Heart Warming in the Heat Wave

It is officially summer, and her in New York City boy don't we know it.  It's been high nineties the past few days and it apparently feels like it's in the hundreds (thank you weather channel for rubbing it in/ validating my feelings).  Meanwhile, in the heat of the city in the summer, my heart was warmed by something other than the sun.  You read about things like these (I suppose like you are right now), you hear about them, but rarely ever do you get to see them.

I was chillaxing in line at the local Rite Aid pharmacy watching this little girl run around and fall and be a major nuisance to her mother/cute as a button.  The mother, a young girl about my age plus/minus 3 years, got called up to pick up her prescription a little before I did.  But, there was a hiccup at the checkout stand.  The pills cost 3 dollars but the woman couldn't pay for them.  As she was trying to ask if she could pay with a credit card, I realized that something was off with this interaction.  She was deaf.  Some other woman who was picking up her prescriptions leaned over and told the checkout clerk to put the deaf mom's pills on her  bill.  It was great to just see such genuine kindness.  The mom thanked the woman in sign language, took the medication and her daughter and headed out. 

It was inspiring.  It makes you want to do something for other people.  I really wanted to thank that woman for being so kind, but I think instead it is kind of just contagious.  Maybe I'll spread it.  Maybe random acts of kindness like that will just spread naturally, kind of like Pay it Forward, but more natural.  Anyways, thought I'd share the story.

Cheers to the daily adventure.

Quickey

Thought you all might enjoy this story. You know how you can get water from soda fountains?  I did that this morning.  I was so proud. I had a new water bottls, I was being so healthy. Turns out, the water was carbonated!  What is that?  So now my air tight water bottle keeps burping since the gas pressure building inside is too much for the little membrane thing on top to handle.  Cheers to the daily adventure.  Here are some pics of central park and NYC streets.

Coney island, baby

Ok, I'm trying posting from my phone since it served as my camera for today's adventures so bare  with me.  So today started with a trip to a pop-up store (what Is that) for suits themed after the amazing show suits.  Free coffee and chips. Awesome tables with tablets in them that recognized cards. And, oh yeah, 1500 dollar suits. It was amazing. Such a great atmosphere. 
Later, we headed to coney island.  I grabbed a hot dog and bacon cheese fries from the famous Nathan's hot dog place that will be hosting the eating contest in about 16 days.
Then we rode some awesome rides.  The girl I went with is a bit of an adrenaline junky so the three rides we went on were the most intense.  See, I used to hope for a life threatening situation so I could prove myself. I wanted my work to get robbed. I wanted to have to fight for my life. I settled for just riding roller coasters.  Today, on the other hand, I have a healthy attachment to my life, so these intense rides were a bit much. Dangling 100 feet in the air, all I could think about was how much it would suck if the machine broke and we plummeted to the ground below.  It was a really beautiful site though.  The second ride was one of those lay down super man  style.  But, the security thing did not click in very well. I could lean back and it would lean with me for about another five inches. Im sure it was safe but at the time I was sure I was gonna die. The 10 year old kid who was riding alone with us was laughing at me.  add injury to insult, since I wear my ID badge from the hospital every where, and it clips in, it unclipped on the ride and fell fifty feet never to be seen again. Oops.  The last intense ride, was the big ball that gets slingshot into the air, about 140 feet. The thirty minutes spent in line were agony. as we watched couple after couple get hurled into the air, all I could think about were the wires snapping.  I was convinced I was going to die.  I met a man in the line behind us, named Alex, who was pissed to go on this ride. His two fears are heights and falling. But he was more concerned about his friend, who looked like Donny Osmond, making out with his girlfriend, who looked like slightly less trashy version of Ke$ha.  Apparently Donny was going to go with Kesha but promised to make out with her afterwards, causing Alex to over come his fears and go on the ride.  Anyways, at the top, when you're in free fall, you can see for miles. its beautiful.  The city, the sun, the ocean, just beautiful.  We were higher than a kite. Literally, there was a kite flying below us. and a seagull was flying  mere foot or so above us. It was an amazing 90 seconds.  Alex and Kesha went after us.  He looked like he was about to cry but as soon as it took off you could tell he was having fun.  But, when it ended, he went back to being pissed at Donny and Kesha.  We ended our coney island trip on the Ferris wheel so I could get pictures for the blog.  So here they are.

We ended our day with the best chicken salad sandwiches ever...from Dunkin donuts. Seriously.  We ate them on the beach at sunset.  Yeah, that's my life in new York 
Cheers to the daily adventure.  And happy fathers day to all you dads out there.

NYC and Me

Sorry to those of you who were hoping for more frequent updates, but new York is turning out to be pretty relaxing.  I made it down to central park which was amazing and felt the subway pass below me as the ground shook.  Ive  continued hunting for a second job.  Ive gotten caught in New York traffic so an hour trip to Newark airport turned into two and a half hours (my friends made their flight with 10 minutes to spare.)
Nothing, this weekend was really blog worthy.  But the last 12 hours have proven a bit more thrilling.  One of my friends who's from Miami and is spending the summer in the upper west side of New York came by to check out my apartment and to pick up a bag of his shoes I brought up for him.  As he gets off the subway he shoots me a text "I'm never coming back here.  Im surprised they did not check my passport ay the border."  The guy who helped me hang out on rooftop poolside was now experiencing how the other half lived and it was culture shock.  I offered to drive him to the train station when he was leaving so he would not have to brave the streets of the Bronx at night.
Back at home, I could not find a place to park on the right side of the street (the left side gets ticketed on Tuesdays and Fridays because it gets street cleaned.)  I resigned myself to driving to work.  I swear, overnight the number of cars in the Bronx doubled.  There was not a parking place the whole way to work.  At some point, I got caught between a set of double parked cars and a diagonally parked garbage truck.  AND, the guy behind me kept honking AT ME!  Are you serious?  There is maybe 3 feet between the truck and the double parked car, I cant fit through that and neither can you, minivan driver.  Whatever, I'm over it. 
Anyways, I finally found a parking spot near a fire hydrant (but not too near this time).  But, I didn't quite know how to get from where I parked to where I worked.  I knew the general direction, but not the specific route.  I cut through this side ally next to a police station, but ended up in a fenced-in parking lot.  As I meaner around, out the other exit, I realize that I am in the parking lot for the police station.  One of the gars flips on the sirens to let me know I'm her way so I move over to let her pass and keep walking out.  She flips on her siren again when I'm out, and I think, Jeeze lady I'm already out of your way leave me alone.  I keep walking and she shouts out her window "Yo, are you lost."  Thank God!  Someone helpful!  "Yes, I am.  I'm trying to get to the Kennedy Center from here."  "Oh I just had to make sure since you were technically trespassing."  At this point, we are joined by a man cop who responds to my "I'm sorry I didn't realize"  with "the signs didn't throw you off?"  No, buddy, they didn't because, upon further inspection when I was walking back to my car, they don't say no trespassing merely "police station, beware of cars."  "No sorry, I came in on the other side"  "They're there too."  "Oh, sorry.  Well, how do I get where I'm going?"  "Take your next right"

The next right turned out to be the fire department.  Seriously?  Out of the frying pan into the fire...department.  But, they were much cooler (no pun intended) and let me through without issue.  Moreover, after all this, I come home to an email from the New York Department of Finance about that first parking ticket I got that read "The respondent has been charged with violating Traffic Rule 4-08(e)(2) prohibiting stopping, standing or parking a vehicle within fifteen feet of a fire hydrant.  Respondent's claim that he is from out of state and was unfamiliar with the parking regulations in New York City is not a meritorious defense to the violation.  Area within fifteen feet of a hydrant is a general no stopping zone.  Signs or markigns are not required.  Claim that the vehicle was parked temporarily as he was moving items into his new apartment fails to provide a meritorious defense to the cited regulation.  Summons upheld.  No reduction."  So, apparently, they can have laws specific to their state, don't have to let you know about them in any way, and can still hold you accountable.

But, it's okay.  I'm in NYC, center of the Universe, heart of culture, and thought, and finance, and loads of other things and I'm having the time of my life.  Cheers to the daily adventure.  Pics to come, I swear!

The Great New York Adventure

I made it.  I am finally in the Big City!  Well, actually I'm in the Bronx, but close enough right?  I'm sitting in my living room on a couch that came with the apartment I'm renting.  I live in a cozy two bedroom apartment, and cozy in the good way not the New-York-I-don't-have-enough-room-way.  Granted, my view from my windows is of our trash filled back yard but hey you win some you lose some.  Anyways, even though I've only been in NYC for a week now, I have already learned a bunch of little lessons and one overarching theme.

First:  driving in New York is miserable.  Now, Men's Health Magazine may rate New York drivers as the safest, but coming into the city, I was much more fearful for my life than in Italy with the magic cars.  But, driving into the city, crossing the George Washington Bridge (possibly on the wrong level) I could see the New York skyline, the classic image of man and nature standing and swirling together in beautiful harmony contrasted against the chaos of the road and I was in love.  See, I've had a poster of the NYC skyline hanging on my wall the past 2 years and I've wanted to end up here for quite some time and, though the skyline looks a bit different (the poster was pre-2001) it still did the trick. 

But beauty of it aside, here in the Bronx, the majesty of the city gives way to tired buildings and dangerous streets in more than one way.  Here in the Bronx, the streets aren't painted!  Seriously.  The lanes are up for you to decide.  It's like the Seinfeld episode when one of the lead guys sponsors a piece of highway and paints over over the lines to make it more luxurious.  Here, though, there is no luxury just confusion and chaos, but hey life is an adventure, why shouldn't driving be?  I've never been one for road rage, but the traffic here has caused me to shout some phrases that would make Steve Stiffler blush.

Second:  moving in sucks

Somehow, we survive the drive through Manhattan (I was blessed enough to have my father riding with me).  After we finish getting all of my stuff into the apartment, sweating, we bumbled down to my car to go get food to find a nice surprise on my windshield.  My first New York parking ticket!  I was too close to a fire hydrant (they don't clearly mark them here).  The fine assessed by the state of New York?  One-hundred-fifteen dollars.  Whether I'll have to pay all of it is still up in the air.

Overarching theme (since I'm kind of sick of writing this):  Life is full of unexpectedness.  You have to just roll with the punches.  For example, on Saturday, I was planning on going to visit Strands (a used book store with over 8 miles of books) and Central Park.  What ended up happening?  I met a friend and his friend in an exclusive club called the SoHo House and ended up relaxing next to a roof-top pool (one of only 3 in NYC) with some 30-year old Australian women and Argentinian models.    Another example of unexpectedness?  I came home from work today and was followed by a man from a different apartment into mine.  He asked if he could come in then sort of just came in without waiting for a response.  He comes in and starts moving things out of my sink and turns it on, leaves it running, and leaves with a promise to come back.  Kay?  He comes back with another guy and a tool.  They duck under my sink and start unscrewing pipes and then jamming the tool into the pipes and snaking the drains.  But after about 30 or so minutes of this, it wasn't enough so they both leave with a promise of coming back and come back with a bigger machine and another guy.  They snake the pipes again with the bigger machine and stand around talking and eating for the next two hours.  They leave, tell me to not use my sink, and tell me they'll come back the next morning.

Cheers to the daily adventure (pics to come, I haven't forgotten about the tower of Pisa).

An end and a beginning

The Pantheon

The Trevi Fountain at night.

Sorry for the delay in posting about the end of Rome but life got in the way, per usual.  Essentially, Rome had a lot of walking involved.  That first walking tour, according to the plan, took us through the streets of Rome to see different Piazzas and monuments and ruins in the evening.  The highlight?  The Trevi Fountain.  Here, we met some other Americans from Nebraska and just hung out for about an hour outside one of the most beautiful pieces of art.  Obviously, I tossed a coin into the fountain to ensure my return to Rome.  We finished the night in the Piazza Republica, the home of a massive fountain at the center of a round-about.  It was beautiful.  We eventually made it back to our hotel, exhausted, and with not much of a plan for the next day.  But, regardless, we dutifully woke up early checked out of the hotel and headed back into the city.  We wanted to see the Roman Baths, but couldn't find them.  Instead, we found ourselves inside a church in the Piazza Republica that housed a Newtonian exhibit.  It was really interesting how Rome, what one could argue is the heart of Western Civilization, has such a strong mixture of art, religion, politics, science, and history.  Everything that we deem important as a civilization is woven together into a tight fabric in a living museum.  Rome is essentially a chronicle of man's greatest achievements, and it's in places like that church where religion and science meet and are bound together by art and history that everything we've been taught in school, everything we've been told is important comes together in a tangible sense.

Meanwhile, we peaced out of the church and headed to a crypt that was decorated with the bones of 4000 monks, some of which still had tissue attached...it was uncomfortable to say the least.  Once we escaped the creepy pit, we essentially did the walking tour from the night before again, but backwards.  It was an awesome opportunity to see the sights both at night and in the day, but my feet hated it.  We made it to a market in the Campo di Fiori, where I mastered my haggling skills.  I bought 20 key chains for my friends back at home.  The set price? 2 euro each.  The final price?  1.50.  Not much, but whatever, I was proud.  We later found ourselves in a war memorial museum thing.  Interesting, but seemingly out of place.  It's easy to forget that Rome has modern history as well.

We had some final time to kill and decided to check out the island in the middle of the tiber that runs through Rome.  In the past, walls were built around the island and decorated to make it look like a giant boat.  It has served as some form of a hospital for over 1000 years.  And that about wraps up Rome.

The Tiber River.

In the week following, I made bread and strawberry/pineapple jam as my final project for my class.  On our final full day in Italy, a group of us headed out to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Mediterranean.  Again, there was a solid plan with some wiggle room but very specific directions of how to get from place to place.  Did that stop us from getting lost?  Nope.  But, our being lost did lead to my ego being inflated even more.  I went to ask a police officer directions in Italian and, instead of responding in English as had happened many times at the beginning of the trip, this guy responds in rapid Italian.  Unfortunately, that was completely unhelpful and my look of bewilderment gave me away and he said "Oh?  You speak English?" and then proceeded to give me the directions in English. The tower was amazing.  It turns out that it isn't the only thing in Pisa or even the only thing on the grounds.  It was built as a clocktower for the church right next to it.  It started leaning by the time the second story was completed, so the architects simply made the leaning side taller to compensate.  The added weight only accelerated the leaning.  In 2002 an effort was made to restore the tower to its original leaning angle and to anchor it there.  So, no worries about it falling in the future.  A hilarious part of this experience, though, is after having taken your own cheesy picture holding up the tower, you look around and see another 50 people doing similar poses, and just looking completely idiotic.  It's great, big fun.

By the time we made it to the Mediterranean, the weather had taken a turn for the worse.  Which, was fine, since the beach was actually more just a network of giant rock and a small patch of sand.  It was beautiful, though, with the rain clouds coming in and the island visible off in the distance.  I dutifully touched the water and we headed home.

The remnants of the wall used to make the island look like a boat.

The following day, we show up in the Rome airport to discover our flight has been delayed 6 hours and that we would be forced to stay overnight in Chicago.  So we spent the next 4 hours drinking wine, playing cards, and eating.  There was also some window shopping since the Rome airport is actually a giant mall of high end stores.  Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc. all had stores there.  We finally made it to Chicago and were put up in amazing hotel rooms.  It felt great to be back in the states.  Needless to say, I passed out immediately.

A bridge to the island.

Somehow, after all of these adventures, I made it home safely, in one piece.  I have a new found appreciation for the beauty of Little Lexington, VA and the United States in general.  I love this country and I am looking forward to my newest adventures in NYC starting next week.  So stay tuned, and cheers to the daily adventure (and the leaning tower of Pisa pics).



PS  I actually just moved in to NYC and there's a bunch to talk about...I've been intending to post this for about a week and I just got the time/internet connection.

Inspired

It is 2 minutes after midnight on the last full day I will spend in Siena, Italy for a long time, potentially forever.  What a thought.  I have mixed feelings.  While Italy has been everything I had dreamed of and more, including, but not limited to: pizza, pasta, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Christmas lights strung outside, vineyards, rolling Tuscan hills, markets; I still miss home, though I'm not entirely sure where my home is (Lexington, VA?  Littleton, CO? Rio Rancho, NM?).  I miss being able to complete simple tasks such as grocery shopping without feeling like a bumbling idiot.  I also miss a dollar being worth a dollar instead of 67% of a euro.  So, with that in mind, and with a little inspiration from a blog written by a talented friend of mine that holds similar values, I decided to push through, speak a little bit more about Rome (THERE'S JUST SO MUCH!) and hopefully catch you up to my current adventures, after all, in just over 48 hours, I will be leaving this country for about a year.

OK, so THE Vatican City!  The smallest country in the world, with a population around 1000 people.  Did you know, you can only live in The Vatican City if you work for the Church?  Also, inside the walls of the Vatican, there are no taxes, but there are (oddly enough) bars.  The Vatican City has the greatest fortune of any country (or so our tour guide said, I think).  So I guess we should start with meeting our lovely tour guide outside the foot locker on a corner near the Vatican, just moments after an attempted (and failed) pickpocketing experience.  See, our group had to pay the fee for the tour in cash, which we were all short on.  So naturally, we meander on over to potentially the sketchiest pair of ATMs in Rome to withdraw large amounts of cash.  But, this bold young group of Americans did have the foresight to create a wall of bodies around the person withdrawing money so no one could rob, mug, or take them.  However, that didn't really stop this one pair of people (a co-ed team) from trying.  They sketchily stood next to us for a few minutes, and then when we said that there was a nearby ATM open, they meandered on over there, to be followed, seconds later, by complaints from a person about being pick pocketed.

So, in one of our less thought out moves, we offered to pay our tour guide up front.  She seemed friendly enough.  But, she was too smart for that, as her mother told her "never take cash on a street corner."  Granted, her motherly was likely warning against other behaviour, but it served us well just the same.  We were shortly joined by about 20 other people, a few were buddy groups from different countries out to experience Rome, a few were couples on Romantic get-aways, but none were going to stop me from being right next to our tour-guide who we will call Maggie, since we never did get her real name.  (Also, just know that as I type this, I am thinking it with a British accent since Maggie's was so thick, that it was contagious.  Seriously, this whole paragraph, British.  Colour!  See, it's even spreading to my spelling). 

This is the piece, Mikey signed.

Flash-forward to inside the Vatican walls.  We first visited the art gallery.  Built by Pope something in 1937, it houses some of the greatest works of art.  We got to walk through the halls, in chronological order (the only thing on the tour that actually went in order).  First, we saw a statue that Michael Angelo carved when he was 19.  It is the only piece of art he signed.   Why did he sign this one?  Because when it was debuted, noone believed he did it.  It was attributed to some other guy from Niece.  So Mikey snuck in to the Vatican and carved his name into the statue so people would know it was his.  He was in such a hurry, he misspelled his own name!  He had to go back and carve a tiny N inside the G (granted that doesn't exactly spell it right, but hey points for trying).  We saw some Medieval art (it's terrible, even Maggie thinks so).  We saw how art evolved, slowly people brought back techniques from Ancient Rome, drawing stairs in 3D, drawing people in 3D.  Drawing people dynamically.  Using fresco!  Now let me tell you, Fresco sounds miserable!  You have to layer on some plaster, then really quickly paint it before it dries (which in the summer could be a mere 20 minutes or so).  But, if it didn't dry for a long time, as was the case the first time Mikey attempted the Sistene Chapel, it can grow moldy and you have to start all over again.  Tradeoff is, though, that it's much more permanent and looks really good for much longer, except when people try and remove the fresco from the building to put it in a museum, then it cracks.

Forgive the poor quality, I was still figuring out how to work the camera.

  This is the wrong arm.

Moving from the hall of art, we moved to a statue garden.  Some of the greatest statues of history are kept here (they, along with many other great pieces of art, were typically rescued from stupid places like from being a work bench, or the bottom of a stool, etc).  One statue was rescued, but the right arm was never found, so some Pope said hey you two (Mikey and some other guy) build me another arm for this statue, I want it whole.  So the other guy sculpts the arm stretched out, but Mikey sculpts it in this rather odd position, angled back to the head.  And, surprise!  A few hundred years later when the real arm is recovered, guess who was right?!  Our boy Mikey!  Fortunately he was dead when this was discovered because otherwise his ego would grow so large he'd be stuck in the Sistene Chapel, which, by the way, is named after Pope Sixus. 

This is the original arm.

Poor quality pic of Raphael's awesome piece.  But notice the light and dark.

And as much as everyone loves Mikey, I must say, I'm partial to Raphael (and no, I'm not just naming of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).  Raphael was a contemporary of Mikeys, but was a few decades younger.  They met, at one point, when the Pope called them both to the Vatican to compete for title of best artist in the history of the universe (OK, not the actual name of the competition, but it was a competition).  So Mikey goes off and does the Sistene chapel, reluctantly, and Raphy goes and does the beautiful piece of art.
He dies, shortly thereafter due to syphilis and poor medicine (he came home one night after "partying" too much and after he didn't wake for a day or so, his buddies called the doctor, who decided to cure his exhaustion by blood letting, which only fatigued him more, i.e. killed him).  The general consensus it that the Sistene chapel is way cooler than this painting, but I'm not so sure.  If Raphael hadn't been such a playboy, I think he would have out done Mikey.

We saw a bunch of other stuff that was wroth insane amounts of money, some type of red marble that is, pound for pound, worth more than gold, 80% of which is owned by The Vatican.  Nero's tub which is stupidly large.  And then, we nervously entered the Sistene Chapel.  We were instructed to not take pictures because: "The Sistene Chapel was a functioning church for hundreds of years.  After centuries of burning candles, the ceiling and walls were covered in wax and soot.  Restorations needed to be made, and in order to finance these, the Catholic Church sold the copyrights to the Sistene Chapel, and all the images therein, to NBC.  Yes, that's right, you get yelled at by the Vatican camera nazis if you're taking pictures, not because it's bad for the art, but because the National Broadcasting Company has the rights.  Granted, that didn't stop people.  I wanted to punch those people, but whatever.  You're also not supposed to talk inside the Sistene chapel but that also didn't stop people.  I swear, people suck.  I'm sorry were the 20 signs in like 5 different languages and very clear pictures not enough for you? Or, do you think you're above rules?  Whatever.  It was gorgeous.  My neck still kind of hurts from looking at it.  It's actually a pretty interesting story.  So a few centuries ago, before the pilgrims had hunkered down with the Indians over popcorn and poultry, Pope Sixtus ordered the Sistene chapel built.  So it's built.  Later, some other Pope held another competition (it's a Pope thing) open to 16 different artists.  They were all invited to come and paint the walls of the Sistene chapel, half with stories about Jesus and half with stories about Moses.  Mikey wasn't one of them, he was only two at the time.  30 or so years later, another pope calls on Mikey to fresco the rather boring ceiling of the chapel.  Mikey says no.  "I'm a sculptor, not a painter, I can't and won't fresco the Sistene Chapel."  So the Pope pulls, the "umm, but I'm the Pope" card and Mikey has to do it.  So as we've discussed, fresco is hard.  Mikey has NEVER done fresco before.  So he argues with the Pope (who is this guy) about which stories will be on the ceiling that will "inspire people to believe in God again" but also offer a story about how it's ok if Mikey is bad at frescoes (which he's not).  He gets "The Drunkenness of Noah" in there, to mention how even the best people mess up sometimes.  It takes him four years, but he does it.  He works his way from the back of the Chapel to the front, getting better with time, learning more about fresco.  He walks away satisfied at a job well done, and goes back to sculpting.  Another 30 or so years later, another Pope calls on Mikey to paint the back? wall.  "Mikey, my man, people are pretty terrible.  No one is living a Christian lifestyle, I need you to paint something that will strike the fear of God into people's hearts."  So, in what Mikey thought was going to be his last great piece of art (he wasn't expecting to live to 89) he paints the back wall of the Sistene Chapel.  By this time he's very accomplished at fresco.  He has mastered drawing/sculpting/painting the male form (he didn't use female models (Raphy used female prostitutes, he wasn't very popular with the Vatican)).  There are over 300 individual forms in this painting, in which angels are reading from two books: a small one, of names of people who are going to Heaven (some with the help of their rosaries), and a large one, of names of people going to Hell.  Mikey didn't have a lot of faith in people.  There are some saints in there, like the one who was grilled alive, skinned alive, tortured on a wheel, etc.  So he finishes, and some bishop has the audacity to say "I don't like it.  Too many naked people."  So Mikey gets pissed (as he's apt to do) breaks in to the Vatican one night (as he's also apt to do) and paints this bishop in Hell, naked, with donkey ears and snake wrapped around him biting his man-junk.  The next morning the Bishop sees the picture, runs to the Pope (who was a fan of Mikey's work) and says "Look!  Father, Look!  Look what Michael did" and the Pope says "Nothing I can do.  Had he painted you in Heaven, then maybe I could have done something, but the Pope has no say in Hell." 

Moving out of the Sistene chapel, we entered St. Peters Basilica.  The largest church in the world.  It was amazing.  I've never felt closer to God, and I'm not even Catholic.  I'm excited to return next year to sing mass with the WnL Choir.  Instead of describing this place, let me just post a video of, what I hope, is a great approximation of my best experience in the church.

OK, so it's on the wrong side for now,  It's a little after one, so I'll fix it as soon as I can.  Also, in case you didn't get it, there were these two very distinct and clear beams of light coming in through the dome in the Basilica down to the ground in the middle of the Isle.  Naturally, I walked into one, looked into the light, was blinded by said light, took a few steps forward to see the glory of the Alter and the church appear around me out of nowhere.  And naturally,  I took a few steps back, pulled out my camera and did it again (I'm always thinking of my readers).   Meanwhile, here is a picture of the gang and Aunt Maggie.  And a panorama of St. Peter's Basilica.

Us, and the ex-chem teacher, tour-guide by day, Irish Pub bartender by night.

Bonus artsy pic for making it this far.  THE CROSS IS IN THE SUN!  I'M AWESOME!

 Cheers to the daily adventure!  (Tomorrow, 2 walking tours through Rome.  And an Island!)