Suttons Go To London

Saturday morning got here WAY too early. Our flight left London at 6:15am, and since we flew on RyanAir (which only allows EU citizens to check in online) we had to be at the airport by 5am. The earliest train to the airport left the city at about 4:15am, and we were on it! We left the apartment at 3:30 or so we were tired before we started! It was actually kind of surreal to be walking in dark and quiet in a city that is always so busy. We arrived in sunny Palermo a few hours later. When we disembarked from the plane, we had to get on a little bus which was supposed to drive us to the airport building. So we waited for the whole plane to get onto 2 busses. When everyone was finally on board, the buses began their long and treacherous journey to the building, which took literally 30 seconds. I think we might have driven 20 feet!

We had a great day wandering around Palermo. First, a couple of downsides… we somehow ended up in a single room with a tiny bed, good for cozying, not good for getting ready in the morning. Also, the city is really dirty and polluted - there are piles of garbage all around, and just unbelievable noise from all the scooters and general traffic. When we first arrived it was hot and sticky, we were tired and hungry, and we had to make the 1 mile trek from the train station to the hotel with our packs. After a nice little nap, we set out to see the town. There is some really beautiful architecture - there is a strong Moorish influence in a lot of the buildings, which I thought was cool.

For me, the highlight of the trip was day 2, when this pretty German Shepherd decided to be our stand in dog for the day. There are stray dogs everywhere In Palermo, and if you even make eye contact with them they decide to be your friend. I was trying to illustrate the strays and just how much garbage is in the city when I took this photo:

I think the dog thought my photo-interest meant I was going to feed her because she followed us around for a good hour or two. We started to get really scared that she was going to get hit by a car because she would just follow us everywhere, but she seemed pretty street savvy. Most of the strays are… in fact, we saw one old dog laying on the sidewalk waiting for the light to change - as soon as the walk sign lit up, she got up and crossed with the light! I suppose you live on the street long enough and you get to know the rules really well.

We finished the afternoon with our first of many gelatos at  the Liberty Bar. As you can see, Michael is working on the skill of magically producing gelato:

(tip of the cap to Melanie)

Jen and I and the Pope. That’s right. We took on the country of 900 people and so much artwork that they put it on the ceiling…

First, I’d like to say that the Sistine Chapel was all that it was cracked up to be. Anybody who would paint standing up, looking up 18 hours a day for 4 years gets major props, but then to see it was pretty spectacular. There were no pictures allowed in the Chapel (although it didn’t stop some ding dongs) because Nippon has exclusive rights to all photos of it (they paid 5m+ for restoration) so I can’t show you anything I took of it. Instead I will use this guy’s…

As you can see, this photo is a collage/panorama of photos that show not only the ceiling but the front wall which is also done by Michelangelo and called “The Final Judgment” (the bottom of the photo with the blue background). I could write a paper on all the cool things, but I will leave it at this, who ever thinks old art is boring, should read up. A few nuggets:

Vatican City is defended by the Swiss Guard. They are pretty much show as they are armed with swords only and dressed like the Trix Bunny got hold of them. Either way, everyone seems to feel the need to photograph them, and, when in Rome…

Something stunning about the Vatican was that while it has so much art work in it that if you spent 15 seconds looking at every piece you would be there for 12 years, as you near the end (and the entrance of the Sistine Chapel) there is a collection of exceptional modern art. We didn’t have the luxury of time to look at all of it, but there were some fantastic pieces there. Even the stained glass pieces had a bit of edge to them. This piece signals the start of the real modern work.

As we’ve traveled through Europe, we’ve entered many a church and basilica. Some of them have been quite ornate or sizable or expansive, but they all paled to St. Peter’s Basilica. I think Jen summed it up best, “Good Lord!” The place is huge and it has some amazing statues in it.