Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Sistine Chapel – Vatican City

Visiting the Vatican was very interesting – as you can imagine there is a LOT to see within those walls. Probably the most famous part is the Sistine Chapel. More on the Vatican including photos in another post to come, until then I want to share this photo of the Sistine…

no-photo

Yup – you guessed it – no photos allowed in the chapel. That is some old paint in there. And man it was packed with people – if they were all taking photos with flash you would not be able to see anything!

So here is the next best thing to being there – seriously though, this is really something. This is a virtual reality tour of the Sistine Chapel – you can see the artwork better here than in person (and the music is pretty calming too).

So please take your time and really look at the art, the details. Can you see any differences from one side of the ceiling to the other?

Did you know that it is a rumor that Michelangelo laid on his back while painting the ceiling? He was actually standing whole time – ouch! That and he didn’t want the job – but the Pope really wanted him to do it (insisted actually), so…

Enjoy!

http://www.vatican.va/various/cappelle/sistina_vr/index.html 

Oh ya – take a look at the Whale (you know, Jonah and the whale) – Michelangelo didn’t know what a whale looked like, so he did the best he knew to do. See it?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Cruising into Retirement

Was at our Lions Christmas Party last night and over dinner we were discussing going on a club cruise some time. A number of the members are frequent cruisers. One couple had just returned days earlier for a cruise in fact, and we were just back a few weeks from one.

Bill our host asked if we thought we would enjoy a cruise around the world that takes about a year. Which lead to a discussion about trans-Atlantic cruises – some folks like them, some think they would go nuts with that many sea days.

Bev added a new twist to the conversation when she says “do you know that cruising for a year is cheaper than a retirement home or even independent living?”

Now there’s an idea! Why sit in one location and get bored with life when you could save money and see the world!

What do you think about this idea?

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

New Blog – follow our travels

Created a new blog space (this one!) to post about our travels and share tips and thoughts about locations, methods of travel, companies, etc.

Will have to back-post from some of our older trips. Am currently working on a post from our latest trip. Lots to add, LOTS of photos, and a lot going on right now that is keeping me from getting it done.

Hopefully it won’t be too long.

Also look forward to your replies, questions and input.

Thanks!

Tim (& Jen)