Sunday Funday

First off I would like to begin with a big Sunday shout out to my family, especially today my extended family. My parents are huge supporters of me and I draw a lot of strength from them, but I've also received lots of support from my extended family, who are big readers of this blog. So thank you to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jeanette, Aunt Susie and Cousin Jenny, all of whom have sent their love through comments and email. I hope you guys are enjoying this blog and thanks for the support!

I didn't post yesterday or the day before because I was off adventuring. I get off work at 2 pm on Fridays, so I usually either go somewhere or do something, even if it's just to meet up with friends after the work week. My housing situation is set up as follows: I have my own bedroom and bathroom in an apartment. There's a guy who lives in the apartment who has his own bedroom and bathroom, and we share a kitchen, living room, and terrace. There's another room upstairs, but they only share the entrance way. The two first floor apartments are long term, but the one upstairs is short term, resulting in a shuffling of people everyday. I've given up trying to learn names, but the past two days we've had people from Singapore, Texas and tonight China, so my landlord, housemate and myself often eat with (and watch the world cup) with whoever is in town, occasionally inviting from work over to supplement. It's been interesting and I'm meeting a lot of people with a lot of different views.

On Saturday I got up early and went to Orvieto on the regional train. This is a city on a hill, dating all the way back to the Etruscans (pre-Rome) and it gained a pretty big role in the 16th century, when it became the emergency location for the Pope, who, fearing a siege in Rome, built a huge fortress and church on the mountain to defend himself. The siege never arrived, and now there the second biggest cathedral in Italy (behind St. Peter's of course) is found in this town. There's details to tell, but I'll let the photos run you through my basic day.

Through the ages, as a way to defend themselves in case of siege, the inhabitants dug tunnels. This is a WW1 bomb shelter. The tunnel in the back goes directly to the hospital. Due to the importance of this site, both sides agreed to not bomb Orvieto, but the entire region surrounding the hill was destroyed.

Today I explored Rome. I wound up giving up around 1, but saw some cool stuff before then. I met a friend from ND at St. Peter's for mass, and then explored the city. I'm currently over stimulated, so I needed an afternoon to detox. Rome is like a dessert roulette wheel. You spin the wheel every time you leave your house. The different desserts correspond to things you might see; pie might be archaeological sites, cake may be art, ice cream may be culture, so on and so forth. Every time you leave the house, you spin the wheel, and have to digest what you find, which is then replaced by a similar dessert of the same kind, but different flavor. You see Michaelangelo and then Raphael, having to eat chocolate cake followed by vanilla cake. Everything is delicious, and I might be whining, but I've eaten a lot of different desserts in a very short amount of time, so I need to detox a bit in order to really appreciate quality instead of quantity. Plus I'm physically exhausted from running around everywhere, but I'm a big boy and will get over it. Anyhow, here are some photos from Rome:

Where I work

St. Peter's

Castle St. Angelo, connected to Vatican to serve as the Pope's fortress

This won't be the last time you see the Ara Pacis. This is a huge work of art for us Classics nerds. I just didn't want to pay the 13 Euro entrance fee today.

Art, but not in a museum

From the Hendrick Christen Anderson Museum. Weird place, more to come

That's all for now. Should be another fun week in Rome! If you like this, and want to here stories from another country, I'm going to go ahead and endorse my former roommate and one of my best friend's new project, found at: http://lbound1.weebly.com/
He's living in Germany this summer and has lots to say. We have different styles of writing, but we're cut from the same cloth and are just two Catholic kids trying to find our way in the world. I know he would appreciate feedback and support, so give him a look. Peace and love everyone.