a art collection started by Cardinal Scipio Borghese, who was the nephew of the reigning pope. He amassed an amazing collection of young and upcoming artists. Caravaggio's paintings were amazing. The most memorable were this boy with a bowl of fruit--it looked more real than a photograph. He did a beautiful piece on St. Jerome, just working on his translation of the bible. And the last one I remeber was of the Virgin, St. Anne and baby Jesus. Mary is barefoot, stepping on the head of a snake, and Jesus' foot is on top of hers. Powerful and unnerving at the same time.
Cardinal Borghese discovered the sculptor Bernini, who did a lot of work in St. Peter's, most noticably the canopy over the altar. His work was phenomenal. The piece I remember most vividly was out of mythology--Apollo and Daphene. Cupid shot Apollo with the arrow of love and Daphene with the arrow of repulsion. So Daphene is running, trying to escape Apollo. Her father is a river god, and she asks him to save her, but her father can do little against Apollo. But he can turn her into a tree, and does. The sculpture is of Apollo, reaching, with his cloak still flowing, just grabbing Daphene, and roots begin to come out of her toes, and her hair turns to leaves. Bark comes up and begins to swallow her. You can see the transition as you walk from behind Apollo and watch him grab her, and slowly she's becoming a tree. Amazing.
After the Galleria Borghese, we checked into the hotel and went to look for dinner. As I keep company with the two vegitarians in the group, we went looking for a recommended restaurant. When we found it, it was more expensive than we wanted, so we found a little place in a historic food district. It was plesant and cheap. We had a music group come in off the street-- a bass guitar, a double bass and a violin with an amp. No one spoke English, but they were very nice to us. Life in Italy is centered around food; I kid you not. So I apologize in advance for spending so much time talking about it. It's quite an ordeal.
After dinner, I came home and went to bed. I wanted to be well rested for the Vatican.
Woah I need a break. I promise I will talk about the Vatican soon. It will be worth the wait. I'll just say this--you should all go.