Happy Year of the Sheep!

This past Wednesday I went to a Chinese New Year’s event. Technically I think it was Chinese New Year’s Eve.  The event was not a big deal in itself, but since I was already headed into town that night, I decided to go a bit early and check out the Well Wishing Ribbon Ceremony:

To ring in the Year of the Sheep the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival invites you to join us on the Millennium Bridge on Wednesday 18th of February at 5.30pm to tie ribbons and hang your special wishing cards with your hopes and dreams for the year ahead. Enjoy Dragon dancing and further entertainment on the bridge. All are welcome on this unique special gathering amongst friends and family on Chinese New Year’s Day!

The Millennium Bridge sounds like a big deal, but it’s really just a plain old bridge that is not very big.  It was pretty crowded with everyone there for the event and all the regular folks who were just trying to get across the river.  Somehow that worked in its favor though, making it all seem more exciting and well attended.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I just headed to the bridge and thought I would know it when I saw it.  I got to the bridge and heard some music, so I tried to walk toward the sound.  I had trouble getting through the crowd, and didn't realize that the music was moving, and it was moving towards me!  After a bit of trying to fight my way through, someone wearing an event vest ushered us all to the side, and right after him came the folks playing the cymbals and a dragon!  He was inches from me, it was kind of cool :)  The dragon dancers did a great job of dancing around while simultaneously blinking the eyes, flapping the mouth, and twitching the ears.

"Help," the dragon says, "I can't get through!"

Peek-a-boo!

After he passed I was able to find someone with the wish cards, thought of some good wishes for the new year, and tied it on along with the others.

I heard the volunteers talking about candles floating down the river, so I hung out for a bit to see what that would be like.  It was a pretty nice day, but the wind over the bridge was so cold!  They started dropping the candles, which were in a lotus flower shaped holder, into the water before it was dark, but I was glad because I didn't want to hang out in that cold any longer and I had a Girls Night Out wine tasting to get to.  He only dropped them one at a time, so it was not a glorious light show or anything, but I was still glad to be there for it.

It was interesting to see how Dublin handles these festivities.  We all tied our ribbons onto a length of fishing line that was strung right under the railing, for easy cleanup.  They also had two kayakers waiting about 20 yards down from the bridge to scoop up all of the candles, presumably to prevent litter.

It was a small event, but I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to lots more events as the weather gets warmer!

Rome

Rome was the last stop on the trip.  By this point we were getting overwhelmed by everything we had already seen, and everything we still had yet to see!  Rome has SO MUCH to see, but we only had a day and a half and our legs were tired from all the walking we had been doing, so we focused on just a few things.  First things first, off to the Colosseum! 

On the way there we passed a few ruins and other sights that were just dotted around town.  Some were just neat looking old buildings, some were huge ruins.  It was crazy to see the old mixed in with the new.  One building we passed in the taxi looked like they just built a new building right on top of the old, so that half way up it transitioned from weather-worn marble to stucco with glass windows that looked like apartments.  Craziness, I have never seen a mix of old and new like this anywhere before, usually the ruins are in a completely separate area from the rest of town. 

We also noticed that orange trees line many of the streets in Rome. I have no idea if anyone eats them, but since all the low-hanging fruit was gone, we supposed that they did.  I don't know if there is a story there or not, but it sure was pretty!

Speaking of trees, I couldn't pass up a chance to take a picture with a genuine Italian olive tree, even it it was in a pot outside a restaurant.

When we got to the Colosseum, I was surprised at how it looked.  I am not sure if I can explain how, but it looked a bit different than I had expected based on pictures. First of all, I thought it was whiter than it actually was, and I thought it would be bigger.  Don’t get me wrong, it was BIG, but somehow movies make it look even bigger.  It was also rather difficult to figure out where people would have sat based on what was left.  We had a good look around but didn't stay too long because a very strong, rather cold wind was making us a bit miserable. 

I had planned to go check out the Trastevere neighborhood that night for dinner, but once we made it back to the hotel we were too pooped to leave again.  Something for the next trip!

The Colosseum was hubby’s must see, but mine was the Trevi Fountain.  We hit that first thing the next morning, but were surprised at what we found.

Somewhere behind all that scaffolding is the Trevi Fountain.  You think the guy at the hotel would have mentioned this when he was circling all the sites on the map for us.

Going to Italy off season: no overheating, no big crowds, rarely a line, huge sales in stores and with street vendors, but many of the restaurants are closed and the artifacts are being refurbished.  :( They at least had a walkway so we could get close and peek between the scaffolding, but definitely not the same!   Sigh….

Scaffolding or no, I wasn't going to miss my opportunity to get my picture in front of the fountain!

Off to the Spanish Steps where we found MORE refurbishment.  At least this time the steps were uncovered, it was the church at the top that was being worked on.  We honestly couldn't remember why the steps were a big deal, we just remember it was a thing to see and we were close, so had to check it out.

Later that day was our most exhausting, and most satisfying, site so far: a three hour tour of the Vatican.  This was the only guided tour we booked, and we were glad we did as we would have missed so much without it.  Hubby and his parents are Catholic, so I think it was a little more special for them than it was for me, but I still thought it was great.  Much of the tour was discussing the vast amounts of artwork in the papal palace, where the tour guide confirmed the rumor FIL heard that it would take 10 years to study all the art.  Paintings, tapestries, statues, mosaics…you name it hey had it, and it was EVERYWHERE!  One hallway had every square foot covered in paintings, it was a whole museum’s worth on the ceiling alone.  It was quite gaudy, actually, but I guess tastes change with the times.  

Not just paintings on the ceilings, plaster sculptures too!

The guide explained how the artwork in other parts of the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel specifically, were influenced by the sculptures that had already been brought to the Vatican.  She also discussed some paintings that I remember discussing in my Art History class in college, I had no idea they were from here.  The Sistine Chapel is what I think we were all most anxious to see, but it was nothing like we expected.  I had not done my homework at all and thought, somehow, that it was painted under one of the domes in St. Peter's Basilica.  But it was instead a chapel within the Papal Palace and was a long rectangular room, which was also much smaller than you would think.  Michelangelo painted the ceiling, but other artists pained the walls, and the effect was one ginormous canvas, the only thing not painted was the floor, and it had marble designs in it.  It was dizzying.  We couldn't take pics of it so you’ll just have to google it, sorry.  We were all actually a bit disappointed in the Sistine Chapel, but St. Peter's Basilica made up for it.

There is a dome on the Basilica, which you can't see from this view, but I couldn't pass up getting a shot of the sun starting to set and the lights coming on.

Every Cathedral we've seen is amazing, all have their own special touches and elaborations, and many are so over the top they turn out gaudy.  St. Peter's Basilica pushed right up against, but stayed on the classy side of, that line.  It was so impressive that MIL was literally stopped mid-step by the beauty of it as we came in the door.  Again, the enormity and scale of this place is something you just can’t understand without being there, it was amazing.  It also held this piece of art, which was something I was so happy to see in person.  My father’s urn is a bronze casting of this same statue, so it was very special for me. 

We had only seen part of the cathedral when we heard bells and singing.  At the very front of the cathedral, in a small section that was roped off from visitors, they held a small service complete with a choir.  That was pretty amazing to witness.   You can hear a little bit of it in this video hubby took.

As we headed out we passed a huge nativity, even though this was the last day in January (maybe we got to see it on its last day???).  There was lighting that changed from twinkling stars to sunrise to full daylight then back again, and had figures that moved.  We saw another nativity outside next to the huge Christmas tree, but without the special effects and a little less detailed.  Still cool.

I wish I had captured a video of it, but you can see that the lights change and the people in the foreground give you an idea of how big it was.

The outdoor nativity and Christmas tree.

The Vatican tour was exhausting but well worth the visit if you have the chance, even if you are not Catholic or even Christian.

There is much much more to see in Rome, but I guess it will have to wait for next time!

The beautiful sunrise and rainbow from our hotel room window on the last day there was telling us to come back again!

Florence

After Venice we visited Florence.  You could immediately tell this was going to be much different than Venice.  While Venice seemed very old world, without even any cars in town, Florence was very much a modern city, but not too big, which is why I think hubby liked this stop the best.  He also said, after we visited Rome, that Florence felt safer and more high class than Rome, and was his favorite of all three cities we visited.  It still had a Tuscan touch to it, but nothing as drastically out of the ordinary as Venice.  Because it was a regular city, this was our first chance to experience Italian driving.  We were all very glad we didn't have to drive here.  It wasn't as crazy as I've seen in movies or TV, but way more than we wanted to deal with, we stuck to walking when we could and glad we didn't get a rental car.

Hubby thought the anti-mafia building and the tiny bus were funny.

We arrived in the afternoon and set off exploring and enjoying the sunshine as we walked along the river.  When the wind wasn't blowing, it was much warmer than Venice and a welcome change.  Walked a street near the river but were disappointed to find out everything was closed up.  And when I say closed up, I mean metal shutters rolled down over all the windows and doors, so you can’t even window shop.  We asked the hotel about this and found out that first of all, we weren't in a part of town that would have anything for us; and second, most places were closed between 1pm and 4pm for “lunch.”  We had better luck when we went back out after 4 and found a church where FIL attended an afternoon service, the high-end shop area of town, and the famous bridge.  The bridge looked kind of interesting from the outside, but turned out to be just another extension of the shopping center, and the sides were lined with jewelry shops.  Hubby enjoyed seeing all the fancy pants shops, even though we had no intention of even entering one. 

I didn't have any good shots of the famous bridge, but this was a beautiful view of the river!

The next day we headed to the site hubby couldn't wait to see: the statue of David.  Did you know it is supposed to be David from the David and Goliath story, or that it is 14 feet tall?  I didn't either.  I was shocked at how big it was, I tried to take a picture with hubby in the foreground for perspective, but it still doesn't do it justice.  We were extremely lucky no to have to wait in a line to see this, as the guide book had many warnings about it.  There are some advantages to coming to Italy in January I suppose.  The same museum that houses David also had a whole section on how the marble statues were made.  I had no idea they made a plaster version first, then transferred it to marble using guide marks on the plaster and a t-shaped measuring tool.  Kind of cool!

Near the museum was the Hotel Casci, which is owned by part of my FIL’s family.  We had to go see the family hotel!  Unfortunately, it was closed for renovations, so the sign on the building was all we really got to see.

The other site we wanted to see was the Duomo.  It was a cathedral completely covered, inside and out, with pink, grey, and white marble.  It was an amazing sight for the marble alone, but had a beautifully painted dome as well.

We spent the rest of our time there just recuperating and walking around town, during which we got to experience rain and snow.  It was sunny when we arrived, got very cold the next day, and in Rome we heard thunder and saw hail, so we experienced pretty much every weather pattern while we were here!