Saturday, September 6
Steve: We decided to take it easy in our hotel this morning, and left in search of a pizza lunch around noon. We walked to two different places that were highly recommended in our book, only to find them both closed. Hungry and getting desperate, we decided to try the restaurant we had enjoyed so much on our first night (Wanted II Posto Ricertato). We were happy to find it open, and proceeded to stuff ourselves with a meal of bruschetta (we love it), pasta and pizza. This is getting to be a very bad habit… we keep telling ourselves that as long as we keep walking long distances, we can go ahead and eat these huge meals - we'll see.
After lunch, we walked to Palatine Hill, the mythical founding place of Rome
and the site of an impressive set of ruins. This is where wealthy Romans built
their homes during the Republican era, and it later became the home for Rome's
emperors. Paula and I don't remember going here in 1982, and were very impressed
with the scale and condition of the ruins. Several of the structures from
the emperor's residence are still standing, and there are very interesting
ruins from a private sporting stadium and a fountain. 
We walked to Circus Maximus, which sits right next to the Palatine Hill and
was the site of chariot races in Rome. It used to seat over 200,000 people,
but there are very little ruins left. Today, it's used as a recreational field
and a jogging track - we watched a group of kids playing football (soccer)
there. 
We decided to explore the other side of Rome, across the Tiber to an area
called Trastevere. This has become a very popular section of the city, known
for its great restaurants and bars. Apparently, Trastevere has always maintained
its own identity, and many people who live there don't like to cross the river
to the "other side." We found it to be a very nice area, with great
places to eat and shop. We had our gelati fix for the day here, and then walked
to the Piazza Santa Maria which is the center of Trastevere. It was relaxing
to sit in the square and watch the variety of people who gather here every
day.
We tried to take a subway back to the hotel, but were unable to purchase tickets. The subway stations here only seem to sell tickets through automated machines, and the machines didn't work. Tickets are also sold at newsstands, but there were none nearby. Not a very friendly system… We were already pretty tired, but decided that our best option was to simply walk back (that accounts for much of the 6.30 miles we logged today).
This evening we watched the first part of a documentary DVD on Roman History that we brought with us. We're very happy that David and Katie show a real interest in watching these documentaries. Much of the information in the DVD is material that they've learned from the readings that we've done and from our tours. However, we find that he documentaries do a good job of reinforcing what they've learned and adding some new context.
Tomorrow we're taking a day trip to Ostia Antica, which we understand is an amazingly well preserved site of an ancient Roman port.
Distance Walked: 6.30 miles
Katie's Komments… The topic for today is…Impressions of the
Sistine Chapel
This week we saw some very famous Italian artwork and I enjoyed all of it
thoroughly. The artwork that struck me the most, however, were the frescos
in the Sistine chapel by Michelangelo. The amazing wall paintings were beautiful
to me not just because of their artistic skillfulness, but also the stories
they tell about the passionate artist who created them. The following paragraphs
express my immediate feelings about this breathtaking masterpiece by a very
successful artist. My heart thumped with excitement as we neared the large
doorway. This was the moment I had been waiting for all day. All day I had
looked forward to the famous Sistine Chapel containing the amazing wall frescos
by Michelangelo. I tried to imagine what it would look like by organizing
all of the pictures I had seen of the individual frescos into one piece. I
knew what some of them looked like…now the surprise was seeing all of
the frescos together in one room. 
My heart raced as we entered the door. When we entered I turned around and
saw The Last Judgment in front of me. It was enormous! I looked up at the
ceiling and realized it was huge as well. On the side walls I recognized the
scenes of major events in the lives of Moses and Christ. All around me was
color, complexity and overwhelming energy…beautiful paintings with life.
I couldn't blink. I took a step back and noticed the unusual and ingenious
composition of the frescos. Michelangelo created all of these energetic figures
and scenes leading up, in an equal formation, to the muscular body of Christ.
He shows this source of energy by painting a wreath of golden light around
Christ's body. This clearly portrays Michelangelo's strong belief in the power
of Christ. He forces your eyes to focus on his body. Surrounding Christ's
body is another wreath; this time a wreath of people. On the right side of
the fresco are the sinners and on the left the non-sinners. The painting clearly
depicts which side is which by the positions of the figures. The people on
the left are moving away from Christ as he powerfully holds his right arm
in the direction of the sinners to strike them down. The people on the left
side are moving tentatively toward Christ as he motions them forward to be
blessed. This wreath of people and the angels above create a breathtaking
and unforgettable movement in the painting. Just below Christ on the right
hand side is a man holding a coat of human skin in his hand, and offering
Christ a knife. You can see that Christ is looking at this man. Our tour guide
later told us that the skin that the man was holding showed the skin and face
of Michelangelo. This sends many messages to us about what Michelangelo thought
about himself as a Christian. We heard many stories about this mysterious
element of the fresco. 
We then walked further back to look at the magnificent ceiling fresco. I had learned that the ceiling told the story of Genesis beginning with God separating light and dark and ending with the story of Noah and the arc. The first thing that caught my eye was the fresco scene of the creation of Adam. The well-known fresco piece shows God and Adam (the first human) joining hands as human life on earth begins. God's power is shown by his clothes, legs and beard being blown back by a powerful wind and his arm completely extended to give power and life to Adam. Angels are also shown holding God's lower body with all of their might. The figure representing Adam is gracefully reaching his arm out to reach God's and gain strength. God's finger and Adam's flexed hand are only a centimeter away from meeting which gives the fresco a new aspect of movement and beauty. Michelangelo painted God giving life to humans in such a way that it also gave life to the fresco and entire room. This fresco gave power to the ceiling fresco in the same way that the highlighted figure of Christ gave power to The Last Judgment.
We continued to look at the frescos in the room and endured all of their beauty. No other frescos, however, matched the power of The Last Judgment and the fresco depicting the creation of Adam. I knew Michelangelo purposively did this to express his own religious beliefs. I admire him for expressing his own beliefs and feelings into something that was really just a job. These were some of the most powerful and lively paintings I had ever seen and the entire composition of the frescos inspired me. This was the highlight of my stay in the Vatican and I am sure it will be one of the highlights of all the art I see in Europe and in the entire world.
