Wednesday, June 17th:  Day 3

Today was one of the grandest of them all on this trip.  I readied for the day and had a great breakfast with my favorite drink, Succo de la Sanguinello Arancia (red-orange juice), milk and some croissants.  After I grabbed my camera, we left for the Colosseum.  When we arrived in the structure I was very impressed by how vast it was.  It was massive and expertly designed with its long arched hallways.  The floor of the arena was removed so that you could see the “under-stage”.  We all spent about  1 hour exploring “La Magnifico Coloseo” (The Magnificent Colosseum) before we felt we could leave.

Our next stop was at San Pietro in Vincoli:  a Catholic church which held an impressive sculpture, Moses, by Michelangelo.  It was very impressive for how realistic it was.  He was physically impressive, and he looked like he was having an inner struggle.  Moses had just received the Ten Commandments from God and presented them to his people who did not pay attention to him.  Owen brought up that the sculpture’s theme connected to Michelangelo’s life at the time.  The Pope, Julius II, was controlling every aspect of his career, so he felt frustrated that what he believed in was being ignored, just like Moses and the 10 commandments.  Afterwards we returned home for “Siesta”.

There Josh, Mr. Travers, and I had an intellectual talk about the ending of  Watchmen that spread to world history (Athens and Sparta, etc...) and literature (Ninety-three and Antigone).  It was all great fun, and we eventually fell asleep.  We awoke and left for the Spanish Steps by 18:30 (6:30pm).

The Spanish Steps were a popular hangout for poets a very long time ago.  Right beside the Spanish Steps is the death place of John Keats and the former home of Lord Byron (which, unfortunately, was replaced by a clothing store).  There was also a nice church a the top of the steps.  It was not only beautifully decorated, but it also had a well done Pieta.  As we left, we found a really good restaurant nearby and had a delicious dinner.  I had a tortelini e fetacini and drank Lemon Soda, natural and carbonated water.  When we left, Mr. Travers began looking for a Gelato place when I simply asked a street vendor, "Mi scusi, Dove Gelati?" (Excuse me, where's gelato?).  He found us a place where we had gelato and then we concluded our evening and headed home.    --Brent