Rome
Rome with my class!
We left for Rome at 7:30pm on Sunday April 20th and arrived around 9:30am on Monday. There were 13 girls…including me…and 8 boys and 2 teachers. With 6 people to a sleeping car, that leaves me, 2 boys, and the 2 teachers in one car together. NOT COOL! but i dealt with it. it was okay. we slept. thank god!
Monday - We get to Rome and drop off our bags at the hotel and start with our touring! we traveled by subway to Basilicia San Paulo, where it is believed that the apostle Paul is buried. After we went to the Callixtus Catacombs. They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex which occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep. In it were buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes and very many Christians. Then we walked on the Via Appia Antica, an ancient Roman street. We then went to Piazza del Popolo, the name in modern Italian literally means “piazza of the people.” After that it was off to the Spanish Steps, which is without a doubt the longest and widest staircase in all Europe.
Tuesday - We started at the Colloseum, where the gladiators fought and where they could fill the Colloseum with water to hold sea battles! We then went to Mercati di Traiano, Piazzo Venezia and Vicktor Emanuel Denkmal (sorry thats German because I dont know the name in English!) After a long walk, we made it to the Capital. A short walk of 3 minutes and we made it to Forum Romanum, the central area around which ancient Rome developed and where the communal hearth was located. Then it was off to Palatin, where many Emperors had their residences and palaces. Circus Maximus, where the Chariot races were held, was next on our long day of touring. Finally we made it to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, which is the only church from the Middle Ages in Rome and is famous for its mosaic floor. It also holds the Bocca della Verita, the mouth of truth. The most famous myth of the Mouth is its role as a lie detector. Starting in the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one’s hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. Then it was another long walk to Tiber Island…which I swore that our teacher said ”Tea Bar Island” but I guess not. It is a boat-shaped island
and the only island in the Tiber River which runs through Rome. And finally ending the day we walked to the Theater of Marcellus.
Wednesday - We started at Piazza Venezia and then walked around the Jewish Ghetto and went to the Synagoge. We then went to Pompey’s Theater, one of the first permanent (non-wooded) theatres in Rome. Then it was off to Piazzo Navona which holds the Brazilian Embassy. A short walk later we were at the Pantheon, a huge circle church for all gods. It has an open ceiling and a sloped floor for the rain water. Palazzo Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, was next. Piazza Colonna is the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome, Italy. Finally, we saw the Trevi Fountain, the most famous fountain in all of Rome. The Trevi Fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. It brings water all the way from the Salone Springs and supplies the fountains in the historic center of Rome with water. On average in one year people throw 150,000€ into the Trevi Fountain.
Thursday - We traveled to Terme di Caracalla, where we saw the Roman baths. Then we took a streetcar/subway to Ostia Antica, the harbour of ancient Rome. There we saw the Amphi Theater that held 4,000 people. After that we finally had an afternoon free. My 2 roommates (Meri and Dragana) and I went to a Chinese Pizzaria in Italy and ate 1 kilo of ice cream together. We sat in the Pizzaria for over 3 hours just talking and laughing the whole time. We were speaking English and this older woman walked by and told us that we were so good at laughing that we could make a living.
Friday - We spent the whole day at the Vatican. We waited an hour and a half to get to the top of the Cupola. We climbed 343 stairs…even though they told us we would only climb 320! It was so beautiful to look down on St. Peter’s Square though. St. Peter’s Square is named after the first pope, Peter, because he was brought there to be crucified but when he saw the cross he refused to be killed that way, saying that he did not deserve to die the same way Jesus did. So the cross was turned upside down.
We traveled home throw the night and finally returned home Saturday morning. It was a great trip but so tiring! We walked so much each day..even though the teachers told us that we could have taken buses!
