Wow, blogging and journalling: two things I'm terrible at keeping up with! It's sorta been 3 days since I last updated this. However, I'll now attempt to sum up all that's happened. Monday was Coliseum day...and I can't even begin to tell you how difficult it was to remember that. At this point, I've seen so many amazing things, it's all almost blurring together when I try to think of the 'when' I saw it or any specific experiences associated with it. So really, I'll just say what's happened, and leave it to the imagination, since I've already expressed my lack of words to convey my feelings and describe the things I have seen.
As I was saying, Monday was Coliseum day. We toured through the Forums as well, and saw the Arch of Constantine, right next door to the arena. Honestly, I'll go ahead and say that the inside of the Coliseum wasn't as large as I'd pictured it being. Still truly amazing though. I spent most of my time there trying to imagine the screaming spectators, the dying humans on the field below, and the roars of exotic animals let loose to wreak havoc on the sand. It was...unreal. And then that night we made a human pyramid on the front porch of the Pantheon. Jealous? You should be. Check out the facebook picture and I think you'll find you're downright envious. There's really very little to say about this day without rambling on more about nothing, so I'll go on.
Tuesday dawned bright and early, seeing us stationed at the entrance of the Etruscan museum. I highly doubt that's actually the name of the museum, but it's fitting and catchy...so I'll stick with it. It was (obviously) a museum completely full of Etruscan items...most of which were Amazing. Please note the capital A. I had no idea the Etruscans had been so talented. And seeing the sarcophagus in person was just...it easily made my day. We also visited two other churches that day, one being San Clemente, but the Etruscan museum. Definitely the highlight. It has both pushed me back towards staying an art major and not switching to a minor, and has also made me really want to take the Anasazi class Mark teaches. It's just been a massive inspiration to my life.
And now we can see Wednesday, this morning! ...I say about an hour away from hitting Thursday. I'm probably cutting this a little bit close. Today's agenda was merely the Pantheon, which we have seen on several occasions now, and also the Villa Borghese. Before this morning, I knew pretty much nothing about said villa. But now...I have decided that up to this moment, it is the greatest thing I've seen here. It was like the entire building was one huge set...I've never felt like such a theatre person in my life, not that I can really claim to be one at this point in time anyway. But the walls...every wall in the rooms inside was painted. And yes, that sounds pretty cool but also not too impressive, right? Wrong. They were painted to mimic marble. Not just regular old white marble either....any shade, texture, or pattern you could possibly imagine. It was EVERYWHERE. And not just that, but every decoration on the ceilings and walls was painted too. Nothing was real...but you'd never know it without getting right up next to it and squinting intently for a few seconds. It was mind blowing. Forget the Rape of Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, all of the Bernini statues. They were beautiful and I truly cannot imagine being able to do such things...but the WALLS. I couldn't stop staring at them. I wish so much that I had pictures or words to begin to tell people how amazing that place was...but I can only say that it is the one place I wish to visit again once I'm a much better artist, farther down the road in life. Past that eye-opening experience, we also had a picnic in the Piazza Navono on a bench, enjoying life and Roma. No big deal. After all, we've already had wine on the porch of the Pantheon...so what's a picnic in the Piazza?
'Til tomorrow then...once we've been to see the Vatican.
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