Day 8 - Churches galore

We started the day with St. Peter's. Words cannot describe how awesome (when I say this, I literally mean that it inspires awe) it is. Pictures cannot adequtely represent the magnificence, but they'll have to do.

Pieta!

Incorruptible

Me with Elisabeth and Tabitha in St. Peters.

Incredible. Bernini is my love.

Wow. I can't even believe how incredible it was.

Italian guards ;)

Then we had to leave, even though we wanted to stay. We were supposed to meet the group at 10:45. We got there at 10:47 and they were gone. Gone. We searched desperately for them. Finally, one of the girls in the lost group got a text from one of the girls in the group with Mark telling us where to go. So we went that way. Then she got a text saying that they were going to catch a bus and we needed to run. So we ran! But when we got there, we still waited ten minutes with the whole group before the bus came. Oh well, we were with them and it felt good to be no longer lost. I was afraid we would miss out on the rest of the day, which would have been really sad because we went to SEVEN more churches after that.

Next on the list: Santa Cecilia.

When we got to the church, there was a wedding going on. So we waited until it was done.

That girl really wanted to get into the water

Santa Cecila by Moderno

Wedding party

Then we headed to Santa Maria Trastevere.

Apres ca, we went to Santa Maria Maggiore. (Sorry, not much explanation about these churches - just pictures)

Monument to Vittoria Emanuela. Or, according to Mark, "the ugly white building."

Praying in front of the reliquary.

Reliquary. Supposedly has wood from the manger of Christ.

My true love.

There was one chapel inside of the church and you could see the mosaics really close. AND take pictures. Perfect :)

The column of the flagellation of Jesus Christ.

Pope Pascal commissioned this church, so he had a little monogram put in.

Next church: Basilica di Prassede

This looks like the same mosaic from the last church, but it isn't. It is slightly different. By the way, the blue square over the one guys head is there because he was still alive at the time. It is Pascal.

Next up: Santa Pudenziana

... I don't know.

There was mass going on so we didn't go in.

I like these stairs very much.

There's more: Santa Maria Della Vittoria

Saint Theresa in ectasy. Incredible. Who is it by? Bernini, of course.

Spectators.

Just when you thought I'd go on forever, I have now come to the last one: San Carlo

Around the intersection, there are four fountains. You can see one in this picture that is attached to the church.

Cloister.

We were going to go to Sant'Andrea after that, but it was closed, so we went to the Trevi fountain.

The President lives here.

Front of the President's palace.

Trevi Fountain

Water from the Trevi fountain that you can drink.

It is pretty awesome. The front part of the fountain was hooked up to an old Roman aqueduct. The facade was added later and does not actually connect to the fountain. Quite interesting.

After that, a few of us went to a Caravaggisti exhibit. It was pretty cool. We couldn't take pictures, but I took one before I knew that.

Not great, but it gives you an idea. The whole exhibit was set up in a way that reflects Caravaggio's style. The paintings were on black walls with one light shining on them from an angle. Made for a very dramatic presentation. After that, we headed back to the apartments. Ali, Hilary, Elisabeth, Cassandra, and I soaked our worn feet in hot water. It felt quite nice.

And that is all for this day.