Saturday, December 12, 2009

Four Days Left in Rome

Friday, December 11, 2009

Only four days left in Rome. What did we do today?
Aunt Kathy and Barb left early this morning. We were up late with them last night, so we slept in this morning. It is time to start packing. We spent most of the morning cleaning and organizing. We went through our "stuff" and figured out what needed to be thrown out, donated, and what will actually come home with us. I also started a list of everything we have purchased so that it will be easier to fill out the customs forms when we get to the US.
After lunch we headed down the hill to the playground in the piazza for some playtime. It was chilly, but the sun was shining and it was nice to just relax. We took the tram across the river to see three churches that have been on our list.

The first was Il Gesu which is the home of the Jesuits. We've been to the church before, but I had read about it again and realized that we hadn't looked carefully at the ceiling when we were there. The ceiling was painted to look like some of the figures are 3D and are coming down toward you. We also went next door to see the rooms of St. Ignatius - where he lived nearly 500 years ago. Amazing to see so much history in one place! There was also one fantastic room that was painted by the same artist as the ceiling in the church. The room has a barrel vault (half circle shaped ceiling), but is painted so that if you stand in one place in the room, it appears to be a flat ceiling. I don't think the photos really do it justice. I have a guide to the rooms that is easier to understand.
This is the ceiling in the church. It looks like some of the figures are coming down from the ceiling.


These photos were taken in one of the rooms of St. Ignatius. I don't know if you can see the scrolls that are between the ceiling and the side walls. They aren't actually there! They are painted on! The ceiling is actually rounded! Neat, huh?





After Il Gesu, we went to two other churches that John had recommended we visit. Both were quite beautiful and we enjoyed them. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store. We are getting close to our last grocery shopping trip. That will be a relief! Of course, we hit the grocery store about 5:30 in the evening which means it was very crowded. The lines were very, very long and we had to wait about 10 minutes for the check-out. We caught a bus up the hill and had a relaxing evening in the apartment. We have many blog entries to do.
Great day! Only three days left!
-Terri

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