Monday, November 5, 2012

Catch up!

After a busy yet restful weekend I am posting a bit late and catching up!  Saturday I went out in the morning with a priest here who does "Geo-Caching".  If you are not familiar with the term don't feel bad, I did not know what it was either.  It is a pretty cool hobby.  Readers-digest-condensed-version is this; they have a website, you choose a name for yourself, you buy a GPS device and then you find hidden canister's with little paper rolls in them that you then sign and re-hide! Well it is a little more complicated but it is essentially a treasure hunt for adults!  He likes to walk and knows I like to walk so we set out to find 5 Geo-Cache's. We found all of them, he found 3 and I found 2, it was pretty neat!

Along the way I stopped at Churches to peak into the ones I have not seen.  You can't really see them all since there are nearly 1000 in the City proper alone and many are open once a year or are private.  We tried to see the Knights of Malta Chapel but no go!

Sunday it rained all day so the entire day was a bust, I should have used the time to post but when it is grey and rainy you don't feel like doing anything.  I did go to the Nose Bleed Mass, which this time really was a High Mass, about half of it in Latin.  I also attended Solemn Vespers at the Seminary last night which was all polyphonic chant or Gregorian Chant and again about half of it in Latin.  It was very beautiful and the student choir voices were superb, much much better than the Screaming Sistina (the nickname of the Sistine Chapel Choir - the Pope's dreadful private choir - they sing everything like a dirge).

Tomb of the Apostle St. Barnabas

Relics of St. ???
 This is near where one of the Geo Cache's was.  It is the misnamed Temple of Vesta, it was actually dedicated as The Temple of Hercules Victor and built by a wealthy oil merchant on the bend in the Tiber, Hercules was patron of oil sellers.  It is entirely constructed of Greek Marble from Mount Pentelicus and built by the famous Greek Architect of Antiquity Hermodoros of Salamis and dates to the late 2nd Century B.C.
Temple of Hercules Victor 
 In a small but old Church not far from the Circus Maximus are the relics of St. George, a piece of his skull can be seen under the Altar in this little dish, the writing says in Latin Cranium of St. George.
Skull fragment of St. George
 Here is the Church of St. George built by Eastern Monks.  You can see the old bell tower and the writing on the lintels are in Greek.
St. George
 This is the interior of the Church of St. Prisca on the Aventine Hill.  One of the priests from the Dakota's has a parishioner who has a devotion to this Saint.
St. Prisca on the Aventine Hill
 These are the relics of St. Boniface and St. Alexis under the Altar in the Church of St. Alexis on the Aventine Hill.  This Church is between Santa Sabina and San Anselmo at the very summit of the Hill and often overlooked because of the other two more significant Churches that flank it and the "Key Hole" tourist attraction right next door to it.
Relics of St. Boniface and St. Alexis

Interior of St. Alexis on the Aventine
 Cosmedian Floors in Church of St. Alexis
Cosmedian Floors in St. Alexis
 This is the world wide headquarters of the Benedictine Monks at the very top of the Aventine Hill, called San Anselmo.  It is a newer Church built in the old Constantinian style, you can see the Bell Tower, there is a courtyard with a fountain and then the Church proper.
San Anselmo
 Though new it has a very Old 4th Century look to it. You can see the Timber Ceiling.
San Anselmo Interior
 After the walk and Geo Caching we returned for Pranzo, I went out for walk to the Borgo Pio in the afternoon and visited the Filippini Sister's Convent.  For Cena three of us treked down to Trastevere for Dinner at a local restaurant.  I don't know the name but there was line before the place opened and all those folks were turned away since they did not have reservations.  We didn't either but only being 3 was a distinct advantage as they had one table for three empty!!!!!!!  YEAH.  It was delicious. The first shot is of the ceiling, the second of our Pizza from the wood burning oven.  Afterwards we went to a place called 'Chocolate and Wine' and had shots of rum in dark chocolate edible shot glasses, better than a dessert!!!
Ceiling in a Trastevere Restaurant

Our Pizza's, the third course of our meal.

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