When in Rome

This past weekend I went to Rome on a school trip from Thursday to Sunday. I'm in a class called Study Tours and we travel to Rome, Southern Tuscany, Venice, and Milan. Our studio professor leads the trip and plans all of our visits. We have to keep a sketch book to turn in at the end of the semester to document our travels. It's a pretty cool class... much better than Biology 1001 :)
Rome is a much bigger and older city than Florence. There are ruins from BC all around the city.

The buildings in Rome are also much more colorful than those in Florence. They made for great pictures!
Half of the architecture students also went to Rome with us but they had a different itnerary than us ID students. Our schedule was full of museum visits. Some museums were more interesting than others but it got to the point where there was no more information that could fit into my brain.
We were usually done around 4 or 5 and had time to see other things around the city. At the end of the scheduled activities we were completely on our own. There were multiple days when we were outside of the city and were on our own to get back to the hotel. Luckily we always found our way!

We went to Palazzo Farnese. It is an old place that is now used as the French Embassy. It was recently opened to the public since it has a few galleries of art.

The Pantheon!

Inside the Pantheon.

We then had free time and decided to go see the Spanish Steps.

Tadahh! We got to the Steps shortly before the sun was setting. The Barcaccia fountain is at the bottom of the steps and Santa Trinita dei Monti is the building at the top of the Steps.

Inside Santa Trinta dei Monte.

The sun setting over Rome!

We then went to the Trevi Fountain. Legend holds that if you throw one coin into the fountain you will return to Rome, two coins will lead to a new romance, and three coins ensures marriage so I was sure to throw my coins in!

On our second day in Rome we went to Centrale Montemartini which was outside of the city. It is an old powerplant that is now used as a museum.

It is noted for the contrast of the old (BC) scupltures against the power equiptment.

Some of the statues had outfits on that I would wear. I liked this scuplture's dress. Its funny how an outfit on a sculpture from BC is one that you would see in stores today.

We traveled back into the city and had lunch in a park. The weather was sunny and warm so we soaked in a little sun as well. We then headed back out of the city to go to the MACRO (Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma). This museum is an old slaughterhouse that is now used to display contemporary art.

Overlooking the museum

This was an interesting exhibit... it was the covers of newspapers from around the world on the day after September 11th. It was interesting to see how places all around the world viewed what had happened. One paper said 'The Apocalypse" whereas another paper had only a small picture and caption.

This was my favorite piece of art in the museum. It is called Purple Sky II No.2 by Liu Wei.

After a full day Bria and I met up with some of the architecture students to cook dinner because a group of the guys had a kitchen in their room. It was fun to meet some people in the architecture major. We decided to go on a walk to the Colosseum. The architecture students had already seen it on Thursday but wanted to see it at night

It almost looks spooky because of the full moon!

The next morning we went to St. Peter's basilica but decided not to go in because the line was really long.

The ID group in front of St. Peters.

We were given 30 minutes to hang around at the Basilica so we decided to get gelato. My cousin, Julie, used to teach in Italy and recommended this place because she said it had the best gelato in Italy. I must say that I agree!! It was really creamy compared to the other gelato that I've had. It was so delicious!!!

We went to the Citta della Musica for lunch.

There were three auditoriums like the one pictured above. We didn't actually go into the buildings so I'm not exactly sure why we went but it was another sunny day and there were plenty of places around to sit outside so it was a nice place for lunch.

After lunch we went to the Maxxi museum.

The building itself was much more interesting than any of the exhibits.

The inspiration was pathways. The designers wanted to use a series of pathways for the galleries instead of big open rooms for the exhibits. It was an interesting take on a museum compared to all of the other museums we had been to.

After I headed back to St. Peters to finally see the interior!

It did not disappoint! I wanted to climb the dome and see the catacombs but both of those closed at 5:00 and so I didn't get to do either. I guess I'll just have to go back to Rome which isn't the worst thing :)

The guards at the Basilica wear these funny Swiss costumes... I'm not exactly sure why but they really stood out against the stone building.

On Sunday we had a tour of the Roman Forum. We met up with a German man who gave us a tour. He talked from 9:30 to 12:45 straight... he was very intelligent but not the most interesting. By about an hour in I think I stopped retaining anything he was saying.

A picture of the ruins of the Roman Forum. This used to all be covered in white marble. I bet it was beautiful!

We then had some free time to visit the Colosseum and to make our way back to the hotel to prepare for the train ride back to Florence.

In front of the Colosseum

Inside the Colosseum.

I was absolutely exhaused from the weekend's events so returning to Florence was just what I needed! I got my homework for Monday done and then slept like a rock.

Arrivederci!

Hannah