Roman Adventures and Roman Mysteries

Hey, Mom!  I'm in Vatican City!

The trio's second day in Rome included a trip to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's for Mark and Bren.  Anne has been to the Vatican twice before, so she elected to spend the day at another museum (that museum focused on art by.... one of the big names.... one of the artists who was named after a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle - maybe Rafael or Donatello?).  In any event, Bren and Mark had the opportunity to tour the Vatican Museum and see all of the historical and artistic exhibits on display there.  After visiting the museum, Bren and Mark climbed to the top of St. Peter's to get an outstanding view of Vatican City and large parts of Rome.

But this trip was not as easy as it sounds.  The "duomo" (dome) was built to be viewed from the outside, and to a lesser extent, from the inside.  It was not built to be scaled.  The staircases used to get to the top make this point exceedingly clear.  On the way up, the climber scales 500 steps, most of which are situated in a hall which has walls that are shaped to accommodate the curvature of the dome.  Although this is undoubtedly necessary in the process of creating this building, it creates the fairly unpleasant reality that the climbers must climb the dome while leaning over to the right at the waist.

The way down is a different staircase, as neither is wide enough for two-way traffic.  The descending staircase does not require any sort of staircase gymnastics, just a good defense against claustrophobia, as that staircase descends down corkscrew-style.  

The trio enjoyed their remaining time in Rome and saw many of the sights.  As mentioned in the previous post, they made a visit to the Trevi Fountain.  At that locale, all three threw a coin in the for good luck (and, legend has it, to ensure a return visit to Rome in the future).  This was not the only harbinger of good luck the trio experienced, however.  For example, Bren received an international sign of good luck, compliments of a Roman pigeon.

Lucky!

Why is this a sign of good luck?  Why is throwing a coin in a fountain a sign of good luck, for that matter?  Good questions.  The trip to Rome raised these and many, many other good questions.  Some of these questions have objective answers, but others are more philosophical.  In either case, as always, creativity > accuracy when you place your answers in the comments below...

Question: Why is Mark laughing in this photo?

Go Hawks!

a. Because he just figured out that the Spanish Steps are not even in Spain
b. Because someone just asked him if he wanted to eat some vegetables
c. Because Anne just reacted with uncharacteristic (and wildly unnecessary) aggressiveness toward a street vendor
d. other....


Question: What happened immediately after this photo was taken?

a. Bren was "beamed up" to the Enterprise
b. Choir of angels finished singing
c. Other...


Question: Why is this the only photo that is being posted from Anne's. Bren's and Mark's visit to the catacombs of Priscilla?

a. No photos allowed in the catacombs of Priscilla
b. Coming up with multiple choice answer choices is hard....
c.
d. None of the above




What is causing this reaction by Bren?

And finally, is Rome the only place we are going to be able to see American football this fall?