Day 4

This was our last full day in Rome.  The day was mainly dedicated to exploring Rome’s ancient ruins.  I also learned to master the metro system in Rome, because that was our primary source of public transportation as opposed to the bus system on this particular day.  In the morning, I went with a group to explore the church that held Michelangelo’s Moses statue.  Some of the group was not aware of the stop we were supposed to get off at.  As one girl hurriedly made her way off the metro, the doors closed on her!  Luckily, in the nick of time, Daniel (our camp counselor) came to her rescue by shoving the doors open again and pushing her out to her safety.  My heart did a double flip.  

            I could not believe how ancient everything is that I was surrounded in.  We started on Capitolin Hill or “The Sacred Center” of Rome.  For those who are curious, Rome was founded in 753 B.C.E.  Two brothers, Romulus and Remus were found and adopted by a she-wolf.  Later on the tried to share the power of the region they were living on, but apparently two brothers trying to share power never works out.  The brothers fought, Romulus killed, Remus, so now Rome is called Rome and not Reme.  Interesting, I know.  Beyond this hill is the amazing Roman Forum, which has much tradition.  Its three main functions are to serve as a market, serve as a meeting place for government purposes, and to serve for sacred purposes.  There are numerous gigantic archways, including the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine.  These arches were an iconic Roman symbol of military victory.  All right, the history lesson is over.  It was quite an experience wandering around the Roman Forum.  I began snapping photo after photo, until I realized I would be stuck with all these photos of rocks.  So I stopped.  My favorite part of the Roman Forum was this area that served as a sort of apartment complex for holy virgins.  It looked like all these giant caves on the side of a cliff.  The end of the Roman forum exploration brought us to the infamous Colosseum.  Despite the horrible events that went on in this magnificent theater for the pleasure of Roman spectacle, it was amazing to see in person these piece of architecture.  We got to go inside and it was strange to think about it being packed with people so long ago. 

            Later that afternoon, we visited the Borguese Museum, another art museum.  My favorite part of this visit was actually the beautiful gardens that we walked through to get to this museum, which was actually originally someone’s house.  The museum held lots of Renaissance-esque paintings and zillions of statues.  Before dinner, I went on my last exploratory walk through Rome, trying to visit as many supermarkets as possible (these are my favorite thing to explore!)