Obviously, this posting is late and out of order, but that's the result of not having internet access...oh well, at least it's here. On Friday, July 3rd, we first went to the Borghese Museum, which holds one of the largest Bernini collections in the world. It was amazing to see. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so all I have is a picture of the building. Also, we were going to walk through the Coliseum since we weren't able to the day before due to the horrible torrential rain and hail storm. It was so amazing to walk through it. I was impressed just from the outside, but the inside was unbelievable. It was a little bit depressing to walk through and think about
the things that happened there. The idea that human beings were entertained by women being raped and men and animals being slaughtered just feels so degrading. Also, we learned that during the time the Coliseum was in use, when spectators would come, women had the worst seats all the way at the top, even farther up than the servants. Needless to say, we weren't allowed to walk down into the Coliseum, but we walked all th
e way around the top and were looking down onto the stage and down on the "battlefields", for lack of a better word. It was really sobering to look into the cages where the men and animals were kept...they look so dark and dingy, and when they were finally let out of them it was in order to be chased with no where to run and to fight until you killed or died. It's a barbaric concept to attempt to conceive. Though we didn't go see it up close, from the Coliseum we could see the arch of Constantine, who is remembered for making Christianity legal when he was the emperor of Rome. We had some free time after the Coliseum and just caught some lunch. Later in the day, around 3:30 we met our tour guide for Rome, An
toinella. She lived in Italy but was actually English. She was a hoot. And she definitely knew her stuff. We did a tour that we called "off the beaten trail". We toured around to different churches. The first church was Santa Clemente. It was really interesting because we got to go down to the lower level of Rome, where Rome was before the built the current city on top of it. One father had been digging in the church to fix some sewage issues, and the ground opened up beneath him into an entire new level. It was really interesting to go down there. It was kind of cryptish feeling...cold, damp, and dreary...but still really cool. From there we went to St. Peters in Chains, which hold the chains that Peter was tied in.
The legend is that the chain was broken in half, and one person had a half and another person had the other half. When those people decided to bring the pieces of chain back together and place them in the church, the chain miraculously reconnected. We also went to a church of the Virgin Mary. The signifigance of this church is that it is the largest church dedicated to Mary in the world. Antoinella also did a small detour so that she could show us the Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Bernini, located in Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria. This was one of the statues that was used in the story of Angels and Demons, and where one of the cardinals was killed by fire. It was really cool to be able to see it in real life. All of the churches were super beautiful and Antoinella was great. It amazes me how these churches and other churches like them, most of which were built hundreds of years ago, still stun and amaze people today. It's like, regardless of the style or design and architectural details, the overall beauty of these churches is just completely timeless. We were also going to Trevi Fountain, probably the most famous fountain in Rome. On the way there, we were lucky enough to catch the Changing of the Guards ceremony in front of the Italian President's offices. It was really interesting to see. The military band played for the entire time, and it was just a really elaborate ceremony just to switch guard duties. Antoinella informed us that, while the guards change a couple times every day, they only do the big ceremony about once a week, so we were really fortunate to catch it. After pausing to watch the ceremony, we continued to the Trevi fountain, where we learned the legend of throwing coins into the fountain. According to legend, if you throw one coin in you will come back to Rome, 2 coins means that you'll meet an Italian of the opposite gender that will fall for you, and 3 coins means that you'll marry that (or another beautiful) Italian. I threw one in, so hopefully I'll come back someday. We parted with her for the day, but met her again the next day for the Vatican. All in all, it was a great introduction to the city of Roma and it didn't even rain...or hail!
the things that happened there. The idea that human beings were entertained by women being raped and men and animals being slaughtered just feels so degrading. Also, we learned that during the time the Coliseum was in use, when spectators would come, women had the worst seats all the way at the top, even farther up than the servants. Needless to say, we weren't allowed to walk down into the Coliseum, but we walked all th
e way around the top and were looking down onto the stage and down on the "battlefields", for lack of a better word. It was really sobering to look into the cages where the men and animals were kept...they look so dark and dingy, and when they were finally let out of them it was in order to be chased with no where to run and to fight until you killed or died. It's a barbaric concept to attempt to conceive. Though we didn't go see it up close, from the Coliseum we could see the arch of Constantine, who is remembered for making Christianity legal when he was the emperor of Rome. We had some free time after the Coliseum and just caught some lunch. Later in the day, around 3:30 we met our tour guide for Rome, An
toinella. She lived in Italy but was actually English. She was a hoot. And she definitely knew her stuff. We did a tour that we called "off the beaten trail". We toured around to different churches. The first church was Santa Clemente. It was really interesting because we got to go down to the lower level of Rome, where Rome was before the built the current city on top of it. One father had been digging in the church to fix some sewage issues, and the ground opened up beneath him into an entire new level. It was really interesting to go down there. It was kind of cryptish feeling...cold, damp, and dreary...but still really cool. From there we went to St. Peters in Chains, which hold the chains that Peter was tied in.
The legend is that the chain was broken in half, and one person had a half and another person had the other half. When those people decided to bring the pieces of chain back together and place them in the church, the chain miraculously reconnected. We also went to a church of the Virgin Mary. The signifigance of this church is that it is the largest church dedicated to Mary in the world. Antoinella also did a small detour so that she could show us the Ecstasy of St. Theresa by Bernini, located in Cornaro Chapel of Santa Maria della Vittoria. This was one of the statues that was used in the story of Angels and Demons, and where one of the cardinals was killed by fire. It was really cool to be able to see it in real life. All of the churches were super beautiful and Antoinella was great. It amazes me how these churches and other churches like them, most of which were built hundreds of years ago, still stun and amaze people today. It's like, regardless of the style or design and architectural details, the overall beauty of these churches is just completely timeless. We were also going to Trevi Fountain, probably the most famous fountain in Rome. On the way there, we were lucky enough to catch the Changing of the Guards ceremony in front of the Italian President's offices. It was really interesting to see. The military band played for the entire time, and it was just a really elaborate ceremony just to switch guard duties. Antoinella informed us that, while the guards change a couple times every day, they only do the big ceremony about once a week, so we were really fortunate to catch it. After pausing to watch the ceremony, we continued to the Trevi fountain, where we learned the legend of throwing coins into the fountain. According to legend, if you throw one coin in you will come back to Rome, 2 coins means that you'll meet an Italian of the opposite gender that will fall for you, and 3 coins means that you'll marry that (or another beautiful) Italian. I threw one in, so hopefully I'll come back someday. We parted with her for the day, but met her again the next day for the Vatican. All in all, it was a great introduction to the city of Roma and it didn't even rain...or hail!
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