Tempest in a Teapot

I sort of lost my momentum on writing up our Rome trip, didn’t I? Um, so the rest of the trip: Saturday we split up – J went off to the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery & Memorial outside of town and I embarked on a very full day: an early morning tour of the Roman forum ruins, the Capitoline Hill, and the Capuchin Crypt followed by a whole host of churches.

The Roman Forum was beautiful in the morning light – I was there by 9am, I think, and had the place practically to myself! The sky was so blue and the ruins were fascinating. From there I hiked to the top of the Capitoline Hill and wandered in a couple of churches along the way. I also went in the Mamertine Prison where tradition says that St. Peter was held before being killed. It is a dark, dank place. And I was the only one in it. I couldn’t WAIT to get back out – I practically ran back up the stairs.

Definitely the Capuchin Crypt has got to be one of the weirest places I have ever been. Some bored creative monks got the bright idea of using bones in artistic arrangements to decorate their final resting place. It is odd. You can’t take pictures in the crypt anymore, but the link above has some great images. You really can’t believe it unless you see it. I can’t imagine what would possess ANYONE to do that.

Michelangelo’s Moses in the St. Peter in Chains church. (more info here: “Cecil B. deMille is said to have been persuaded to cast Charlton Heston as Moses in his movie-epic, The Ten Commandments, based on Heston’s purported physical resemblance to Michelangelo’s Moses.”)

There’s so much more – I saw Bernini’s Ectasy of St. Teresa, the chains that held St. Peter on his way to the cross, poked into some interesting shops and enjoyed the lovely fountains that are all over Rome. Did I mention that on Friday we went thru the Vatican Museum too? I can’t remember now. It seems we crammed a lot into just a few days!

We threw our three coins in, so we’re sure to go back!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Life Abroad, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.