A Well Kept Man

Alli's favorite highlight of our trip to Rome was the Sistine Chapel. To get to the Sistine Chapel, you have to wind your way through the Vatican museum admiring the various works of art collected by the Catholic church over the years. Also there were many statues of granite and marble, a map room where the walls were covered in maps painted directly on the walls, and beautiful courtyards for evening strolls with the Pope and his bishops (all of which could technically be considered as art, I suppose). Some of my favorites included an octagonal courtyard that contained statues of Greek gods, and paintings by Raphael (yet another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle). I also appreciated some artwork that had I not been exposed to as a child, I probably would have just zipped by without much notice. The art was by a Japanese artist named Sadao Watanabe whom my grandparents became admirers of while they lived in Japan (Grandpa was in the military, while Grandma became the inspiration for my current lifestyle as A Well Kept Man...don't read too far into this).

After winding our way through the museum, we finally arrived at the packed Sistine Chapel where we found some seats on the periphery and listened to a one-hour podcast about Michelangelo's (again, another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) most recognized work of art. I never fully appreciated the various aspects of the chapel, as the only nuggets that really ever lodged in my brain were that his back was probably sore from painting the ceiling as well as the more famous scene on the ceiling of God reaching out to create Adam. It also contains many other images from Genesis such as God creating the world, the Temptation in the Garden, and the Great Flood, in addition to various Saints and Biblical prophets.

The wall behind the altar is perhaps one of the most moving as it is a painting of the Last Judgement where Christ comes back to judge the living and the dead (with a self-portrait of the artist himself).

The ceiling was cleansed a few years back allowing the originally beauty of the ceiling to be witnessed by a new generation. The restorers left a small section of the ceiling as it was to enable a comparison of the way the ceiling looked prior to restoration. Unfortunately photography was not allowed inside the chapel, but fortunately it seems that rule is not enforced (it seems that it is really the flashes they don't want). Now I'm not saying the pictures in this post are from my camera, I'm just saying I have some photographs whose origin will remain nameless. They were more strict on dress-code and noise in the chapel in effort to maintain reverence for the space (it is a church after all). This chapel is where the bishops pick the popes, and vigilant Catholics wait outside for the signal of black or white smoke from the chimney indicating whether or not a new pope was selected. It is not easy to see the chimney in question, but I have included a surveillance picture of the roof with an arrow pointing to the pipe. The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are well worth the time (plan to spend at least two to three hours visiting), plus at the end you get to visit St. Peter's Basilica (stay tuned...).

I would like to interrupt this series of posts on Rome to tell you about one of our adventures this weekend. On Saturday, we drove into the Alps (Les Mosses) for a unique experience of watching sled dog races...it was much more fun than either of us thought it would be so we were very glad we went. After having trouble finding the site of the races, I finally gave up and listened to my wife which enabled us to immediately locate the venue (weird how that happens). The first group of racers were competing in skijoring, a form of cross-country skiing where one attaches a leash to their waste and is aided in their skiing by a dog (although recently we heard of a similar event that involved horses, but something about skiing behind a horse just doesn't sound safe to me). I don't really care for cross-country skiing as it requires too much physical effort (which of course leads to sweating), so I'll stick to gravity-aided downhill skiing.

The main event was the dog sledding, which involved a racer on a sled pulled by five to eight dogs. The breed, age, and number of dogs pulling the sled determined in which group you were competing. Most of the dogs were what you would expect, Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, and Greenland Sled Dogs, but there were also German Shorthairs, Vizlas, and others that I failed to classify (I never quite finished my online dog breed identification degree...). The races were all Sprints with lengths varying between several kilometers and several kilometers times two (if only it would have been 20 km, I could have used the word "score," instead, I am stuck confusing my readers with odd terminology...er, races varied between about 7 km and 16 km). The dogs were quite vociferous, many jumping all over the place vying for attention from their owners.

The dogs attached to the sleds are the starting line also were extremely anxious to get going. I was amazed at how strong some of these dogs were in their ability to pull a person and sled with little perceived effort (I guess that's what momentum is all about). The common experience however was no matter how hard or fast the dogs started the race, they mostly returned to the finish line with their tongues dragging on the snow and at a pace more aptly described as a saunter or light jog. A few of the dogs immediately rolled around in the snow after finishing, while others had snow dumped on them to help cool them down...which they appeared to enjoy immensely. The weather was perfect for the races, and the sun provided ample heat to make the mountain air comfortable (we also managed to avoid the yellow snow, which was probably a good idea).

(P.S. Don't forget to click on the pictures to enable you to view them in a format that doesn't require a magnifying glass or bifocals)

The Pantheon is truly one of the most intriguing and awesome buildings I have ever seen in my life...as an engineer, I think I am even more geeky about such a feat than the most ardent of admirers of architecture. This building was erected in 126 AD (almost 1900 years ago, which if you really think about it seems more like two millennia) after the first one caught fire and burned to the ground. The magnitude of this building may not seem all that impressive, until you get up close and personal with it (in case you are wondering, its likes include warm summer rains, gentle breezes, and sunshine while its dislikes include hammers, chisels, and fire). We had an audio tour (podcast for those under 30ish) that we downloaded to our iPod which was great in revealing some of the details of the building that would have otherwise been missed.

The sixteen granite columns were quarried in Egypt, and then transported the approximately 1,500 miles either on barge (while on the Nile) or wooden sledges (while on land). Each column is a single piece of granite 39 feet tall weighing about 60 tons (120,000 lbs...that's equivalent to 480,000 scoops of gelato), which I found amazing as most of the columns I have encountered are in sections stacked on top of each other like bricks. The diameter of each column is 5 feet, and for those in physics class or algebra, what is the circumference of these columns? (hint, the formula for circumference is 2 * pi * radius = circumference). Needless to say my arms weren't long enough to give the column a proper hug.

After walking through the giant doors your eyes are immediately drawn to the domed ceiling and the oculus (the sole source of light in the Pantheon...except for the under-cabinet lighting they added to extend the hours of operation). The oculus is 142 feet from the ground, which is also the same dimension of the dome's width. (Which I guess means you could inflate a giant beach ball inside the Pantheon and have it fill the top half perfectly.) The ceiling holds the record for the largest free-standing (unreinforced) dome in the world. It is poured concrete and the oculus is required to keep the dome standing (think of it like an arch where the keystone makes the structure stand up)...this is quite advanced for something built well before such modern marvels sliced bread and text messaging!

The Pantheon was originally built as a temple for the many gods of Ancient Rome, but in the early 600's it was turned over to the Roman Catholic church who threw out Zeus and his all of his Olympian buddies. It is also the final resting place for some of Italy's nobility, as well as the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael (of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fame...). The floor is pretty cool as well because it has a built in drainage system to deal with the water that comes through the oculus during precipitation events. As it was raining (sprinkling) one evening I made Alli go back (for the second time) to see it in action. Even though the floor was only moderately wet, the holes in the floor provide an escape path for the droplets of water which again amazed me as you would be surprised how many times engineers forget to do the simple things when designing.

While it is more impressive and mystical in the evening, don't feel bad if you go during the day. It is truly an impressive building that deserves a great deal of admiration...if you can't make it to Rome to see it in person, I encourage you to visit one of the Pantheon-inspired structures near you (such as the Jefferson Memorial or National Gallery of Art in Washington DC).

We are now 3 for 3 on trips to Italy and consuming gelato while in Italy. There is absolutely no excuse for someone to go to Italy without having at least one gelato (even those out there with lactose intolerance...). So here are pictures of us gorging ourselves on gelato (notice I have three flavors while my darling wife only has two...I wanted to make sure if we didn't stop again for gelato, that I had the best experience I could possibly have, and I did). The flavors on my cone in a pseudo Neopolitan style are Fragola (strawberry), Vanilla Creme (OMG...amazing!!!), and Black Passion (dark chocolate with raspberries). Alli just got chocolate and mint-chocolate chip (the green kind although the picture makes it look white...apparently the flash made it look kind white, which would explain why my luscious black hair also looks grey in some places....). If you are ever in Rome, do as the Romans do (or at least the tourists who may or may not be Roman) and get yourself over to the corner of Via delle Coppelle and Via della Maddelena to the Gelateria della Palma (kudos to our friend Jennifer and her husband Jeff for doing the grunt work of testing all of the gelaterias in Rome before our visit to afford us the best gelato experience).

I am not sure where to begin with writing about our long-weekend trip to Rome. The city truly lives up to its reputation in every way...I have spent the last several hours looking through pictures trying to figure out how to capture this trip with a few paragraphs and some pictures, but I think that no matter how hard I try it won't do it justice (at least in my mind). I think everyone has an experience that will truly stay with them for a long time, and I can honestly say that Rome has that effect on me (maybe it's in the water there, but this trip has me feeling the need to soliloquize and orate some sort of masterpiece blog that will truly stand the test of time...but who am I kidding, I will probably find a way to make some jokes and point out the things that made me laugh). Enjoy!

This post will focus on a couple of the basilicas we toured in the city, of which there are many (apparently there are more than 900 churches in Rome, most being Roman Catholic for some reason). We arrived in Rome on Friday afternoon and proceeded to take a bus from the airport to the main train station. Our hotel was about 15-20 minutes by foot from the station, so we trekked through the streets of Rome to get rid of our stuff and venture out into our first evening in Rome. En route to the hotel we stopped in a church, Santa Maria Maggiore (a recurring theme of the churches in Rome as that they are all Catholic, and way cooler on the inside than they appear from the outside). One can't help but find amazing beauty in all of the Roman churches, and for those that enjoy spending some time admiring them there is a smorgasbord of columns, arches, frescoes, and statues awaiting in Rome. I felt a little self-conscious wheeling a suitcase around the church (so I proceeded to carry the darn thing while trying to snap photos with my free hand...I am sure the Italians thought I was crazy to carry a bag with wheels on it, oh well).

I was also not prepared for the amount of nuns, priests, monks, holy men, etc. in the city. Alli didn't seem to phased by it, but it seemed that every corner we turned was met with nuns wearing habits of black, grey, brown, blue, white...it's almost as if we were being constantly reminded to be on our best behavior (no slurping spaghetti!!). As we are Lutheran I was sure that we would set off some sort of secret alarm upon entering most of the churches, but they must have disabled the alarms for Lent. We managed to enter one church during a service (San Giovanni Laterano) which was very interesting as I have been to Catholic mass before but never in Latin. It was actually comforting as the melodies are the same as those in the Lutheran church, just the words were different (apparently music is a universal language which does not require translation).

Every church seemed to have an important holy relic, from the chains used to imprison St. Peter (San Pietro in Vincoli) to his actual bones (Basilica San Pietro), as well as the steps Christ is said to have climbed during the Passion before Pilate in Jerusalem (St. Helena, Constantine's mother had them brought to Italy for safe keeping in a building next to San Giovanni Laterano). Regardless of your belief in such things, the history surrounding them (not to mention that many of them are many hundreds if not thousands of years in age) is intriguing. St. Peter's Basilica as well as the Sistine chapel will get their own posts, so more on them later. Some of the basilicas we entered we designed by well-known architects such as Michelangelo (Santa Maria degli Angeli) as well as one designed by a patrician family member of Galileo Galilei (San Giovanni Laterano which was designed by Alessandro Galilei). I wish we had more time to spend in many of these amazing buildings, but hopefully we will have a chance to go back...

We are not in this weekend, as we will be in Rome trying to convince the Pope to convert to Lutheranism (my guess is that nobody has ever asked, and that he's probably just waiting for an invitation)!  If you need to find us, we will be staying at the Hotel Pace Elvezia, arriving Friday, February 27 in the evening and leaving Monday, March 2 in the morning.

Last night in French class, we were scolded by Georges (our infallible instructor) for daring to describe the lake down the street as Lake Geneva...you see, much like in the U.S. where Minnesota and Michigan fight over which State is more representative of lakes, the Swiss have differing opinions on the name of their beautiful lake. (Minnesota claims to have more than 10,000 lakes, didja know that Minnesota is a Dakota Indian word meaning "water?"; Michigan claims you are never more than 90 miles from a Great Lake, therein making it the Great Lake State...Michigan is derived from the Objibwe Indian word for "large water"; since Michigan has an adjective and Minnesota does not, I decree Michigan as the superior Lake State, even though both States touch Lake Superior).

As you can see from the picture, the lake is roughly crescent shaped (although I could be convinced it looks like a delicious walleye leaping from the water). The Swiss like to divide this lake into two parts, the western part (what would be the tail of the fish...it's skinnier and runs roughly from Geneva to Nyon on the Switzerland side) is called "Lac de Genève," whereas the eastern portion (and subsequently grander, larger, deeper, and better portion running from Nyon to Villeneuve) is called "Lac Léman." Now I don't really understand how you could claim that one lake is really two separate lakes, but the Swiss are like that so I will humor them and only refer to the lake we live by as "Lac Léman" from now on (unless I am west of Nyon in which case I will call it "Lac de Genève").

The birds/ducks of Lake Geneva...

I took advantage of the early Spring-like temperatures and sunny sky today and walked down to the lake to feed the ducks some stale bread. I managed to snap pictures of some of them, but it's tough to get a close shot as they swim away when they realize your camera is not bread (and perhaps all you were doing was luring them closer to you to snatch them and take them home as pets). I tried to avoid the pigeons and seagulls as they aren't as exciting to me as the ducks...there are hundreds of ducks, birds, gulls, etc. floating in between the various boats in the marina. The swans, gulls, and pigeons are the most adventurous and willingly will risk life and limb for whatever morsel you throw their way. The remaining ducks are much more skittish. The duck with the black body, grey bill, golden eye, and white patch on his side/belly dives under water to get whatever sinks, while the mallards tend to fight with each other (sometimes violently). Today, I watched as two mallards (males of course) locked their bills in a duel...there were feathers and quacks going all over the place (this might be mating season, or possibly they are all really hungry and just posturing, I'm not an expert). It is interesting to see the various foreign ducks (like the Pochards), even the Canadian geese seem interesting (it's always the same pair, I've never seen more than just these two...perhaps they are on permanent loan or something)

Last Saturday was the changeover of the Geneva canton schoolkids winter ski break to the Vaud canton schoolkids winter break (for those that are wondering: A. Cantons are like States in America, think of Geneva as Wisconsin and Vaud as Colorado if it helps, B. Instead of a Spring Break like the kids get in America where parents reluctantly drag their children to sunny beaches, the Swiss spend a week skiing in the Alps, C. Not really instead of Spring Break, but more like in addition to Spring Break as they still get a week off around Easter, D. FYI - School lets out the last week of June/first week of July).  As a result, the slopes this time of year are absolutely packed with an entire state's worth of people...so if you wish to go skiing in February, your only shot is to go on a changeover day (which is always Saturday).

Aside from the beer, there was much more about Bruges that beckoned me for a visit. I have only recently become acquainted with Bruges through a film (a rather dark film, not really a family movie...I'll let you figure out the title on your own, but it has Bruges in the name) and as a result of the scenery of the movie I opted to visit. As a part of my hotel package, I received a coupon voucher book which granted me a free guided tour of the city which lasted for a little more than two hours. The only awkward part of the tour was the fact that Bruges has lots of dark alleys and alcoves where one could commit mischievous acts seemingly without notice, which normally wouldn't present a huge problem as most tours involve large groups of people.

I was told there would be at least twenty people on the tour, and there were; but the tour guides split the group up by language to facilitate a more engaging conversation. As my tour choices were Flemish (or Dutch), English, or French, I opted for the English guide as two hours of French would most likely cause me to miss something important. As a result of my selfish language choice, I was paired with the tour guide who spoke the best English and we were off (yes, just me and the 60 year old woman, which one would picture if forced to describe a librarian). This is what made the tour awkward...I felt self-conscious the whole time that this woman probably thought I was going to push her into a canal or steal her purse filled with Belgian chocolates (it was a chocolate tour).

After I assured her that I was completely rehabilitated from my recent troubles with the Swiss Border Patrol, we began our tour of the sites of Bruges. Don't pay much attention to the time of day in the photographs as they obviously were not all taken during the tour.

Bruges is/was a significant economic center in its height due to the port and canals that run through the city. Much of the cocoa that was brought back from the Americas and Africa came through Bruges (and was even used as currency), and Bruges served as an international currency market exchange of sorts (my tour guide claimed that Bruges actually means "purse," or "bag" similar to the Spanish word "bolso" or "bolsa." She also indicated that many other countries stock exchanges have names stemming from "Bruges." Wikipedia and other sources seem to support this theory, although I am guessing that Bruges is just the most organized place to claim the stock exchange origin story...) Anyway, the city reminds me of Venice and Amsterdam, as the canals run throughout the city providing ample spots to stop and take pictures.

The main square used to have a canal running directly adjacent to it until a few hundred years ago. In the main square is the Belfry, a bell-tower that plays different musical tunes every 15 minutes. You can climb up the inside (all 366 steps, most of the way was very narrow) to the top of the 83 meter tower (about 270 feet, or if you figure 10 feet per story, about 27 stories), which I did for some spectacular views. I recommend the climb (if you are in shape), but be mindful of the time so you aren't in the Belfry when "O Danny Boy" starts playing (I think my ears are still reverberating)! Back down in the main square are many medieval buildings (mostly shops, pubs, or restaurants) which are very fairytale-like in appearance. All of the streets in Bruges are made of cobblestone, which adds to the ambiance.

Bruges managed to escape destruction from World War I, so many of it's buildings date back to the 16th and 17th century (if not earlier). This city did not appear to be short of churches either. Apparently the Belgians were/are very Catholic so I was able to see many unique cathedrals. I chose not to go into the Basillica of the Holy Blood (which contains a vial of Jesus Christ's alleged coagulated blood on a piece of cloth...). One of the bigger cathedrals contained an original sculpture by Michelangelo, purportedly his only work to make it out of Italy during his lifetime. It now sits on the tomb of the rich man and his family inside of the cathedral. There is also a small area where the Beguines lived, a small group of lay religious women in the Catholic church. They lived a life similar to nuns, although they spent most of their time making lace and things like rosaries to help support the church, in addition to praying and providing support for one another (albeit in a less strict environment than in other abbeys).

Bruges is a lovely town which deserves at least a couple days to fully appreciate all it has to offer.

It would have been nice to visit in warmer weather to partake in a canal cruise, as well as with someone else to have someone to talk with :( The food in this part of Europe is very satisfying, but then again how can one go wrong with a whole mess of French fries with mayonnaise washed down with a cold Belgian ale???