Out on the Town!

+JMJ+

Bonjourno!  I love Roma more and more everyday!  I was out and about in the city all day yesterday.  I got an early start and left the villa at about 5:50am to go to Mass at St. Peter's.  Monsignor Soseman celebrated the extraordinary form of the Mass at 7:00am on the altar of St. Venceslao (aka St. Wenceslas, you know, like the song "good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen"? Yes, he's real, and he's a saint!).  I can't believe I can go to Mass at St. Peter's REGULARLY.  What a beautiful gift!

Monsignor Soseman celebrating Mass on the altar of St. Venceslao in St. Peter's

From St. Peter's I (and three of my classmates who also came for Mass) figured out how to get to Piazza Garibaldi, where we were supposed to meet our professor at 9:30am for our "Art and Architecture" class.  Class was wonderful!!  It's kind of like being in a tour group, but it's different because what we learn about "on tour" we also study.  It's not just, "Oh, wow, how interesting, I hope I might remember that!"  No, we take notes and will study and retain much more than the average tourist.  I'll be keeping a detailed account of all that we see and learn in that class on another blog, so as not overload this one with information (and so I will have a nice study guide to refer to!).

However, I will still usually refer to the events of that class on here because, hey, IT'S EXCITING!  So, yesterday, we went to Piazza Garibaldi, Fontanone, and the Church of San Pietro in Montorio.  Piazza Garibaldi is a park.  There is a monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi and a lookout from which you can see the whole city of Rome!

View from Piazza Garibaldi

The Church of San Pietro in Montorio is in the Spanish area of Rome.  It's one of the only Renaissance style churches in all of Rome!  Funny story, the Church is dedicated to St. Peter (San Pietro) because it was built on the spot they believed to be the very place where St. Peter was crucified.  Turns out, after they built it, they found out that wasn't actually where Peter was crucified...awkward.  They already had the lovely Church though, so they decided just to let it be.

Relief of St. Francis in San Pietro in Montorio, sculpted by Bernini

After class, we sat on some probably very old, probably very important steps by a probably very old and important fountain and ate our packed lunches.  Next, it was time for my first gelato!!  I had two scoops, chocolate and Nutella flavors.  So good.

Yes, we were super touristy and took a gelato picture

On our way to get gelato, we passed the Pantheon.  Obviously, gelato was our first priority, but afterwards we backtracked to take a closer look.  The Pantheon used to be a temple dedicated to the gods; it has since been consecrated to be a Catholic basilica.  There's a giant hole in the dome because the ancients hadn't quite figured out how to build (complete) insanely massive domes that could support their own weight.  Still pretty impressive though.

Our group in front of the Pantheon

After a long day, we all finally made it back to the villa (which was quite an adventure in itself).  I was so exhausted that I fell asleep before I could get any homework done or type up this blog post (which has gotten pretty longwinded, I realize.  I will improve!).  Thanks for reading!