Rome II

Thursday, our second day in Rome we began the day by visiting the Galleria Villa Borghese.  It is on the grounds of Villa Borghese and is filled with art, mostly sculptures and paintings collected by famglia Borghese.  There were works there by Bellini, Carvaggio, and Ruebens.  The upstairs was all paintings, and the lower floor was a mix of both.  We didn’t have time to tour the gardens, zoo, or other museums on the property, since we had a full day ahead.

Our next stop was the Colosseo, and then on to the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.   We went to the Colosseum first and it was immense.  You could almost hear the cheers of the crowd as gladiators fought for victory, or the snarls of caged animals waiting to devour helpless people.  There was a cross erected in memory of the many Christians that lost their lives there.  We also got to go up on the second level to look around as well.  

The Palatine Hill and Roman Forum were next on the itinerary.  Our legs were pretty tired, but we wanted to see as much as we could on our final day.  We walked around the loop to look at all the ruins.  Mom and Dad, opted not to climb the hill, but we did and got some good pictures looking out across the forum.   There was even a church, constructed around the remains of an ancient temple.  We missed the jail where Peter was supposedly held, by leaving the site too soon, but were able to find the Church of Saint Peter in Chains.  There is a sculpture of Moses there by Michelangelo.  After looking around, and taking photos of the statue, we headed back to find some gelato and then dinner after a short nap.

The next day we went to the beach before saying good-bye at the airport.  One of Mom’s requests was to be able to put her hand in the Mediterranean sea.   We found a beach near the airport and stayed for about 10 minutes or so, before we had to say good –bye and go our separate ways.  We had a wonderful time and were sorry it was so short.  Hopefully, we will return someday and see all the stuff we didn’t have time to see.