Roma Oct 26-27

Well, last night I wrote my blog, then because of internet problems I  lost it all. Disappointing.  So I'll summarize 2 days now.

Monday Oct  26
This was the first full day of the RS tour. We began with a terrific lecture by a prof of archeology about what we would see today: the Forum and Colosseum.  I'm very happy with the quality of the lecturers we are getting!

Having this scholar lead us through the structures was outstanding!  We wear head sets on tours so we can all hear her.  (This was my first group tour so I was impressed with this technological advancement!)

At the Forum I was especially moved by the area where speeches were made ( of course) and the tribute area dedicated to Julius Caesar. Back when I taught high school, that was a play in my curriculum, so seeing the Forum made Shakespeare come to life.    I noticed that I should turn 360 degrees from time to time because there was always something more to see in each direction. And how the relics spanned centuries was a continual surprise!

Next we went to the Colosseum. Now, I had seen the Roman arena in Arles, France last year, but it didn't prepare me for the scale of this place!  Immense!  The magnitude of the structure!  I kept shaking my head in disbelief. I'm glad that Jackie ( at home) loaned me videos about Rome & elsewhere because they helped prepare me for the history & lore of many places.

Late afternoon we had another short lecture by an art expert about the Vatican-- in preparation for tomorrow. Our dinner tonight was at an outdoor patio and it was beautiful!  We've been really lucky with the weather.

Tuesday Oct 27
We left the hotel very early for the Vatican: the museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. Because we were in a special group with our own guide & because we were there so early, we almost had parts of the museum all to ourselves.  Our guides said this never happens!  I have pictures where you can't see anyone around us.  It made the tour a pleasure rather than a mob scene. We didn't spend much time in the museum but did see highlights with an excellent guide. She was an art student who was tapped to re-paint portions of the exterior of the museum under the previous pope.  Most interesting.

The Sistine Chapel in general was not as I expected.   There are no permanent seats except some benches along side walls and it's smaller than I imagined. Of course the art was breathtaking. We had 1/2 hour to study as much as we could. Very impressive. The lectures, videos & reading I had done did help me focus on certain parts & to look for some main themes. Otherwise it's too much overload.

Finally we saw St Peter's. We have all seen the huge piazza in front of it where crowds gather to hear the pope or wait for a new pope to be elected.  Incredibly it was nearly empty today!  Inside the church, as with the Colosseum, I was astounded at the enormity of it!  I have seen pretty impressive cathedrals before, but this was huge.

We had the afternoon free so I hung out with my new friend Jan. After lunch we went to see an archeology museum but unfortunately it was closed when we got there. So instead we explored ruins
in the vicinity of the Colosseum.

At dinner we sat with 2 couples we've gotten to know. I showed them pix of our  San Jose apricots & avocados & they were pretty amazed. They are from Wisconsin & New Jersey.  I've enjoyed meeting them as well as a number of others. A very congenial group!  This is a super trip.