Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Romeing around

Sunday was a free day from our daily conferences, so I went on a little adventure with Pierre Maguelibu (a Brother from Vanuatu, an island in the South Pacific) to spend the day taking in as much of the city as we could.  I was a little proud of myself that I went just about the whole day in French - ugly though it may have been.  We started with Mass at the Gesu, the Jesuits' big daddy church where St. Ignatius is buried:

Then we were off to Piazza Navona, which had not only this sweet fountain (and several others) but as many artists (caricature, portrait, etc.) as I have ever seen in one place, French Quarter included:

Next, the Pantheon, which was so big I couldn't get a very good shot of the whole thing, so here are a couple of more selective pics.  The aperture in the ceiling looked pretty sweet with this sunbeam coming through, and the second photo, shot from the main entrance, does the place no justice, but it gives a hint of the scale:


I think anyone who knows me would not be surprised that my favorite of the day was Trevi Fountain - so much stuff to climb on! (*Not to mention that it was so blasted hot all day that seeing this much cold water in one place was a little slice of heaven.*)


We saw a bunch of other stuff that I could add, like the Victor Emmanuel monument (apparently the largest equestrian statue in the world - the guy's mustache is 5 feet across!), the Roman Forum, the Church of St. Ignatius, and the outside of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (not open to the public for some reason).  For my money, though, the real hidden treasure of the day was the Basilica of Cosmas and Damian.  It was tucked away in a corner near the Colosseum, and the outside blended in with the ruins enough that it was almost easy to miss, but the inside was a real gem:
Passed by the Colosseum, but time was short and we were truly whipped, so all we got was an exterior shot - for now:

We still had a pretty good hike back to the metro station to get home, so we figured that was enough for one day.  Today we were off again, to the Capuchin chapel (the skeletons of over 4,000 friars are on display there - a macabre curiosity!) and the scavi - the excavations under St. Peter's.  But that will wait for another posting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Son
Thanks for the update and the great pictures. We wish we were there. I can't wait to hear about the Capuchin Chapel and the excavations. Hope you have a great time.
Happy Bastille Day! (Oh. Sorry. Wrong country).
Love
Dad