Villa Borghese Rome

Yesterday was rainy and dreary, reminding me of home. The streets were considerably less crowded, but somehow when night fell it was still f***ing loud and I didnīt sleep AGAIN. Our professor from Marylhurst arrived in Rome yesterday and stopped by the apartment to check in with us. I am pleased to say that it generated a new feeling of excitement about starting school next week. Iīve been a little anxious over getting on a schedule because Iīve had such a lack of one in the last few days and...

My fourth day in Rome it was pouring rain!!!! I wanted to do something outdoors but I had to stay inside. I decided I would go to the Villa Borghese gallery and museum. When I woke up I ate breakfast at a local corner bakery. After that I walked to the Villa Borghese. I went on a three hour tour for 200 euros. I learned this is one of the largest collections in the world. The collection was begun in 1600 by the Borghese family; it was plundered by Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century...

On my fifth day in Rome I went to the Colosseum. I learned the Colosseum was completed in 80 AD and seated more than 50,000 spectators. Its opening was celebrated with 100 days of games in which thousands of animals and gladiators were killed. Occasionally the Colosseum was flooded in order to stage small naval battles, though these more commonly took place in large basins, called naumachias, that were specially dug for that purpose. The emperor had his own entrance to the Colosseum, and from...

Hi to all!! We are sorry it's been a while since the last entry, but internet connection is not always available. Our last day in Rome was spent at the Villa Borghese in the north of Rome. At this point in my life, I thought I had seen some of the most elaborate and wealthy estates and or museums. Well, Villa Borghese has completely taken the gold medal away from any past contender. This family accrued almost all of the most important sculptures that exist in Roman history- although many are ...

Yet another list of highlights, this time from Mommy & Mike's visit to Rome!!! - Saw sooo many sites: Pantheon, Vatican Museum (Sistine Chapel), Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Borghese Gallery (Mom & Mike joined my Early Renaissance class tour led by my professor whom I adore) & Villa Borghese, Jewish Ghetto, Via del Corso, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, National Geographic exhibit (on a rainy day; it was a cool show), Campo de' Fiori, Trionfale Market, & a bit of the ...

On Thursday morning, we headed for Rome. Departing from the Villa at 7 am, we arrived first at the Priscilla Catacombs at 11am. A tour guide took us around, because if we had wandered around ourselves, we would've most definitely gotten lost. The catacombs are 8 miles underground and were a burial place for the earlier Christians. Most of the tombs were broken in centuries after and the remains were reburied in churches. Some however were untouched because at the time those were covered by di...

I passed on the espresso this morning. Two or three shots of espresso made me twitch for the next few hours yesterday. Which wasn't entirely bad, as we were running late for our reservations at the Galleria Borghese. The energy helped the mad dash through the metro station and several flights of stairs, through some random stables and across the Borghese Villa grounds. We made it from Maian over to the gallery in forty minutes, just in time to get a drink and a rather awful pastry and stand i...