Entry 2:
On our last day in Rome we took a tour of the Vatican Museums and ended up in the Sistine Chapel. I still can't believe I saw it. Our tour guide was really informative. We learned that Michelangelo was practically forced to pain the Chapel and hated every minute of it. His portrayal of the Last Judgment has the only self portrait he ever did in the skin of a Saint, as well as a Cardinal he disagreed with. The cardinal told him to cover the nudity, which he was required to do, but he also made the gatekeeper of Hell in the cardinal's likeness. There's a snake wound around him, biting him in the crotch, as well. Mickey had issues. Today we took a tour of two churches. We went into the Chiesa di Maria della Gracie, and the chiesa di Santo Francisco. In the church for Mary we found that it was founded by a group of people who made sure the poor received proper burials. The entire ceiling was covered with carvings symbolizing Mary or death. The crowned skull and cross bones was everywhere to remind people that death is nothing to fear, just a part of life. My favorite thing was the carving of the sun and moon together, because it represented the saying describing Mary as "As beautiful as the moon and as splendid as the sun."  

Next we went into a church for Saint Francis but we focused on a man who the church honored. His name was Beato Ranieri. Apparently he was just a nice man in the church. People pray to him now for protection for their children. His body is preserved in the lower floor of the church and we got to see him. That is a common practice here in the churches:  preserving and displaying important leaders of the church. It's really interesting if you have a morbid fascination with death and dead guys -- which, apparently, I do. It's also neat to examine the differences in our cultures, but more importantly, the similarities.

Entry 1:
Venice was just magnificent. Absolutely beautiful, and to quote Jimmy Buffett "Salt air, it ain't thin. It'll stick right to your skin and make you feel fine." Oh it did. The whole place smelled like the beach and we rode boats everywhere. I had one great adventure on the way to Vicenza to see the Teatro Olimpico (oldest working theatre in the world,) and another on the way home from Milan. On the way to Vicenza, Erik and I missed our train because the ticket line was so long. So we ended up paying triple the amount of a regional train to take the fancy pants Eurostar, but we got there, so no worries. The three of us - Carlie, Erik, and I - woke up at 4, listen to me, 4 A. M. to catch a 5:15 train to Milan on Thursday morning. My highlight was the Teatrale alla Scalla, which is the world's most famous opera house. I went through the museum and saw original costumes from “Carmen”, “Aida”, and other famous operas. The absolute best thing that could ever happen did, and that was that I got to see the theatre itself while there was a rehearsal going on. Not just any rehearsal, but the rehearsal of “AIDA”. LOVE IT. Elton John wrote the music for the musical version, so I'm in love with that already, and I got to see these crazy famous talented opera stars rehearse the opera right there in the opera house. Incredible.

Anyway, on to the adventure. Carlie and I had a direct train from Milan to Arezzo, which would be about a 4 1/2 hour ride. About an hour into it, our train broke down. We were in the straight boondocks. Even the Italians on the train didn’t know where we were. Codogna, rhymes with Bologna, which is where our savior train (arriving to pick us up from the heat of the day an hour later) took us. We were lucky an English speaking local took pity on us, otherwise we would have ended up in Piacenza or Vicenza, again, I could never be sure. Anyway, we had to stand on the train to Bologna because it was already full, but we got there around 6:45. There was a train to Arezzo at 7:45, so we went to that platform, but it never showed up, I don't know why. We then had to RUN to another platform to catch the last train through Arezzo, but we couldn't make the reservation required to get a compartment seat. So we sat in the aisle and wrestled the snack cart. Twice. Once the train cleared out at the stop in Florence, we just took a compartment seat and dared the attendants to question us. We got to Arezzo at 10:30, but the last bus back to Sansepolcro was at 8:30. So we sold our souls for a cab. I know, Taken. Don’t take a cab. But it was such an experience finding our way in a country that doesn't speak English, I think it was the best thing that could have happened to us. Adventures. I wouldn't trade it.