We spent the entire day yesterday at the pool and half of today. I convinced the kids to walk with me through old (not ancient) Rome this afternoon (promises of gelato get me pretty far). So, we started at Il Gesu, visted Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona before having dinner at McDonalds. We then walked off our junk food up the steps of Santa Maria d'Aracoeli church. Our impressions all these places?-IlGesu is elaborately covered in frescoes, paintings of suffering Christ, multiple chapels and tributes to Mary and much gold. Gold. Gold everywhere. It's a trip how much priests and Popes looted in honor of God.
-The Santa Maria sopra Minerva has an obelisk in the piazza just in front with one of the wizest animals I know-the elephant-and a quote that translates something like "it takes a strong mind to sustain solid wisdom." I must say that I love the mixture of Christian and pagan.
- The Pantheon is huge and very old on the outside and very new inside. The dome is spectacular...truly awesome.
- Piazza Navona is a very lively, large piazza with a huge fountain that represents the four corners of the earth. So, there we see four, twisted, naked men squirting warter from various orifices looking tourtured. It's actually quite beautiful and remarkable that it is about 400 years old.
- Santa Maria d'Aracoeli church was built for the Franciscans in the 13th century. It is said that on the spot where the church was erected, a Sybil foretold the coming of Christ some 1400 years before it was built. What we know for sure is that it has a lot of stairs leading to its doors!
