Umbria

We picked a rental car and got out of Rome with no hitches (one might think we are getting good at this by now!). We drove about an hour and half north to the Umbria region where we had rented a villa for two weeks. Two weeks is a big deal for us. We realized that over the last 12 months we have only been in 4 places for two weeks - the campervan, Cambodia and Swaziland (which is sort of cheating because we were there a week, left for a week and then returned for a week) and Barcelona. Mom & Dad have talked about renting an Italian villa ever since Dad proposed in Italy 19 years ago, so to say we are excited is an understatement. We also wanted to be remote and hoped to spend time processing, chatting, and truly relaxing we feel like we have had a pretty hectic pace for some time. Its amazing how much more fun it is to unpack knowing you don't have to redo it for 14 days as opposed to 5. An additional bonus was that the stone work and architecture had similarities to our own home, which was a sweet surprise.  We are caught off guard a bit with just how much home is tugging on us we near the end of the trip.

The first night we arrived Italy was playing Germany in the European Cup quarterfinals and we were excited to watch. Upon meeting our home's owner though, we learned that they cancelled the TV subscription and the game was not an option in the house. So we figured we head into town to watch following her instructions to "follow the noise". We drove into Civitella del Lago and tried to grab a pizza but the small restaurant was full. We walked around and learned that in the center of town the game was being shows from a projection tv on a wall and one family was setting up to sell pop and microwave popcorn. With some broken Italian/English (not a lot of English was spoken in the remote areas) we were welcome. We went back and ordered some pizzas to go and watched the game with locals. This was an exhilarating experience as soccer here, of course, is a big deal. We were the only blond heads in the crowd and SJ was the only person of color, so we stood out to say the least. The game went to OT and then proceeded to penalty kicks and then sudden death penalty kicks with Germany finally winning on the 9th kick, thus ended our home country victory streak (NZ won the rugby world cup and Barcelona captured La Liga both while we were in country, so naturally we must be a local good luck charm).  By the time the game ended it was midnight and we crashed hard in our new residence.

Walking the streets of Civitella del Lago before game

Wall where the game was projected

We are literally the only blond folks in the crowd

Game once the sun went down

Besides that little outing we barely left our villa for the next week, enjoying the pool, books and quiet, except all the noise that our children seem to make at just about every breathing moment. We occupied each day with working out (long overdue), laying in the sun, reading books and cooking. Yes, we spent a lot of time cooking and it was a real treat to enjoy some long-missed recipes from home like whole-made cinnamon rolls and lemonade but we also tried our hands at many new Tuscan style of eats. Our house had its own true wood burning pizza oven, which we used several times. This requires about two hours of prep to get it heated properly and cooks up amazing pizzas - there may be one of these in our future at home :).  We also tried our luck cooking meat in it which came out quite delicious as well. The boys would then be in charge of clean up (which worked some of the time at least) while mom and dad sat and watched amazing sunsets.

Wood-fired Italian pizza?  YES Please!

Pasta dinners

Fresh lemonade

Our oldest specializes in homemade cinnamon rolls

#2 enjoys the cinnamon rolls more than anyone else

Many evenings we dedicated to watching a slideshow of photos one country at a time and reminiscing about just so much we have accomplished. It shocks even us to consider and was a good to process and remember all the various aspects of this multi-faceted trip.

Our other monumental task was dealing with the looming details of the future. It is amazing what being gone a year affords you in terms of not dealing with the mundane details of American life. We are already overwhelmed with many of the details of returning home and all that comes with it. At this time, we only have two calendar events and while here both hit conflicts - ugg.

Health Insurance, which should be easy with Obamacare (right?), is proving one of the most challenging because our home state does not believe we left since we did not sell our home. This means that they may not let us enroll in insurance until January 1. The federal government says no problem and that our state is supposed to follow their guidelines but we don't exactly fit into one of their check-boxes which is throwing a wrench into things. Ironically, had we sold our home, this would not be a problem. So the wonderful law that we call Obamacare, which is designed so that people have insurance may actually penalize us for not having a product that no one will sell us - yes this is true. We are still working on this but many hours on the phone have been wasted.

In addition to this, we had individual conversations with the kids on how we will work out their finances, chores and school details upon return. Two kids will switch rooms, two will get cell phones for the first time. Lots of chores will be done :).  We will continue with teaching our kids about real world finances, bank accounts and work in slightly different systems than before. This time allowed for some sweet conversations with each of them that they sort of treated like parent/teacher conferences without our necessary intending them to be such.

We did find it funny that at one point during the week Mom made a comment to Dad about the Amazon guy, and Dad thought she was referring to a man in the jungle.  We laughed at realizing we know we've been off the grid for awhile when that's your definition of 'The Amazon guy' instead of the man delivering packages from the website/warehouse!  We haven't seen an Amazon package in months, but apparently they deliver to the villa as the Amazon man was very proud to explain to Mom that he can deliver very big packages!

The real world is pulling us in like a tractor beam and to be honest its a bit uncomfortable.  While this time away has been anything but easy, one thing we have had is complete control over our time. Preparing to head home only reminds us just how much of that we will be giving up.  Time, we have come to realize, is our greatest asset. It needs to be nourished and cherished and not wasted. Just how this affects our re-entry into U.S. life is yet to be seen but its one concrete way we know we have changed.

Nothing quite like sunflower fields

View of our porch

Our dining room

M&D time while dishes get done (yes, we dream)

Playing at the pool

Small town Italy

5 Liters for 6 Euros!

Enjoying the sun

Historical Rome

Wednesday we set out on a self-guided history walk. It was incredibly toasty that day so we tried to find shade as often as possible. We began at Largo di Torre Argentina, the site of Julius Caesar's assassination in 44BC. We wandered our way over to a unique Egyptian obelisk statue being carried by an odd elephant, and then on to the Pantheon. Unfortunately because it was St. Peter's Day, the Pantheon, built in 27BC and converted to a Christian church in 208AD, was closed to visitors. We were disappointed to not be able to go inside, but admired this building, considered to be the best preserved monument in Rome, and discussed it's significance a bit while taking a break from the heat. Across the street from the Pantheon we had fun indulging Mom in some of her goofy photo ideas as we refreshed with some cool water. We explored other piazzas and streets, walking around this fun city, and that evening we went to the Campo de Fiori area to wrap up our day with a unique tapas-type cafe and walking the evening market alongside the water and stopping to catch the score of the soccer game when available.

Pantheon, built in 27BC, considered one of Rome's greatest architectural achievement for it's cupola and dome.

Fountain funnies

Being a family of mostly boys means that anything Roman is interesting, and even better if it involves gladiators. We booked a tour of The Colosseum which allowed us to get below the main level and into the dungeons. The Colosseum has 4 levels and is 52 meters tall. It was opened by Titus in 80AD. Today only 20% is original and the rest has been restored. It's fairly easy to see where they have restored various parts when one is close to the building. One interesting tidbit we learned was that the entire outside was actually a dark grey from soot and pollution as traffic used to pass alongside of it, and a private investor paid $25M to steam clean the entire structure making it the white everyone is familiar with today. In exchange for this price tag, this individual gets to sell tickets for private concerts and events inside The Colosseum. We could tell our guide was not too thrilled about the "privatization" situation, and the fact that they had had a concert the night before meant we did not get to walk on the little bit of floor that remains because they were tearing down the concert equipment.

Excited to learn about The Colosseum 

Touring the area on the main floor where those of privilege would've had seats

At the height of Rome, The Colosseum could seat about 65,000 people and is supported by a system of self supporting arches. You can see many "holes" in the blocks which at one point were used to house iron supports which helped hold the whole system together. As Rome began to fall, the iron was stolen for weapons. They also believe just before the final fall, The Colosseum was used as a place of shelter with locals destroying the stairwell and holing themselves up inside for protection from invaders.

The games ultimately were about entertainment and a good Caesar was one who put on a grand show. The games typically lasted about 100 days and the cost of the games themselves was astronomical. One of the largest businesses in Rome at that time was importing wild animals from other continents (lions, tigers, wolves, panthers, leopards, giraffe, hippopotamus, elephant, deer, ostriches and more). The games required over 1000 workers each day and was an event so looked forward to as the meat and luxury items were a rarity for most people in that day, and they were in abundance during the games. The Colosseum had a man made retractable roof that required about 100 men to work a system of cantilevers and hoist up a cloth roof with a hole in the middle similar to how a sail works.

View down into The Colosseum from the top level

A typical day of festivities involved the family coming out to be entertained by the killing of animals in the morning, criminals at lunch, and then the children would often go home as the gladiator fighting in the afternoon was considered too gruesome for them. The men fought each other instead of animals, as the animals were too expensive. The stage was an ellipse, which meant that because there were no corners, the fighter/victim couldn't be trapped and provided continual suspense. The animal fighting in the morning was not natural as these animals were not used to one another, and so they often had to be enticed and forced to fight. There was a net to protect the lower levels of seats from the animals, the net had tusks on it, but occasionally an animal would find its way up into the seating. When this occurred, The Colosseum had the best evacuation system ever, and the inhabitants could all exit within 8 minutes!

At age 13 or 14 it was common for boys to be bought as slaves and trained to fight as a gladiator. The life expectancy at this time was roughly 43 years, the people were small and didn't have much food, and they often died of colds. Girls started families around age 13 and it was not uncommon for them to have over 10 children, with roughly 10% of babies dying at birth. Girls were not valued, after a family had 5 children, if a girl was born, she would typically be abandoned. The men would serve in the military for over 20 years and were often paid with a farm in a distant land such as Spain or Africa. By the time they were done serving their county, they would not have any teeth left. If the men couldn't provide for their family, it was not uncommon or thought poorly of them to abandon them. So taking the living conditions into consideration, gives an interesting perspective on why they didn't view execution as ruthless as we think of it today. If a fighter lost a hand or eye in a fight, he would be outcast with nothing to live on and a miserable existence trying to survive. Considering all of that, it is estimated that only 10% of the gladiators lost their lives, roughly 11,000 men. The deadly fighting ended in the 3rd or 4th Century.

It was interesting to learn that slaves from Jerusalem, brought here after the destruction of Jerusalem, were the builders of The Colosseum foundation. Before the fall of Rome, the citizens sealed up this underground area, and it wasn't until the early 1900's that it was excavated. Because of this it is still intact and we were able to imagine what life must have been like down underground where light and oxygen were scarce. It was eery to think about being surrounded by scared and drugged animals in the dark, and with the smells that come with all of that. Many of the keepers and even fighters died from infections due to animal scratches. Underground were three galleries and one area would house 20 animals, there was an amazing system of ramps, elevators and trapped doors to move all of the animals around. It was also interesting to learn that they would put 80 meters of sand on the ground of The Colosseum as sand was the easiest to clean up the spilled blood. The sand also allowed the trap doors to be covered up and it was more stable for the gladiator's feet when they were fighting; however thrown sand into the slit of a gladiator wearing armor, would be his ruin.

SJ in front of the gate where the gladiators came through

Underground in the Colosseum

Kids in the hallway below.  Our guide described it as 'a place where life and death was prepared.'

We all enjoyed this tour and imagining what it would've been like in its glory days. We walked past the Arch of Constantine, the largest of Rome's surviving triumphal arches, and on the Palestine Way to visit the Forum overlook area where the Imperial Palace once stood. The Forum was the administrative center of the Roman Empire and the place where the Pope lived before the Vatican.

In front of the Arch of Constantine

Looking out over the Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Oldest looking out over the Roman Forum area

The Forum had beautiful gardens filled with exotic birds, fountains and musicians. We learned about the Vestal Virgins, girls who had the honor and responsibility of cleaning the Roman Vesta god's temple once a year. There were six Vestal Virgins at a time and they were chosen when between the ages of 6-10 years old and served for 30 years. The Vesta temple is the place where there was an eternal flame, and if it went out, the virgins were blamed and flogged.

Sj in front of the area of the Vestal Virgins

Again, we learned of how women were treated in this society as Augustus's daughter was given in marriage to 5 different men, none of her own choice, but for her dad's political gain. After bearing 8 children, she married a man of her choice, this displeased her dad, who then banished her to a remote island and ultimately had her buried alive!

We visited Julius Ceasar's tomb where he was cremated in 54BC. We threw in a coin, because apparently that is just what you do, offer anything from a bite of pizza to a coin. It is fascinating to realize that 50% of the current European Union is because of his impact.

Julius Ceasar's unremarkable tomb

We also saw the podium where Mark Antony made his well known speech 'Friends, Romans, countryman.'

Our tour ended at this point, but our guide was excited as he had access to a chapel that had recently opened for the first time in decades, so we joined him to look around. According to him, inside this chapel was some of themes important art history items in Rome. We were able to observe three levels of fresco that was painted on top of each other during the different reigns of people groups. We enjoyed this piece of history and education.

3 levels of fresco - Madonna & Child on left, at the top of Mary in the right
corner is a Saint, and to the right is the Annunciation

We grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the Capitoline Museum where we saw the Capitoline Wolf and remembered the story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome. We also observed the humongous body parts of the once 12 meter high statue of Constantine, and discussed the story behind the painting Rape of the Sabine Women.

Kids with the Capitoline Wolf, Romulus & Remus

Thrilled to be posing with Constantine

Posing like Marcus Aurelius, the last of the so-called '5 Good Emperors'

After this amazing field trip our brains were overwhelmed and we opted fora quiet evening.

The Vatican

No trip to Rome would be complete without a visit to the Vatican, which if you did not know, is technically the smallest country in the world. They have their own passports, embassies, police force, laws and courts, and banking system. This little country has roughly 25,000 people coming and going each day! We had booked a tour that allowed us into the Sistine Chapel before it opened to the public, so we were treated with time to observe it without the hoards of people bumping into us as we strained our necks looking up and marveling at the many scenes, trying to identify them all according to the Biblical stories and the Great Course we'd watched explaining some of its background. Our tour then moved us on as little did we know there is so much more to take in at the museums, basilica and grounds.

Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor and not a painter. Prior to being commissioned to paint the famous ceiling, Michelangelo had never finished a fresco! He didn't want to paint this 5700 sq ft ceiling as he was in the middle of sculpting the papal tomb. However the Pope screamed and refused to pay him for his work-to-date on the tomb sculpture until the ceiling was complete, so he had little choice but to obey the Pope's orders to paint. The Pope had requested Michelangelo to paint the ceiling from encouragement he'd received from one of Michelangelo's rivals who was attempting to set Michelangelo up for failure as he thought he'd make a mess of the situation and the Pope would fire him.

The Pope gave Michelangelo a theme for the ceiling, but it was up to Michelangelo to plan it out. He had a team to help him and they had to remove Botticelli's original ceiling that was blue with stars and had been damaged by water, and then prepared the plaster to be carved. The team painted the architectural framework to divide the scenes and this truly is amazing and looks 3D with all of the shadowing. It's interesting to think that during this time in history 90% of the people were not literate, so they learned through pictures and stories. Also, most people had not traveled outside of Italy, so the background to the scenes were Italian landscapes, which we commented on as we observed scenes from the Sermon on the Mount and Sea of Galilee. There are around 300 figures on the ceiling and they are painted in a narrative sequence in an order which they are meant to be viewed in. We found it interesting that we didn't recognize one of the scenes and later learned that it is from one of the books in the Catholic Bible. It is also interesting to note that in the famous Creation of Adam portion of the ceiling, Adam has a belly button as Michelangelo felt this was anatomically correct. The Pope however felt it was theologically incorrect and demanded that it be removed, to which Michelangelo would often reply, "I will get to it tomorrow." The Pope died and the bellybutton remained. Michelangelo completed the Sistine Chapel ceiling in 4 years and it is referred to as the 'Sistine Chapel' because the Pope who commissioned it was Pope XVI. Mass is not held here, it is only used for the election of new popes.

Did God create with a belly button?  Even Michelangelo and the Pope couldn't agree!

Twenty-five years after completing the famous ceiling, Michelangelo was called back to paint the altar wall, The Last Judgement. At the start of this project the Pope was at war and forced Michelangelo to buy the paint himself, as the Pope couldn't afford it! Near the end of the painting, towards to bottom, the Pope was able to afford the paint, so it is much more vibrant and detailed. Michelangelo was criticized for painting nude figures in the church and the Pope's secretary made such a fuss that he wanted the painting destroyed. It's interesting to think of Michelangelo's background as a sculptor and that his subjects were usually without clothes, as well as the fact that in The Last Judgement Michelangelo is painting souls, which would not have clothes on. Ultimately the Pope told his secretary, "Hell's not my jurisdiction!" Michelangelo painted a soul to represent the Pope's secretary and wrapped a snake around him biting his privates because of all of the criticism this man caused. Ultimately Michelangelo died and the Pope hired a painter to come and cover some of the nudes. This poor artist received the nickname, 'Underwear!'

Michelangelo's depiction of the Pope's secretary in hell in The Last Judgement

In The Last Judgement, the scene with St. Bartholomew, the martyr with the knife, Michelangelo painted his own face as that of Bartholomew's to represent the suffering he went through to paint this magnificent work of art. By the time he had completed it, he had almost gone blind having broken a membrane in his eye, and he was not able to sculpt or paint anymore because of the toll it all took on his body. Michelangelo moved on to architecture with assistance from others and inspired by Brunelleschi's Duomo, designed the dome for St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Michelangelo painted his own face St. Bartholomew to represent his own suffering

In front of the dome Michelangelo's designed for St. Peter's Basilica 

After touring the Sistine Chapel we visited the Vatican Museums and grounds. It's interesting to think about these items on display from the perspective of the early Christians who felt that anything Roman was awful as it reminded them of persecution, and they wanted it destroyed. So the items we were seeing displayed were not considered sacred works of art worth preserving as we do some of these items or The Colosseum for example. We also learned that ancient Christians didn't use the cross because they were afraid of persecution, instead they portrayed cute babies with grapes because the wine symbolized Christ's blood.

Wall painting depicts the building of Michelangelo's dome and the transferring of an Egyptian obelisk to St. Peter's Square, where Peter was crucified and chariot races were held

G with statues a bit like Mr. Potato Head - they did the best they could to match noses and arms to the heads, but they were not necessarily original.

G with a sculpture created by 3 artists and was an inspiration to Michelangelo for his image of Jesus in the Last Judgement

Only signed work of art in the Vatican Museum - Michelangelo was inspired by this pose for his image of St. Bartholomew in the Last Judgement

The Hall of Maps was fascinating for our family with all of the geography we've learned this year. In fact our youngest son even commented on how these maps from so long ago put his maps that he's drawn this year to shame! This magnificent hall was commissioned by Pope Gregory, who invented the Gregorian calendar, and had a fabulous hand-carved plaster ceiling. On the walls were masterpieces of topography.

Kids in front of the Italy map in the Hall of Maps

Who knew Van Gogh painted a pieta? It's the only religious topic he ever painted.

We then toured Pope Julius II's apartments, which were painted by Raphael. It was fun to learn the stories and connections behind the figures in the painting as Raphael would include himself and those he knew in his work. We also were in awe by what is considered an 'ancestor of wallpaper,' walls covered with leather, embroidered with silk designs, and painted with gold leaf - WOW! We also were intrigued to see religious paintings by many famous artists such as VanGogh's 'Pieta,' Matisse and Chagall's crucifixes, and even religious paintings by Dali and Francis Bacon (which was purchased recently from a Sotheby's auction for $150million).

Raphael's famous School of Athens

Look what G found! One of the two original Rodin Thinkers

Dad's excited to finally see a Dali painting!

We headed towards St. Peter's Basilica and learned about the process for electing a new pope. There is a famous chimney that will put out black smoke if they haven't reached a 2/3 majority vote. If a new pope has been elected, then the smoke will be white. The Pope then chooses the band he will wear - red or white, and then he is announced from the balcony. Typically there is a Jubilee year every 25 years, but the current Pope Francis declared this to be a Jubilee year even though the last was in 2000, and the next one will be in 2025. A Jubilee year allows Catholics to have entrance through a holy door, make confession, take the Eucharist, and then it is believed that all of the sins in their life up until this moment are now forgiven. Because of this, many Catholics make the pilgrimage to St. Peter's Basilica during a Jubilee year.

Bernini designed the altar in St. Peter's Basilica 

It also just so happened that the day following our visit was the day that the Catholic church celebrates St. Peter and Paul every year - we had no idea! We were grateful that our tour was booked for the day it was, as the following day the Pope would be hosting mass here and we wouldn't have been able to enter St. Peter's Basilica. The Catholic church considers Peter the first Catholic Pope and he is boring under the altar of the basilica. In addition, because of the timing of our visit, we were able to observe St. Peter's statue clothed and wearing a crown, something that one can only see once a year on this day of celebration.

The Statue of St. Peter only gets dressed once a year!

Inside St. Peter's Basilica is Michelangelo's famous Pieta. He was only 23 years old when he sculpted this and so many were in disbelief that the Pope had him carve his name on it, something that was not common at that time. It is the only signed artwork by Michelangelo. We also saw the tomb of St. John Paul II and the mummified St. John XXIII who we were told was so dearly loved and died in 1963 and declared "saint" the same day as John Paul II.

Kids in front of Michelangelo's famous Pieta, his only signed artwork

Dearly loved, mummified Pope John XXIII

In front of the Vatican

We were glad to have had the behind-the-scenes-tour as we learned so much more than Mom and Dad had when they were there years before. It was amazing to see all of the history and great artworks in the Vatican collection. However, the Vatican is on the opposite side of Rome from our apartment, and our tour started at 7:30, so everyone was ready to move on and have the fun tourist meal mom had reserved for us for lunch. Unfortunately the bus didn't arrive on time and we ended up hopping in a cab in order to make our reservation on time. And sadly, the food was not as amazing as the reviews had made it sound and afterwards we were all ready to have a quiet afternoon in our hot apartment.

The kids spent the remainder of the day doing school, reading and watching a movie, while Mom and Dad escaped for a fabulous date night at a restaurant that we agree was one of our favorite on the whole trip. Ad Hoc offered early arrival truffle tasting and then an incredible dining selection. It was by far our best date night of the trip and much needed as traveling with a family 24/7 has presented it's own set of challenges.  We needed a breather to say the least.

Truffle tasting on date night