Today was an amazingly full day of adventuring through Rome. We of course needed to visit the legendary Coliseum. Even though the lines were long the cloud cover was fantasic, so no skin scorching from the sun occurred. Reece and I had just recently seen the movie "Jumper" and wanted so badly to photograph the historic sight under the conditions in the movie.... golden sweetlight from the setting sun.....and absolutely no people. But that wasn't going to happen (becuase non of us could teleport.....dang it) so we tried our best. The picture of the cross is one that I turned in to a magazine to get published.....Do you like it? if so click on the pop up on the right and vote for me. I get published if I get the most votes.
Yay for men whose day jobs are to pose as gladiators. This pair was hilarious. Although the one on the right was giving Kitch the stink eye he was whispering sweet nothings in here ear like all the Italian men (Everywhere we went we heard "Bella, Bella" and everytime I would naively look up, excited that they could possibly mean me....but no. It was always directed to my lovely baby sis) Well no worries cause I already got my self a real man, no dressing up in capes or pointy dress shoes for me. Kitch can keep all those Italionos.
Then we walked down to The Forum. I was glad that I had looked through one of my mother's books on Rome from her educational library. It was labeled "Then and Now" the book had photographs of the ruins throughout Italy and then had a transparent page with the missing details and architectural elements that you could overlay over the photograph so you could get the idea of what the site would have look like back when it was built. This was especially useful for the Forum site as there wasn't that much still in place. But it sill made for some great pics.
I also submitted this photograph to the magazine. Vote for it if you like it. Just click on the cross pic and then search the photographs by Bethany Madison down at the bottom.
We then waited to sick our hands in the mouth of truth. Every time I see this sorry to say I don't remember "Roman Holiday"....I remember "Only You". Do you remember that cheesy movie with Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr. I would watch that movie in my R.D. Jr phase where I would also watch "Heart and Souls" which was more strange than cheesy.
Dont worry both Reece and I are pretty honest so we didnt lose our hands.....But Kitch on the other hand.....j/k
We then went to visit the Cerasi Chapel in the Santa Maria del Popolo so see Caravaggio's "Conversion of Saint Paul". The Church was closed so we waited and played around in the square till the nuns came back from siesta to open the doors. After walking all day we decided to join the crowd and dip our aching feet in the freezing fountain water. Yes its true that Rome has fresh water pumped into its fountains for people to drink but I also hope that it is true that that water isn't recycled through the fountain again....or some poor trusting people might be drinking feet flavored water. Sick.
If you havent taken an art survey class you might wonder why we all think that this picture is so special. The technique is amazing in itself thats for sure....the detail and the foreshortening. But the subject matter does not seem anything special (I have to admit I always did tense up whenever I saw a picture of this painting before I knew what was going on because it looked like a horse kicking/trampling waiting to happen, must have been all those horseback riding lessons). But once I learned.... the paintings true beauty came to me.
The painting is meant to depict that most conversions to the light of Christ aren't grandiose with angels singing and light shining, but are personal and are within our hearts and happen even when we are about the mundane chores of our lives. It also communicates that we dont need miraculous spectacles to strengthen our faith in Christ but we can develop our testimonies during the simple and quiet moments of the day.
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