Panasonic and CineBags!

What we saw?

With many thanks to my colleague Bryce Meacham from our university's Department of Music, I can share with you a list of the numerous sites we saw while on our eighteen day journey through France, Greece, and Italy.

August 19

Walked by Petit Palais and Grand Palais to the Alexander III Bridge

Hotel des Invalides (Military Museum) and Napoleon’s Tomb

Eiffel Tower

River cruise on the Seine

August 20

Train to Versailles

Toured the Chateau

Gardens including the Latona Fountain and Grand Canal

Grand Trianon

Pettit Trianon

Marie Antoinette Theater

French Pavilion

Temple of Love

Hameau de la Reine (Queen’s Hamlet)

Gardens including the Grotto of Thetis, Orangerie

August 21

Train to Chartres

Chartres Cathedral

Train back to Paris

Saint Denis

Sacre Couer

Montmartre area

August 22

Mass at Notre Dame

St. Chapelle

Drive to The Somme

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial

Thiepval Memorial

Ulster Tower

Dinner at Flunch

August 23

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe

Champs Elysees

August 24

Flight to Athens on Olympic Air (Five Star service!!!!!)

Dinner

The Pnyx

August 25

Mars' Hill

Acropolis

Theater of Dionysus

Acropolis Museum

Temple of Zeus

Gyros at Monastiraki

National Archeological Museum

Agora and Temple of Hephaestus

August 26

Delphi

Temple of Apollo

Amphitheater

Stadium for Pythian Games

Museum

Lunch in modern Delphi with views of Bay of Corinth

Stop in Arachova

August 27

EasyJet flight to Rome

Lunch around Termini (Rome's railroad station)

Train to Florence

Some walked around town and went to the Baptistery

August 28

Santa Maria Novella

Ufizzi Gallery

Met at Loggia on Piazza de la Signoria

Santa Maria del Carmine

Brancacci Chapel

Outside of Baptistery–Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise

Santa Maria del Fiore–Duomo

Palazzo Medici–Riccardi

Gozzoli’s Procession of the Magi

August 29

Mass at Santa Croce

Accademia di Belle Arti

Michelangelo’s David

Cappella dei Principia at San Lorenzo

Sarcophagus of the Medici family

Florence Baptistery or Battistero di San Giovanni

August 30

Train to Rome

Catacombs of San Callisto

Baptistry of St. John Lateran

Scala Sancta–Holy Steps

St. John Lateran

August 31

San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains)

Colosseum

Constantine’s Arch

Palatine

Domus Augustana–Imperial Palace

Circus Maximus

Roman Forum

Arch of Titus

Basilica of Maxentius

Temple of Antonius and Faustina

Temple of Vesta

Temple of Castor and Pollux

Temple of Saturn

Curia (Roman Senate)

Arch of Septimus Severus

Piazza di Campidoglio

Bronze Statue of Marcus Aurelius

National Monument of Victor Emmanuel

Trajan’s Column

Borghese Gallery

September 1

Santa Maria del Popolo

Ars Pacis Augustae

Piazza Novano

Sant'Agnese in Agone

San Luigi di Francesi

Parthenon

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Saint Ignatius Loyola

Church of the Gesù (Chiesa del Gesù)

Trevi Fountain

September 2

Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martir (St. Mary of Angels and Martyrs)

Santa Maria della Vittoria

Capuchin Crypt at Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezion

Papal Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls (Basilica Papale di San Paolo fuori le Mura)

September 3

Vatican Museum

St. Peter’s Basilica

Mars' Hill

Looking down on modern day Athens from Mars' Hill.

Looking up to the Acropolis from Mars' Hill.

In Acts chapter 17 we read of the Apostle Paul speaking to the Athenians of his day. That great discourse took place on Mars' Hill just outside Athens. Mars' Hill still exists and those who want to climb up the slippery and rough marble rocks can do so. I had the opportunity one morning to climb Mars' Hill with Jerry Hansen so he could explain on camera the importance of Mars' Hill.

It was a great experience to stand where Paul once stood and then at the end of our trip, stand where he is buried at Basilica San Paolo Fuori le Mura (St. Paul's Basilica) in Rome.

NOTE: If you follow the previous link, be sure to click on the "Vitural Tour" button. You'll see how amazing this basilica is, second only to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Here is the text of what he said on Mars' Hill from the King James Version of the Bible:

22 ¶ Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are ^atoo superstitious.

23 For as I passed by, and beheld your ^adevotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE ^bUNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ^cignorantly worship, him ^ddeclare I unto you.

24 God that ^amade the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, ^bdwelleth not in temples made with hands;

25 Neither is ^aworshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and ^bbreath, and all things;

26 And hath ^amade of ^bone ^cblood ^dall ^enations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath ^fdetermined the ^gtimes before ^happointed, and the ⁱbounds of their habitation;

27 That they should ^aseek the Lord, ^bif haply they might ^cfeel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28 For in him we ^alive, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his ^boffspring.

29 Forasmuch then as we are the ^aoffspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto ^bgold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s ^cdevice.

30 And the times of this ^aignorance God ^bwinked at; but now ^ccommandeth all men every where to ^drepent:

31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will ^ajudge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ^bordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath ^craised him from the dead.

32 ¶ And when they heard of the ^aresurrection of the dead, some ^bmocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

33 So Paul departed from among them.

34 Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the ^aAreopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Respect

A sign commonly seen at churches in Italy.

One thing that caught my eye a lot while in Italy were signs at the entrances to the great cathedrals that we saw similar to the one above. You don't need to know Italian to understand what is is asking those who enter. From the Spanish that I know I can decipher that part of the sign is asking you to "dress with dignity and respect to the sacred location." In all the churches we visited to see specific pieces of artwork, not once did I hear a person complain when they were asked to cover themselves up better if they weren't appropriately attired. In some churches, they had disposable shawls that women could use for free to make sure they were covered where they needed to be as per the request.

This brings me to my main point. Why is it if our employer asks us to dress for success or only wear nice jeans on "Casual Fridays" or a school asks us to wear a specific uniform or to not wear certain items of clothing that we complain? Why can't we show respect of these requests and dress appropriately without complaining that it's a stupid rule or request. Just a thought.

The Vatican

During the summer of 1964, my dad had to go to Fort Lee in Petersburg, Virginia for six weeks of federal government training. Instead of going by himself, he cashed in his airplane ticket, borrowed a travel trailer from a friend, packed up my sister and I along our mom, and we were off in our station wagon for an adventure of a lifetime. Even though our parents are gone, my sister and I still have fond memories of this trip.

Once we got to Virginia, we set up "camp" and then traveled to different historical sites. This became a great education for my sister and I. Of course we traveled to Washington D.C. to see the sites there and then to New York City. While we were in New York City, we took a day to travel over to Flushing Meadows to visit the World's Fair of 1964-65.

There are many exhibits that I have great memories of like Ford (where you got to travel through their exhibit in a brand new Ford convertible), G.E.'s "Progressland, and Pepsi's "It's A Small World."

I recall with reverence being able to see the Vatican's exhibit. I'm sure it amounted to more than what I remember, but seeing Michelangelo's "Pieta" at a distance was a true treasure.

Today at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican I had the opportunity to see it again. This time I was able to see it at a closer distance than all those years ago in New York.

Michelangelo's Pieta inside St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

St. Peter's Square is enormous. This picture doesn't do it justice as I was attempting to show the front of the Basilica. Not sure who the guy in the red outfit is, but he wound up in all three pictures I took of the front of the Basilica!

England has it's royal guards and here are two of the Vatican Guards in their colorful outfits.

One last thing, one cannot go to the Vatican and not see the Sistine Chapel. I always thought that it was part of St. Peter's Basilica but it's part of the Vatican Museums. Seeing the Sistine Chapel is an amazing experience even if it was very crowded. No picture of Michelangelo's masterpiece can do it justice. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed to be taken in the Sistine Chapel so I can't post any here.

Here's the official website of the Vatican Museums where you'll find photos of the Sistine Chapel.

Angels and Demons

Anyone who has read the book or seen the movie Angels and Demons, knows that author Dan Brown guides Robert Langdon through Rome with numerous clues. Over the past few days as we have toured Rome to learn more of it's history, architecture, and art, we have been to some of the locations mentioned by Brown. Sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini plays an integral role in the clues that Langdon follows. Here are two of Bernini's sculptures that play an important role Angels and Demons.

At Santa Maria della Vittoria we see Bernini's

St. Teresa in Ecstasy (1652)

At the Piazza Navona we see Bernini's

Fountain of the Four Rivers (1648-1651).

This is where Robert Langdon saves the last of the

Preferiti from drowning.

More Trains!

For some reason this didn't play properly with the other pictures I posted of our train trip from Florence to Rome. This is the Trenitalia Eurostar that we rode on coming into the Florence railway station.