Monday, July 5: Celebrating the 4th

Monday morning dawned bright and warm. We had the day off from classes - a three-day weekend to celebrate July 4th - so everyone tried to relax a bit. Some of us were still recovering from the overnight trip to Florence. Others of us planned to go volunteer at the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center in the morning. Unfortunately, the refugee center was closed, and no one could volunteer! Instead, most of us ran errands and shopped. I went to the produce market by our apartment in San Cosimato to get zucchini, eggplants, peppers, green beans, and grapes. I went to our favorite vendor, and he gave me free basil and parsley!


In the afternoon, eight of us decided to go to the Capuchin Crypt on Via Veneto, near the Villa Borghese. The Capuchin Crypt is located beneath the Church of Santa Maria della Concezione, and it features the bones of over 4,000 Capuchin friars (an offshoot of the Franciscans) who lived in the 16th through 19th centuries, arranged in fascinating patterns. The crypt had six rooms, and five of them had amazing designs, each focusing on a different type of bone (ex. skulls, pelvises, leg bones). The ceilings were decorated with ribs and vertebrae arranged in stars and crosses. The main part of each room had bones piled up a foot or two deep and six feet high, and included whole skeletons from several friars, standing up and clothed in habits! Some of the skeletons were actually mummies, and the skin still stretched over their faces. They were by far the creepiest part of the crypt. In the final room, the skeletons were not clothed, but lay on the bone walls and on the floor in interesting poses, holding scythes. I would have loved to take pictures, but there were no photos allowed in this holy resting place.


Afterward, we went up to the church above the crypt and looked around. It was smaller than most of the churches we have been in so far, and it was very beautiful. It smelled different than the other churches - more earthy and old, in a good way. There were chapels on either side of the aisle, and we walked through them, looking at hundreds of years of history. A huge organ occupied the wall above the entrance. There were not many tourists, and the church was cool and peaceful.

We headed back to our apartments to get ready for our July 4th get-together at the professors' apartment in the Rome Center, and we arrived at six to find two huge lasagnas and a massive bowl of delicious salad waiting for us. We looked around the apartment - gorgeous, with a magnificent view of the Campo de' Fiori - before digging in. Our plates were clean!

Poor Melis was so enthusiastic about eating lasagna that she got a nosebleed. But soon she was back among us, taking lots of photos and playing Uno (very successfully!).

When most of the lasagna had been devoured we had dolce, or dessert! Lots of little tarts and cream puffs from the local forno - absolutely beautiful and so delicious. The pistachio cream puffs and the chocolate cream puffs in particular were very popular, and were gone in no time! Eating them, I realized that I haven't actually tried many desserts in Rome besides gelato and tiramisu. I need to branch out!

We spent the rest of the time talking (and playing Uno!); Shurui regaled us with the story of his life. He's from Alabama and can do a southern accent, although he refused to show us! We're determined to hear it before the end of the trip. Gradually, the celebration came to a close. We thanked Kathie and Resat for the wonderful evening, and headed our separate ways, some to get gelato at our new favorite place (Gelateria del Teatro) and some home to finish "Trickster Travels"! All in all, it was a relaxing and pleasant day.