Roaming around Rome:)

Being honest: history was not my favorite subject through school.. I was never one to think of Roman Achievement as interesting let alone have to get tested on it.. But being in a place where so much of that history took place/ existed might have been one of the things I thought about most during this weekend in Rome. That I was standing where history was made and I saw these things that I've only seen pictures or read about, and they are right in front of me. I have really gained a new appreciation for history and art and a want to know more.

To say the least, my weekend was amazing! I did not know what to expect, but it was very interesting and a lot of fun:)

On day 1, we took a train early in the morning and arrived in Rome and went straight to our hotel. After we checked in and everything we started on a walking tour, the Roman Achievement teacher here at Kent was our tour guide so it was like a class.. but better because everything we were learning about was right in front of us! Our first stop was the Pantheon.

This was originally a temple, which means people would pray to it and not go in it, it was a house for the Gods. Which is crazy, they build this huge building to just stay outside of it.. Now you are allowed inside, of course, and there are a few tombs  and sculptures but I think the most amazing thing is the open Dome. They explained the architecture to us and how to this day they have no idea how they figured out how to make this open dome without it giving in to gravity.. I don't remember all the specifics though, but what is amazing about it is that it is open to all the elements, it will rain in there and everything!

Next our walking tour took us to the Colosseum.. It was really amazing! In the arena area, the floor was taken out of half of it so you could see underneath. There were rooms and things and that is where they would keep the animals and the gladiators got ready.

Next we went to the Roman Forum.. I walked where Julius Cesar once walked.. If I remember correctly, this was a just like a central area back then, so there were temples and trading areas all around. It doesn't look like much now, but a lot happened in this area.

Day 2- We started at the Vatican Museums, its really cool to think that they are their own country- they have their own postal service and police ! I would have liked to walk around the area more but we were just allowed in the museums. There was so much to see here, a lot of great art and sculptures. One of my favorite things to see were the maps that they painted, they looked like an arial view picture and they were just painted! 

Vatican Entrance

Courtyard in the Vatican

The pinecone!

This sculpture is depicting the ruler of Troy trying to warn his city that it was going to be destroyed but can not get there to tell them.

From here we walked in to the Sistine Chapel, we were not allowed to take pictures unfortunately, and we were not allowed to talk when we were in there. There were guards that walked around watching for pictures and yelling at people who were talking.. yes yelling.. totally defeating the purpose of being silent in respect.. but anyways! It was really amazing, it took Michelangelo 4 years to finish paining the ceiling. You could tell how tired he got because on the side he started on, there are a lot of people and they are very detailed and there is a lot going on. He started complaining of his back hurting and that he was going blind from leaning back and painting for such a long time. By the last sections, you can tell he was just wanting to get it done because the figures were bigger and there were big brush strokes. We were told that when they were cleaning it, they found paint bristles stuck in the paint from him brushing so hard and fast. You could stare at this for hours and still not see every detail!

Then, my favorite part, St. Peters Basilica!

This place was HUGE! I did not expect it to be as big as it was on the inside.. there were separate areas facing an altar that could be the size of their own church.. it was so cool!

Just to put in to perspective of how big this place was.. The sculpture in the lower right is 10ft tall.. and the lettering you see in the gold that is lining the ceiling is 7ft tall.. I say it again.. HUGE!

We had the afternoon to ourselves so what else is there to do when in Rome than to find the Steelers bar!

Day 3- We did what was called a Baroque walking tour with one of our professors, it was just like sight seeing, we walked around and ended up at the Trevi Fountian, unfortunately for us it was being cleaned so it was empty and there was scaffolding all around it. But it was still fun to see, and they made a little pool with a picture of the middle sculpture so you could still make your wishes:) 

Then we walked to the Central Park of Rome, a huge park! That led to the Galleria Borghese, it was a great museum. Filled with so many sculptures and paintings, really really beautiful. This building with all the art (back then) was a place for entertainment. I think it was the Pope that owned this and he would invite you there to admire all of the art and the sculptures. Now it is a museum! 

I had to keep in mind the whole time that the sculptures that we were seeing are rock. They were a piece of marble or something and transformed in to these AMAZING sculptures. The detail in these and how the are so life like is incredible to me.. like it is a chunk of ROCK?!?

Look at his hand grabbing her thigh and her side, it looks like you could touch it and it would feel like flesh and be able to push in to it but you can't.. It is rock.. You can't see in this picture but her hand is on his face as if she were pushing him and it shows the skin around his eye wrinkled like it was actually skin and could be pushed..

 Every room with a sculpture had a story to go along with it painted on the ceiling, so these two go together. Again, you don't see it in the picture I took but the cloth around him looks as though he is running and it is flowing behind him.. rock...

David in action sculpture.

This painting was so interesting to me because only 3 colors were used to paint this, red, black and white. But there seem to be so many more like his skin color, the brown for the table, his hair, beard and the yellowish for the skull. So amazing!

After this we took the train back to Florence, I was pretty exhausted and ended up falling asleep around 9pm and did not wake up again until 9am! 

This weekend I am going to Paris!! So I will post again soon:)

Un Abbraccio!

Verona and Venice!

Finally I have something new to blog about! I've done a few little things in the past week or so that haven't been interesting enough to post a whole blog about, like the chocolate festival and seeing the David sculpture. Both really awesome things, but not enough to make a blog post. 

  This past weekend was different though! I took a trip to Verona on Valentines Day for the St. Valentines festival they have there and it was called Verona in Love. It was a lot of fun! We took a tour around the city and saw some pretty amazing things, and it was really beautiful there. We saw one of the oldest and best kept coliseums,

 We also say Juliets' house,balcony, and courtyard where I wrote a letter to her just like in the movie Letters to Juliet, and many other things.

 There was SO much chocolate it was also a very delicious trip :) I do not have many pictures from the festival because it started raining pretty hard, but it was still very fun!

On Sunday, I went to Venice for Carnival. It was really amazing! 

We took a bus as close as we could get to the city and then had to take a boat to get to the middle area because Venice is an island.

There were these really elaborate costumes and masks and everyone was so in to this celebration which made it even better!

I got very in to it as well and got my own mask! Of course.. pink and sparkles:) 

 I went to a glass blowing demonstration and saw how they make vases and cups, it was interesting to see. I guess there is no actual school for learning how to make the glass, fathers will teach their sons and eventually when they become "masters" they take over for their father. 

Venice is one of my favorite places so far, it was so interesting and different because the "streets" were more like alley ways and then every couple of minutes you were going over bridges where the gondolas would pass under!

I did not do much sight seeing in Venice because I am going back for a whole weekend in March with my school, it will be a totally different experience then because I will be learning and seeing the historical things where as this weekend was just about Carnival. So, there will be another post in a couple weeks with more to see about Venice!

This coming up weekend I will be in Rome! It is the first overnight trip I take and I am going with the school so it will be fun to be with a big group of people from Kent:)

Ciao!