Typical Day in Rome: Italia Idea, Castle Sant'Angelo.... and a buring car?

Tuesday morning, at the UWRC apartment, we were all woken up to the lovely music of the glass recycling trucks permanently stationed outside of our windows. The noise was so loud and the hustle and bustle of the Campo Market seemed a lot noisier than usual, we all decided to just get up and prep for our second to last classes at Italia Idea with Paola. However, before class we stopped at Joe Rivetto's Cafe for coffee shots and cornettos (always a nutritious way to start the day!). We spent the morning reviewing our EXTENSIVE knowledge of the Italian language, as our final, we soon found out, would be the following Thursday-- Yikes only 2 days away!

The clouds in the sky of teased us all morning, it looked as though our trip to Castle Sant'Angelo would be postponed until Wednesday and instead we would have class time inside the UWRC. However, much to our surprise and great pleasure, just before 2 o'clock the sun decided to come out, the clouds burned off, and the weather took a turn for the best! Mary decided we would go venture to Castle Sant'Angelo to learn about the Sack of Rome, and good thing because the weather the following day was not as favorable.

Mary decided to brave the Italian ticket desk, and after 10 minutes discussion, Mary was able to razzle and dazzle them with her skills and get us all into the museum for free-- Great work Mary! A little history to go along with the grandeur, decoration, and facade of the building-- The Sack of Rome occurred in 1494 with the invasion of the French over the city walls. The French troops were extremely lucky for two reasons. First, the day they attacked, the fog outside was so thick the defending Roman guards were not able to see them climbing over the walls. Second, Clement VII was the ruling pope, and partial to the bridges running across the Tiber, he refused to blow-up them up, therefore, allowing the French to enter with ease.

Castle Sant'Angelo was absolutely gorgeous. Mary informed us all that it was one of here favorite place in Rome because "it isn't a church, it's not a museum, and it's kind of creepy". It was used as a residence for the Popes, their families, the servants and friends, but originally served as Hadrian's Palace prior to Papal Rule. The angel standing on the top was a statue of St.Michael, placed there after the Black Plague to guard and watch over the cit-- what a beautiful view he had! We climbed our way to the top to see the breath-taking view of the entire city; in my opinion the best view in Rome, better than the Vatican. However, as a little shock to the end of our fabulous visit, we saw a car catch fire on one of the streets below. It was a fairly large fire, however, I don't think anyone was injured and in due time, the fire trucks and police cars made their way to the scene and the situation was taken care of.

The smell from the top was not a pleasant one! I'm just glad everyone was safe.