Last guests in Rome

Claudia, Nancy, Susan

I have had 24 visitors this year but that includes 12 of my family if I count Ron as a visitor to Rome. Tasha was my first visitor. She had a plane ticket to Rome before I got mine. Doug and family were here for Christmas, Mark and family were here for my spring break. Other visitors were sprinkled throughout the school year. I am so thankful for each visitor who came to Rome. It made my year go much quicker. There were several weeks with no visitors and it seemed a bit lonely. At least I always had the wonderful anticipation of more visitors who would be coming. My final two visitors were Claudia and Susan, sisters from Oregon.

Marianna and Nancy

Both are retired librarians. I worked with Claudia in both the McMinnville and Salem-Keizer school districts. They arrived after a tour in Italy that ended n Rome. I took them to two sites I had wanted to visit. The first was the Catacombs of San Callisto. No pictures are allowed in the Catacombs. They are situated along the Appian Way. Martyrs, sixteen pontiffs and many Christians were buried in them. They were named after the deacon Callixtus who, at the beginning of the third century, was appointed by Pope Zephyrinus as the administrator of the cemetery and so became the official cemetery of the Church of Rome. The remains have now been removed. It is fascinating to walk through the very narrow underground pathways. My friend and colleague, Marianna, joined us for the day.

Our second stop was the Baths for Caracalla.They were the city's second largest Roman public baths, or thermae, likely built between AD 212 (or 211) and 216/217, during the reigns of emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla. They were in operation until the 530s and then fell into disuse and ruin. The baths were fully functional in the 5th century when they were referred to as one of the seven wonders of Rome. The bath complex covered approximately 62 acres. The baths followed the "great Imperial baths" blueprint for Roman baths. They were more a leisure center than just a series of baths. Besides being used for bathing, the complex also offered facilities for taking walks, reading/studying, exercise and body care. The "baths" were the second to have a public library within the complex. Like other public libraries in Rome, there were two separate and equal sized rooms or buildings; one for Greek language texts and one for Latin language texts.

There are many beautiful mosaics in the complex. There are also modern sculptures on display throughout the complex. One nice thing about the day was that there were no crowds at these locations. After visiting sites we ate a a lovely French restaurant nearby.  We topped the day off by stopping at a gelato shop that is said to be the best in Rome. -Nancy