For a quick art lesson, check out Bernini's sculpture called "The Ecstacy of St. Theresa". Char showed me yesterday, and it is quite the sculpture (and story) to behold inside a church...
Onto other stuff.
Today, I want to tell you about an experience we had in the "Mamertine Prison". Now, this is the traditional site where it was believed that Peter and Paul were held in prison in Rome. Our guide book was a couple years old, and it said the only admisson fee was "donation expected", so we were expecting to pay maybe 1 Euro each to get in. We get there to find that there has been some updates and some more archeological stuff done and now it costs 10 euro to get in and that includes an audio guided tour. So, I was still wanting to go in, so in we went. We got into the first room and the guide told us to go and check out the prison cell, which was pretty interesting. Small, very short ceilings, and dank and dark. It made sense why people wouldn't want to spend time in an ancient jail. We came up, and the guide started an audio and light show in the first room. Oh yeah, it was just the two of us on this tour. No more tourists were there at that time... So, there was audio, something about water, and how the rocks could talk, and then the lights illuminated certain areas of the walls as they were talked about... I felt that this was a bit cheesy, but no worse that the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London.
We went to the next room, and to another video presentation about different prisoners that were held there, and how Peter baptized the Roman jailer in the cell. (huh)
Another room, another video about how Peter, a simple fisherman became the first pope.
Another room, and yet another video about rocks talking to each other. These rocks were from different time periods of the city of Rome. At this time, both Char and I were in agreement that this was extremely cheesy and not worth the 10 euro we paid each to get in.
BUT, we weren't finished yet. The final multimedia presentation led us into a small chapel, where there was a very ornate crucifix. The audio started and talked about how the vitality of faith kept the Christian beliefs going. At the same time, there was a light show, illuminating different parts of the crucifix. It was at this time that we gave each other the raised eyebrow look.
Let us give you some snippits of the audio that was playing:
"Jesus said, 'I am the jar of good intentions.'"
"Jesus said, 'When my heart stopped beating, everyone else's started beating together.'"
As you might imagine, we were pretty ticked off at this misrepresentation of our Saviour. It also alluded to the belief of Universalism, didn't bring up the point that Jesus rose from the dead, and other things that we audibly gasped at. Needless to say, we were not impressed. A jar of good intentions? What the heck? If Jesus just had good intentions, he would've intended to die for our sins, and then just not have done it. Isn't there a saying, something about the road to hell being paved with good intentions?
And don't get me started on the fact that it was Paul and Silas who were in Phillipi and baptized the Phillipian jailer. No where in the Bible does it say that Peter was in Rome (I don't think...correct me if I'm wrong). Not a very heartwarming and faith inspiring visit. Don't make our mistake.
Now, as I go and calm down, here's Char.
On that note let's talk about something that was inspiring. Yesterday to familiarize ourselves with the city of Rome, we decided to take our own little walking tour. We started at the Coloseum where we took pictures of the outside (today we went inside the Colloseum, which was cool, but that's another story), from there we walked by the Roman Forum, and down that street and into a big white impressive looking building, which we think was the cultural heritage center or something. We really don't know. From there we wondered to the Piazza Navona, and looked at a Bernini fountain, and then from there we made our way to the Pantheon. Let me tell you about the Pantheon. The building was first built for the pagan gods of the time, like Venus, and a few others I can't really remember, and then with the rise of christianity the building survived because it was turned into a church and the statues of pagan gods were replaced with saints. But the most amazing thing about the Pantheon is an archutectural wonder because it is circular and you can fit a perfect sphere inside the building. There is also a 9 meter occulus at the very top that allow sun and rain in. The floor is also built on a slight slant so as to drain whatever water comes through the top. When we got there, it was 2 in the afternoon and the beam of light through the occulus was pretty cool. I think, for me, it was one of those "I can't believe I'm here" moments. I remember studying it in art history class and telling myself that one day I wanted to stand in that building and look through the occulus. It's pretty incredible in life when some of the things that you only dream about become a reality, and sometimes waiting for them makes the reality that much more significant. It was definately a high light for me.
I think that's all for now. We are going to rest and nurse our sunburns. 34 can be really really hot when you are on marble and pavement. Until later, Caio
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