Little Easter

Ciao
We spent "little Easter" exploring Rome with Pier. He took us to San Luigi dei Francesi and Santa Maria in Trastevere, two churches that are each famous for different reasons ( ha ha right about now you are thinking what are those 2 reasons.?!?!?!??!?. ) San Luigi is most famous for it's paintings in the Contarelli Chapel. These paintings were done by the artist Caravaggio in 1599-1600 ( long time ago right?!?!?!?!? ) They are all of Saint Matthew:  "The calling of St. Matthew", "The  Inspiration of St. Matthew" and "The Martyrdom of St. Matthew". These paintings are pretty cool but the interesting thing about them isn't the topic, which is St. Matthew, who the church is dedicated to, but Caravaggio. He was a womanizer and known murderer but the powers that be looked the other way because he was a great artist. ( interesting right?????? ) Needless to say he got away with alot! The second church we went to was Santa Maria in Trastevere, which I just found out almost ceased to be a church.  In around 230AD Emperor Septimus Severus decided to give the church back to those that honored God over some tavern owners. Can you Imagine what would have happened to the church if it turned into a bar? Anyway, it is one of the oldest churches in Rome, probably built around 220AD. It was built to honor the Mother of God by Pope St. Calllixtus 1. The reason it is so famous is because most of the artwork isn't painted but is actually Mosaic Tile, how cool is that? I guess anybody could paint a ceiling but to actually create an image using colored tile? Amazing! Anyway, that was your history lesson for today, now for the fun part. When we went to the first church  ( San Luigi dei Francesi  )  it was amazing,the church had gold leaf  every where you looked. This next fact is going to blow your mind......... (this place was humongous!)  It  was built by a family to show how rich they were!  (  " were " as in  they probably spent all their money on the church. =] )    The next church, Santa Maria, was cool!!!!!!  When you first looked  at "the  paintings  " they sparkled and then when you looked closer, you could see HUNDREDS of little tiles instead of paint. Santa maria church also had  domes, most churches in Rome do,  and if looked realllllllly closely you saw that the domes had a holes in them.  When I asked about it, Pier said that they probably hung candles in the domes at one point but now we have lights so....no more candles
anyway I got to go! =[
Caio

San Luigi dei Francesi

Center fresco San Luigi dei Francesi

Mosaic ceiling Santa Maria in Trastevere

Me staring at a moasic column in Santa Maria

Easter

Ciao,
Sorry guys, I have been really busy for the past 2 days and I haven't had the chance to do my blog. =]
On Sunday ( which was Easter!!!!! ) Pier invited us to have lunch with his family.  When I said lunch  the word " lunch " was used abit loosely, we actually had about 6 main courses.  Ugggggggggg! I totally feel fat right about now because I haven't exercised since Friday and after that HUGE MEAL I guess I put on about ten pounds.  In Italy, EASTER is a big holiday and is celebrated by spending time with your family. Pier's family is pretty cool. His mom was really nice and funny. Moni,  his sister, is a great cookand was really nice too. Fabio is Moni's husband and he has a really neat job. His family has had a business of moving all the really big statues around Rome. Fabio had pictures of himself and his dad moving big iron doors into and installing them at the Vatican, actually into St. Peter's Basillica. He said that it takes about 3 months just to plan to move something! I thought it would be a bit awkward having lunch with Pier's family because none of us could speak Italian but it was really fun. Pier's mom spoke english very well and what little needed translating, Pier did.  Anyway after about 3 1/2 hours of surviving through the 6 courses we decided to walk it  ( it meaning the fat ) off abit afterwards. It took me a couple attempts but I finally got out of my chair. =]
We walked around a reserve near Pier's family's home. Pier said that when his mom's home was built there was nothing around but sheep. Her home was at teh edge of Rome. When you see the pictures you will be able to see how much rome has grown in 40 years. I hope you enjoy the pics of my "suffering"
Anyway to keep my blog fun, I have decided to do Monday's blog tomorrow morning ( tomorrow is my "off " day  =  no sight seeing so I will do Mondays blog instead. =] )
Ciao

First course: Bread, cheese, salami, eggs

Second course: Lasagna with little meatballs

Third course: Turkey (that is Pier's mom and Fabio) plus..

Baked artichokes

Fifth course: tart berry pie, Corn pie. There was a fourth course of sweet bread

but I forgot to take a picture.

I survived! Actually by this time I was getting hungry again.

St. Peter's and an ever growing Rome. Pretty much all you see in front the dome

is where sheep and goats used to roam free and feed 40 years ago.

Climbing and walking off Easter lunch

Sant'Ignazio

Ciao
Sorry no blog yesterday, I got home late from practice and then had an awesome dinner that Pier cooked for us. It was tuna eggs with tomatoes and pasta, sounds weird but it was good. We didn't get to sleep until after 11pm so...Today Pier took us to Sant'Ignazio. This is a church that we had passed before on one of our trips , but didn't know what it was. Now I do know and I'll tell you.
Sant'Ignazio was built between 1626 and 1650 to honor Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order.
Originally it was just a small room that was built as an add on to the Collegio Romano. Collegio Romano was a school for the arts that was built in 1551. When the Jesuits decided to build a church  to honor Saint Ignatius, they hired a Jesuit priest to design it, when it was done the church that was once a small room now took up an entire city block.
The neat thing about the church is that is covered with frescoes, most of which were painted by Andrea Pozzo. There is a huge one that goes down the center of the Church's ceiling. (it is pretty cool because depending on where you are, the fresco changes, the closer you move to it's center the more life like the paintings become). The fresco that the church is most famous for is it's "false dome". It is actually a flat piece of ceiling that Pozzo painted to look like a real dome. There is also a big pipe organ and an organist was playing while we walked around the church.
Pier told me how the frescoes were painted, here is how they were done. First a huge tarp is laid out on the ground and then the design is drawn onto the tarp. Next, pins are pushed through the tarp to create an "outline" of the drawing. Next the tarp is hung up on the ceiling and then black paint is sponged over the pin holes, this makes the ceiling look like a big coloring book, now all the artist has to do is paint inside the lines.
Sounds easy but it probably wasn't as the ceilings are huge. So that was my lesson for the day.  Now we can talk about the fun stuff..........  the church was one word..... AMAZING!!!!!!! When you first entered the church the first thing you saw was gold............the ceiling had a huge 3d ( well it was 3d if you tilted your head back and looked at it upside down ) painting and there was gold leaf molding everywhere you looked. The coolest thing I have ever seen was this " dome ".  When you entered the church you saw the dome, but when you walked towards it you saw it was fake. ( it was just a normal ceiling painted to look like a dome.  The painter that painted the dome was a true genius for his time. )  Here is the fun part, when I was taking a picture of the dome,  I leaned back on my boots and one of my heels broke off.  So here I am walking through Rome ( after we left the church )  clomping through the streets , Ok, scratch that HOPPING through the streets looking for some glue so that I can put my heel back on. Well lets just say that we found another church, a cool antique shop, a pasta shop, multiple bakery shops and a guy who was pretending to be a statue ( have a video of him ) before we found the glue to fix my boots.
Tomorrow is Easter and Pier ( a friend of mine ) invited us to dinner at his house. He warned us there will be more than 15 main courses for dinner. I have prepared myself  (I barely had anything to eat today) so I think I will make it through tomorrow.  Did you know that the day after Easter, here in Rome, is called little Easter? No shops are open so everyone eats left overs from Easter Sunday. The pools aren't open either, so I don't have to swim.......Yea!!!!!!
Ciao

The "dome" as you walk in to the church

Looking up at the dome from directly beneath it

Sant'Ignazio

video walking towards center of fresco, painting comes to life

Statue that comes to life (sorry it was filmed sideways)

Bracciano Lake

Ciao
Today I went to Bracciano Lake, a volcanic lake (actually formed in the crater of a volcano). It is the second largest lake in the Roman region, and also one of the cleanest in Europe. It is a major potable water source for all of Rome.  The lake formed around 400,000 years ago and a old village has just been found in Anguilara Sabazia , one of  only 3  villages that are on the lake. ( which is, by the way, 20 miles around. I am soooooo glad I didn't walk around the lake. =] )  the settlement ( the village ) is an exciting find because it dates back to 5690 BC ( ok yesterday I said that Circus Maximus was the oldest thing I have seen so far, well I scratch that and I  now say that the lake is honestly the oldest thing I have seen so far. ) and the people that settled there were masterminds for their era. They were not hunter gatherers but actually farmed, had domestic animals, and  very interesting  tools. We weren't able to see this site but still.............. over 7,000 years old! There is also a castle at Bracciano, ( we saw the castle in the distantince but weren't able to go to it. =[ ) the lake named for the village.  " Castle Odescalchi " was made even more famous in recent years as the place were Tom Cruise was married.
Ok the lake was sooooo relaxing, when we got there we had lunch; we went to a local butcher/cheese/bread shop right next to the lake. We were there for about 1/2 hour while the owner was treating us like family, and was telling us to try/sample a bunch of his cheese, meats , and breads. He was a really good guy, but he talked WAY TO MUCH!!!! ). After we had lunch we just sretched out. I skipped some stones and fed the ducks, and had some gelatto " the italian ice cream ". Even after we left the lake I was still realxed. Nice day/ beautfull lake = Good times =]
Ciao

                                                              Castle Odescalchi

Feeding the ducks 

Pier and Alessandra

My mom and me, looking for rocks to skip

Pier, teasing the swan (that was very friendly)

Circus Maximus

Ciao
Today was a rest day but I promised to write about Circus Maximus so..........
On my birthday my dad asked me what I wanted to do, I said shop and no swimming. What didn't I do?
Shop, what did I do? Swim! I also went to see Circus Maximus, for those of you who don't know what that is, here is a short history lesson.
Circus Maximus was first built in 326 BC ( omg, that is soooooooooooooo old its basically 2,333 years old, btw that is the oldest thing I've seen so far. ) and it could hold 250,000 people. It was built as a place  for the roman people to gather and be entertained. When it was first built it held ALOT of chariot races. The charioteers ( the people riding their carts ) were sometimes killed during the races when their carts tipped over. ( imagine being in, or watching the race ). The Romans would also flood the field, using water from the Tiber (which is now one of the most polluted rivers in Europe) so that they could recreate epic sea battles. The last games were held in 549AD by Totilla the Goth who, by the way, captured Rome and reduced its population to 500. ( 250,000 to 500 people ........................ W-O-W.. )
Anyway when I was there, there were alot of people dressed up in roman clothes......... at first I thought that dressing up in old roman clothes was a bit weird/crazy, because it was sooooooooo hot and their clothes were heavy but then I realised that........( duh duh daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ) they were reenacting roman times.  They were going to have fights ( which they did ) and show us how it was like living in that era. ( now I realized that I had a MAJOR duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh moment at first =] )  When we finally found a place to sit and watch the show, they took a break. After the lunch break ( I have a great picture of 2 guys dressed up as gladiators and waiting in line at a snack bar....... ha ha ha I still laugh when I think of the picture of them. )  it was time for the Roman ballet, for about 2 and 1/2 hours, 4 groups of girls danced to some really cool music.  It was almost like we were actually back in ancient Rome, except for every once in a while an ambulance would go by. The first group to dance portrayed the Nymphs, they were all very pretty and the dance was slow and graceful, the next group of girls were younger and their dances were more happy. Next came the slaves, who were forced to fight each other (sometimes to the death) to entertain the emperor. We also saw the gladiators practicing their fighting skills, and it finished off with the rebels fighting the warriors. It was pretty sad because there were 20 of them against 50 warriors, enemies to me. The rebels never stood a chance and when they were all dead, their wives and children came onto the field and instead of being taken as slaves, they killed themselves. It is very sad to think that this happened so many times in the past.
Anyway, on a happier note, I am going to visit a volcanic lake and a castle tomorrow!!!!!!!
Ciao!

Ciao

Saturnia, Tuscany

Ciao!


Today I visited the hot springs at Saturnia. I can honestly say I have never been to a place like this before, it was soooooooooooooooooooooooo cool.   ( ha ha, I meant to say it was soooooooo HOT =]  ) !!!!
Here are some little known facts about Saturnia's hot springs, ( I know, I know, I will get to the fun part soon. I promise =]. ) Saturnia is a small village in Tuscany.  It is famous for its thermal hot springs.  These springs have been around for over 2,000 years. ( amazing that the springs are still there, right!!!!!! ) The springs are heated by thermal activity, meaning volcano, and they smell of sulpher. For those of you who don't know...sulpher smells like rotton eggs. The village itself was built to give visitors to the springs a place to stay.  According to my friend Pier, this is one of the few natural  sites that is open to the public FOR FREE!!!! (  ha ha ha I don't think that I got the point through to you that this is a free site!!!!!!! ) Pier also believes that Saturnia is named after the roman god Saturn. Saturn is the god of harvest, very appropriate because Tuscany is full of grape and olive orchards and has been for a very, very long time. Anyway....over 2000 year old hot springs, cool right?!? 
I thought that the hot springs were unnaturally natural (funny right?) The first thing I thought when I walked in was WOW! I immediatley stripped off my clothes (no I wasn't naked.....another note for you...in Italy you need to cover up when walking to and from a pool, everybody has robes!) I had on my new bikini that my dad bought for me in California. Anyway, I stripped off and jumped in. There are a lot of different pools, some big, like a small swimming pool, some tiny, with just enough room for one person. The hot water runs down from a waterfall that you can sit under, boy is that fun, kind of like getting a really deep massage. The water flows from pool to pool and all of them are lined with round pebbles. Pier worked out that they actually start out as a small grain of sand (?) but over time all the sulpher mud (did I mention that it smelled like rotton eggs? Well it did!) covers it and then makes the grain bigger and bigger. He said if you cut one in half you can actually count the rings to see how old the "rock" is, I don't know about that, he also told me that mozzerella bufalo is made from bufflao milk, yeah right! Anyway, we were there for about 2 hours, had a great lunch of mozzerella, salami and fresh bread, then my dad, me and Pier decided to shoot down some rapids, I will post the video soon, it was like going to a water park! Then we headed back to Rome.
It took us a bit longer to get home because Pier took us to the Mediteranian seaside where we had gelatto, actually 2 gelattos, but who's counting? Great day, only I didn't get to buy my boots.......that is another story.

San Clemente

Hi guys,
I have been Italy in for 11 days now, and I am off to a late start with my blog. Sorry!  This morning I went to San Clemente church. It took me FOREVER to actually get to the center of Rome. ( San Clemente is located in Rome just  past the Colosseum, which  as you might say is  COLOSSAL!!!!!! )  I had to take 2 trains then walk 1/2 a mile before I even reached San Clemente, ok scratch that, before we got lost, then found the church.  OK, before I even tell you how A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! this place was, I'll give you some facts about this Church,which was out in the middle of No Where!
The basilica of Saint Clemente is a roman catholic minor basilica dedicated to Pope Clement 1st.  This church is a three tiered building. ( Basically, it's a church built upon another church, which was built upon a old roman catholic house and alleyway " Crazy Right "  )
the present basilica was built just before the year 1100 during the height of the middle ages. ( this church is almost 1,000 years old!!!!! and that's the newest of the 3 structures!!!!!! ) beneath the the present basilica is a 4th century basilica, that had been converted out of a home of a roman man. This house briefly served as a pagan temple to a sun god. The basement of the house " may have " served as a mint in the 2nd century. Beneath that, ( geeshhhhhh this is starting to get old  =] ) there is a building that had been destroyed in the great fire of 64 AD.
This place was amazing, each floor was cooler than the last, I take it back.....EACH floor was amazing!
I couldn't take any pictures so I will post a link to a web site (on this website you can take a virtual tour so you can see what I saw). Just click the San Clemente link on top right of this page.  I couldn't believe how detailed the churches still were after all the time that had past, there was a marble column that was still in "mint" condition and looked as smooth as glass. There were also quite a few murals and mosaics that portrayed biblical scenes (with POPE CLEMENT the first, funny how he managed to be there when Jesus was alive =]  )
Walking through the tunnels under the newer church, there were some stair cases that were very narrow and I felt very claustrophobic, I can't imagine how they lived then. Those guys must have been midgets because my dad had to duck to get through some doorways and he isn't very tall!
Anyway, I had a great time exploring and would love to be able to spend more time here. I also saw  Circus Maximus, but I will tell you about that adventure later : )
CIAO!
Danie