The Vatican Museum

Today we visited the Vatican Museum, the largest museum in the world. We saw some Egyptian artifacts, many many beautiful Greek/Roman sculptures, the Sistine Chapel, and many paintings from the Renaissance.

There was one painting in particular that was called "the School of Athens". In the center Plato and Aristotle were having an argument over the places where you can find science. And it also had Euclid in it, the person who wrote the books of Euclid's Elements the first of which we were studying in school.

Next we bought lunch from a pizza place next to Campo di Fiori or the field of flowers that sold it by the pound. Campo di Fiori is a small square in Rome with many stands mostly selling produce, very cool.


After dinner I bought the eight euro cup of gelato, much to the joy of the people working there. And before going to bed my room mates Lane and Ian got into an argument over movement according to the center of the universe that lasted nearly two hours. It was very funny to listen to.

The Church of Saint Peter & the Castel San Angelo

The breakfast at the new convent was even more scarce than at the first one. There was only coffee, bread, and packaged sweets. Anyway we went to the Church of Saint Peter today. It was quite amazing, the church is so big that the domed ceiling is big enough to fit seven of the Pantheon's domes. And it was also filled with many beautiful sculptures including one of Peter. Whose toes are actually worn away because of a tradition that started a long time ago of kissing the toe of saint Peter. I am still a little annoyed that there was a five euro charge to climb the five hundred and ten steps to the top and back.

Next we went to the Castel San Angelo, the burial place of the Roman emperor Hadrian. The view from the top was amazing and even better than the Church of Saint Peter's (grrr). It was very cold and windy though so soon everyone started taking shelter in some holes that were against the wall.

Next we went back to the convent where we had the choice of either going out again for coffee or just resting in the convent. I opted for the second choice so I could read some. A very funny thing happened when we went to dinner, we all stopped in the street to vote on where we would go to eat and in the middle of the vote an Italian guy stepped into the circle and raised his hand, it was hilarious. Tonight I found the script to Ian's next school horror movie(he likes horror movies) titled "?!" (awesome title). It was fun to read but I don't like horror movies so I would not like watching it. I also had a small conversation with Lane over my favorite part in the book I had just finished reading "the Masterharper of Pern" before going to bed.

Return to Rome

Today we took another train back to Rome, this time I chose to sit with the guides and a few of my classmates. When we got off of the train we went to the new convent we would be staying in and sorted out our rooms. Next we went to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is the most well preserved ancient Roman building in the world. Its gigantic and has a huge thirty foot wide ocular(intentional hole in the ceiling for light) at the top. Unfortunately no one was allowed to walk directly under the ocular because it had just been raining.

Next we came back to the convent and had some rest time before dinner where I noticed something quite funny. During dinner time in Rome there is often someone standing outside of the restaurant that they work in trying to wave people in. And when our large group walked by you could almost see the cash registers going off in their heads. The person who worked at the restaurant that we stopped at was very happy. As was the guy who worked at the gelato place that we stopped at. Also thanks to some kind of weird holiday that had been going on that weekend all of the girls had been getting into the museums and ancient cities free. So Don bought us all gelato with the extra money.

Also the showers in this last convent are very strange. They are simply shower heads attached to the walls. no tubs or shower curtains or anything.

Underneath Naples

Today we did not need to leave the hotel until ten thirty, a nice change. When we did leave we found our lunch along the streets of Naples. I got a miniature pizza, a panini filled with the other parts of a pizza, and some things that Don recommended that were basically fried mashed potatoes. Next we went on the Naples underground tour. There is in fact an ancient Roman city under sixty percent of Naples. But the tour itself was rather short because it would cost to much to buy up that much private property for excavation. But we did get to see part of an ancient Roman theater where the crazy emperor Nero had once tried to play every part in several plays for an entire day. And he also locked everyone in and forced them to clap. However there were two nobles who got away by faking their deaths and having their slaves carry them out on stretchers.

After the tour we got on a subway and headed to the port of Naples where we got to "get in" the Mediterranean (as in touch it, it was cold that day).

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by a cafe where I ordered some hot chocolate and was surprised when they served me literal melted chocolate in a cup. It tasted good though, and they gave me some tiny little pastries to dip in it. I finally found some reasonably priced pasta at dinner tonight and when we got back to the hotel Linda surprised us with a small chocolate cake to share.

Pompeii

Today we got on another subway that took us to Pompeii. Its a good thing that the train station is literally across the street from our hotel. And its not noisy either. We bought our lunches from some stands that were siting just outside of the entrance to Pompeii. they were also selling some absolutely gigantic lemons the likes of which you've probably never seen before. they were about as big as footballs.

Pompeii was just like Herculaneum except much bigger and it also had things like a colosseum and a theater. There were many pots lying around that the Romans used to store food in and some of the streets had some pretty deep chariot ruts in them.We ate our lunch in there (that's right food and drinks are allowed) and left after about four hours.

We went to dinner at Michele's again, personally I think that their marinara is much better than their margarita. On the way back to the hotel we found a gelato place and had some (yaahoo!)

Vesuvius and Hurculaneum

The breakfast at the hotel was a little more extravagant then at the convent. There was cheese, meat, hard boiled eggs, and juice as well. Next we got on a subway that took us to the new town of Herculaneum were we got in a couple of vans whose drivers are paid to take people to Vesuvius and back. Vesuvius is an ancient mountain that became a volcano when it literally blew its top off in 79 A.D. burying the ancient towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii under lava and ash (just ash for Pompeii). The vans took us most of the way up the mountain and we walked the rest of the way up to the top of Vesuvius (that was exhausting). The crater at the top was amazing, there was smoke coming out of the walls to.

Next we stopped at a restaurant in the new Herculaneum for lunch that turned out to be very overpriced. The eight euro spaghetti that I bought wasn't even enough to fill me up. but thankfully my classmates Lane and Nils each let me have a little of their lunches (my classmates can be very generous to a friend in need). Next we went to the ruins of the old town of Herculaneum. It was really cool, the city was so well preserved that you could find original paintings, mosaics, equipment, wood (in charred form), and even ceilings. and you just had to by a ticket and you could wander around in there for as long as you wanted to, within reason of course.

After dinner we went to a grocery store were I bought myself some crackers. also no gelato again (arrgh).

Arrival in Naples

Today we got on a train to Naples (my first time on a train) but it was a full two hours late so we got a snack at a cafe and sat until it was time to go. The train was laid out in several six seat booths with glass doors. I ended sitting in a booth by myself watching the scenery go by for the two hour ride, it was very nice actually.

We went and checked into the hotel we would be staying in when we got off the train in Naples. And next we went to another museum. That museum had some of any ancient Roman artifact you could think of but once again I think it was the sculptures that were the most amazing.

It was already six o'clock after the museum because of the delay so we went straight to dinner at the Pizzeria of Michele one of the oldest pizza places in the world. they only sold two kinds of pizza (margarita and marinara) and glass bottled soda (so good). We couldn't get any gelato tonight (noooooo).

Museum and church... and Montessori

Today we went to the Casa de Bambini or the House of the Children. On the way there we also walked by the wall that used to be the boundary of ancient Rome. It encompassed the entire Nation then.

The Casa de Bambini was the very first Montessori school in existance (I go to AMS Austin Montessori School by the way). It was founded in 1907 by Maria Montessori and is still running.

While we were there our guide Don told us that it was actually his wife Donna's birthday that day. So after we left the Casa de Bambini we called her at three o'clock her time and sang her happy birthday.

After that we went to a small cafe where I had a small lemon pastry before we moved on. Next we went to the National Museum of Rome. It that had many ancient Greek and Roman statues and mosaics. The stone statues were absolutely amazing in the way that they captured texture. The clothes and hair were amazingly lifelike. they made it look like they would actually ripple like real clothing if you were to touch them. And all of he folds were perfect to!

Last but not least we went to a beautifully decorated church that also contained and ancient sundial for telling the seasons.

The Appian Way and Catacombs

Today we got on a subway again that took us to a place where we then got on a public bus that took us to the Appian Way. The Appian Way is an ancient rode that was instrumental in Romes success. Although now its deteriorated a lot making it obviously uncomfortable to drive on. Its made out of large uneven black cobblestones that used to be filled around by the cement that the Romans used. we walked along it for a while although the original rode quickly ends (hey, no one wants to drive on that) until we got to the Catacombs. The Catacombs were ancient Christan burial places in Rome. It is underground in a four layer maze, we could have easily gotten lost if it weren't for our guide. Who was a very good guide by the way, he seemed to know and tell us everything about the Catacombs. Next we went to a cafe where I had a piece of chocolate cake before we went back to the convent. After this we took the bus and subway back and went shopping before going back to the convent. I was looking for batteries for my camera (guess why there are no pictures of today's activities). We went back to Leonardo's today and had a similar experience as the last time. Except that I had a fun after dinner game of "save the stick man" with Ian the kid from Chicago. Who I got to know better over the course of the trip. As well as the guide from his school Linda. Linda has two replaced knees that make walking a little difficult for her. and we walked an average of five and a half miles a day so she would sometimes head out ahead of us and/or take a bus while we walked.

A busy day

Today was a very busy day. We went through the same morning routine as the day before and soon nearly every day of the trip.We saw the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Roman Forum, the capital of Rome, and the real Trajan's column. The Colosseum was amazing, a gigantic structure made completely out of arches. The stands and floor had deteriorated away allowing us to see the tunnels where the gladiators and animals were kept.

Next was the Palatine Hill. It was where all of the emperors and some of the very wealthy lived. we could also see some of it from the Colosseum. We ate our lunches there, unfortunately the lunch that I bought for myself was much to small but I got very lucky when one of my classmates Shannon let me have hers.

After the Palatine Hill we went to the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum was basically the center of Rome and according to the Romans the center of the universe. They believed this because they were very superstitious and used birds to tell the future and other things. They let two birds go from different places and said that the place where they would meet was the center of the universe. They even put a plaque on a small building in the Roman Forum saying that it was the center of the universe. The Roman Forum is very big and contains many ancient buildings and temples.

Next we saw the capitol of Rome. there were two soldiers standing completely still at the top of the stairs. and there was also a gigantic statue of a guy on a horse on top of the capitol. If you walked directly underneath the front of the statue and looked up it would look like the horse was staring at you and was about to step on you.

Finally the last thing that we saw before going back o the convent was the original Trajan's column.

Museums and churches

On the third day of the trip my roommates and I got up at six o'clock after a much needed night of rest and went down to the lobby for breakfast. The breakfast there was rather bland, there was bread, coffee, yogurt, and some small pastries. And I don't even drink coffee. I was several minutes before the rest of our group showed up so I read my book while they ate. The first thing we did after leaving the convent was split into three groups and go buy some paninis (or sandwiches) for lunch. Next we took a subway (my first time) to a large museum called the Mvseo della Civilita Romana or the Museum of the Civilization of Rome. They had many ancient Roman sculptures and artifacts as well as many scale models of ancient Roman building. I think that the most amazing things that they had were a scale model of Rome at its peak that filled up a large room. And a copy of Trajan's column that depicted the events of the Dacian war cut into small panels and placed in rows with descriptions.


During this day we also went to the two churches that were closed the day before. One of them had an awesome statue of Moses while the other was actually three churches from different ages stacked on top of each other. Next we went back to the convent to rest for a little while before going to dinner around six as we would do really every day of the trip from then on. This time we went o a pizza place called Leonardo's. And when we finished there we went and got some gelato before we went back to the convent for bed.