July 21, 2012

Today we visited the Borghese Gallery, which was probably one of the most beautiful museums that we have been to so far. I think my favorite sculptures were the one of Hades taking Persephone to the underworld and then the one of Apollo attacking Daphne as she is turning into a tree. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in there, but I still had a lot of fun. After that, we walked to the Spanish Steps, which lead to a touristy shopping area, with places to go to lunch. The plan was that after lunch we would go visit the Bone Church, so to be courteous my friend Addie and I wore long pants. It was so hot outside that we went into a store and bought matching long dresses and scarves. We were comfortable and still church-appropriate. The crypt itself was a very emotional experience. It is sort of designed to face you with mortality. Everyone was very introspective afterwords. Following that, we walked to the tomb of Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. We read what he had set to be engraved on his tomb stone as well as around the world. Now we are back at the hotel resting before dinner!