The Earth Without Art is Just "Eh" {Rome, part two}

Our second trip to Rome was a very busy one. We saw a few things we saw on the first trip, but most of the things we visited we hadn't seen yet. It was so nice to travel with Claudia and Jeff, who knew exactly where they were going. We didn't have to look at a map once, which was a nice change of pace from our other adventures alone. Since we traveled with Jeff, our art history professor, we got to see a lot of the things that we've been learning about in class, which was really cool.

Column of Trajan and Trajan's Market

This was the level of ancient Rome, while the current street level of Rome is similar to the wall behind the tree.
Romans just continued to build on top of previous structures. Many ancient structures have yet to be excavated
from underneath the modern-day city.

Another view of the ruins, with a view of the Column of Trajan behind

Trajan's market, an ancient shopping center, built in 115 AD

Kitty cat! She seemed to be intently hunting something

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum housed many important buildings to ancient Romans

After the fall of the Roman Empire, ancient buildings were often ripped apart so their materials could be used for
the construction of other buildings. Christian's had a big hand in this destruction because they believed if the
Roman's did not have temples to worship in, they would turn away from their pagan ways. Surprisingly, the
Christians took pieces from pagan temples to use in their own churches.

Arch of Septimius Severus, among other ruins.

House of the Vestal Virgins. The Vestal Virgins were in charge of monitoring the sacred fire that was not allowed to
go out. The Romans believed that this fire, as long as it burned, ensured the safety of the Roman people. They were highly admired members of society. However, if they broke their vows (and did not remain virgins) they were buried alive, while their lovers were burned at the stake. Pretty harsh punishments!

Arch of Titus

Colosseum

The Colosseum. Those clouds looked pretty threatening, but luckily we avoided getting rained on

I'm not really sure why there is a cross in the Colosseum. However, I do know that
many Christians were executed here in front of large crowds because they refused
to accept Roman gods

A horse's ass. Not sure of its significance, it just made me laugh:)

The white platform is the level at which the entertainment would have taken place. What is left is the underground tunnels, which likely housed the animals and warriors while they waited to "perform"

The whole group! Me, Jeff, Claudia, Becca, Joey, and Kris

View from the second level of the Colosseum 

Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere

The Jewish Ghetto, created in 1555, was originally surrounded by walls an locked at night. Jews were not allowed to own property or practice medicine on Christians. When they went outside of the ghetto, men had to wear a yellow cloth and women had to wear a yellow veil (the same color worn by prostitutes). Sadly, anti-sentimism is a deeply rooted throughout history.

Little old men feeding the birds by the Tiber River

Interesting parking job. I wonder if I could get away with this in my bug? :)

Trastevere is an area of Rome on the west bank of the Tiber River and south of Vatican City. While we were there, we had apertivo for the first time. Basically, you buy a drink (I had a glass of white wine) and you get all the appetizers you want. It was awesome! They had fresh strawberries, little sandwiches, and these delicious fried balls of rice from Sicily, called arancini. 

After apertivo, we went to the church in Trastevere, Santa Maria (no surprise there! It seems like all of the churches here are named after Mary)

Cool vintage truck

 Vatican Museum

The next morning, we took the metro to Vatican City, which is actually considered to be its own country. The metro system in Rome is absolutely insane. The first metro that came was so full that we decided to wait for the next one. The doors of the metro are also extremely aggressive. Most doors pop back open if they sense that there is something is in their way. Not these ones! We witnessed this woman almost de-limbed because she was trying to squeeze on the car. Eventually, the next metro came, and it was just as full as the last one. So we just decided to go for it! We aggressively pushed our way through into the car. There was this old Italian man who had clearly dealt with this problem before. He stretched out his arms and squeezed everyone into the train. I have never been so crowded in my entire life. Slowly, people started to trickle off, and by the time we got to Vatican City, we had a little room to breathe. My poor art history teacher, Jeff, is genuinely claustrophobic, so I can't imagine how miserable he must have been! However, we eventually reached the Vatican Museum.

The pinecone fountain we've been learning about in class! The fountain
symbolizes eternity because ever-green trees never loose their leaves.

Belvedere Courtyard, home to some of the world's most famous statues

A piece of the Ara Pacis, which we visited later on in our trip

The Laokon, a figure in Greek and Roman mythology who died a painful death by snakes because he upset Athena

Belvedere Torso, which influenced Michelangelo greatly when he painted the
Sistine Chapel

One of the many statues of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome

A Greek vase our professor is currently writing a paper on. It depicts Achilles and Ajax playing a game of chance.
The vase cleverly shows them both tempting fate, when both of them will loose their lives in the Trojan war.

View out of the Vatican Museum's window

The Discobolus

The Map Room

Next, we went into the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but honestly, pictures wouldn't have done it justice. It was probably one of the coolest things I've seen yet. Here are some pictures that I found online that almost capture its magnificence. Originally, Michelangelo had help, but he got fed up with his assistants, so he fired them all. This meant that he painted the ceiling entirely on his own. Later in his life, he came back and painted his version of The Last Judgement, the painting on the wall with the blue background.

Awesome spiral staircase

St. Peter's Square

After the Vatican Museum, we went to St. Peter's Square. Although we didn't go into St. Peter's Basilica, the square was still breathtaking.

Castel of Saint Angelo/Mausoleum of Hadrian

Formally the Mausoleum of Hadrian, it is was converted into a fortress for popes, and is now used as a museum

The best gelato I've had in Italy, and that's saying something! This gelato place
made their ice cream by hand everyday, and you could definitely tell. Yum!

Truth!

 Ice Club

It is exactly what it sounds like. A club made entire of ice; everything from the bar, to the chairs, to the glasses were made of ice. It was about 27 degrees Fahrenheit in there, so luckily they gave us ponchos to wear. We spent the night trying to come up with clever pick up lines: "Has anyone told you that you make that poncho look sexy?" 

No where in Italy serves ice with their drinks. Now we know where all the ice is! :)

Group picture. Becca being silly:)

Capitoline Museum

The Vatican Museum was so incredibly crowded, so we were shocked to have the Capitoline Museum basically to ourselves. We weren't complaining though! :)

The courtyard on the Capitoline Museum. The building with the clock tower is still a major government building.
There was a wedding going on while we were there, and apparently if you don't want to get married in the
church, this is the equivalent of town hall for us.

In front of the town hall, with two reclining river gods on either side

Parts of a colossal statue of Constantine. The head alone stands about 8 feet tall!

Group pic!

This room is where the European Union was founded. To this day, if the union has anything important to sign or do, they still meet here. It was pretty cool to have it all to ourselves.

I loved how intricately decorated the ceilings were. While Jeff was talking about the super famous and important
artworks, I had to stop myself from staring at the ceiling.

The Spinario, a statue of a boy pulling a thorn out of his foot. This work influenced countless artists to include this
image in their own works.

The Capitoline Wolf, a symbol of Rome. According to legend, Romulus and Remus were suckled by the she-wolf
until they were discovered by a farmer and raised to adulthood. They later went on to found the city of Rome.

I love how nonchalant this woman is about holding the severed head of a man in her hand. Haha!

Ancient bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius. Most bronze stautes from this age were melted
down for their raw materials. The only reason this statue survived the test of time is
because people mistook it for a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of
the Roman empire. If they knew it was really Marcus Aurelius, it probably would
have been destroyed.

View of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Museum balcony

Another ancient colossal statue of a river god

Many busts of famous Italians have been collected by the museum

The Capitoline Venus

View of Rome from the terrace of the Capitoline Museum

The Pantheon

Originally a temple dedicated to all the Roman gods, it was later converted into a Christian church, and
therefore avoided the destruction that most of the buildings from that era experienced

The oculus is completely open, so rain comes directly into the building

The building is so masterfully designed that a sphere could fit perfectly inside

Light from the oculus

View of the street from the porch of the Pantheon

The Ara Pacis 

This ancient marble structure was built in honor of the goddess of peace, Pax. It was used as a sacrificial alter, where
a white cow would be slaughtered to appease the goddess

Jeff was just like a kid in Disneyland. He was so excited to share one of his favorite monuments with us

The Ara Pacis is housed in its own building. The building was controversial because
people thought it was too modern and that it contrasted with its surroundings. However,
it does let a lot of light in, which allows viewers to fully experience the Ara Pacis.

 Column of Marcus Aurelius

The Column of Marcus Aurelius 

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Charming little elephant, which holds an Egyptian oblisk on its back. These obelisks
are all over Rome

The body of St. Catherine. Her head is in Siena. Apparently, everyone wants a piece of her! ;)

Statue sculpted by Michelangelo

By the time we finished our tour, we were absolutely exhausted that we decided to grab a cab instead of walking back to the hotel. Oddly, there were no cabs in sight, but there were a lot of police officers. As we walked on a little ways, we came upon a long line of police officers with gas masks and bullet proof shields. Apparently, there was a planned protest going on that day. Thankfully, Claudia seemed relatively unconcerned and assured us that the police always over-prepare for such events. I was slightly freaked out, partly because it was something that I'd never seen before, but mostly I was just upset that we had to walk all the way back to our hotel. Nothing like sore feet to distract you from possibly dangerous situations!

We made it back to Siena around 9:30, took a shower, went straight to bed, and didn't wake up until noon the next day. I was so grateful that we got the opportunity to see so much, but even more thankful that we had a day to recover from our adventure.