Day 5 we headed out bright and early to visit the
Borghese Gallery. You can only go there with a reservation. About 20 minutes into our journey- we realized that it just wasn't going to happen. There was some kind of riot going on and the bus was just creeping through the traffic. So we changed direction and headed over to
Castel St. Angelo. This is a view from the top- over looking St. Peter's
basilica. If you watched Angels and Demons you saw this place and know that it has an under ground connection to the Vatican.
This building was
originally built as a
Mausoleum for Hadrian between 135 and 139AD. His ashes were placed here as well as succeeding
emperors for the next 100 years or so. This building has also been a fortress, a castle and now a museum.
Legend says that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus giving the castle its present name. It had a beautiful view of the city.
This is the Pyramid of
Cestius- it was completed in 12BC. It was also built as a tomb for said
Cestius. This may be as close as we get to a pyramid- but
Brigham says that he wants to head to Egypt next.
La
Bocca della Verità or"the Mouth of Truth". Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off.
Some of us seem to be a little more worried than others.
We finished up our touring of Rome and headed to the airport. Our next stop was Istanbul in Turkey. I'm not going to lie- I was more than a little nervous about heading to a Muslim country- but off we went anyway. :) We got there about 9:30 at night and thus had to find our hotel in the dark. It was a little scary walking around thinking of bombs and what not. Of course, all my fears were unfounded- but they were real non the less.
Our hotel was very near the Blue Mosque- so we got a night shot by it. We made it safely to our hotel and slept soundly the whole night.
Day 5 we headed out bright and early to visit the Borghese Gallery. You can only go there with a reservation. About 20 minutes into our journey- we realized that it just wasn't going to happen. There was some kind of riot going on and the bus was just creeping through the traffic. So we changed direction and headed over to Castel St. Angelo. This is a view from the top- over looking St. Peter's basilica. If you watched Angels and Demons you saw this place and know that it has an under ground connection to the Vatican.
This building was originally built as a Mausoleum for Hadrian between 135 and 139AD. His ashes were placed here as well as succeeding emperors for the next 100 years or so. This building has also been a fortress, a castle and now a museum.
Legend says that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus giving the castle its present name. It had a beautiful view of the city.
This is the Pyramid of Cestius- it was completed in 12BC. It was also built as a tomb for said Cestius. This may be as close as we get to a pyramid- but Brigham says that he wants to head to Egypt next.
La Bocca della Verità or"the Mouth of Truth". Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie with one's hand in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off.
Some of us seem to be a little more worried than others.
We finished up our touring of Rome and headed to the airport. Our next stop was Istanbul in Turkey. I'm not going to lie- I was more than a little nervous about heading to a Muslim country- but off we went anyway. :) We got there about 9:30 at night and thus had to find our hotel in the dark. It was a little scary walking around thinking of bombs and what not. Of course, all my fears were unfounded- but they were real non the less.
Our hotel was very near the Blue Mosque- so we got a night shot by it. We made it safely to our hotel and slept soundly the whole night. 
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