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Today I visited the Sistine Chapel and the Roman Forum. I am once again without a hoard of relatives, which does give a bit more freedom, though I miss company. I took a tour of the Sistine Chapel, led by a burly man with a thick mustache. He spoke gruffly about it, not at all doing justice to it. There are really five parts to the Sistine Chapel:
1. The Ceiling
2. The Last Judgement
3. North Wall
4. South Wall
5. Entrance Wall
If you look closely, everything on the Entrance wall is smaller than on the wall opposite it. This is because when the Pope enters, they want him to be able to see everything. So directly above and beside him, the pictures are smaller, but as you get farther away the pictures get larger. Painted by Michelangelo, this room is more beautiful than anything I've ever seen. The tour guide gruffly tells us that it took over 4 years to paint the ceiling alone! That's insane, though!
Then I visit the Roman Forum, which is a rectangular plaza with the ruins of ancient governmental buildings. Here they held things from criminal trials to gladiatorial matches. I spend only a brief amount of time here, the sun is hot and soon, like any tourist, I retire to my hotel room.
Rome was the setting for the play Julius Caesar, and it's really significant because that play was set in Rome, which is where I am! Julius Caesar could have walked these streets! I am walking nonchalantely around the set! I could, if I had time, even go visit where he was killed! It's open to the public now, I found out.
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