ROME, ITALY

Greetings from Rome!!! Roma Victor!!!!

Rome is an incredible city, it's like walking through time. The Greco-Roman culture defines western civilization so much!  Everything from the roots of our mindset and worldview, the positive attributes of democracy, inclusive citizenship to the written law. So cool. Unfortunately, also our negative attributes of materialism, selfishness, indulgence and world conquest.

Here are the highlights:

The Vatican: The entire building is covered in art. And WOW is the Sistine Chapel inspiring!  Michael Angelo is the bomb. When you see all the pictures in the books and the paintings, he is clearly a wonderful artist. 

Michelle "singing" in Italian in line to enter Vatican!

 But the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is a powerful witness to the story of our Lord. Truly incredible when you think about the fact that it is painted completely three dimensional and 60 feet high!  Every picture is a detailed event from the bible.  (sorry we can't post any because you are not allowed to take pictures of it. But here are some others from the rest of the Vatican):

Picture of ceiling in the hall of the Vatican

Closer look of ceilling

St Peters’ Cathedral was beautiful, but to us, very decadent. When I see all the things that were taken from other cultures during Rome’s conquest in "the name of God", it’s grieving. 

There is enough gold in the Vatican and Cathedral to feed the world for a year! When I think about the words of Christ and the mandate of the gospel towards the poor, this saddens me!

Outside of Cathedral

St. Peter's Cathedral

Yet I know the Catholics do have strong ministries to the poor, I just ask the Lord to forgive us ALL for our greed and to help us hold things loosely. And Him and people tightly.

Don't get too close, they bite!

 

Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!

The Coliseum: Being a gladiator fan, this was like a dream come true. I couldn’t help quoting the movie, I am sure I drove Michelle nuts  with “for those who are about to die, we salute you”! We found out that place held seventy thousand people. And that there were numerous games and shows not just the violent ones.  What a monument to entertainment.

 

The view from inside. That is the stage where the "elite" used to sit

 

View from the inside, and where the "entertainment" use to enter

View of Forum from garden

Entrance into Forum

 The Forum: The next day, we walked across from the Coliseum to where the Caesars lived. The houses and palaces and gardens were so grand back in the day!  Walking through the grounds overlooking the Forum and the Coliseum, I could feel the self-indulgence! They all had statues of themselves decorating the grounds. Some had statues of Greek Gods but with their faces instead! Crazy!

















No wonder they started thinking they were gods.

The Catacombs: Wow!!!! It’s a whole city underground made of graves. Early Christians use to go there to worship when Christianity was illegal.  We got a really cool priest for our tour guide. He was so cool and really funny. We found out that Christians did not live in the catacombs. That is a myth that I have believed since I was a kid. Not true, they would gather to worship there and sometimes hide there but they could never live there because of the toxins from the humidity of the volcanic mud that is used to cement the graves. The sad part we learned was the catacombs are made up of many child graves. The reason why is because the Christians could not take their children to the doctor under the persecution of certain emperors. I am so grateful that we can worship God publicly in our country and have religious freedom. 

Underground picture taken by our cool Priest!

All in all, Italy is an amazing country. We would love to visit again. I could actually live here for a year. The natural beauty mixed with the historical value is incredible. Good food, good wine, and cool cities. Who wouldn’t? Roma Victor!!!!

Caio,

Seer

Travel Tip: #9 - There is no need to pay to go into the grounds of the Forum if you are pressed for cash. You can see it and get some GREAT pictures from the street.

 GREECE POST COMING SOON!