1 Cathedral, 2 Cathedral, 3 Cathedral…more!-July 3

So today started with a bang, my first taxi ride, I know I’m such a sheltered child! We headed down town to the Borghese Gallery, home of great works by Bernini, famous for sculpture and architecture of St. Peters. Okay, lets talk building first, this huge baroque estate, two giant stone staircases adorned with embellishment guide you to rooms lavish and grand. The statues are framed in paintings of draperies so real you’d swear they were plush. Inside was housed some of the most extraordinary work of the time.

A few pieces to make mention; the Apollo and Daphne sculpture, extraordinary…depicting the lustful Apollo turning Daphne into a willow. The leafs were so thin, and detail so unreal…how do they do that! Engraved at the base in Italian the words…“Those who love to pursue fleeting forms of pleasure, in the end find only leaves and bitter berries in their hands.”
Another sculpture I loved by Bernini, the sculpture of Truth, completely unique…her happy, imperfect face glowing and symbols like a radiating sun burst in her hand. This piece is believed to be most personal to Bernini; at the time he was struggling with construction of St. Peters and the death of the pope. It stood in his own home, a gift to his son for many years until being moved to the Museum.
Absolutely amazing, sadly we couldn’t take pictures, but room after room of not only beautiful décor but incredible art work. After a quick trip to the attic to see the family paintings…what a storage room! We headed to the garden and out to this great green house with some contemporary pieces.

Really, truly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my young life!
Next we skipped on over (metro and 5 or so stops later…this is a huge city!) to the Coliseum to see the inside!...honestly I didn’t know you could go inside. What a site to see though. Once completely covered with marble, this structure held thousands for the first Olympics…This was awe inspiring realizing I was walking up such ancient steps and peering out views that have evolved over so many years.
We later headed to meet our tour guide, Ms. Antonella, a guru of all things Romanesque! She carted us around to 5 different churches, one of which had 3 generations of Rome uncovered. The first being the newest…4 thousand or so years old, the last dating to 600 A.D. or so! Yeah…really old! I thought it was interesting to see in the lower level the baptismal font, now no longer used! We traveled through Rome, one amazing architectural relic after another. Housed in the ………… was the statue of Mary and Christ done by Michelangelo, one of his only signed pieces! Absolutely stunning! There were the most exquisite mosaics and stunning architectural details…embellishment at every turn…They didn’t ever hear about the joke, “if it isn’t Baroque…don’t fix it!” They Baroque-d every nuke and cranny! These churches hold some incredible archives though, a massive sculpture of Zeus by Michelangelo and the chains of Peter, and one church was said to house and display at certain occasion, a piece of the crib of the Christ Child!
On the signal of our faithful guide we ran to see the changing of the guards at the President’s Headquarters. So cool to hear the people sing the anthem of Italy, we looked at each other, realizing that the 4th was tomorrow and in Rome, it would be just another day!


Another skip and jump and there we were at Treve Fountain. This is one of those iconic venues that I have dreamed of visiting. In anticipation I fished out my 20 cent euro and my shinny copper penny and properly threw my coins over my left shoulder, back towards the fountain…one to return again to Rome and the other to met an Italian man…I skipped the third coin thinking that my Momma might be mad if I met a man in Rome and got married! (could you imagine the faces at dinner when I say…I met a man in Rome, he’s wonder and amazing and were getting married…a little quote from Mr. George Banks!)
Water bottles filled with crisp, clean, cool water from the natural spring we went to a fabulous little restaurant and had my first Authentic Italian Dinner! Meat Ravioli, it was so great, fresh hand made pasta, thick fresh tomato sauce, great chewy Italian bread! A little shopping, a hilarious episode waiting for the shuttles with way to loud American girl chit chat and we were back home after an amazing tour of the city. Today I saw, that I have so much more to see!