A Saturday in Rome

Today I visited 2 more of the pilgrimmage churches so now I only have one to go. First I went to San Giovanni in Laterno. I ascended the sacred stairs at the Lateran Palace. They are believed to be the stairs Jesus walked down after being condemned by Pontius Pilate. They are covered in wood and you can only go up on your knees. There are 28 stairs and I have to say by 12 I could feel the pain. I made it to the top and then walked across the street to the church. San Giovanni is the cathedral of Rome and used to be the seat of the Papacy before they moved to the Vatican.

I sketched the front of the church and about halfway through a tour group decided to stand right in front of me and block my view, so I had to take a brief pause since I couldn't see.

Afterwards I headed to San Sebastiano which is on the Palantine Hill. It is up a rather picturesque street but when I got there the gate was closed. I decided to walk to the end of the street, which was another church and on the way back went up to the gate of San Sebastiano and realized you had to buzz inside to get in. So I figured why not, and I buzzed the lady. I was able to speak some basic Italian so she knew I wanted to see the church. Then she said a bunch of Italian to me which I think was pretty much "be quiet while you are in there and don't take photos" but that was my interpretation. When I got in to the church it was very small and very simple, it was a nice change from the other pilgrammage churches. There were about 6 priests studying, and I just sort of hung to the back and looked at the church. Afterwards I sat outside and sketched the facade. It was a beautiful day and the grounds were very quiet, I could have stayed there all day but I felt a little like I was intruding so I only stayed about 1/2 hour.


Then I met up with Bridget and Brianne for some cappucino and pizza. We walked to the Piazza Navona and then to this cool toy store. Afterwards we split up and I headed to the Via Giulia to do some research for my project, it ended up taking a couple of hours, but I guess I am here to do work...

I then went to another church, whose name I haven't looked up yet but it has relics of San Valentino, basically his skull. It was just chilling out in a glass container.


nuns:154 priests:81