Cathedral – Page 2 – David and Yanmei

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015

Vatican

The next day I wanted to visit the Vatican. Yanmei was still exhausted from the visit to Rome so she decided not to come, after all it is just a museum and church. I booked a tour at 8:45am so I left early. Unfortunately without Yanmei to navigate I made a mistake at the confusing part and got on the highway, which took me way off course. I pulled over and started to use my phone as a GPS. I thought it took me to the parking garage, but it turned out to be the wrong garage for some shopping center. I left there and eventually found the outdoor parking area we used the previous day, but it was completely full.

By then I knew I'd missed the tour and I was super frustrated. I was going to give up and go back to the hotel when the tour company called to ask where I was. When I explained, they said there was another tour at 10:15am I could join. So I circled around again to try to find the parking garage and ended up in a garage for IKEA. Then I switched to the backup plan which was to drive closer to Rome and park in the lot for a large mall near a metro station. I finally made it to the tour office outside the Vatican just in time for the 10:15am tour, over 1.5 hours late from what I'd planned. Thankfully the rest of the day would be a major improvement on the morning.

Courtyard of the museum with St. Peter's in the background

It was another skip-the-line tour, and it was worth it because the line was huge. Also our guide was very good and I think that is really helpful in a place like the Vatican museums. First of all he was American, which helps. One of Yanmei's complaints about guides we've had from Cairo to Barcelona is they usually have strong accents and she can't understand them, so she feels like she doesn't get any value out of it. I'm think she would have been able to understand the guide today, oh well. Second he had a lot of good knowledge and mixed in some humor as well. Third he skipped all the crappy modern art sections and focused on the classical and Raphael rooms.

A roman sculpture on display since 1506, said to be Michaelangelo's favorite piece. He used the hair and face from this for Christ's in The Last Judgement fresco in the Sistine Chapel

Another classical piece Michaelangelo admired. He based Christ's torso in The Last Judgement on this.

Hall of Maps. You can see how crowded it was.

No pictures were allowed in the Sistine Chapel, although I saw several people sneaking them. As I said in the post about the Louvre I don't see much point in photographing artwork. However I'm glad I took pics of the two statues above because now I can compare them after seeing The Last Judgement and see he really did use those as inspiration.

Christ from The Last Judgement. Photo from Internet.

St. Peter's square being set up for some big event

That completed the tour, then I had free time to go into St. Peter's basilica. I was tired from the stress and all the walking so I decided not to take the extra tour to the top of the dome. I did go down into the crypt though. Also saw Michaelangelo's La Pieta.

Pope John Paul II's remains on the main floor

Finally I decided to head back to the hotel, but not before one quick stop along the way.

The Spanish Steps, currently ruined by the car billboard at the summit

Now I feel like I've completed my goals for this trip. Completed the big three, Pyramids, Eiffel Tower, Sistine Chapel.

I'm kind of surprised Yanmei doesn't enjoy Rome more. Every time you go around a corner there is another monument, fountain, church or historic building. She has been here before, but she told me she was sick for several days so didn't get to see much. But when I got back to the hotel she said she had a nice time walking around exploring the small town and shopping a bit. I actually think we're both getting somewhat burnt out on traveling and sightseeing, but I couldn't pass up the Vatican today.

-David

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June 6, 2015

Paris to Barcelona

We got up early to catch the 7:15am train to Barcelona. It's a high speed train and the route is Paris to Montpellier, and then along the coast of the Mediterranean with several stops before Barcelona. It only takes a little over six hours and Yanmei and I were both able to sleep for some of it. This was the first train we've taken that ended up behind schedule, although it was only about 15 minutes late to arrive in Barcelona.

After we got settled into the apartment we are renting we headed out to see Barcelona's most famous attraction, La Sagrada Familia. This is the cathedral that Antoni Gaudi designed that they started building in 1882 and are still working on.

Even incomplete it is pretty spectacular. They are currently estimating to complete it by 2026, so I told Yanmei we should come back in 15 years or so and see it again. The final design is for 18 spires, of which currently only 8 are complete, the 4 you see above and 4 similar on the opposite side that can't be see from this steep angle. Another 4 similar are planned, and then six central taller spires representing Mary, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Jesus, with the Jesus spire being the tallest.

Inside, columns look like trees. You can see the unfinished white windows in the upper part where they are still adding stained glass

The light coming through the stained glass was spectacular

-David

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June 2, 2015

Paris

We took a train from Geneva to Paris. Unfortunately the weather was not good in Paris and it was raining when we arrived, although not very heavily. We're staying in the neighborhood Monmartre, which is on a large hill. It reminds me a San Francisco a bit. We were both tired but Yanmei wanted to go to a grocery store. I used Google maps and it found one only 650m away, 8 minute walk. It didn't account for terrain. We went out the door, turned right, “oh it's up these 60 steps”, so we climbed the steps, then there was a jog in the route followed by another flight of steps, then we went over the top and had a long steep road down the other side. The grocery was on the exact opposite side of the hill. Later I found one much closer and with a flat walk, but it wasn't on Google maps, so that is the danger of relying too much on technology.

Paris is a bit of a conflict for us. Yanmei has been here twice before and I have never been. If I had my way we'd stay here two weeks. There is so much great stuff to see and do here. Yanmei, on the other hand, wants to move on asap. I'll have to make the most of a shorter visit.

-David

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