Rome Day 2

wow, what a great day! we started at the colossal baths of diocletian, now a
church, and then saw the truly spectacular st teresa in ecstasy, a baroque
masterpiece by bernini. the rest of the little church is overwhelming enough,
but the sculpture was quite divine. then came a long walk down to il gesù, the
head church of the jesuit order, which is simply mind-blowing. the ceiling
painting, with its amazing trompe-l'oeil (deception of the eye), makes it look
like the sinners are falling out of heaven in full 3D, with some of the best
clouds in the world. the sculptures of the angels surrounding the memorial to st
ignatius loyola are also breath-taking — the faces of the sinners being booted
out by the angels, and the vicious snakes devouring the evil-doers are
incredible.
the caravaggios of the life of st matthew were the next big highlight for me; he
is an astoundingly provocative artist. the piazza navona was absolutely
charming, and the boys enjoyed strolling around through the street artists,
break-dancers doing a street performance, singers, magicians, and, of course,
the ubiquitous black moroccan sellers of non-luxury goods.
thence to the bank of the tiber, and then to augustus' ara pacis via the castel
st angelo. we found out there that it was a free monument day in rome, so we
changed the itinerary — yet again! — and headed back to the colosseum and forum
romanum. unfortunately, and typically italian, it turned out not to be a free
day for the colosseum. fortunately, the guy doing the tickets thought we were an
english school group and gave us free entry, so we got to see the colosseum,
palatine hill and roman forum for free! thank you roma! this was very exciting,
as it is the first time a WH group has gone to the palatine hill. not much
there, to be honest, but some great views of the circus maximus on one side, and
fabulous views down onto the forum on the other. josh neifeld gave us a great
speech about the arch of titus, and then we followed the sacred way into the
forum all the way to the arch of septimius severus, the curia (senate house) and
cloaca maxima, the great sewer we have been reading about in livy's ab urbe
condita in seventh form latin this year.
everyone is now pretty exhausted, but i've heard only great feedback on how good
the day has been, so that's wonderful.
tomorrow are the vatican museums and then hopefully hadrians villa, and, have to
say, i can't wait.
great day in rome. weather was great. food was great. legs are dead.
laters, mr buckingham