We got up bright and early to tour the
Colosseum and the Forum. It was interesting, but this was not my favorite tour. For whatever reason I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe if I had done some research before hand, I might have enjoyed it more. All I could think about was all the Latin I used to know.
This is the interior of the Colosseum. It's pretty crazy to think about what went on there. Our guide told us about all the animals they captured out of Africa for the games, about how many of them didn't survive the journey back to Rome, and how they had to be trained to like the taste of human meat in order for them to want to attack the gladiators.
Ruins, including the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, in the lower left hand corner.
After lunch, a few of us had tickets for the
Borghese Gallery, to see the
Berninis and the
Caravaggio's. Here's the thing about the Borghese. You
must reserve tickets ahead of time. You're only allowed to be in the Borghese for two hours, so you have to pick the time you want go. You must be there half an hour before your scheduled time to pick up your tickets. If you don't show up on time, they give them away.
Well, lunch went longer than we expected, and of course we thought we knew where we were going, and of course it took us longer than we expected to get there, so we wound up sprinting through this huge, beautiful park to the Borghese:
We were a little late, but we still got our tickets. We had to check everything. You were only allowed a sketchbook, a pencil and your wallet. No purses, bag, cameras, etc.
But we finally made it in and saw the Bernini's including Apollo and Daphne,
And we finally saw some Caravaggios. I stood in front of this one, St. Jerome, for quite a while.
Two hours was enough for the Borghese, and, as I said in an earlier post, we were getting a little burnt out on art. We walked around Rome for a little while, and made our way to the
"Bone Church." The walls of the crypt were covered with the bones of 4000 Capuchin monks. Even the chandeliers were made of human bones. It was incredible.
After that, we went upstairs to the cathedral. A Friar was leading a few people in prayer, either Latin or Italian. It was enough to give you chills.
Some enamels from this week. Just some test pieces as I work out my ideas for my Italy work.
Our last day in Italy, we headed to the Vatican. We had a three hour tour, which didn't feel like three hours at all. I couldn't believe all the things that we in the Vatican, historical and contemporary. The above is a picture of the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
This is one of the very first pieces I saw in my very first art history class.
The School of Athens painting, by Raphael.
This Sistine Chapel. We were in the Sistine Chapel for all of maybe five minutes, before the guards started clearing us out. It was packed with people. It was pretty crazy.
After lunch and a quick break, we went looking for Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa, which is in one of the smaller churches in Rome. Well, after two other churches, and asking for directions several times, we were finally headed in the right direction, sprinting to the church, before it closed. Always sprinting for the Bernini's! But we made it, and it was awesome.
We got up bright and early to tour the Colosseum and the Forum. It was interesting, but this was not my favorite tour. For whatever reason I just wasn't feeling it. Maybe if I had done some research before hand, I might have enjoyed it more. All I could think about was all the Latin I used to know.
This is the interior of the Colosseum. It's pretty crazy to think about what went on there. Our guide told us about all the animals they captured out of Africa for the games, about how many of them didn't survive the journey back to Rome, and how they had to be trained to like the taste of human meat in order for them to want to attack the gladiators.
Ruins, including the Temple of the Vestal Virgins, in the lower left hand corner.
We were a little late, but we still got our tickets. We had to check everything. You were only allowed a sketchbook, a pencil and your wallet. No purses, bag, cameras, etc.
And we finally saw some Caravaggios. I stood in front of this one, St. Jerome, for quite a while.
Photo from our 30 minute stop in Pisa.
We had heard that the hike between the last two towns of Cinque Terra were a lot more difficult than the first between the first three towns. Some of the girls had hiked the entire thing the day before and said that it wasn't so bad. They were lying. I think this was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life. Not, that I've hiked a whole lot, but this was pretty brutal. Beautiful, but brutal.
A shot from the trail. We kept going up. And up and up and up!
One of the few level parts of the trail.
Going down wasn't much better than going up.
The path was narrow, with a steep drop off to one side, for most of the trail. I think it took us almost two hours to get to Vernazza.
Fianlly we made it to the church. It was right by the rocks and the water. It was small, and simple and beautiful. I really loved this church, I think it might be one of my favorites. While I was sitting in the pews, contemplating, an honest to god crazy man came in and started yelling at all of us in Italian. I'm not sure what he said, but I'm pretty sure he called us fascists.
The rocks along the walk were amazing. To one side were these huge, layered cliffs, that would fold you in like a womb. 
The streets and trails were so steep. We actually hiked straight up these terraces a little ways, looking for an olive oil museum, which we didn't find. But the views were spectacular.
Manarola (I think)
I couldn't get over the color of the water.
