Open Up And Say BLOG!

Hi blog, remember me?  I’m one of your creators.  Look…I know that I haven’t been paying much attention to you lately.  I know that I told you that I’d call you the next morning, baby…honestly, but you know how it goes.  I’ve just been busy.  What?  No…no, I haven’t been spending time with those new popular kids “Facebook” and “Twitter”.  Well, not a lot at least…look, can we just do this damn thing?

In the late 80’s and very early 90’s, the wrestling world enjoyed the magnificent gift that was the Ultimate Warrior…a dynamic wrestling powerhouse whose popularity dared rival that of Hulk Hogan’s.  In 1991, the Ultimate Warrior (who was trapped in a coffin at the time), died after being bitten by one of Jake the Snake’s cobras.  Warrior had enlisted the help of Jake to gain knowledge of the dark side, in order to beat his new mortal enemy at that time, the Undertaker.

Okay, I’m going to stop right there for my first “WTF Moment”.  As in, WTF was wrong with me to love this shit so much back in the day?  Good lord…this is about as ridiculous as Jay Doss finding porno videos in a bathroom stall in the MedSci library and them playing them in the lounge while dad’s came to pick up their daughters on the last day of school from Residence.  Wait…what…that happened too?  OH FML, I’ll just back to my story now.

The wrestling world went into deep despair, for their hero was gone.  Or so they thought.  Imagine the electricity and the adrenaline that would have pumped through the crowd on April 5, 1992, when the heavy guitar riff of the Ultimate Warrior’s theme song roared across the stadium speakers.  Warrior raced to the aid of Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VIII, preventing a massive beat down at the hands of Sid Justice and Papa Shango, thus announcing in dramatic fashion his return to the squared circle.  In 1992, I would have been 13 years old…and had farmer vision television.  So I didn’t get to see it on PPV, but if I had…well…the phrase “Clean up on Aisle Three – we’re going to need a LOT of tissue here” might have been appropriate.

In a lot of ways, life imitates art.  And in many ways, this blog is the Ultimate Warrior.  Immensely popular, electrifying, and yet… it basically died in 2007.  Now, it’s interesting, because in 2007, I found out I was going to be a dad…  Hmmmm…obvious guy will be obvious here, but I think the two events might SOMEHOW be linked…!

Was this the end of Open up and Say Blog, some wondered?  Had all hope, reason, and all things good somehow vanished from this world?  Though he won’t admit it, I still recall Bergy, shivering naked in the dark, with tears streaming down his face, as he tried to type in the blog URL into his computer, instead finding a “File 404” message.  Good thing Robin still had the link to “Two Girls, One Cup” saved on her computer for Chad to watch instead.

Honestly, Robin, I can count on ONE HAND the number of times I have wanted to be violently ill in front of others, and that day in your room is Numero Uno for me…  Other times would involve Q’s public and quite graphic description of…ahem…just how far her admiration for me went…in front of my little sister while we were all partying in her FC room.  Speaking of Q, I can see Craigo saying to himself right now “I fucking KNEW IT”.

But, I digress.

Ladies and Gentlemen, for at least one night, the heaven’s and stars aligned for enough material and content to pull together a blog post reminiscent of yore.  But, some things have changed.  I’m a little older.  A little wiser.  I don’t curse and swear as much.  My kids have forced me to become a “better person”.   My kidlets have also caused me to become a little fatter.  Okay, a LOT fatter….look, the ice cream is freaking delicious, and daddy’s had a hard day okay!

As I get older, in some ways I also feel a greater connection to Moose.  In my younger years, I could go up and talk to random women and they wouldn’t run away screaming and digging in their purse for rape-mace.  Nowadays…the risk of this is definitely there…  Oh Moose, how have you handled that rejection for so many years, I wonder?  But, I can’t tease John too much…after all, as we were texting each other Friday Night / Saturday morning, I told him, “John, I think I pissed off a lot of people tonight…aka I should write a blog post”. And he agreed.

So, gather ‘round the computer screen as I spin a tale of sordid debauchery.

Friday Afternoon: Work

What prompted a LOT of what would ultimately become my night was a general frustration at the speed of the clock at work.  Despite having ten BILLION things to do, I found myself fighting the urge to leave work early, so that I might get down to the pub for a cold, tasty, tall mug of draft beer from “The Pint” off Whyte Ave.  To pass the time, I decided to look up this blog and relive all the tales of greatness and glory from days gone by.

Re-reading Jon Houle’s stag, in particular, set me off like a lightning bolt striking a tall oak tree.  Soon I was remembering, and reliving, all these things I had forgotten I had done.  Note: man, I used to be a complete DICK.  (A number of you are probably thinking: USED to be…???).  In fact, we were ALL dicks (I mean, Jon, your nickname isn’t Captain Asshoule without reason…).  How’s it possible that most of us even have wives AND girlfriends…?  LOL JK JK JK.

Well, maybe the cap from my glue stick fell off…or else I started huffing from the gas line that runs outside my cubicle or something…because I started acting strange.  Giddy, light headed, whatever you want to call it.  I decided that I needed to share, to the world, my blog – both by references on Facebook, but also in emails to colleagues to co-workers.

At this point, I need to introduce a few people that none of the regular readers will know. The first, who is named “B”, is my summer student.  Similar to how Jay Doss made me delete every single reference to his name in my blog when he was applying to Med School, B does not want to be publicly identified.  I considered firing her for this insubordination, but according to the HR peeps and labor lawyers I have on standby, I’m not allowed to actually do this.  And just because I promised not to TYPE her name, doesn’t mean I can’t do this…

If you have to think about this longer than 5 seconds, you’re an idiot.

The second person to introduce is BAA, again an acronym…  Now, BAA didn’t ask me to make her anonymous in this blog, but considering she’s supremely pissed at me right now (for reasons that will become apparent soon), I’m just erring on the side of caution.

So, picking up where I left off, I was sending emails to my colleagues.  As well all know, nothing EVER goes wrong when I send emails…  Well, let’s say that if I had a time machine, perhaps I would reconsider sending around the naked pictures of Chad and Moose to BAA a second time, given that that sort of stuff could technically get her and me fired…  And I’m pretty sure Chad and Moose are just THRILLED with this news as well, as this is the first time they are even aware it happened.

But what’s done is done.  And, not unlike a One Republic song, it’s too late to apologize.

The babes alone would be worth suffering the jokes about being in a boy band.

Friday Afternoon: It has begun

“Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but doesn’t the bible teach you to love your enemy”?

Finally, 4:30 rolled around and I took off like a shot for the bar, sorta like a homeless bum heading to the liquor store after dropping off empties at the bottle depot.  I rode along with three colleagues…one of whom had CLEARLY missed the “casual Friday” memo because he was wearing a full suit, to a bar.

I remember I once wore a suit to a bar; and specifically, it was to a strip club.  Even MORE specifically, it was Showgirls, who some of you’ll was only 10 blocks away from my old house.  Guys, if you want to know how to get TONS of attention from strippers, in which they ask you over and over and over if you want a private lap dance, the answer is “wear a suit to a strip club”. #LookedLikeMoney

The bar we went to after work was the Pint…or, as those of you old enough would know it, the Purple Onion.  And for those of you REALLY old enough, the P.O. existed in a DIFFERENT location and was Edmonton’s ONLY gay bar.  Well, walking into the Pint on Friday afternoon, I couldn’t help but wonder if it had reverted to its old form.

Why, do you ask?

Because the place was CRAWLING with dudes.  Seriously, it was a complete sausage fest.  It was gayer than two Mormon missionaries.  It was gayer than a cock-flavored lollipop.  It was gayer than Richard Simmons singing a duet with Elton John in a bath house.  You get my point.

Well, the men-to-women inequity was not just noticed by me.  In fact, one of my friends noticed that she was living her own personal version of “Raining Men” when she tweeted this:

Allison Currie ‏@AlleyDalley

Lots of dudes at @Pint_Downtown. If I gave a crap, this would be outstanding. psst girls, might wanna get down here.

Why were there so many guys?  And who is this mysterious girl that tweets random things at a bar? 

Okay, the answer to the first question is that it was the NHL Entry Draft party at the Pint, and the bar was filled with sports fans.  The answer to the second question is that the Team 1260 was broadcasting live on location, and my aforementioned friend is the producer of that show.  Yes, I am friends with an Edmonton celebrity…  To quote Ron Burgandy, I’m kinda a big deal…

Upon arrival, I order a pint of golden deliciousness, and am shocked to learn that pints are only $4 – even imports.  Sweet sassy molassy, have I died and GONE TO HEAVEN?  My first beer is done faster than a teenage boy’s first sexual encounter!  (An alternate line would have been, “My first beer goes down quicker than a hooker receiving a $100 bill”).

Side bar: Pre-kids, it was really easy to type this kind of stuff.  Post kids, I’m struggling not to delete it. #GrowingUp #Responsibility #ThisIsNotFuckingTwitter

I order another beer, and quickly come to realize that I’ll be Captain of the U.S.S. Passed-Out, and soon, if I don’t order something to eat.  It’s at this point that my waitress (wearing a really skimpy outfit with boobs popping out all over the place – but I’m immune to that sort of thing…) advises me that hot wings are only $5.  Did I propose marriage to this lovely angel?  No…but perhaps I should have!

Along the way, my producer friend came around to talk to me and hand out some entry forms for a contest related to the NHL draft.  And I was feeling quite proud of myself, because not only did I look like a big shot on campus speaking to this radio gal, but also, because I think my friend is pretty attractive.  How attractive?  Well…it’s not like I’m suggesting you creep out her Twitter Profile…but I DID make sure it was an active link in this blog…

(And, to eliminate ANY confusion right meow, the reason I know her on a somewhat personal level relates to our mutual interest in the Eskimos AND the fact that her twins are the same age as Cameron).

Soon, more of my coworkers (including my boss, and then his boss) show up.  And let me tell you that the booze was starting to flow like…well…wine.  Hmmmm, I gotta work on that symbolism.  Balancing the age factor, and making me feel as old as balls, was the fact that many of our summer students were also there drinking.  For the summer students, apparently, the prospect of drinking with their boss is about as appealing slicing off an arm without access to morphine.  So, being the good guy that I am, I proceeded to get rip snorting drunk as quickly as possible, all for the sake of lightening the mood in the room.

In fairness, I really didn’t think I was THAT drunk.  (Cue one of my favorite scenes from Beerfest).  But, as I would learn on Monday morning, my perception was perhaps NOT reality:

·         Apparently, I decided to drink steal the beer that one of our admin staff was drinking.  I am doing this, naturally, while I’m TALKING to her and her boyfriend.

·         We have an exchange student from Quebec, who speaks impeccable English but is looking to improve upon his understanding of slang and English nuances.  Well, I was glad to help – at one point, I interrupted his conversation with B to tell him, “You need to understand something: here is the line (waving my arm in a wild gesture on the table, or in the air, I don’t know because I don’t honestly remember it) and here is where I am at (waaaaay past said invisible line).  Oi vey.

·         Another division manager was there, and I was practically sobbing on her shoulder, telling her how much I respect her and love the work that she’s doing now and did in the past for a different unit.

·         I discussed the finer points of Tupac Shakur with the suit-wearing intern.  WTF do I know about 2pac or even rap in general?  Still, he WAS slightly impressed that I knew that 2pac made a holographic appearance at Coachella 2012 in April.

Plus, I’m his boss this week, so he better have been impressed!

·         Lastly, in a true coup-de-force, I texted my realtor.  I told her I loved her.  (No, seriously, I signed my text “love Dave”.

Anyhow, the night proceeded at a nice pace…but as with all office outings, people started to leave in ones-and-two’s, including my buddy Felix who left – alone – with B.  WELL DONE SIR, giggity, giggity!

The exodus of people from the party didn’t really concern me, because Jody, Jill, and Jane showed up.  Funny enough, for any new readers, you might think that would be three women…but, no, it was my BFF Jody and his wife, and their friend Jane who were gracious enough to take pity on me and come to the bar.  When Jody arrived, we do what we ALWAYS do…order a 1 gallon table keg.  Besides, I thought to myself, even though this is a lot of beer, it shouldn’t be too difficult to pound it out – there are still a lot of people here to help.  Here is a picture of said concoction:

I love you, 1 Gallon Table Keg

But then, something funny happened.  I can’t say who, or why, but suddenly one of my coworkers got up to leave and it was HONESTLY like Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt!  Everyone left all at once, meaning that this monstrosity had to be tackled by the 4 of us (which included 2 girls).

I wish I could say I remember what happened next, re: the beer, but I really don’t…which is to say I was doing my very BEST to live up to that line in the movie Cocktail: “I don’t care how liberated this world becomes, a man will ALWAYS be judged by the amount of alcohol he can consume, and a woman will be impressed, whether she likes it or not”.

Now, presumably as we are destroying the gallon’o’beer, B somehow got lost on her way home (WTF…you didn’t SEEM that drunk when you left)…and I wind up getting a text message from her telling me that she’s coming back.  Consistent with my wrestling theme, this news was as exciting to me as watching Stone Cold Steve Austin being tossed over the top rope in a tag team match, only to rush back into the ring later with a metal chair to bash some heads.

Still, I’d be lying to say that I was just a little scared.  Would my student be prepared for the shiticane of shit that was Jody and I?  Well, there was no time to debate that.  B showed up and Jody said, “Let’s Roll – to Rosies for Karaoke”.

How could I resist?  Lead on good sir!

Friday Evening – Rosies

Okay, my stamina for writing this thing is starting to wane.  (How in the HELL did I used to do these things AFTER I got home from the bar at 3:00 in the morning…)?  Anyways, here is the abridged version of mostly what happened at Rosies:

·         Shots (Candy Apples, I think?  Surprisingly delicious, actually)

·         Beer (Good news, the beer at Rosies is still just as stanky as ALWAYS)

·         Sign up to sing SUAVE karaoke.  Because regular karaoke isn’t cool enough

Thank you, Jane, for being a lovely hand model.

Oh, and I’ve got something else you can do with that hand…

·         Me singing my “go-to” anthem, Angels by Robbie Williams.  Proceed to tell Jane, Jill, B, and Jody’s mom that I’m loving THEM, instead.  (Google the lyrics if you don’t know the song).

·         Return to my table to THUNDEROUS applause.  Have women throw their underwear at me, and offer to carry my baby.

·         Jane shows off her magnificent boobs.  (Seriously, it’s what Jane does…)

·         Table of young men notice Jane’s boobs, and come talk to us.  And by us, I mean the women in our group.  As Jane would later post on her Facebook: Quote of the night, “Jane, you have beautiful breasts” – random guy.

·         Dude is wearing a belt buckle that looks like an original Nintendo Entertainment System controller.

·         Jody inputting the “Contra Code” on buddy’s belt buckle.  Wow, I’m REALLY getting old school on you guys here.

This might have been the first game I ever “rage smashed” the controller.

·         Me posting a picture of Jody doing that on FaceBook.

·         Honestly buddy, we GET IT.  You like the girls we are with.  Either make a move, or GTFO.

·         Me practically pleading with a mostly sober B to let me set her up with the random dudes.

·         Jane and I singing…I don’t remember.  I think it was Taylor Swift…?  Oh god, I’m on the verge of black out here.

·         A sober Jill suddenly declaring it’s time to go home, and that if I want a ride, I had better come right meow.  Point out that it takes some time to do that.  (See what I did there…)

·         Get home, safe and sound.  Realize that we left Jane and B to suffer their own fate on whyte ave by themselves.  (What’s the worst that could happen?)

·         Last hysterically, as I get a text from Jill telling me that Jody puking as Jill is driving.

·         Pass out.

Folks, I know that a lot of you like these stories but here’s the thing.  For the BEST stories, I need material…and this is where you come in.  Moose is coming back to Canada in the summer (or, as we call it in the Northern Hemisphere, Winter) and we all need to make a concerted effort to get shit face blasted so that I have material for another blog post.

And you know what that means…  The COUGARS are the GAS PUMP.

Until then, homo’s, take care.

Muley.

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 11:58 a.m. 5 comments

Lost Pets -- a Moral Decision

So I'm walking home from the bus through the back alley the other day, and I see a hastily put together poster for a Lost Cat that answers to the name of "Cindy".

Now Cindy the Cat has been lost for approximately 5 days at this point and her owners are worried sick about her. If you have any information on Cindy the Cat's whereabouts, you are asked to call XXX-XXXX.

CASH REWARD OFFERED

That last bolded sentence is the most loaded moral question that I have come across in quite some time. This is either an indication that I have a boring life, or that I'm so bored right now (on a break from class) that I can think of nothing else...

More to the point, as a general good-do'r and a fine upstanding citizen of my community, shouldn't it simply be expected that I would NOT take the reward?

I mean, think about it. Chances are that if I "find" Cindy, it's because she has somehow wandered into my back yard after hunting down one of the bazillion jack rabbits or magpies in my community. In other words, she found me and not vice versa... I doubt very much there are people that make their living by actually attempting to FIND a lost pet when they see the advertisements and then collecting the bounty!

So, with Cindy in hand, you have two options. To take the cash reward or not.

1. If you take the reward (remember, at most you've probably just stumbled across the pet), but really haven't done any work, are you TRULY entitled to a reward?

I mean, I suppose there are some caveats here. Maybe you had to feed the pet for a while, as you try to get in contact with the owners. Or maybe the little S.O.B. has crapped in a flower bed or torn out some flowers, or something like that, so you do have out of pocket expenses (to replace the flowers or even your opportunity cost to fixing the place up again).

2. But, if you take the reward, are you risking a social stigma?

I mean, really, who DOES take the reward these days? And, by taking the reward, is it not a signal that you could be that "pyscho" that kidnaps pets and holds out for the ransom...errrr, the reward?

Quite frankly, I'm not prepared to take that risk.



(P.S. It's only Wednesday -- Day 3 of a 5 day course. Depending on how slow things go, you may see more posts like this during the rest of this week)!

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 1:04 p.m. 2 comments

Does Facebook mean the death of Blogger?

Admittedly, I never update this blog anymore for four main reasons.

1. School / Work.

With more responsibility at work, plus with homework demands (when I'm in school), I'm finding that I have less and less time to actually sit down to pound out a blog entry. Or with the time I DO have, I prefer to work around the home rather than type up an entry.


2. Lack on interest / motivation.

You grow old and you do less crazy shit. For a blog that was DEDICATED to crazy shit performed by me and my friends, this may just create the death blow for this site. Notwithstanding my recent "homeless drunk" episode with the Blairs a few weeks ago, there are fewer and fewer "crazy stories" that come out of situations where we drink a case of Beer in Kelsey's living room.

Thus, with a lack of great content, it's only long periods of boredom (or hot button issues) that push me to write on here any more.


3. Does anyone read this?

I'm not tech savvy enough to include a feature that reports "you're blog was viewed X number of times this month". Without any feed back from people -- hell, even the fact that I have to DIRECT people to read this site -- I'm not too worried about not publishing anything because I know that no one is missing it.


4. Facebook.com

Facebook is in no ways a direct competitor to Blogger. But yet it IS a time-waster kind of site and that's why I no longer really blog. Trying to find your best friend from grade 2? Well...you can do that with Facebook whereas it's unlikely that same person will somehow stumble across your blog.

And when you consider that just today I gave a virtual dropkick to someone's head today in Facebook, that's a heck of a lot more fun than spending X minutes pounding out a blog entry.

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 12:55 p.m. 1 comments

Athens

By the time we hit Athens, we were getting a bit tired of lugging the camera out all the time. Not to mention the fact that most of the monuments were under restoration work, meaning that getting a shot without a crane, piece of scaffold, etc. was impossible. Still, we managed to get some good photos.


This was a lot of fun in Athens -- open air rooftop theatres! As with all theatres we went to, you could drink during the movie (in this place, you could bring in your own booze). The views of the Acropolis (below) were AMAZING while watching the show.

Theatre of Dionysious.

Theatre of Herod Atticus. This one has been fully restored and is actually used today for such things like Yanni concerts.

This is the Temple of Athena. When we were there, it was being COMPLETELY dismantled, stone by stone, and then put back in place to correct previous restoration errors.

The Erechtheion (both of the above pictures) was one of the very few monuments with no construction equipment set up to repair it.

The Parthenon (a.k.a. the grand daddy of all Greek Monuments). It was amazing seeing so many "wonders of the world" this trip. One fact that I did not know about the Parthenon was that during 1687, the Venetians bombarded Turkish troops stationed in Greece. An errant cannon ball hit a ton of gun powder stored in the Parthenon, causing significant damage!

There was a museum at the Acropolis. Half of it was shut down when we were there, but it holds some of the finer pieces of stone work from the site -- like this scene of a lion devouring a bull.

It's not tough to see what impacts the monuments and why they need to be constantly restored. The Acropolis is a high hill that is constantly exposed to wind. With the fine sand on top of the Acropolis, wind erosion has GOT to be a huge factor.

You were actually very close to the marble structures on the Acropolis. It was only AFTER Cori had touched these columns that we saw the "do not touch the marble" signage.

This is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. It's not as big of a draw as the acropolis (featured in the back ground).

We ran into our ten billionth "time share vendors" just outside the gates...although at the time we didn't know it. This chick had us do a survey and she asked what we DIDN'T like about Athens -- and we said "all those people at the bus stop that harrass you". That line shut her up and we got to leave scot-free. Sadly, others would be much more persistent -- and since there was absolutely NO hiding the fact that we were tourists, we had to grin and bear it any time we walked by Syntagma Square.

This is the old olympic stadium.

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 9:52 p.m. 0 comments

Sunset in Santorini

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 9:48 p.m. 0 comments

Santorini

Santorini is THE Greek Holiday destination with good reason. The weather is amazing, the people are friendly, and the views spectacular. The history of Santorini is amazing. Santorini was formed as the result of volcanic activity.


In 1500 B.C. the single largest recorded volcanic explosion in the history of mankind occurred which completely destroyed the Minoan culture living on the island. Part of Santorini fell into the ocean and the resulting tidal waves were 100 meters high! Our tour guide on the volcano tour stated that the explosion was heard 3 times around the world! The submerged portion of the island is called the caldera, and almost every single restaurant / hotel overlooks this stunning landscape.






These four pictures are a great way to demonstrate why we loved Santorini. It's just like every postcard of the Mediteranian you've ever seen.

Partial view of the Caldera below.

And here's how you can get up / down to the Old Port. The climb from Fira (the main town on the island) is 600+ steps. If walking and donkey's aren't your thing, you can take a cable car ride.

Here is me at the summit of the volcano. It is still slightly active -- there were gas vents that you could see the steam rising from. The Greeks on the island do not fear the volcano -- there is a tracking station on the volcano which would give them plenty of time to leave.

Instead, they are more afraid of earthquakes! In the 50's, an earthquake hit the island and nearly leveled every home and shop.

This is a shot from an underground wine museum we took. Greek wine is unique in that the grapes have VERY low yeilds due to lack of water. So, if you are wondering why Greek wine is more expensive, that's why.

There is a funny story about this day, we had to take a bus to the wine museum but it wasn't a dedicated stop. The bus driver flew by the museum (even though I asked him ahead of time to stop) and it took me some time to try to explain to this guy (who did not, apparently, speak a word of English; nor I any Greek) to stop the bus so me and Cori could get off the bus.

Corinna orders the large drink from Franco's bar!

This is Murphy's pub...a great bar to visit in Santorini. They play mainly hits from the 80's (yesss....) and you meet all sorts of people. The drinks are cheap (9 Euro each) but the good news is that they free pour! Happy hour prices were 2-for-1 (so we went to town) and our waitress kept giving us free shots on the house 'cause we were tipping her.

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 9:29 p.m. 1 comments

Rome in a day

We only had one day in Rome and had to make the most of it. Here we go!









These aren't that significant; but it just shows you some of the stuff that you see all over Rome.








This is the base of the Spanish Steps. Famed for being (at the time of completion) the widest and longest staircase in all of Europe.







Here are the steps themselves. Personally, I didn't see what made them SO special, but I'm not a history buff so maybe their significance is lost on me. In any event, the point of the Steps was to allow people a convenient way to reach the church (pictured at the top).












These two photos are of the STUNNING Trevi Fountain. It's very difficult (with the crowds and the space) to get in all of the magnificence of these fountains.



This is the Pantheon -- it is nearly 100% intact from the time it was built (125 AD -- reconstructed after a fire in 80 AD destroyed it). It is simply the best preserved Roman building in all of the city and means "Temple of all the Gods".





Here is one quick photo we snapped inside the Pantheon. There are many people buried there from many different time periods (such as Rapheal - the famous painter). It is now used as a church, with masses and WEDDINGS (if you can believe it) held there regularly.

Next to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, this Basilica -- St. Paul's -- is the next largest.

I'm not certain if this is meant to be a statue OF St. Paul, but you'll notice the ominous way he is carrying that sword.

These two photo's are NOT paintings. These are actually mosaics with individually laid stone / gem. I don't know how long it took to creat these master pieces, but they were amazing!

Michealangelo was commissioned to do 40 statues for St. Paul's cathedral. Unfortunately, he only completed this one -- a statue of Moses. A number of the other uncompleted works are found in the Effuzi Museum in Florence.

Finally, I found this to be a bit macabre -- I'm not certain what it depicts (our tour guide -- the only one we booked during our whole trip) did not elaborate on it, nor was he even allowed to speak inside the church!

Here is what I REALLY wanted to see in Rome -- the Colliseum! You'll no doubt recognize this ancient wonder of the world (if only from the movie Gladiator). The building was amazing to behold...but tough to take a picture, again because of the crowds. Cori and I would have loved to enter the building, but the line ups were hours long and we just didn't have time.

This is Emporer Titus' Arc of Triumph and is actually a historical document. The detail in the arch depicts a scene of slavery of Jewish individuals (in the time of the Old Testament). While that arc is spectacular, it pales in comparison to this one:

This is Emperor Constantine's Arc of Triumph. Much larger and more ornate than the first one, it was erected AFTER Constantine converted to Christianity (thanks to his mother). This led the way for the introduction of Catholicism in Rome and the real establishment of the Church. Finally, Christians were no longer persecuted for their beliefs!

posted by Team Shawn Michaels @ 11:58 a.m. 0 comments