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.

THE VATICAN MUSEUM

I ate a nice breakfast provided by the Papa Germano Hotel, grabbed an apple for the road, and listened to Dr. Kyle tell us about the Vatican in the hotel lobby.  We set out for the Metro to go to Vatican City and the Vatican Museum.  I had a difficult time getting through the baggage check, having to go back to remove more articles of clothing and metallic items two or three times.  Finally, after receiving our tickets and putting our shoes back on, we entered the museum.  We went through halls and halls of art: maps, bust, statues, paintings, etc…  The rooms were decorated beautifully and elegantly, with marble and mosaics covering the floors and gold and paintings comprising the ceilings.  The rooms containing works of Raphael were especially impressive to me.

Good Shepherd statue in the Vatican Museum

The crown jewel of the Vatican Museum, however, and everyone’s target room, was the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo spent several years lying on his back on scaffolding painting the ceiling of this renowned room. The hall was quite large and contained huge pictures portraying Old Testament stories on the ceiling, as well as the famous and gigantic Last Judgement on one of the walls portraying the Michelangelo’s depiction of judgment day.

The small group of friends I was walking with went to lunch after we indulged in a bit more of the beautiful museum, but I stuck around a bit longer to go through the missionary museum.  The aesthetics of the museum left me in amazement and I couldn’t help but compare it to the Louvre in Paris.  The two museums were both magnificent exhibitions of some of the most beautiful art ever crafted by human hands.  The fact that the Vatican Museum was on the same level as the Louvre in my mind speaks volumes.

ST. PETER’S BASILICA

The towering trees were dwarfed by the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica

I walked to a pizzeria after browsing the missionary museum and bought a Diavola (pepperoni salami) pizza and a coke for 5 euros.  I met back up with the group and Doc took us to St. Peter’s Basilica, the largest church in Christendom.  It was, naturally, extremely large.  Indeed, it was beyond comparison with the other churches we had seen thus far on the trip.  The huge statues of popes, memorial to Saint Peter, and soaring domes highlighted the interior.  Massive pillars, tall windows, and crafted stone were important pieces of the exterior.  Describing with words what I saw at St. Peter’s Basilica does not do it justice.

Me near the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica

THE CASTEL SANT’ANGELO, PIAZZA NAVONA, AND PANTHEON

After Zac, Andrew, Jenae, Katie, Stephanie, and I had walked through the church and the courtyard, we decided to spend the rest of our day walking around that part of Rome.  We first saw the Castel Sant’Angelo, a large fortress with a towering, circular keep that once functioned as a Papal defense structure.  Strolling over the Tiber River, we bought a few souvenirs and then took shelter under the overhang of a building as the rain began to fall around us.

The rain soon ceased and we began to walk again, eventually arriving at the city square called the Campo dei Fiori.  We ate at a pizzeria in the square for dinner.  We walked to see the nearby French Embassy (partially designed by Michelangelo) and then into the Piazza Navona.  The Piazza Navona, a famous Roman city square, was built along an old Roman racetrack and included three fountains and the Baroque church Sant’Agnese in Agone.  The central fountain, called the Fountain of the Four Rivers, was quite beautiful and contained water-spewing statues representing the Plate, Nile, Ganges, and Danube Rivers.

We continued our walk to the epic Pantheon, the most complete ancient Roman building still standing.  The former temple’s enormous pillars made me feel like a sapling among redwoods.  We finally made our way back to the hotel.  Tired of rain and walking, I climbed into bed with fond memories of the day.