We LOVED the Roman Forum!
Next we went on a tour inside of the Coleseum. It was really interesting to hear all about how it was built, what is was used for and how it would have looked when it was in it's hey day. We bought a book that showed the before and after pictures (ancient times and how it looks today) which is cool to look at. We learned all about the Gladiator fights and other sporting events that the Coleseum was used for. Some people think that Christian's were thrown to the lions in this arena but they weren't. The site has no stage anymore since it has rotted away. You can now see all the areas that were once underground tunnels, rooms and cages for wild animals to be brought in and either hunted or fought. It is hard to imagine what it would have been like to have 70,000 people come to cheer for these barbaric "games", since it would never be allowed today!
We came home for a great lunch of freshly made pasta from a local shop and rested for a while. Then we went to the Cappuchin Crypt. The crypt is in the Santa Maria Della Concezione Church and is a display of the bones of over 4000 Cappuchin Monks that were excavated from graves dating from between 1530 and 1870. The display was pretty strange and creepy but very interesting to see all those bones. Aunt Beth,who is traveling with us is a doctor so she helped us identify what part of the body all the bones were from and it was weird to think those are real people's bones from long ago.
After the crypt we went out for Gelato. A strange transition but very delicious! They had two scoops for only 2 Euro's which is about $2.65. A good deal and lots of flavors to choose from.
We did a little shopping as we ate our Gelato and then headed back to the Metro subway. The adults wanted to go to St. Clemente Basillica for Sunday services, a 13th century church next door to our apartment. The kids did not think that was such a fun idea, since the whole service would be in Italian. So Aunt Molly and the kids headed back to the apartment while Lynn and Aunt Beth went to church. The church was really beautiful and the service turned out to be quite short. We want to take everyone back another day soon to look around and see how beautiful it is!
After the visit to St. Clemente we all met up at the apartment and made a nice dinner and relaxed. Now it is time for bed, we have another busy day of site seeing tomorrow.
Ciao!
2 comments:
Your adventures sound wonderful. Yes, it's so interesting to think about the actual people that built and used the things you are seeing. The history, art and architecture must be awe inspiring. But the interesting thing is, day-in, day-out, I'm hearing mostly in your posts about Gelato. Very suspicious!
I'm glad you all had a chance to go to church, but isn't it ironic that the one who needs it most-Aunt Molly-is the one who stayed home. Speaks volumes. We learned on CNN here that the Pope is clearing his schedule to hear Aunt Molly's confession later in the week.
Love you all.
Grandpa John and Grandma Nickie
Hello Sweet Family,
It was fun to see all of you by computer a few minutes ago. We miss you but are so happy for you to have this amazing adventure. We had a good day with the kids here and will do some other fun things this week. Unfortunately, our Ann Arbor trip will have to be postponed. Grandpa forgot he has a 2:00 dentist appt. We'll do something fun though. They seem to be doing pretty well though the younger ones are both quieter than usual. You'll be home before we know it, though! Have a super day tomorrow! Love, Grandma/Mom
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