That ramp actually looks pretty cool.
Haha, just like Disney. ALWAYS look up. Always!!!!
You know, that pocket watch thing really fascinates me and I have no idea why. It's so bizarre and yet completely interesting. But I guess that's what art is all about really.
DISNEY STORE!!!!! Now that is what I'm talking about. That's some must have stuff right there. OMG I love it.
If only I had known how many steps I would be climbing in the coming days, I would have appreciated that ramp even more!!
Absolutely! I caught myself a few times just walking through rooms and looking around before I remembered to look up and realized I had been missing some beautiful stuff!
That's EXACTLY what we thought. DH kept taking pictures and I said, "What the heck IS that?" and neither of us were sure. But it was cool anyway! It was one of the few things in the castle that didn't have a little plaque with a description.
The Disney Store was absolutely calling our name! Most of it was just like a regular Disney Store, so it was great to find that little section of Rome specific clothing.
Forgot to give you the picture of me on top of Castel Sant'Angelo.
WOW! I had no idea there were so many gorgeous churches in Rome! I definitely will put a "stop in every church I pass" tour on the list for when I finally make it back to Rome!
Great shots from the top of Castel SantAngelo! What an amazing view.
Sayhello
It was so crazy! They were just steps away from each other. And it was so interesting to check them all out because one or two might be a "dud" but then you might come across something so amazing and beautiful, you would have been sad to miss out on seeing it!
Thanks. It was an incredible view from the top!
Beautiful views and amazing churches! Really making us want to get back to Europe!!
That Disney Store is too cute! Love all the Roman characters. Cute shirts too!
Rome was busy, but was by far our favorite city for the churches and views mostly. So incredible!
We visited the Disney Stores in all 3 Italian cities we visited, and this one was definitely the best themed.
600 churches in the city of Rome?????? Seriously???????? It looks like there is another church every half block. I guess on any given day you can pick a new church to visit. It's very cool that so many of them were open and you were able to walk right in.
And I agree- as beautiful as those pictures are and as good as the editing is, I am sure it doesn't compare with seeing everything in person. Just spectacular.
How lucky to come across a Disney store. What cute T- shirts.
I had to go back and edit my post, because it is actually over
900 churches in Rome!
Your assumption is spot on. The churches are practically on top of each other in some areas! One of our fellow adventurers Val said she wondered how people in Rome knew which parish they belonged to.
Almost all of the churches were open for most of the day, so we were able to see a lot of them.
Seeing it all in person just can't even be described. Some of the most beautiful buildings I think I will EVER visit.
The shirts we found in Rome were great! Unfortunately, can't say the same for the other 2 cities, but we got more than our fair share of Disney merchandise once we got to DLP.
Great update! When reading books often times things in your head are way different than in real life but I think the Castel Sant'Angelo is pretty similar to what I was picturing - a bit more ornate in some of the decorations though. That is a neat fact about statues not being able to be moved - unless struck by lightening I guess
Great views from the top of the Castel ... oh, and a crane - it's like you are in Disney World!
So, this might be a silly question but with the 900 churches, are they all active and have like daily / weekly masses or are a number of them basically just museums at this point?
The shirt you got for your son is very cute!
Dan Brown definitely does a great job of describing actual places so that when you see them for the first time after reading one of his books, you feel like you might have been there before. We got the same feeling when we went to one of the places he described in
Inferno in Florence.
All the cranes and scaffolding we saw on this trip, it was definitely reminiscent of WDW!
Not a silly question at all! Of course, we didn't even scratch the surface in our church visits, but I do believe all of them we visited had some sort of schedule, whether it was daily masses or weekend masses or just prayer services. So it seems like for the most part, they are still pretty functional! And a lot of them had a dress code for visitors (shoulders & knees covered). A few that we visited also didn't allow photography of any kind.
Thanks! It made us laugh because there are SO MANY SCOOTERS zooming through the streets of Rome! So it was kind of perfect.
What gorgeous views! And so many beautiful churches!
Disney Store! The statues are so cute.
Thanks! We had a great time just wandering into churches to see what we could find.
This was by far the best themed Disney Store that we visited on the trip!
Wow!
That's all I have to say...
I know what you mean. That's what I was saying for most of the trip!!
A note for anyone planning this trip - take a picture of the outside of each church with the name before you go in! I visited many churches on this trip and as I'm going through my photos, I'm having a hard time remembering which church was which, particularly on the days when I just wandered into several of them. The Catholic churches in my area are so sparse and modern that seeing these baroque churches in person was just jaw-dropping!
Laurie
Thanks for pointing this out, Laurie. That's exactly what we did! I always made sure DH got a photo of something with the name of the church before we went in. Not only did it help us remember the names of the churches we visited, it also helped break up church photos so that when we went into one after the other, we had a stopping point to know when we had gone into another church. Otherwise, all the marble and paintings just kind of runs together!
That's a really good idea, Laurie. Although who would have thought that *too many* gorgeous churches would be an "issue"?
Sayhello
That's so true!!!
