Tuesday, June 16th: Sense of Direction

Today, we practiced one of the most fundamental skills any traveller should have:  a sense of direction.  As a start, we explored the Forum so as to gain an impression of Ancient Rome.  First, we noticed the Colosseum, the main essence of Rome's popular culture.  To achieve an example of it, Titus' and Constantine's arches provided us with images of great generals returning with trophies of their successful conquests, stating that they held themselves in great esteem.  Continuing our investigations, we discoverd the Roman Senate House in which a sculpture of Titus had him imitating a pose from a sculpture of Augustus Ceasar.  This information revealed that their esteem arose not only from conquest, but from family legacy.  Afterwards, we glimpsed the pyre of Julius Ceasar, another prominent general, which still bears flowers.  All of these relics uncover ancient Rome's culture, but the geography of modern Rome was a more pressing matter concerning our trip.
 
In order to obtain a bird's eye view of the city, we travelled to the top of the Vittoria Emmanuel monument, nicknamed "the Wedding Cake" for its unuasually white and gaudy appearance.  From there, we used our maps to locateother sights of interest from our position.  Some of which were the Pantheon, St. Peter's Bassilica, The Forum, and the Capitoline Museum.  Essentially, it was a helpful experience, and it should have been, seeing as it cost the eight of us €32.50 to be up there.
 
To end our sight-seeing, we visited the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Novana, sculpted by Bernini during the post-Renaissance era.  The four figures which encompassed it wee supposed to signify a major river from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.  Included in the fountain were animals from approximately the same area as the river, so the work was obviously meant to detail the highlights of the world.  Unfortunately, Bernini's information must not have been very accurate, for the American River was La Plata, in the tropical land of Uruguay, matched with the desert-dwelling Armadillo of North America.  

The subconscous awareness of the layout of Ancient Rome, modern Rome, and the world (in spite of Bernini's unique geography) will prove valuable in the days ahead.    --Josh