Room of Maps (Vatican City)

If you were a Pope and wanted to look at maps of, say world empires, your home land, the Roman Empire, would you just put up cloth or "store" bought?  I think not.  In this beautiful room are gorgeous maps of Italy and the world.  They are easily floor to ceiling and have impressive details.    

I have no idea what I am doing with my head/shoulder here.  But you get the picture on how large the maps are!  :)

Again, size and detail!

And well, of course, you would never put the maps in a bare room.  No, no.  Instead the ceiling would have to be frescoed to the highest standard, and well, of course, it is. 

(By the way, this room is really indicative of the entire museum layout.  Long, narrow rooms that really feel more like hallways, but are all ornate and stunning!)

Views and Entrances (Vatican City)

Ever wondered what the Pope sees when he is giving mass in front of St. Peter's Basilica?   Look no further as this is the exact view!

Everything about St. Peter's is impressive and grand!  Especially the front door!

First glance inside! (Vatican City)

Jason is standing right in the front door of St. Peter's Basilica.  As you would imagine, it is gorgeous.  On the right side of picture, is a mini wall.  See it?  Well, that wall marks off a section of the floor where there are stones laid to distinguish St. Peter's Basilica from all the other major cathedrals and churches in the world. 

Indeed, the stones aren't really necessary, because from your first entrance to the Basilica, it is so so so easy to see that it is the largest in the world.  

 

This is a Michelangelo statue of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus.  Its called the Pieta.  It shows Mary holding the body of Jesus after the crucifixion.  An interesting story about the Pieta, is that currently it sits behind bullet proof glass.  This wasn't always the case.  It used to sit in the middle of the Basilica until 1972 when a disturbed geologist took attacked it with a hammer whilst shouting "I am Jesus Christ".

  

Here I am touching the "Holy Door" that the Pope opens only in Jubilee years with an elaborate ceremony and a bronze hammer!  Where I am touching is a spot worn in the brass, and Jason I have been sitting here for 15 minutes trying to figure out why.  We can't remember, other than it was very holy to do so.

Final Resting Place (Vatican City)

Throughout St. Peter's Basilica is the final resting for a number of Popes.  It is a very stunning sight to see as many are on display (as here) throughout the Basilica. 

Others are under statues and other memorials.

And finally -- St. Peter Himself! (Vatican City)

"St. Peter's baldacchino is a large sculpted bronze artwork designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini and located over the high altar of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. The large canopy was intended to mark in a monumental way the place of Saint Peter's tomb. It was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII. Works began in July 1623 and ended in 1633."

Here's the text from the tomb.

On December 23, 1950, in his pre-Christmas radio broadcast to the world, Pope Pius XII announced the discovery of Saint Peter's tomb.  It was in the crypt.  Which now, is below the altar, and the baldacchino and remains an excavation site!

Swiss Guards! In Rome? (Vatican City)

"Swiss Guards are Swiss mercenary soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts from the late 15th century until the present day (in the form of the Papal Swiss Guard). They have generally had a high reputation for discipline and loyalty to their employers. Some of these units have also served as fighting troops in the field. There were also regular Swiss mercenary regiments serving as line troops in various armies, notably those of France, Spain and Naples until the 19th century who were not household or guard units." (From my favourite site -- Wikipedia)  Oh and from me, the guards are really impressive!  They protect (and have always protected) the Pope, Vatican staff and of course, the tourists!  :)

Sunset leads to Nightfall Leads to Goodbye Rome!

Sunset at St. Peter's Basilica!

Nightfall!

Goodbye Rome!

The Adventure Begins! (Nairobi, Kenya)

We start here. A little, tiny airplane...takes off in the morning sky and lands on a dirt airstrip, further than either of us have ever been! This is just the start of something so spectacular!

A View From the Top (Somewhere over Kenya)

Kenya is a gorgeous country. The landscape changes constantly. Jason took this video out the window of the plane and it is obvious how lush and green Kenya can be.

Wanna go inside the plane? (Kenya)

The plane was empty of passengers as you can tell from everyone standing on the airstrip so I took the opportunity to show you what the inside looked like! The planes were really quite nice!

Further than... (Kenya)

Further than we had ever been...but of course, there was always an enterprising lad around...duty free shopping, anyone??

Checking In! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

After we landed and finished our mini-game drive, we were taken to our "cottage"/home for the next few days. It was heaven! Totally unexpected!

What about the animals? (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

Let's start with the elephants! Moms, Dads and babies! On our way in from the airstrip, we had a mini-game drive. For our first time in the jeep, in Kenya, and the sights were extraordinary! Our first sighting? A herd of elephants! They were cooling of in a mud hole right next to the car! We thought it was an incredible sight and then -- out comes the baby! I was thrilled!

As you can see from these pictures the baby was very interested in his trunk and ears! He was kind of enough to wave to Jason over and over again!

Video Elephants! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

A little video to show you how beautiful these creatures truly are!

Giraffes! (Kenya)

I think that the easiest way to organise these photos is by animal. Unlike the one species of elephant we saw, there are two main types of giraffes that we saw in Kenya. The first is the reticulated giraffe. Its pattern and colouring are very distinct. The picture below is a reticulated giraffe. He also happens to be peeing. Sorry. Its the best photo I have to show you his beautiful colouring. These male giraffes are generally 16-18 feet tall and weigh about 3,000 pounds.

Giraffes also do something else very cool -- when they run, the right front leg and the right back leg move together, and likewise the left side moves together. The effect is incredibly unique looking!

This is the other giraffe -- A Masai Giraffe. These giraffes are the largest of the giraffes and used to live all over Africa. The have lost, however, the majority of their habitat and thus they only live in Tanzania and Kenya. Even though they are a land animal, they are able to swim for a short period of time. They are different from the reticulated giraffe in that their colouring is less defined and vibrant.

This Masai giraffe is just as curious of us as we were of him!

Wanna meet Lula? (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

Lewa Downs was originially a family owned ranch. Now its a wildlife conservancy. "The Lewa Wildlife Conservancy works as a catalyst for the conservation of wildlife and its habitat. It does this through the protection and management of species, the initiation and support of community conservation and development programmes, and the education of neighbouring areas in the value of wildlife." Lewa's main focus is the black rhino. One afternoon we were given the opportunity to meet the newest black rhino at Lewa -- Lula! She is a four month old black rhino. She weighs about 200 pounds. We arrived just in time for her afternoon feeding -- warm milk!

The man on the left side of the picture is Lula's "mother"! He is her caretaker and will raise her until she is capable of being released into the wild. He is with her all day at the conservancy. I was charmed. Their relationship was wonderful, and it was clear he adores his job!

Lula so did not want to give up that bottle. Even after it was finished she hung on! And at 200 pounds, she is quite strong!!

Because its my blog! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

Well, dear reader, we have reached that moment again...the where I get to put pictures in my blog because I like them. These, according to our guide, are called Fire Lilies. Since we were in Kenya during the dry season, there were very few wild flowers around. Like most things in a desert climate, something beautiful always grows. So as you see the brown landscape of the dry season, it is not so bleak as there are these gorgeous red puffs scattered across the landscape!

Pumba! (Warthogs!) (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

Warthogs are extremely shy -- making them very difficult to photograph! They are usually in families, or groupings called sounders. I can say that even though warthogs are not particularly attractive, they were the star of everyone's safari. I think this is because when they are frightened, they stick their tails straight into the air and run away. Its a bit difficult to describe, but it has earned them the nickname of the "Kenyan Express"! No matter how many times we saw them do it, it was still the cutest thing every time!

Zebras! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

There are two main types of zebras in Kenya. Grevy's Zebras and Common (Burchell's) Zebras.

This is a great side picture of a common zebra! You can see that the stripes are larger and that they cover the belly area!

I like this picture because the zebras are all together and are looking so peaceful, snacking in the early morning light!

Grevy's zebras are an endangered species and in fact, about a quarter of Kenya's Grevy's zebra population lives at Lewa Downs. In the picture above, you can see the white belly and the finer stripes of Grevy's zebras.

I was very surprised by the zebras. I thought that they would be more like horses, but in reality they are more like donkeys -- especially the ears. They even make a very donkey like noise when they are speaking to one another! They are also much smaller than horses.

Horseback Riding! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

A little discussed fact about Safaris -- its hard to bounce around in the car that much. It really is. So, Jason and I were looking for alternatives. At Lewa, guests have the opportunity to take nature walks, go horseback riding or camel riding. If you know me, you already know, I am not wild about horses...so to tell you how much I wanted out of the car for a morning, I agreed to go horseback riding with Jason! On our journey we were accompanied by Silas (our Masai guide) and the manager of the horse stables. In the picture above, its the manager, me and then Silas. Jason is in the rear taking the photo!

In addition to being a break from the car, horseback riding allows you to get really close to all the animals. The theory from the Kenyans is that you are not human looking on a horse, you just look like the horse, and thus the animals just see another large animal and therefore could care less that you are near them!

Don't 'cha just love this photo! Don't I look so happy to be on the horse?! :) Even though I knew we would be very close to the animals, I have to admit I was surprised by how large they were! Consequently, I enjoyed being in the back of the group and the farthest away!

Baboons! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

These are two photos of baboons from our horseback ride! Jason and the boys were so excited to find them! I, on the other hand, was having horror moments of how vicious baboons are and how NOT excited I was to be so close to them! So here I am very far away, and everyone else is creeping closer and closer to them at this very moment! I thought they were nuts!

Turtles in the Road! (Lewa Downs, Kenya)

On one of our drives we encountered a very unusual object blocking the path of the jeep! A turtle! As you can see he was quite afraid of us...but our guide was kind enough to return the little guy to the grass on the side of the road and our adventure continued!

Welcome to our little chateau! (Masai Mara, Kenya)

Imagine! All that luxury to a tent. Okay, so just a "tent" is a stretch! But still, bucket showers, a tarp floor, and only cloth between me and the animals! Something entirely different again! (I have a small confession...the bed was heavenly. The best ever. So, there was a touch of luxury after all!)

Monkeys, Monkeys, Monkeys (Kenya)

These little black faced monkeys were everywhere! They looked so cute and when they were eating it reminded me of squirrels...they ate with their "hands" very close to their faces -- it was so funny looking! And for the record, they are the loudest, smackiest eaters ever!

Ostrich -- Can you imagine? (Kenya)

This is a male ostrich, black and white, as opposed to the female ostrich, all brown, below. They are very large birds and are surprisingly pretty!

One day, in the Mara, a group of guides returned to camp with an abandoned ostrich egg. Needless to say it was the highlight of breakfast the following morning! An ostrich egg can make an omelette for about 25 people -- they are huge eggs! I considered it a plus that we were on an early morning drive and missed the ostrich egg breakfast -- Jason, on the other hand, was gutted! He still speaks of missing out on the experience!

Whew! I could use a break! (Kenya)

Even when you are in the most beautiful place on earth...everyone needs a little down time! Jason was napping and I decided to sit on our "porch" and work a few sudoku puzzles!

Hyenas! (Masai Mara, Kenya)

If you have ever seen The Lion King, you might be under the impression that hyenas are nasty, ugly creatures...in fact, I thought they were really cute! They reminded me a bit of a small furry bear!

Everyone has to work together in Africa to survive. In this instance, the lions killed the wildebeest, ate first and when they were finished, in moved the hyenas, who had seconds on the wildebeest, and finally the vultures! They take the leftovers!