It’s Photo Friday and in celebration of the Roman Holidays, Susan Sanders gives us a bit of A-Weigh in the Manger improv. Having passed his just-born health tests, the baby Jesus is a-weighed in. Look for his birth announcement to be arriving in your mailbox sometime soon!
For more photos by Susan, visit her Rome With A View blog.
Both visitors and residents of Rome alike usually find it quite a hassle to visit the Vatican Museums. Traditionally, the hours have been short and the crowds massive. But, starting in 2008, the Vatican is imposing new hours with hopes of remedying the situation.
From 2 January 2008, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel will be open from 8:30am to 6:00pm, with the last entrance at 4:00pm. The entrance fee will also go up this year - from 13 euro to 14 euro.
For a complete schedule of Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel hours for 2008, visit the Vatican Museums website.
We know that many eCool readers will enjoy the recent post by Mary Beard, professor in classics at Cambridge and classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement, on the ancient Roman tradition of celebrating Saturnalia in mid-December.
We’ll be posting our own article on the ancient holiday in the next few days, but this one will get you started if you’re looking to celebrate all’antica. Click here to read Beard’s Five Things the Romans Did at Christmas.
Many readers may remember that in 2004 a woman in Florida discovered a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary on her grilled cheese sandwich and sold the toast in question (which at the time was already 10 years old and moldy) for some $28,000 on eBay.
Now, everyone on your Christmas list can achieve such effects with the Holy Toast bread stamp by World Wide Fred - it’s a gift we’re sure will warm the heart of any Rome lover.
Available in the US at Perpetual Kid (and in Urban Outfitters Stores), in Britain at I Want One of Those, and in the EU at Hoge.
