Sistine Chapel

We are going to a private two-hour tour of the Sistine Chapel this afternoon. There are only about 50 of us going and it is closed just for our group. This morning I went to class to learn more about this work of art. A few tidbits for you:

* Michael Angelo took 4 years to create this master piece
* He only worked on the ceiling and outsourced the walls to other artists
* He didn't consider himself a painter-- he thought he was a better sculptor
* Since he didn't want to work on this and to upset a few folks he painted a few people in the ceiling with what was the equivalent back then of what we would say today is giving someone the middle finger
* Because Michael was a follower of Kabbalah he left influences of it in his interpretation of it in the ceiling... including drawing Adam and Eve with a fig tree, not an apple tree.

I'm officially 6 months today. I am starting to feel the baby more and more. I'm not sure if it's the heat or just that the nugget is growing but it is very active these days.

Tonight we are going to a hotel. YEAH!!!

Morning with the Pope

While I'm on vacation you may experience a few extra blogs daily. Hopefully this will make up for those days that I've missed in the past.

This morning we went to St. Peter's Basilica. Since the Pope was in town and we are here in Rome with Loyola University (Jesuit), we were invited to an audience with the Pope. This means that we were a few of the select thousand or so that got to sit with the Pope while we heard short prayer and blessings in multiple languages. The architecture is unbelievable.

What Do We Have In Common?

What do Snoop and I have in common? We've been sporting the same hair style for the last few days. Frankly, it looks much better on him than me which is why you won't see any photos of me in the first few days of our trip. OK-- at least none I'll share. Since our arrival in Italy my hair has not been dry. It's so thick that all I can feel is my head dripping with sweat. Even Jason's been hot. This morning he work up and asked me to feel his pillow. It was wet so I asked if that was drool and he said "if that's drool I have a problem." Today I did the unthinkable. I went to a hair salon and made the cut sign with my fingers. In case that didn't work I had a back-up piece of paper in my pocket with a translation I created with Google translator. The first salon turned me down. The little old Italian man looked at me and said "Arivaderchi" and waved good bye. He didn't want to cut my hair. He didn't even want me in his salon. I'm wondering if the translator took the phrase "my head is hot" and he thought I was hot headed (who would admit that?!). I was trying to explain I wanted my hair thinned a bit. Either way, this meant that I would have to walk a couple of miles into town and back in the 90 degree weather and find another salon. I finally found a place and they did a good job. My hair is finally dry, it feels a thousand times better and so far so good. Oh, and the shower has been fixed. We now have cold and hot water. Things get better and better each day. By tomorrow we should find a hotel.

Roman Forum Hot as Hell?!

Yesterday we spent the day at the Roman Forum. Well, actually we spent the afternoon there and although very ancient and full of amazing architecture, it was also hotter than hell. Not that I've been to hell, but I can say with certainty that I felt hotter than the day I completed a triathlon on a 100 degree day. I don't think until I got to Rome that I have ever been anywhere near that hot. There were a few little spots of shade and trust me when I tell you I found them. My afternoon became focused on finding the shade and not really seeing the sites. Luckily I was wearing a whisperer, which is a little ear piece that allows us to hear the class lecture. Today I elected not to go back and climb to the top of the Colusseum. Believe it or not I thought I'd be cooler walking 3 miles to and from the grocery story (I have a new appreciation for a car!) and staying in an non-air conditioned dorm doing laundry and entertaining myself on with my iTouch watching movies and reading books. I can say I would highly recommend not coming to Rome in the dead of summer and especially not when you are pregnant. It's hard to escape the heat and with almost passing out yesterday I didn't want to risk heat stroke today-- especially seeing that we'd be there all day-- not just the afternoon. Not to mention that that heat stroke can lead to miscarriage or harming the baby's development. I did forget to mention that there has been one cool break, although I wouldn't call it enjoyable. The dorm doesn't have hot water so we have all resorted to showering in ice cold water, which even after being as hot as I was wasn't a treat. I have learned quickly how to speak the phrase "the water in the shower is ice cold -- would you please call to have it fixed -- a million thanks!"