Day Uno!

Ciao!

I'll spare everyone the details of our flight--it was rather uneventful, but very long. Once we arrived in Italy though, everything was incredible!
   Riding home from the airport via taxi, the first thing I noticed as different was the driving. The pedestrians here don't blink an eye when a car whizzes by them not 5 inches away! It's so scary! And the drivers...they take risks all the time. I admit my eyes were closed a couple of times on the way to the apartment.
   After we settled in at the apartment, we heard some really peculiar buzzing noises. We had no idea what they were, so we decided to go explore Campo de Fiori, the piazza right next to us. When we walked out the door though, we discovered a Post-It note with Sister Gertrude's name and phone number on it! Sister Gertrude (previously called Sally) is my mom's friend from college. We ran out into the piazza to look for her, but we couldn't find her. Long story short, we decided to go to church and meet her there. The church is directly across the street from us, and it is beautiful! I  was amazed that such a small little church--there must have been 15 people in mass with us--could be so ornate. That's the other thing I noticed: there is at least one Catholic Church around every single corner. Their way of attending mass is different than ours also.
   Once the 30 minute mass had ended, we finally met Sister Gertrude! We showed her around the apartment, and listened to some of her stories. Her way of life here is very interesting, as a Benedictine sister. Later, we went to lunch at a restaraunt called Baccanale. Guess what--the spaghetti is good here! Unsurprising, I know. While at the restaurant, a downpour began. Thankfully, most of our party had umbrellas. Every time it rains here, 5 or more venders run out into the piazza and sell umbrellas. It's pretty funny.
   We then began our trek to the Pantheon--through the rain, no less. We stopped at one little church to look at our map. A lady talked to my mom to find out if we spoke English, and said she wanted to show us a cemetery in the church. My mom, Josie, and I were very confused, but we followed her anyway.

OK: This blog is already really long, so I'm going to put some pictures with captions instead of describing everything. If you're curious about something, ask me and I (or more likely a guidebook) has more information about it! :)

This is a cross in the chapel of church we visited. It was called Santa Maria  dell'orazione Morta. The chapel is dedicated to everyone who has died, and especially those who died unknown. I think it was built around the 1600s. The church was very morbid.

This is the same church. As you can see, it's kind of creepy. The big motif here is bones. If you look closely, even the chandeliers were made out of bones.

This just above the cross made of skulls. The writing is in Latin (like virtually everything else in the churches here! ). It says "EGO SUM RESURRECTO ET VTIA",  meaning "I am the Resurrection and the Life"

After that church, we went to see some Bernini fountains on the way to the Pantheon. I have no idea what this particular fountain is called, but it is stunning.

This is in the Pantheon, which was originally a Pagan temple, but is now a Catholic Church. The massive opening in the ceiling lets rain in...and we experienced quite a bit of rain. Some of Italy's earlier royalty is buried here, along with Raphael (whom the Italians call Raffaelo).

Once the rain fell, it landed on the floor. We were pretty surprised there was no basin to catch it, but this was neat.


One more little story: After the Pantheon, we ventured out to yet another church, it was a Dominican one named for St. Catherine of Sienna (one of the three female doctors of the church). We saw her tomb there, and I believe some Caravaggio paintings (incredible!). I wandered into a room with some pretty statues, and a Dominican monk was there. He started talking to me in Italian, and I tried speaking back (it went quite well, surprisingly). Anyway, he opened a gate to another little chapel within the huge church for me. He explained that two Conclaves had gone on in that room! Pope Nicholas and another pope were both elected there. Then he showed me a shrine/chapel dedicated to St. Catherine of Sienna. It was very small (probably not 8 feet wide or long), but also very pretty. I explained to my mom, and she was thrilled. My father was appalled that I went off alone with a stranger. He was fine after he realized it was a monk.

That's all for this day, though I could tell lots more! Also, sorry for putting this up late--the internet connection here is a bit iffy.

I miss everyone already!

Olivia :)