Yesterday, Liam was recovering from his stomach bug and River was down with it, so Bill stayed at the Airbnb while Willow and I went out exploring.
We walked to the cat ruins (Torre Argentina) to catch a bus to the Trevi Fountain. This was originally designed to be a giant monument to Rome’s wealth. In a time when cities were all built along rivers so people had enough water to survive, Rome brought water in from far away with their aqueducts, so this was a way of showing off. Then the Pope decreed that it should be visible from the Vatican for all of the future popes, and they made it even bigger. It’s truly immense.
After the Trevi fountain, we caught another bus to the Capuchin Crypt. It’s below a church, and has sacred soil that was brought from Jerusalem. All of the friars buried there over the years were given time buried in that holy soil, so the previous remains would be dug up and stacked around the edges of the chambers. At some point in the 1700’s, one of the friars used all of the bones to decorate the walls and ceilings of the crypt. We weren’t allowed to take photos in that sacred space, but here are some official pictures for our memories.
Next, we went to see Michelangelo’s Moses sculpture. Before coming to Europe we learned about his life, and his struggles over Pope Julius’ tomb, but seeing it in person was powerful. The walk up to the church holding the art was gorgeous.
It’s hard to believe that he made those sculptures out of a giant block of marble, with only his hands and some iron tools he made himself. It’s hard to get a sense of the scale, but the Moses statue in the bottom center was over 2 meters tall.
The church these sculptures were in was intricately decorated. The artists of the time left nothing plain – the floor, the ceilings, and everything in between was carefully designed.
We didn’t stop to decipher all of the Latin signs, but there were definitely the remains of some popes and cardinals in some of the alcoves.
At this point, we were done sightseeing for the day, so we took the bus back to our home base. We were right by the Colosseum, and the bus we got on was packed solid with people. We talked to the kids about pickpockets and watched some videos before we left, so the kids would be aware of their surroundings and watch out for common tricks. So it was a little exciting to see a woman catch a man trying to steal her wallet. She shouted out, and he dropped it on the floor of the bus.
We were walking down a back street to our apartment, and saw an unassuming building with the doors open. We walked in and found the most gorgeous church. It’s insane how what is just a regular neighborhood church in Rome is a work of art.
We thought the assortment of tiny cars was really cool.
It seemed too early to just hang at the apartment, so we went for pedicures. It took us three tries to find a nail salon with space for both of us, but we finally did. We listened to music together while we got matching pedicures.
Finally, Bill and Willow went on a dinner date while I stayed with the boys and got more packing done. Tomorrow is a travel day, and we’re hoping that everyone is well for our trip to Florence.
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