Oct 3, Vatican City

Hello everyone, for the last time on this trip!  Today, we concluded our trip with our capstone visit to the Vatican City.  The agenda was to see and learn of the Sistine Chapel, Basilica of St. Peter, and St. Peter's Square.  The Vatican City is the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and is considered an independent state with the Italian state.  Inside the Vatican City, we went through long lines and started in the Vatican museum, then proceeded to a courtyard where our tour guide explained what we were about to see in the Sistine Chapel.  The reason why is because she was not allowed to do any explaining for restrictions to be silent in the Chapel.  Also we were not allowed to take photos inside the Chapel. 

Scale model of the Vatican City

Here is photo of the incredibly decorated hall that leads to the Sistine Chapel.

Next, we were led from the chapel into the Basilica of St. Peter.  This was INCREDIBLE.  The Basilica of St Peter is the largest church building in the world in the Roman Catholic Church.

Entering the basilica, you see the dark wooden structure called Bernini's Canopy, and a white altar with six candles and a cross on a stands.

Beneath the white altar in the next floor below is the Tomb of St. Peter.

This dome is approximately 300' high, centering above the Bernini's canopy.

Afterwards, we exited St. Peter's Basilica and down into St. Peter's Square, a site familiar to people around the world.

Basilica of St Peter

Dr. Sam Morris, Society for Biblical Exploration, Jackson, Mississippi.

Diane and John Rhea, Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, Georgia.

Mary Ruffin, Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, Georgia.

Nita Adams, Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, Georgia.

Martha and James Davis, Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, Georgia.

Leaving St. Peter's Square, we had one more site to visit, the Catacombs of San Sebastiano.  These catacombs are a network of underground tunnels that had over 100,000 tombs.  The Catacombs were the first burial location of the apostles Peter and Paul, before they were eventually relocated to their current tombs, with Peter entombed beneath the Basilica of St. Peter.  We were not allowed to take pictures down in the catacombs either.  The other significance to the catacombs is the early church met there to bury their dead and hold services there in the early years. 

Tonight, we rest, and early tomorrow morning, we begin our journey back to the U.S.  In reflection, we have all learned lot, experienced a lot, and shared a lot, but more importantly grew closer to God in Christ and to each other.  Thank you for allowing me to share this incredible 14 day journey with you all!

May the Lord bless you and keep you!

Sincerely,

Ying

Oct 2, Rome

Hi everyone!

Today was the first of two touring days in Rome.  Today we saw the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Arches of Constantine and Titus, and so many other places around Rome on our walk of over 10,000-steps.  Someone tracked that number on their pedometer.  Rome has seven hills, and it sure felt like we walked up and down all of them!  The weather was cool in the morning but heated up with its humidity in this dense modern capital of Italy.  

Here are some pictures of the Colosseum.  It's currently under renovation (as you see with the scaffolding) as well as ongoing excavation.

Martha Davis and Pam Metz at the Colosseum

The Colosseum was used in many cases for public executions and well as for many other entertainment forms such as gladiator games.  However, there were no certain evidence that Christian martyrdom existed in the Colosseum.  Those happened with certainty in other places around Ancient Rome. Except for one case, there was an early bishop, Ignatius, who was convicted of treason and condemned to be torn apart by wild beasts in the Colosseum. Today, the Pope comes to the Colosseum annually on Good Friday to a cross located in the Colosseum as part of the stations of the cross walk.  

This is a view of the Arch of Constantine from the Colosseum.  

This next arch is the Arch of Titus.  Titus was a military commander who later became a Roman emperor. The Arch of Titus is the entrance gate to the ancient Roman Forum.  The Arch memorializes Titus's victory over the Jews in Jerusalem.  What is significant is what is carved on the inside of the arch. 

On the left inside of the arch is a sculpted depiction of the Roman victory over the Jewish revolt in Jerusalem.  It shows the Romans parading a menorah as one of the spoils of war.

Titus was the military commander that led the Roman forces to crush the Jewish revolt in 70 AD.   The construction of this arch began in 72 AD and was completed in 81 AD.  Which means, this is one of the concrete pieces of evidence that anchors the time frame of the destruction of the temple.  

The famous Spanish Steps:

For tomorrow, our last day of touring, we will visit the Vatican City, the "smallest country in the world".

Ying

Oct 1, Athens

Happy October, everyone!  It's hard to believe how September just flew by. And it's hard to believe how fast this trip has gone by.  

The agenda for today was to tour a few locations in Athens, GREECE before we depart for Rome, ITALY.  

We make a quick photo stop of the Athens Stadium.  This is the world famous finish line for the Athens marathon as well as the Olympic Games.

Our next stop was Mars Hill.  THIS is a very significant landmark in Paul's journey.  Paul gives yet another pivotal sermon, this time, in Athens on this hill.  We pick up in Acts 17:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. (‭Acts‬ ‭17‬:‭22-25‬ NIV)

The Areopagus is the council of judges and city officials to which Paul was brought to explain his strange teaching.  The location of that council in Athens's history is called Mars Hill. 

This is a view of the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon from Mars Hill.

A panoramic view of Athens atop Mars Hill:

Next we visited the Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon.  Acropolis means "city on a hill".  And, the Parthenon is a gigantic temple that sits on the Acropolis.  This megastructure, when it was in its full form in the past, told of the history of the gods and goddess and is dedicated to Athena, the Greek goddess which the city of Athens is named after. 

Here we are making our climb up top the Acropolis:

The Parthenon

Folks from Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, GA.   Front row, left to right: Diane Rhea, Martha Davis, Pam Metz, Joy Melton.  Back row: John Rhea, James Davis, Karen and Andy Drexler, David Melton. 

David Philpot of Dunwoody UMC, Atlanta, GA

Judy and Bill Vogel

Andy and Karen Drexler

James and Martha Davis

We came down from the Acropolis, toured another market area of ancient Athens still under excavation, then headed to the airport for our next destination:  Rome!