We were meeting our group at noon, so we checked out of the hotel around 10:30 to drop our bags at the new hotel and get some breakfast before our tour of ancient Rome. Wrong. On the paper it said our new hotel was on Via delle Fornari. Wrong. After walking in circles for literally an hour, we hopped in a cab and showed him the hotel (which he had to call), and he figured out it was on the other side of Rome on Via delle FornaCi. Notice the C in the word. Typos are a bitch! We got there a little late and our prof’s wife had to come back and get us. Oops. We only missed about 20 minutes of discussion about precautions in Italy, thieves, etc. so we were good! OU has a professor on their payroll who lives in Arezzo (45 min south of Florence and our place of residence for the month), that is a PhD in Art History and he shows us around everywhere. His knowledge and delivery of information is incredible! I’ve never gained such an appreciation for art and history as he helped us see. The first place we visited was the Pantheon. He informed us of the architecture style and how these monuments were built before the person of honor’s death in order to provide tribute to their lives, basically a reiteration of what we learned in Greece. The Pantheon is the resting place of Raphael. The construction is amazing. It was built in the first or second century AD and is in spectacular condition. He explained how these places hold the heart of the city and the hole in the roof opens it up to what is going on on the inside. If it rains outside, it rains in the pantheon, snows outside, snows in the pantheon, etc. His explanation was a lot better, but I’m tired and that was a few days ago so that is the gist of it. After the Pantheon we walked down to the Forum by way of a couple of excavations. Rome is similar to Greece in that any time anyone starts digging they are likely to find some ancient civilization and have to excavate it. We saw a couple examples of how cities were just built on top of cities and the different city levels over the years. It was pretty neat. The forum was also very interesting. Everything in the entire town was contained in an area slightly larger than a football field. Law, religion, market, justice, all in a central area. Housing was outside the forum, but it was cool to see how ancient cities were organized. Post Forum we headed to the Coliseum. The Coliseum is massive! Erosion included, this place was cool. Our guide, Kirk, referred a lot to the term ethnocentrism in Rome. It is basically the ripple effect in water that there is a center and everything flows out from it like the ripples from water when a stone is dropped into it. The coliseum was no exception. The Emperor sits at the center in the front row closest to the action, and the closer you are to him the more important you are to Roman society. I wouldn’t mind going back there and taking one of those lame headphone guided tours so I can learn more about it. By that time we had walked from the Vatican to the Coliseum, and I don’t know if anyone knows anything about Rome but it’s basically trekking the entire city. I needed a nap and my attention was limited. Once we left the Coliseum we decided to walk back and enjoy the streets of Rome. Rain. Lots and lots of rain. About half way back it started POURING. Kirk said it does this every now and then and to just wait it out for a couple of minutes and we would be fine. About ten minutes later it started hailing. It hails in Rome?! We stood under the stoop for about 20 minutes before noticing the nearby cab that had been sitting there the whole time and took that home. Best 2 euro I’ve ever spent. After cleaning up and drying off the group had an authentic Italian dinner and it was fantastic! First course was bruschetta, then some amazing penne type pasta with pink sauce, unidentifiable meat we ended up giving to one of the boys, and a lemon-type cake. It was all very tasty. Being that it was our first night together, we had to go out and celebrate! We found this place called ‘The Drunken Ship’ where they had beer pong tables set up. Shwing! House rules were pretty similar, but the losing team has to buy the winning team a pitcher. Needless to say it was stiff competition. Two of the guys formed a team and played something like eleven games that night undefeated. People in our group were trying to demolish them, foreigners were trying to kill them, and it was not possible. Bummer. The next morning we started at the Vatican to explore the excavation of St. Peter’s bones. We went into the main underneath of St. Peter’s Basilica and saw the graves of dead popes (kind of creepy, they’re actually in there), and our tour guide informed us of how the excavations came about. I don’t want to give too much away because it is kind of a mystery tour type thing and ends up being really neat, but here is a tidbit of info that I though was neat. First of all, you go down this narrow stairway before entering the excavation and they tell you it is climate controlled, don’t touch, bla bla bla. I’m thinking the stairway is a little tight and we need to get in there when I realize we are already about a story underground and going deeper. She then brings up that people who are claustrophobic might have issues with the tour. Guess who’s a little claustrophobic! I think it is more the being underground, 2000 ton church on top of you feeling that bothered me, but I was concerned. I went ahead and warned her that it may be an issue. So lame, but whatev. Once we got in there we saw that it has pretty high ceilings and while it is small, it wasn’t as bad as she made it out to be. Bitch. Apparently St. Peter was buried there before it was an actual mausoleum, so it is a big Pagan cemetery. Families were buried in full rooms in both caskets and urns, depending on post-mortem treatment. The detail people went into to honor their families and show honor to their dead was really cool. I guess Nero (I think) didn’t see much of this site and just built over it completely and built whatever his crazy head wanted to on top. After this Constantine, trying to rebuild Rome, built more on top so you can see the differences in brick laying and architecture when you compare it all vertically. It was pretty interesting. Also, ancient Roman masons had stamps on their bricks telling the time period so excavations told a lot more than they normally would and that is how they have gathered a lot of information. Now there is a monument constructed in front of St. Peter’s grave and they keep telling you about the monument and what cardinal directions you are facing while underground and it is very hard to follow, but important that you do. I will say though, that when you see St. Peters bones it completely catches you off guard where you are and was probably my favorite part of the tour. Don’t expect much, but you can see remains. I’m not a religious person per say, but it was a really profound place to be. I don’t even know if profound is the right word, but there was something about it down there. We went back upstairs and saw more recent Pope’s graves before leaving St. Peters. I didn’t know you cant take pics, so I took one of the most recent pope’s grave and got reprimanded. Oopsies, but hey I got the pic and he can’t delete it! You’re welcome mom. We went for a bite to eat after our long morning (probably a two hour tour), and continued on to the Vatican museum. Once again, I’ve never had a huge appreciation or knowledge for art. It’s not that I’ve ever disliked it or never been to a museum, I guess the information just hasn’t been presented in an interesting enough fashion for me to care too much. Kirk (OU guy), has a really relatable way of telling us about the ancient works that shows you the importance so he picked out some great Raphael and Michelangelo pieces to tell us about. Michelangelo was not too fond of Raphael. At all. He said he was underworked and oversexed. Ha! Regardless, they were both great artists and seeing so many of their works was really impressive. He also showed us the Laocoon (sp?), and told us about some Greek history. About an hour and a half into the museum and three hours past lunch and a liter of water later, another girl and I had to use the little girls room! We decided that we would sneak off and go to the restroom really quick and meet back up with the group in a minute. We had these little headsets where Kirk would speak and we could all hear him, so we thought we could use that as a guide. We could not use that as a guide. A little bit away from them the reception was lost and so were we. Turns out the bathrooms were farther than the guard had suggested and we were lost for about 15 minutes. Oops. We finally met up with the group literally right before the Sistine Chapel. It was close! I always thought the Sistine chapel was just the two fingers touching, and for some reason thought it was circular. Wrong! It is a series of events from the bible in great detail, and the last judgment is depicted on the front wall. Once again, no pics allowed. Once again, you’re welcome mom. Got one! It’s something everyone definitely needs to do once in their life. Ironically, our day at the Vatican was my favorite. Once we left the museum and went to St. Peter’s Basilica (the inside this time, not underneath), and walked around for about an hour. I got to see the Pieta and rub St. Peter’s foot for good luck and got some really great shots inside the Basilica. We were supposed to go in the morning after our excavation tour, but due to its’ length we went in the afternoon. It turned out to be better that way because we got to see a mass that was going on that day. They still have regular mass at St. Peters! It was really neat to be in there during that, given that I was raised catholic and know the importance. We finished up in Rome with a group dinner, which was very entertaining. Our class professor, Jim, has a daughter who is about six or seven and is hilarious! She gave us her evil eye and face and told us some awesome kindergarten jokes. It was one of my more enjoyable meals on the trip. Her two front teeth are gone and she is adorable. We told her a few jokes and on one of them she had just eaten peas, laughed, and shot peas out of her gap. It was pretty damn cute/hilarious. After dinner we went down to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain. This made me realize that people in Rome like to congregate around water at night. I’m not kidding. Every fountain/river/body of water there was a body of people right there socializing. I don’t blame them because all the fountains and rivers are gorgeous, but it was a little surprising. We walked back to the hotel by way of the market and saw a lot of American license plates, including some from Oklahoma and Texas. Ha! It was a long day, and I was exhausted so we went home and poured ourselves into bed for a long nights rest. I loved Rome. I don’t know that I could ever live there or visit too frequently, but it is a great place with a lot to see and do. Very successful and tiring two days!
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