Independence Day

"Let freedom ring; let the white dove sing!" The words from Martina McBride's "Independence Day" seem oddly appropriate on this Independence Day, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Wow! We have seen so many amazing things in the last couple of days and my vocabulary is not extensive enough to describe with appropriate grandure all the sights these eyes have beheld!

Yesterday morning we started with San Pietro in Vincoli, which translates to St. Peter in Chains. Along with all of the other churches in Rome, this one is incredible in size and majesty. The church was built to hold the chains that once held St. Peter. Michangelo also created a statue of Moses that stands nearby the chains. Moses has two horns coming out of his head, an odd image, but apparently, originally the Hebrew word for rays was translated as horns. Very different!

Next up, one of the most famous images in the world, the Colosseum. Can you imagine a building, a giant stadium if you will, that has been standing for 2,000 years? Absolutely incredible! Although many of the marble stones were actually taken off the Colosseum to help construct St. Peter's, most of it stands in tact. We were able to climb the stairs and look out over the stadium just as thousands of people did years ago to watch gladiators and animals as they fought.

We then wandered through the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. This was originally the center of Rome, where all of the government officials lived, worked and played. The columns and walls that remain may not look like much now, but hey, they are still standing! While the walk was interesting and enchanting to see, it was hot. There are no real buildings to shade you and it is just plain hot here in Rome these days, so our walk was probably not as long as we would have liked, but no matter what, it was enjoyed.

The Circus Maximus, another huge stadium where chariot races once were held is now a long field, but never the less, it is fun to picture what it once must have looked like. Close to the Circus Maximus is the Mouth of Truth. It is a large, flat, circular face with a small hole where the mouth is. Legend says that people used to go and stick their hands in the mouth, perhaps as some sort of a confession, and the priest would stand behind the face. If the person was not telling the truth, the priest would cut off the person's hand with a sword. There was a very long line, so we did not get to have our picture taken with the mouth, but we were able to take pictures of it from just outside the fence. So, thankfully, I have both hands still and I am able to type just fine! :)

We had a late lunch and since it was so hot, I decided to divert from my traditional pizza for lunch and enjoyed another traditional Italian meal of melons and ham. It sounds sort of funny, but the salty of the ham and the sweet of the cantelope are a perfect pair, especially on a hot day!

Thanks to Rick Steve's, we purchased a Roma Pass which gives us a few free tickets to museums, plus public transportation and discounts on other museums, all for 20 euros! We were able to get into the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Capital Hill Museums all for free yesterday and already more than made up for the 20 euros. The Capital Hill Museums were not terribly interesting, lots of busts of former emperors and such, but the giant hand and foot of Constantine were in the museum and they were pretty cool to see! We were also provided with some great views of the Forum from the museum.

One interesting statue inside was the original she-wolf. Rome was supposedly founded by twin brothers, I believe born of the gods, or sent by the gods. They were raised by a she-wolf, and the statue of her nursing the twins is everywhere in this city. I did like seeing the original!

Just down from the Capital Hill is the Mamertine Prison, a small, very old prison that once held St. Peter and St. Paul. I know it is a prison, I know it is supposed to be a little scary, but man, it was creepy. It is underground, very low ceilings and rock walls. There is a hole from one floor to the next where prisoners were lowered down. Apparently a spring miraculously came up in the floor of the prison so that Peter could baptize his fellow cell mates and prison guards. The eerie feeling was well worth the small donation to enter, although I wouldn't want to spend much time there!

We were behind the Victor Emmanuel Monument, a giant, white building the Italians loving call the "Wedding Cake." Emily was pretty sure it was just a museum of stairs, but we basically just passed through the museum of war and military history to come out on the other side for some neat views of the huge monument.

On our walk from one end of the city to the other we stopped in a few churches along the way, just to admire and appreciate their beauty. The city, although it is large, is extremely walkable, and since I love walking, we have enjoyed doing that, just making sure to stop along the way to sit by a fountain, have gelato or go in a church and the time passes very quickly.

We went to Piazza Popolo, another huge piazza with twin churches on one end of it. We went in one church, small in comparison to most in the area, and more circular than in the shape of a cross. Nevertheless, it had the beauty and grandure of any church in Rome.

Our next destination was to enjoy some "America-time" by going to the movies for a girls night! We watched Carrie and her gang of New-Yorkers and thoroughly enjoyed the light-hearted movie. It brought many laughs and was perfect for two girls who have been away from home for a month now.

Our dinner, just a little spot outside of the theater was one of the best in Italy, at least mine was. I had pesto pasta, but the sauce was much creamier, probably cheesier than what we are used to at home. But that wasn't even the best part! The pasta and sauce were in a little bowl, the bowl was made of fried parmesean cheese!! Yes... it was that delicious, and although my stomach was completely full, I kept munching on the cheese bowl; how could I not?

Since we were on the other side of town, and it was late and we had not yet used the metro, we decided we would just take a cab back to the hotel. It was a much more pleasant experience than our first ride here and so we were thankful that we took the cab and conquered our fears!

This morning, we did brave the metro though. It is not very complicated, as there are only two lines, but the metro is widely known to be full of pick-pockets. We were extra careful though and did just fine. In fact, if anyone had been able to get into the sealed wallet in my zipped purse, I would have been very impressed! Nevertheless, always important to keep on guard!

We had an appointment at the Vatican Museum this morning. It turns out it was really not that crowded, but we were able to go with a small group and a guide, so it was nice to have a little bit of extra information. Our guide was very nice and she had obviously been doing this for many years. She told us that she once had a young boy ask her, as they were discussing the painting of God reaching out to Adam, why Adam had a belly-button. She was impressed with his question and answered him, saying that, well, God was creating him from clay, of course melting and cooking the clay and he reached him to poke him and see if he was done. Haha! That is why Adam had a belly-button in the painting I guess!

The Vatican Museum is huge, and very crowded. It was once where the pope lived and where many famous paintings and sculptures were housed. There is so much to take in there, that it is really too much. And there are so many people, that you sort of feel like cattle being shuffled through the museum in a one-way fashion, but you have to go, even if just to see the Sistene Chapel. I did appreciate our guide's knowledge and was glad about the things that she stopped to tell us about.

The Sistene Chapel is breath-taking. Unfortunately, the constant yells of "Shhh... No Camera!" take away from the ambiance of it all, but there is no way that you can stand in the presence of this chapel and not be amazed. It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling and even more to paint one of the end walls. I just love the image of God reaching out his hand, just out of reach of Adam. It is incredible to see!

After exiting the museum and of course enjoying some pizza, next up was St. Peter's! The line was ridiculously long, but moved amazingly face. Although there were probably thousands of people inside the Basilica, it was really not that crowded, just because it was so huge. As Rick Steve says "To call it vast is like calling God smart." I agree. There should be new words created just to describe the size and majesty of this cathedral that holds the remains of so many pope's and St. Peter himself. My favorite part of the whole church is in the far end, a small stained-glass piece of a white dove flying, appearing almost from the sunshine as she is surrounded by yellow and orange glass. So that is how the "white-dove" that I mentioned earlier actually ties into this Independence Day.

Emily had bought a rosary for her mom and we had been told that we could easily get it blessed in the cathedral. Well, after walking and enjoying the church for quite some time, we had not seen a priest anywhere, and even asking a few people we did not get a straight answer. One would think that this place would be crawling with priests! Finally, Em spotted one that seemed to be bolting for the door. She was able to stop him though and explain what she wanted. Though the blessing was in German, it was blessed inside of St. Peter's, which is pretty cool, no matter what!

We went below the church to see the tombs of former pope's, including the simple tombstone of John Paul II, before going up above the church. We were there, why not climb the dome? We opted to take the elevator up and save 200 of the 500 stairs. We climbed over 300 very narrow, and often slanted stairs to enjoy, first a great view of the inside of the domb, and second a great view of Vatican City (its own country), and the rest of Rome. Truly worth the spiral stairs that were barely wide enough to fit myself and my purse!

We walked aways, of course stopped to enjoy some gelato and then made our way back to Piazza Navona where we enjoyed a small band, and an interesting street performer who danced with puppets on his hands, so that his fingers were their legs. I think it was a great way to round up another fabulous day in this amazing city!

I hope that each of one of you has an amazing 4th of July and that you enjoy time with family and friends as you celebrate the day by eating lots off the grill and shooting fireworks to light up the sky. I do sort of miss all the festivities, but hey, I'm in Rome! We fly out Monday morning!

Happy 4th of July!