Roma

My favorite thing about Rome was probably the overall architecture.  It seemed like every building in the heart of Rome had its own distinct character, yet they all complimented each other creating a melodious whole.  One of the most fantastic of these architectural feats was St. Peter’s Basilica; I couldn’t help but marvel at the grandiosity.  The large marble columns, the Basilisk, St. Peter’s Cathedral, each piece came together to create the whole which was absolutely astonishing.  The other most fantastic thing in Rome were the ruins.  …The RUINS!!  From inside the Coliseum looking out you could see ruins, ruins of a great city, the houses of the wealthy and the places where the people once gathered.  These ruins were almost as beautiful as St. Peters.  We had the enormous pleasure of exploring these ruins; I got to see Nero’s house and other awesome ancient places.  From the top of the hill you could look out and see the Coliseum, to the right was another less destroyed group of ruins.  This view alone was worth the amount of Euro we spent to get in.

Although the Sistine Chapel was amazing and it took your breath away, the artwork was also congested; there wasn’t quite enough white space so the frescoes bled together and were difficult to appreciate on their own.  There were also hundreds of ignorant, rude, loud people in a small space and guards shushing at them constantly.  This wasn’t exactly the ideal space to admire some of the most famous art ever created.  And, though we saw spectacular art which I appreciated greatly, the greatest thing to me was the architecture.  It is amazing to think that these voluminous pieces of marble were quarried, transported, carved and formed into the structures we saw.  These vast monstrous creations were created by human hands and simple machines that ran off of man power, not hot moving metal powered by diesel.  No, the ancient Romans achieved these great feats with their wisdom, cunning, manpower and a great amount of time (and patience).  All of these things together offer a lot to think about in the way of how easy we have it.  Is that really a good thing, or are we just ignorant of the ease of our lives; are we ungrateful?  How long will it be until our empire falls just like the Romans?