Day 8- "Spooky Day"

This morning during our class time Jim said that today was going to be a "spooky" day. The first place we went to was the Trevi fountain (which was not spooky… oh well) but is at the end of a 2000 year old aqueduct. It is probably the #2 place for filming movies in Rome (maybe tied wuth the Colosseum). The superstition is that you are supposed to throw a coin over your shoulder not for good luck but to ensure a return to Rome. We took lots of photo opportunities and one of the group that was really good.

Then we headed towards the Capuchin Crypt. The Capuchin Crypt is a cemetery-ish where the monks ran out of room to bury their dead so they took the resting bones out of the ground and made artwork on the walls of the crypt so they would have more room to bury. Like I have mentioned before, the skeleton is a Medieval symbol to remind people of their mortality. This was a perfect way to do this. The monks are Franciscan and St. Francis used to sign his letters with a skull (fitting right?). The artwork along the walls carries a lot of theological imagery, such as a winged hourglass and crosses made of bones. They even made the Franciscan crest out of bones (two crossed arms, one sleeved and the other bare-representing Jesus and St. Francis' arms). It was a little sick, but also really cool. After being reminded of our mortality for awhile, we headed to an English-speaking Scottish Presbyterian Church.

After church we headed out towards the Vatican to Castel Sant' Angelo. It was originally built by the Emperor Hadrian (after Trajan) as a mausoleum for his family. Later it was converted into a papal palace by Pope Gregory the Great. It has a large bronze statue of the Archangel Michael sheathing his sword which Pope Gregory the Great saw in a dream that indicated the end of the great plague. Throughout time it has served many different purposes but is specifically known for the Vatican Corridor which is a long passageway that connects the papal apartments at the Vatican to the Castel (also known by us as the "Pape-Escape"). This was featured in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (don't want to give away anything else about the book… sorry). The cool part is that you can go up to the top and have a good view of the surrounding city.

From Castel Sant' Angelo we walked over to the Piazza del Spagna which has the large Spanish Steps. This area is like the Rodeo Drive of Italy (and we got to do some shopping around there!). Also in the area is the first McDonalds in Italy… we had to stop in and it was HUGE!!! They have their own pastry area and a gelataria away from the main order place. (P.S. I have yet to eat McDonalds in Italy and I plan to keep it that way!!)

After that we walked to Piazza del Popolo and saw another wonderful view of the city at dusk. Legend has it that Nero was buried in this area near a tree and the people who lived around there thought that it was haunted by Nero's ghost and so some Christians cut down the tree and built a church over the top of the site. That church is Santa Maria del Poplo and it has Caravaggio's paintings of The Crucifixion of St. Peter and The Conversion of St. Paul. Also the obelisk in the center of the Piazza was from the Circus Maximus.

We had a group dinner around Piazza Navona with way too much food and then headed over to La Botticella to watch the ending of the Vikings game! Woot we creamed the Cowboys! (and I am going to watch the game Sunday night!)