Tabor College European Seminar Journal

Zac and I slept through the alarm by about 20 minutes, but we somehow managed to make it downstairs to breakfast in time to get some good food in our stomachs in preparation for our last full day in Rome.

ROMAN FORUM RERUN

Zac, Tessa, Julia, Andrew, Katie, Stephanie, Whitney, Jenae and I then went down to the Termini and sped over to the Colosseo station.  We took another gander at the monumental stadium looming against the sky in front of us, then walked over to the Roman Forum and used the group ticket Doc gave us to get inside the area.

The day was sunny, warm, and beautiful. It was probably the nicest weather we had had the entire trip.  The green grass occupying the open space between ruins was nice to get to see in the sunshine without the rain turning everything into mud.  The historical remains in the forum were even more striking in the sunlight.  We meandered our way to the Palatine area and found a picturesque spot at which to eat lunch. We pulled out our bread (with Nutella) and apples and dined, keeping a watchful eye on the watchful pigeons.  They stood poised, looking for any crumbs that fell around us.

(back to front) Zac, Stephanie, Whitney, Katie, Julia, Jenae, and Tessa enjoying the Palatino

SIGHTSEEING AND SHOPPING

The view of the Forum and the rest of the city from our Palatine lunch benches was phenomenal.  We eventually pulled ourselves away from it and walked to Trajan’s Column, a famous landmark in the history of typography.  It was across the street from the monument to Vittorrio Emanuele II.  We walked over to this huge building, constructed to commemorate Italian unification, and took some pictures.  Vittorio Emanuele II was the first king of a united Italy.  The Tomb of the Unknown soldier, flags, statues, and pillars made the building constructed in his honor look very regal in the shadows of the bright sun.  Though we didn’t have time to see it, I’m sure the museum inside would have been great to visit.  I snuck a peek down one of the hallways when the others were taking pictures outside.

Zac taking in the sights in front of the Pantheon

We walked over to the Pantheon and were able to walk inside this time.  The massive domed ceiling had a large hole built in the middle of it called the oculus.  The Pantheon’s dome was indeed impressive and complemented the enormous pillars in front that served as the support for the structure.  The Pantheon’s dome made the return trip to the site well worth the time we spent to walk there.

The oculus in the ceiling of the Pantheon

Zac, Andrew, and I split off from the girls (who wanted to buy purses) and went to McDonald’s for a snack. We then went souvenir shopping for the rest of the afternoon, bought some mementos, and walked around the city.  We eventually met Katie, Stephanie, Julia, and Jenae for dinner at a pizza/pasta place in the area. After I had polished off my pasta, Jenae and I did some more shopping while the others went back.  We had to take in the sights slowly in our last night in Rome.  We stopped by the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain on our way back to the hotel and went to sleep for the final time at a hotel on the trip.

ANCIENT ROME

I had another nice Roman breakfast from the hotel and then sat with the group as Doc talked to us about our agenda for our last few days in Rome.  We again went to the metro and rode the subway to our destination: the Colosseum.  As we emerged from the subterranean tunnel, the gigantic stadium appeared. It looked old, large, and epic.  Doc bought us group tickets and we all began wandering through the ancient arena.  The Colosseum was the site of gladiator battles and even had the capability to be covered in water for naval skirmishes.  I could almost hear the raucous chants of 50,000 Roman spectators as I stepped out from a dark arch on the second level to look out over the ruinous field.

Doc and Andy survey the ruins around the Colosseum

We moved on from the Colosseum to the Palatine ruins.  These remains comprised the emperor’s palace grounds and included the Circle Maximus (the chariot racetrack).  It was fun walking down the ancient Roman roads amidst the old brick structures, the arches staring down at us as we walked past buildings and aqueducts.

Me taking a look at antiquity in the Roman Forum

We went to the Roman Forum after that, the remains of which were the places that the Roman people did business in ancient times.  The former economic hub and center for justice contained many columns and pillars that reached up into the sky among the surrounding stones.  Our time among these ancient Roman sites was marred somewhat by the rain that seemed to fall almost constantly, but even with the cloudy skies the sites were exhilarating to see.

Jenae and the Arch of Constantine

PAUL’S ROMAN PRISON

Doc had to ask a passerby how to get to our next location (Paul’s prison), and I think the guy thought that Doc was asking if he himself had ever been in prison before.  It made the situation funny, but awkward.  We eventually found the location of the Apostle Paul’s Roman imprisonment mentioned in the Bible.

We descended the steps to the cave where the great hero of the Christian faith had been forced to wait for his trial before Caesar.  It was strange thinking about walking in the same place that Paul walked as he contemplated what to say before his imperial accusers and how best to encourage various churches through epistles.  Walking into that cave enlivened in my mind the situation of Paul and how he most likely spent his last earthly days.  It was a surreal experience.

THE CATACOMBS OF SAN SEBASTIANO

We took the metro to McDonald’s in the Termini (train station) and ate a bit of lunch, fighting through crowds to order our cheeseburgers.  We met back up with the big group after a while and took the Metro to a bus station where we were had to stand in the rain for 30 minutes.  I grew tired of using my malfunctioning umbrella, but I was thankful for a way to deter all the water that seemed to come from an endless reservoir in the sky.

After the cramped bus ride, we arrived at our stop and walked toward what we thought was the entrance to the catacombs.  Instead, it ended up being the wrong way.  Cars drove through puddles near the sidewalk several times on our errant journey, splashing several of the students and providing a nice dose of excitement in the middle of the long stroll to the wrong destination.

We eventually arrived at the right spot, the Catacombs of San Sebastiano (Catacombs of Saint Sebastien).  We took a guided tour of the catacombs beneath Rome for about 30 minutes, the leader picking his way through the vast array of tunnels formerly used as a final resting place for the the lifeless bodies of Christians and Jews.  As we walked through the underground tunnels, I kept a sharp eye out for skeletons but failed to see any.  We came out of the tunnels in the burial site of and church dedicated to Saint Sebastien.

The catacombs were quite impressive to see.  If only they had let us wander off by ourselves, I could have had a lot of fun down there.  After the catacombs, we squeezed back onto a bus at the bus stop until it was jam-packed and every one of us had made it on.  People at later bus stops looked at us with incredulity when they were forced to stand in the doorways of the bus just to get a spot.  It was rather humorous knowing that we would add to the wonderful reputation that American tourists must have already developed in Italy.

HARD ROCK CAFE IN ROME

Zac, Andrew, Jenae, Stephanie, Katie, and I went back to the hotel and freshened up a bit before taking the Metro to the Hard Rock Café in Rome.  I again had a bacon cheeseburger and a free-refills pop.  I really enjoyed eating there.  We sat and reminisced about the trip for a long time before heading back home on the Metro.  We all realized that the trip was winding down and we had experienced far too much to digest in one evening, but it was fun recalling our most fond memories nonetheless.

On the way back, we saw a creepy guy that was acting really sporadically and seemed to be staring at the girls.  It also seemed like he was following us for a while, so Zac and I became a little bit paranoid watching him.  We eventually lost him after he went another direction (but that didn’t stop us from watching our backs the whole way home).  We arrived back at the hotel, used the Internet, and then went to bed to recover from the day’s activities.