Back to Rome

I've come to the conclusion that Rome is nuts, as in crazy, and not in a good way. This really hit me after a while of seeing so many crazy structures and the stuff in, on, and around them. There's just no end to it. No one in their right mind would dream this stuff up, much less actually build it, much less so many times over. The Romans here were nuts, The Catholics here are nuts, and the Italians here, not wanting to be overshadowed by their own city have gone nuts. That's really the only explanation I can think of for a place like Rome.

Since I arrived late, I went to bed early knowing the next day would be a long one. I decided it would be my "church day". In the morning, I threw on the best clothes in my backpack and headed out to my 9:30 tour of St. Peters Necropolis, which had to be scheduled months in advance. The necropolis is what used to be an open air area with elaborate structures dedicated to housing the remains of Roman families. Now it rests about 20-30 feet under St. Peters Basilica, some almost perfectly preserved. In addition to the Roman stuff was the tomb of St. Peter and what are believed to be his remains near by. The whole thing kind of seemed like a Roman town inside a cave. After that, I wandered through the papal grotto, which houses the tombs of many of the popes throughout history. After that, I took in some more of St. Peter's. This place is so big the Statue of Liberty from water level to torch flame could fit inside the dome, which was designed and build by Michelangelo.

After the necropolis and grotto I headed over to the Pantheon which is nearly perfectly preserved and the building which countless famous buildings are based on. Next was the Campo de Fiori, a very nice area in the southern part of the city. Then St. Mary Trastevere, a very old well preserved church. Then I walked across a bridge which was over 2000 years old and still functioning well. Close to that was St. Nicholas, a small church built into Roman ruins. Down the street were two almost completely intact Roman temples, you can't really call them ruins if they were never ruined. Up the hill from that was the church with the famous Roman sewer cover which you always see pictures of people sticking their hands into. Up the Aventine hill from there was the church of St. Sabina, one of the best preserved Constintenean basilicas, over 1600 years old with huge carved decoration wooden doors which were over 1500 years old. Down the hill from there was St. Clement, a really nice church. The really notable thing about it was the well preserved roman temple that was excavated under the church and the what was probably the house of St. Clement, the fourth pope. From there I went to St. John Lateran, this is actually the mother church of the Catholic church (not St. Peter's) with the papal throne. This church was just ridiculous, that's really all there is to say. From there I walked over to Santa Croce(Rome) which was surprisingly small for a major church in Rome. However, in the treasury they had what were believed to be three fragments of the true cross, two thorns from the crown of thorns, fragments from the rock used or flogging, and the inscription from the top of the cross, and more which I can't even remember. Of course they were all housed in reliquaries that were made with the best of the best of artistic techniques at the time they were made. All told I think I had visited about nine or ten churches plus several Roman temples by the end of the day.

The next day I was able to relax a bit, In the morning I went back to St. Peters to go through the treasury, despite being looted quite a few times throughout history (the last being Napoleon) it was still nuts. After that I headed over to the main Capitaline Museum. (located on Capitaline Hill, which our word "capital" comes from) This museum housed what seemed like nearly all of the Roman statues I've ever seen in a history book, many of them really nice and in perfect condition.

The next day my train for Frankfurt left at around 4:30 so I managed to roam around the city just a little more and visit St. Lawrence which is around 1700 years old and the inside of St. Mary Major, along with the treasury.

It was a long train ride up to Frankfurt to meet back up with Andrew and Stevie, but luckily at that point I was exhausted, so I slept on and off and punched out my previous blog entry on the way.


Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2121088&l=001a5&id=38301811
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2121089&l=19716&id=38301811
(I also added a few more to fill out the last Rome Album)