The Baths of Diocletion, Ara Pacis, and the Borghese--by Soup

Text by Soup, Photos by Soup, Weston and Kelli as noted

The Baths of Diocletian was so large and that was only less than a quarter of it. To think that the bath was built only in 6 years. That must have taken a lot of slaves. It was vast and no wonder it was the largest bath in the empire. The floor was amazing and seeing all the Zodiac tiles was amazing. Poor Scorpio was small and hidden by a column. 

Little Scorpio hidden in the corner

Photo by Weston the Baths of Diocletian

St. Maria Della Vittoria was covered with intricate designs, but the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa was smaller than I thought it was. I'm so glad it was not behind a protective wall, but I wouldn't blame anyone if it was. I'm glad I got to see another piece from the 250 Art History pieces. The church itself was very baroque with all the decorations and the marble facade. It was a small church, but wonderfully decorated. 

Photo by Weston The Ecstasy of Santa Teresa


Photo by Weston Close up of Teresa

The Ara Pacis was so vast and breath taking. It was no wonder it got sacked, but it's still sad that it was. I'm so glad it's inside and away from the elements. Augustus built the Ara Pacis after he took over and Rome had a hundred years of war. He then brought about forty years of peace and to honor that he built this giant tomb. What a guy. 

The Ara Pacis in all its majesty

Also there were skulls motifs! Cow skulls with the garlands! Now this is my kind of tomb. It's so decorated and beautiful. No wonder why Augustus called it an accomplishment! It was well worth forty years of peace. 

Soup's favorite past the skull motifs

Lunch was refreshing and delicious! The market food was cheap and the park at Borghese was lovely. Enjoying the time to rest and talk with friends was quite nice after a busy morning of visiting Churches. 

A part of the Borghese gardens were everyone had lunch

The museum at Villa Borghese was overwhelming but so amazing! The mosaics and statues and paintings were all stunning. The hour and a half passed by quickly. That's a theme in Rome so much to do and so little time to do it. 

A gladiator stabbing a leopard 

Statue of Aeneas with his father and son in the Villa Berghese

We then had time after Borghese to split into interest groups to see even more places, so the AP Art History students and two others (Abigail and Steven) opted to see more art in churches.  We went to San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Chiesa il Gesu. Sadly, we couldn't get into the first church, but we did manage to get into il Gesu.

In Il Geso we saw the Triumph in the name of Jesus and I highly recommend going if you can. It was breath taking. Inside they have a mirror so you can see the ceiling. The amazing part about the ceiling is you can't tell what is sculptor and what is painting. I wish the entire group could have seen it.

Triumph in the name of Jesus in Chiesa il Gesu

Weston was really amazing today because not only did he have the role of navigator for the entire group to the Spanish Steps, but he navigated the small group to the churches around Rome. This group walked an additional 3 miles across Rome. We won the Rome thing.

Then we went to a fantastic tea shop by the Spanish Steps. I had a lovely Vanilla Green tea and a little muffin like thing. It was amazingly good! And we were able to recover before dinner and if was fabulous. 

10/10 I would repeat this day again.
If I had to leave you one thing  from today it would be will take away if you just look up, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Ostia Antica and Monte Testaccio--by Tellier

Text by Telly, photos by Kelli unless otherwise noted

Telly at Ostia Antica (photo by John)

After our breakfast at Casa La Salle, we collectively walked across the street to the Mercato (market) to purchase our picnic lunch. This gave us an opportunity to practice our shaky Italian and stock up for our lunch. 

Ordering meats and cheeses to make sandwiches for our picnic lunch

Michael and Zach are happy with their "mela" purchase

Nick uses his Italian to buy some fruit

Beautiful vegetables in the market

Around 09:15 the group of Latin students boarded the metro on our way to Piramide,  the junction for trains going outside the city. 

Waiting for our train to Ostia Antica

After about a 30 minute train ride, we arrived at Ostia Antica. At first it looked like a barren town with nothing going on; however, cross a bridge, walk 2 minutes and BAM! an old, ruined, Ancient Roman town named Ostia emerges. 

Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica

After meeting at the acoustically-perfect amphitheater and the Y-Tones members giving a beautiful performance of "Take On Me", Greg, Sarah, and Kelli let us loose to roam the beautiful city.

The Y-Tones check out the acoustics of the theater

Walking down the main road and looking at all the old shops in a row made picturing the former vivacity of the city much easier, especially after learning about the lifestyle of the people. All the building are very well preserved and walking in, around, and on top of them was an experience that no textbook can give. Eating lunch in an Ostian home and walking around the town made me picture myself living in such a town so long ago. This visit to Ostia Antica was relaxing, beautiful, and truly a memorable part of the trip and my favorite thus far.

Wrapping up a great day in Ostia Antica

Once we returned from Ostia, we stopped off at the metro stop by Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) and walked along the track and over the Tiber river, onto the ever-beautiful Tiber Island. We got gelato. That was our experience on the island. It's a very small island.

Steven was especially excited to visit Tiber Island

A gelato break on Tiber Island

Passing though Tiber Island, we met up with our tour guide Paola at Monte Testaccio who taught us about ancient Romans' way of storage for wine and oils. The Romans stored their wines and oils is anphorae which were essentially very larger vases. Once they were emptied, while they could clean out and reuse the anphorae used for wine, those used for oil were indelible. Because of this, they had no more use for their anphorae and would proceed to shatter them and disperse them on Monte Testaccio aka Hill of Pottery Sherds (yes this is the word for excavated pottery). We learned that about 54 million anphorae were used and shattered which now make up Monte Testaccio.

Paola, our guide to Monte Testaccio

Paola explains the stacked construction of this hill made entirely of discarded pottery

Pottery under our feet on the path

We found one with the handle piece

Our group at the top of Monte Testaccio

Having descended the hill, Paola took us to the Pyramid of Cestius, a giant marble pyramid in the middle of the city, a tomb. Here, we learned more about the history of Rome and specifically that part of the city.

The pyramid of Cestius

Reading Latin inscriptions with Paola

Reading Latin inscriptions with Paola

On the 4th day, all is well.

Crossing the Tiber River

Our group enjoyed walking across the Tiber River on the Ponte Sant'Angelo after finishing our afternoon in the Vatican. 

A Morning in the Vatican Museums--by Cassandra

Text by Cassandra, photos by Kelli unless otherwise noted

On just our second day in Rome, we visited the famed Sistine chapel alongside the Vatican museum, and we were able to immerse ourselves in a world of art. After breakfast at our hotel Casa La Salle, we enjoyed a smooth ride to the museum on the subway. Our tour guide welcomed us and lead everyone upstairs to begin. In an energetic manner, he told the story of Michelangelo- the man who painted the ceiling and walls of the Sistine chapel. 

Our wonderful tour guide, Marco, taught us all about the details of the Sistine Chapel, as well as explained so many of the interesting things we say in the Vatican Museum

Our groups listens intently to Marco

It was interesting to hear that, originally, Michelangelo was not a painter, but mainly a sculptor. Nonetheless, he was still able to create an astonishing masterpiece! I was inspired by his talent and dedication that enabled him to accomplish this piece of art.

Afterwards, we followed the tour guide through a series of rooms and hallways, adorned with distinct styles of artwork, both painting and sculpture. 

Exploring the museum

The hall of animal sculptures

We witnessed the oldest surviving bronze statue from the Roman era as well as a sculpture of god (the father) and two children, who were escaping from a snake. Although some people find sculpture boring to look at, what's nice about statues is that their faces reflect different emotions that we have experienced or can relate to. 

An original bronze sculpture from Roman times

Roman Laocoonte Sculpture (photo by Greg)

It was also cool to learn that Romans, indeed, were among he first humans to map out our world. We realized how a lot of maps and other forms of architecture today originated from the work/intelligence of Romans. 

Exploring the Hall of Maps

We learned how incredible these maps were for their time

At last we arrived at the Sistine chapel where everyone stood and silently absorbed the breath-taking imagery. Looking at the far wall dotted by clouds, it felt like we were almost floating in the sky...

The Bramante Staircase led us out of the museum at the end of our visit

St. Peter's Basilica and our afternoon in Rome-by Ben

Text by Ben, photos by Kelli unless noted

Michael, Tellier and Ben in the Piazza Navona

After finishing with the Vatican tour and a short lunch break, the trip leaders quickly led us to get into line for the Saint Peters Basilica. At first we were all wondering why our teachers were so rushed to get in line, but as we trudged along we quickly realized that five minutes delaying our entrance into that line would have meant 30 more waiting in it.

Outside St. Peter's Basilica

When we finally passed through security and entered the church, the first thing my eyes went to was the back of the church as I realized the sheer size of the building.

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica

 As I strained to see the detailing in the massive ceiling I recognized that it was time to get in line to climb up to the top of the dome. The group that was interested walked through the underground area filled with the tombs of popes and saints and then got in line on the other side. When we began the climb, it quickly became evident that these stairs (512 to be precise) would be no walk in the park. While we hiked, I kept wishing I had decided to put on socks, but I brushed away those thoughts when we reached the top of the interior dome. Looking at the decoration so closely really put the amount of effort and delicacy used for it into perspective. We spent a good amount of time viewing that, but as we explored we soon found that this platform we were on wasn't even the highest that we could go. Soon after we had started to continue our climb, we noticed how the hallway slanted as we traveled on in between the dome and a thin tile layer separating us from the blue sky outside. When we reached the viewing area from the top of the dome however, the view of Rome that we had blew everyone away. Because the basilica is the tallest building in the city you can see for miles in every direction.  

The view from the top of the dome (Photo by Greg)

We enjoyed that view for a long time, but when we finally got to the bottom, I knew I was done for the day. My feet hurt from the stairs and I really just didn't feel like doing any more walking. I kept going though, and soon we found ourselves in the Pantheon.  

Inside the Pantheon

After some free time exploring the shops in the surrounding area, we are dinner in a fantastic Italian Restaurant that Sarah knew from when she lived in Rome as a student. 

The pizza oven at Navona Notte Restaurant

Michael enjoys his pizza that has just arrived

Finally we caught the subway to eventually find our beds.