Life Goes On

I've been back two months. Wow. How did that even happen? A tapas place opened up in Auburn today and it made me miss Spain! I am so thankful for all three stops of my incredible summer. The Lord taught me so much about himself, and I feel like I am still processing and learning those things. During my 24 hours at home between Europe and rush, Mom set the table like this. 

How cute! God bless America. For anyone who's interested, I have a real life blog called The Word on the Street that (when it's updated) follows what the Lord is teaching me in the ordinary days. Thanks for reading!

Last Day in Europe

I literally cannot believe that my fairy tail summer is coming to a close. Where did it go? Once again, we made great use of our time! I feel like I can say that I've conquered Rome.

The church of St. Ignatious of Loyolla

 Last view of the Trevi fountain

 Pizza!! Can't leave Italy without eating it!

 And more cannoli's from our favorite place! (In case you haven't guessed, the best part of our Rome trip has been the food.)

About to go to the Vatican

 Apparently Michelangelo loved this statue so much he called it his master.

 Rafael School of Athens. Can't believe I saw all these things with my own eyes!

 Sistine Chapel

 The Pieta - possibly one of my favorite works of art

 They were having mass in St. Peter's

 We climbed the basilica dome! Gorgeous view!

 Of course we finished off the day with some incredible Italian food and gelato. Yum!

Lot's More Sights in Roma

It's been another scorching, many mile walking, delicious food eating, day in Rome! We started off the day with a trip to the Catacombs. We couldn't take pictures, but these two from Google give a pretty good idea. This is where Christians were buried outside of Rome. St. Sebastian Catacombs is the one we visited. Overall there are 7 miles of graves and over 100,00 people buried. Wow!

This stone was one of my favorite things to see. It is a cross with an anchor, an icthus, and chi ro, all early Christian symbols. I loved imagining what it was like for the early church at this time! 

 Apparently St. Sebastian's remains are in the church above it. 

 Next we headed to the Capuchin crypt. We weren't really supposed to take pictures here either, but the guy let me have a couple. Google it if you want! This was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Basically in the 1700's a monk decided to decorate 5 or so rooms with the bones of almost 3,000 monks. I have never seen more intricate art made with such a unique medium. It was sobering. The white plaque above reads in 5 languages "What you are now we once were and what we are now you will be."

 The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, by Bernini, in Santa Maria della Vittoria. I just realized that this is the same Saint Teresa who is a Spanish mystic that I read in my lit class last Spring! I also saw her confessional in Salamanca, because she was from very close by. 

 At the top of the Spanish steps

 Incredible view

 On the Spanish Steps

 Piazza Popolo. There are these obelisks everywhere that are stolen from Egypt.

I couldn't finish a day in Rome blog post with anything other than food. Here is my delicious  Gnocchi with Spinach and Gargonzola. Yum!

Second Full Day in Rome

Once again, we had a long full day and saw so much! It was great.

 Campo del Fiori market

 San Luigi dei Francesi church where we saw 3 Caravaggio works

 Old part of the Jewish ghetto

 Not the best picture ever, but we had traditional fried fish and artichoke in the Jewish quarter. Yum!

This is the Basilica di Santa Maria en Trastevere. I loved this church! Worked on as old as 221.

 Basilica of Saint Cecilia 

 Sam's dream life - bumming through Europe making money off music.

Incredible pasta from a place where they make their own!

And of course, what day could end without Gelato? This is from a famous place. I got White Peach and Blackberry. MMMMM

A VERY Full Day

We definitely took advantage of our first full day in Rome and saw soooo many incredible things! I loved all of it. It is so mind boggling to think about how old all this is.

 Coliseum 

Paletine Hill, Roman Forum, and all the ruins.

 St. Clemente church. I couldn't take pictures inside the really cool part, which is excavated churches beneath it. You basically walk down through history all the way to a pagan temple.

 Michelangelo's Moses at the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains

 Circus Maximus- This is where thousands of Christians died during the persecution of the early church. 

 Bronze she-wolf nursing Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. This image is ALL over the city.

 Capitol building.

 Lasagna that was out of this world! 

We finished off the day with gelato in the Piazza Navona. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!