15 of December
Today was our first proper day in
Rome. We walked past some ruins as you have to do because they are everywhere.
They just leave pieces of marble everywhere. We then went to the Tiber River.
It is a river running through Rome. It has lots of beautiful bridges running
all the way along it. We crossed over one of them to the other side where we
stopped in to have some gelato. It was very nice to get some cool gelato after
lots of walking. We then walked to a piazza where there were some markets on.
There were flower stalls which had some amazing flower arrangements like
wreaths and bouquets. They were very pretty and if we weren’t moving around so
much. We then went through another piazza but this one was much more crowded.
It was set up like a fair with a Ferris wheel and stalls with games in them.
This area was full of colourful helium balloons with characters faces on them.
The whole scene was very colourful and happy but too crowded for me. We then
walked to the Pantheon. This was a very amazing building. Once we were inside
it was incredible to think about how they got all the stone to make the dome
and how it has stayed there for thousands of years without falling or
collapsing. We then went to the Spanish steps. It was exciting to be there
where Audrey Hepburn was in Roman holiday. Once we had finished taking photos here
we caught the train back home which was much nicer than walking back. After a
very long day it was nice to be home and resting.
Amelia
16 of December
Today we went to the Vatican. It
was fun to think that you could walk around a whole country in one day. We got through security and went to the
museums. We got an audio guide that was meant for kids. It had a hunt which you
had to follow to get to the master piece. There was so much in the museums that
I will talk about my favourite two things. In one of them was a painting of the
garden of Eden. It was interesting to see how the painter thought it would have
looked like. It felt so peaceful but full of life as well. He painted it with
lots of animals living together in harmony and a waterfall in the background. It was very different to what I thought of. The other one I like was some of the methods
the Egyptians used to print scripts more than once. They would make a cone out
of stone and on that stone they would carve the script into the cone. Then they
can role the cone onto wet clay and it would make the script imprint onto the
clay. It was a very clever way of not having to carve something more than once.
We then walked to the Sistine Chapel. This is one of the most famous rooms it
Italy. It was quite amazing to see the paintings on the roof and walls. In the
audio guide it talks about some of the things Michael Angelo painted in one of
them was a self portrait which he did on the skin of Saint Bartholomew. He also
painted one of the people who didn’t like him with donkeys ears and surrounded
by devils. It was very funny to think that he was allowed to do that in such a
sacred place. We then went around to the church which is also part of the
Vatican. It was also the place where they believe saint peter was buried. Once
we got in we found a sculpture made by Michael Angelo. It was of Mary morning
over the dead body of Jesus. In 1972 a man came and attacked the sculpture with
a hammer shouting “I am Jesus Christ!” he damaged Mary’s nose and fingers. It
has been kept behind glass ever since. As we went further into the church we
saw many sculptures and dad made fun of them. One of them was of Peter and he
was holding his right hand up. Dad said that he was saying “I ordered the soup,
it’s mine.” This was very funny and he went on making more jokes. We then down
to where Peter and many popes were buried. We then finished up in the church
and went outside. We decided to go to the gelato shop where we were yesterday.
Dad said it would be a short walk but he was mistaken. It was a long walk and
so it was nice that after our gelato we got a bus home. We had a nice dinner at home and went to bed.
Amelia
17 of December
Today we went to the colosseum
and the Roman Forum. We got the train to a train station we thought was nearby
but in fact as soon as we walked out it was right there. It was much bigger
than I thought it would be. We got our tickets for a tour that we had booked.
Dad thought we had enough time to do the Roman Forum. It was very rush and we
had trouble finding certain things. We only had an hour to do it all. We got
most of it done but in a rush. It was interesting to see how much of it was in
ruins. Mostly it was a pile of rubble. Likely we had a book which showed you
what it would of looked like and what it looks like now. Once we had rushed out
of the Forum and back into the Colosseum it was time for the tour. It was a
great tour because we got to go into the centre where the gladiators fought. We
then went into the underground areas where the gladiators got ready and where
all the animals were kept. It was dark and didn’t seem like a nice place to be.
We then had to walk up again to the third floor where we got a great view of
the whole arena and the city beyond. We got told about the history of the place
and how the gladiators fought and worked. We then went to a prison where saint
peter was kept before his death. It was
a very spiritual tour but it also told us a lot about the history of the place.
It told us that most of the things in Rome were built on top of each other but
still protecting the lower layers. After the tour we walked to the mouth of
truth. This is a loins head and legend says that if you have told a lying and
you put your hand in its mouth then it would be bitten off! Of course this is
not true but it makes everyone who walks out of there feel much better about
themselves. Once we had checked that we still
had our hands we caught the bus back home. Dad bought some ice creams to have at
home which was a lovely treat. We went out to dinner that night it was nice to
have a proper Italian dinner. The boys had pizza and I had lasagne. It was very
nice and for dessert I had a lemon sorbet which came inside an actual lemon
which had been hollowed out. Once we got home we went to bed with full
stomachs.
Amelia
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