Roma, part 2.

This post is way overdue and will in no way sum up the rest of the long weekend, but I'll try to do a highlights tour!

On Saturday, after a really really long day of walking around and seeing churches/sculptures/fountains, we ended up at the most ancient sections of Rome -- the forum and Palatine Hill.  Even though we didn't have time to go into most of the historic sites before they closed, this was probably my favorite part of Rome.  I loved the intersection of things that are so ancient with things that are so modern.  A major highway goes right past the Coliseum, so tons of people pass by this amazing place every single day on their commute to work.  Can you even imagine something like that happening in the United States?

In addition to the intersection of Ancient and Modern, Rome also had really interesting cultural contrasts.  There were so many pieces of Ancient Egyptian architecture that the Romans and later Italians took and transformed into their own symbols of power.  

Similarly, the Catholic Church transformed many pagan elements of the city into religious spaces.  The Pantheon is now a church of the martyrs, apparently.  


We spent a lot of time in the Vatican Museum (i don't even remember which day...) seeing famous art like THE SISTINE CHAPEL!  Sadly, there were a bunch of Italian guards in the room yelling at anyone who even attempted to take a picture, but you could probably google an image that's much better than my photography skills.  Seriously, though, the effect of the chapel in person is indescribable.  


One morning that we were in Rome, we each spent a few hours drawing at any site in the city.  I, of course, wanted to draw in the ruins near the Coliseum.  This picture below is the column that i ended up focusing on.  Now, we're working on turning those drawings into linoleum cuts and prints, and I'll try to post a picture of the finished prints soon!

I have lots more pictures and stories from Rome, but I don't want to inflict a terribly long blog post.  Also, soon I'll try to post something about our trip to Assisi today!  It was the total opposite of Rome but completely wonderful as well!