Today is Monday, June first. I cannot believe that it is already June and that it is one of our last days in Rome. After the morning spent at the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel (which was absolutely incredible) Steven, Ally and I went for lunch at our favorite neighborhood hangout, Gourmet. After lunch, Steven went to rest while Ally and I got in some last minute shopping on Via Cola Di Rienzo to kill time until our last solo excursion, the Church of Gesu which reopened for the day at four(sixteen) o'clock.
We met up at St. John's University, and headed over to the bus stop together. As we were about a block way, our leisurely stroll turned into a frantic sprint as we saw the bus arriving and people getting both on and off. We barely made it on, but this bus driver was nicer than most others, holding the door a bit longer than usual because he saw us running towards him, hands flailing, looking quite desperate for a ride.
Unlike our usual bus experience, it was not terribly crowded and all three of us were able to sit down. A couple of stops into the ride though, many more people piled on, including an older man. As I always do, I got up to give the man my seat. Just as I did so, the bus began to move, jerking forward, launching me forward and on top of the old man I was trying to help out. They do always say- no good deed goes unpunished.
After this tricky and not so elegant switching of seats, we continued on with our ride. The three of us were pleasantly surprised with how our confidence of navigating the transportation system and our overall familiarity with various neighborhoods of Rome had become, recognizing areas we passed by on the bus route either for a classmate’s site presentation we had seen or for a favorite eating spot we had found. Ally and I’s running joke, whenever we are trying to figure out geographically where something is, is by asking what its proximity is to Gilotti’s, one of our favorite gelato shops.
We soon got off the bus near Kristen’s site, the wedding cake building, and began to wander looking for the church. After a couple of minutes orienting ourselves with the Blue Guide map, we found the grand entrance to the church, as Steven proudly remarked, “teamwork makes the dream work” and we processed inwards.
Although this trip has been chock full of churches, they are yet to get old, each boosting the level of ornamentation and complexity, raising the standard of what a church looks and feels like. Noticing the level of detail and care put into every aspect of all of the churches we have seen, from floor to ceiling and everything in between, speaks to the level of dedication that was felt towards religion and the belief in higher power and divinity.
To me, the most impressive aspect of all the churches we have seen was always the ceilings. Going off of this, the Church of Gesu had by far the best ceiling of all. It was adorned with colorful figures that were three dimensional, overlapping with elegant gold ornamentation beneath. The ceiling was so complex and beautiful, that the rest of the room could have been all white and I still would have been visually overstimulated.
The greatest touch of this large church was the mirror placed on the floor facing up at the wondrous ceiling. This not only forced viewers to stop and notice the grandeur that they may have otherwise missed because of all the other elements to gaze at, it also allowed me to stop and gawk at the ceiling both with a closer view and without straining my neck.
Besides the ceiling, it was great to wander the space slowly, taking in details from top to bottom as I moved around the area. My favorite part about going to a vast church like this, in the form of a solo excursion, is that you are able to admire, photograph, sit, write and wander all at your own pace.
(Solo Excursion, Large Church, Church of Gesu, 1.6.2015)