Week five was PACKED. It was another six day long week (Monday-Saturday) that was full of more visits to the forum, the capitoline museums, and the long anticipated trip to the Vatican Museums.
There were a few “lasts” this week. Our last trip to the forum. Our last trip to the Capitoline. And our last trip to the Epigraphical Museum and the Palazzo Massimo.
We went to Ostia on Wednesday; it was a long, very hot day, but it was very neat to see another city I’ve only read about and now be able to visualize it.
On Friday, we went to the Vatican Museums and it was very, very crowded. Tons of tour guides seemed to like to stand in front of very inopportune spots to discuss something else entirely – for instance, one guide set up in front of the Laocoon to talk about the Sistine Chapel for a good 10 minutes. Nonetheless, I saw so many things and it was a good visit. After finishing with the museums, we visited St. Peter’s Basilica and then had a tour under the basilica in the Vatican Necropolis where the supposed-tomb of St. Peter was found.
Saturday we traveled the ancient Via Appia, making stops at the Villa of the Quintilii, the Catacombs of St. Sebasteion (I did not go down, my claustrophobia got the best of me, especially after the Vatican Necropolis), the Tomb of Caecillia Metella, the Villa and Stadium of Maxentius, the Tomb of the Scipios, the Aurelian wall, AND the baths of Caracalla.
Next week is the last week of the program! We’ll be exploring early Christian Rome and finishing up our seminars!
This blog was originally posted here, with pictures!
Chronicles of a Homebody Adventurer 