Rome: Day 3
March 30 is my birthday. The night before at the restaurant, Filiberto got a bottle of spumante after dinner, I was given a piece of cake with a candle, and the students sang happy birthday. The actual day (Sunday) there wasn't much of an opportunity to celebrate. We were out of the hotel by 9, bags packed and stored, for our last day in Rome. We hopped a bus for the Pantheon (Kim stayed behind waiting for the two young ladies who didn't wake up in time, and caught up with us). Like St. Peter's, the most amazing thing about this place is size. How did they build it? Of course most people know it for the massive hole in the ceiling, which allows in rain, sunlight, pigeons...
Most of Sunday was a "free day" for the students, so after 10:30 a.m. the formal tour was over, but Filiberto was going to continue walking and talking for those interested until 1 p.m. At 10:30 we had Filiberto, 24 students, 5 guests (family/friends), Kim and me. At 10:31 it was Filiberto, 3 students, 3 guests, Kim and me. At 11:30, Filiberto, 1 student, Kim and me. The students had things they wanted to see and do (no time on the schedule is provided for shopping) so I can't fault them (except for the ones who were scheduling a Burger King excursion). BUT, they missed out on visiting all sorts of interesting sites including Piazza Navona (unfortunately the Bernini fountain was under restoration), St. Agnes in Agony (we visited the church, not the lady), Campo dei Fiori, the Mouth of Truth and its church Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Filiberto left Kim, the lone remaining student and me at 1 p.m. at the Campidoglio Museum - free during Culture Week.
The big statue of Marcus Aurelius on the left is the original - a copy is in the square outside the museum. The scenery shots on the left are taken from the very nice cafe where we stopped for a brief sit-down (after about 4 hours on our feet). The museum had more than we could possibly see, so we decided to focus on some of the more famous works. In previous trips to Rome I've been in the piazza outside (in addition to the museum, the hill also has city hall, and the square was "remodeled" by Michelangelo back in the 16th century). That's probably what the majority of tourists do is simply visit the exterior, sit in the piazza and look out. This time we went in.

The time changed in Europe Saturday night/Sunday morning, so we were probably a little more tired than usual Sunday. Of course the AHA accountant wanted to meet with Filiberto after Saturday night's dinner - kept him
out even later. The next morning as he was leading the group on a tour, she slept in. Not sure whether that's an indication of being clueless or inconsiderate or both. That is going into my final report that must provide to AHA.

The Fortune Teller is a well-known work by Caravaggio, and the museum has several works by him.




















The she-wolf is the symbol of Rome. The wolf was sculpted (bronze) before Christ, but the little figures of twins Romulus and Remus (who legend says were suckled by a she-wolf) were added later.









A word about begging. Even in a small town like Macerata we have people in "strategic" locations, such as in the Wednesday market, or in front of large churches before and after mass. Some have children or pets, some kneel with their hands out and others are more street performers than beggars. In Florence beggars are everywhere, and some (especially in front of the cathedral) are in-your-face. In Rome it's less. I gave this guy a Euro for the privilege of taking his picture (I think it's wrong for tourists to photograph without contributing). He was playing on the path to San Pietro in Vincoli.

The church is off the beaten path. This is my fourth time in Rome (including 10 days in 2005) and the first time I've been to the church. There are two main attractions at SP in V. Art lovers are drawn to the church because of the statue of Moses sculpted by Michelangelo.








Religious pilgrims are drawn to the church because it holds the remains of what are believed to be the chains used when Peter was incarcerated in the Roman Forum.


We met back at the hotel to get our bags at 7 p.m., caught a train part of the way back to Macerata, then had our chartered bus the rest of the way. Going through the mountains we had to make a stop for one of the students who got sick. I was sorry for her and just glad it wasn't me.