Note: Today was Aviva's first day of school, so for the next week Mike will be taking over writing duties to allow Aviva to do some homework and studying.
We started the day with Aviva going to school to take her written and oral placement tests (which she did pretty well on. She got the advanced level 4 book - those past two years at the Italingua Institute served her well!). This was followed by her first conversation class and befriending a classmate from Brooklyn, go figure! At the end of the week Aviva will give a re-cap of her classes and her thoughts.With Aviva in school, I needed a morning routine to keep me out of trouble, so I decided it was time for my first cappuccino - only took me two and half months. I found a cozy looking cafe (not too big nor too small to feel intimidated) and walked in. I ponied up to the bar and in my best Italian accent said, "un cappuccino per favore" which I know nailed because the bartender went to work. I took my first sip (sans sugar) and as expected, it was a little bitter (which I am sure my face didn't hide). Not wanting to insult the bartender I grabbed my cappuccino, five packets of sugar, and sat down at the farthest table. I dumped all the sugar the cup, took out my book, and continued drinking and slowly came around to enjoying the drink. I ended up liking the cappuccino quite a bit (I guess anything with 5 packs of sugar would taste good) and look forward to getting another cup tomorrow. My goal is to have the bartender recognize me and start a cup as soon as I walk in by Friday.
Aviva and I met up for lunch, caught up on our mornings, and went to go site seeing (this will be the theme for this week. School for Aviva, cappuccino for Mike, site seeing). It was raining pretty hard this morning and it was Monday, so our options were limited.
Our first stop was the Baths of Diocletian (built around 300 A.D.), a site so big it encompasses several modern-day city blocks. The steam baths alone are now the Piazza Della Republica - a gigantic roundabout at a major intersection including a large fountain and two semi-circular buildings. This place was huge! The Baths of Diocletian was one of the biggest Roman bath houses, covering an area of almost 10 acres and capable of accommodating up to 3,000 Roman at once. It was more of a lifestyle gym then a typical bathhouse as it housed washrooms, gyms, pools, libraries, and shops. In 1561, with the Baths no longer in use, the Christians decided it was time to renovate the place and called upon their good friend Michelangelo (probably just twiddling his thumbs waiting for a project) to get to work. The Bath's central hall was converted into the Church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli. Inside the church there is a meridian line then that uses a sun beam coming through a tiny hole to tell the date, time, and position of the stars. There was also a small exhibition about Galileo and his scientific discoveries (which is kind of ironic considering how he died with the Church disagreeing with one of his most famous discoveries...)
From there we went on what can best be described as a Pilgrims Tour, visiting some of the most famous churches/basilicas in Rome (except St Peter's (which we will see another day) and St. Paul's (which we saw a couple days ago)). As the Roman Empire was collapsing, Popes took the opportunity to step in as leaders. They began building churches to celebrate Christianity since it was finally safe to practice (and diss the Pagan followers). Below is a list churches/basilicas we visited with a quick highlight or two:- Santa Maria Maggiore - (Built in 432 A.D.) The church celebrates Holy Mary. Along with gorgeous mosaics the church also has a glass urn with wood pieces claimed to be from Jesus' crib. I just hope my mom kept parts from my crib for when I make it big.
- St. Peter-in-Chains - (Built in 440 A.D.) While not the most extravagant church, it is the home of the chains that held St. Peter in prison (St. Peter's Chains), as well as Michelangelo's greatest unfinished work, the enormous Tomb of Pope Julius II. If not for funding issues and other bothersome assignments, like the painting of the Sistine Chapel, he may have finished it. Flash fact time: The Moses statue of the tomb has horns on its head. This is due to Hebrew words for "ray of light" (halo) being mistranslated in medieval times as "horns". Whoops!
- Santa Prassede - (Built in 822 A.D.) This church has some of the best Byzantine mosaics in Rome.
- San Giovanni in Laterano - (Built in 318 A.D.) WOW. This was the first Christian Church in Rome and those guys came out with a bang. An enormous and beautiful structure that was the seat of the Popes until St Peter's renovation (and even today for the Pope to become official he must sit in the Bishop's chair located here to be "crowned"). Gossip time: it is said that the canopy over the alter contains the remains of St Peter's head. However, the gossip among some archeologists is that the Vatican tested DNA from the head with that from St Peter's body (located at St Peter's Basilica) and it didn't match!! Uh-oh, party foul!
- Holy Stairs - (Built in 326 A.D.) The building has marble steps brought from Jerusalum that Jesus supposedly climbed on the day he was sentenced to death. The steps are now covered with wood with tiny glass covered holes showing stains from Jesus blood. But you can't just walk up these steps, if you want to climb them you MUST do so on your knees. We didn't, but saw others doing it (apparently hundreds of people come here to pray an climb these steps every day).
- San Clemente - We will come back to visit this church again when there isn't a mass taking place, but the 12th church was built on top of a 4th century church, which was built on top of a second-century Mithraic Temple, which was built on-top of some earlier Roman building which I believe ate the fly. When we make our next visit we'll go and check out the lower levels to see all the remains of the older churches.
After that we made the walk back to Trastevere, went out for a delicious dinner (an appetizer of fried artichoke, bruschetta, and wild boar salami, tortellini for Aviva, fettucini with boar meat for Mike, a tartufo for dessert, and a mildly amusing conversation with the couple next to us), and called it a day.
No comments:
Post a Comment