Our first full day in Rome

On Monday Feb 23 we had our first day of class and visit to Rome. We had class in the morning and we took the 10:27 train from Viletta station into Rome. I asked the students to complete a very difficult task. We arrived in Rome about 11:15 and I asked them to find the area of Rome they were assigned for their walking tours. I had split the students into five groups and assigned each group a specific area in Rome to lead us on a walking tour: Piazza de Spagna, Campo de Fiori/via Gulia, Piazza Navona/Pantheon, St. John in Laterano, and Trastevere/Janiculum hill. So today I asked them to travel to their area, find some lunch and meet us at the coliseum exit at 2P. This can be a difficult task even for the most experienced visitor to Rome. They all completed the task without a hitch.

I have a splendid group of students! This is going to be a great eight weeks!

While the students were traveling to their tour location, Mike Cinson and I traveled to the outskirts of Aventine Hill to view some parts of Rome I missed the first two times I was here. Specifically, the memorial pyramid of Caius Cestius. He died in 12BC. The pyramid stand 118 feet tall and took almost a year to build. It is set right into the Aurelian Wall.

Right next to the pyramid is an old gate to the city, the Porto San Paolo.

also we visited the Protestant cemetery directly behind the pyramid. It is called the Protestant cemetery but any non-Catholic could be buried there. The cemetery includes the graves of John Keats and Percy Shelley and other illustrious non-Catholics who died in Rome.

There were other interesting tombs in the cemetery. I took a few picture of other tombs and mausoleums. One could, I think, spend an entire day in the cemetery. It was beautiful and very peaceful.

After a wonderful lunch suggested and hosted by Mike Cinson, we headed to the coliseum. Although, I have been to the coliseum twice before, one cannot visit without taking pictures.

It is truly an impressive sight and no picture can really do justice to it.