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So, finally updating my livejournal. We don't have internet in our apartment anymore because my roommate Sofia spilled water all over the computer. I went to Rome this weekend with my art history class and it was awesome! I think I might even like Rome better than Florence. Rome seems newer to me, kind of like an Italian New York City. We were in Rome Friday-Sunday. We took the train there on Friday, and I fell asleep for most of it, but when I woke up the walls on either side of the tracks were just covered in grafitti and it was actually pretty cool looking. So my whole class (40+ students) crowded onto a city bus, and took the bus to our hotel. The hotel was actually pretty nice, nicer than I was expecting. We dropped our stuff off in the hotel and then we were on our way. We saw some Caravaggio paintings, the Coliseum, the arch of Constantine, the ancient ruins of the Roman forum, the Trevi Fountain and some more stuff I can't remember right now. The Coliseum was really cool, but a lot smaller than I had pictured. I find this happens with a lot of the things I see here in Italy.
Saturday was my busiest day in Rome. We visited the Vatican museum and saw so many famous works. Tons of Raphaels, including the School of Athens. I got to see the Laocoon finally, which I have been looking forward to seeing ever since I learned about it. I also saw the Belvedere Torso. My teacher had a mini freak out while we were in the Vatican because the Sistine Chapel was closed for an hour and she was unaware. We did get to see the Sistine Ceiling though, which was so much cooler in real life than on paper. I never knew there were acorns all over the ceiling until I took this art history class. After the Vatican we went to Saint Peter's and saw the Pieta by Michelangelo. It was also something that was smaller than I had imagined, but it wasn't any less beautiful. While we were in Saint Peter's a mass was being held. I really want to go back sometime and attend a mass there. We got to go into the sacristy museum in Saint Peter's while we were there as well. I saw some garments worn by Pope John Paul II, so that was pretty cool. There was also this plaque on the wall when you entered that had all the names of the popes on it, and their dates of death. After the Saint Peter's we took the subway to the stop called spagna where we saw the spanish steps (and climbed them), and walked to the church that houses Bernini's sculpture the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. That was also a work I was really looking forward to seeing.
Sunday was a pretty laid back day (compared to Friday and Saturday). We spent the day visiting different villas. Our first stop was at the Borghese Gallery where they were having a special exhibition on Caravaggio and Bacon. There were 13 Caravaggio paintings there! Some of them I never would have had the chance to see probably, so it was really exciting to see so many all in the same museum. After the Borghese Gallery we went to a villa in Tivoli that had a ton of fountains in its gardens. They were so pretty. I could imagine people getting married there. The hydraulic organ was broken, so we didn't get to hear it play unfortunately, but the fountains made up for it. After that villa we visited the ancient villa of Emperor Hadrian. It was nothing but ruins, but it was still really neat, and super BIG.
All in all the weekend was a really good experience that I will remember for a very long time. I wore my pedometer every day, and calculated that we walked about 18 miles over the course of the field trip. That is a lot of walking! Having been to Rome, I certainly hope to visit again before I leave Italy. Okay, I should be studying for a mid-term tomorrow, but instead I'm procrastinating. I suppose this is all for now.
Ciao,
Emily