5/22/10

This morning Kathleen and Barbara took a small group early to Santa Maria Maggorie, which was just right up the street from our apartment. We met everyone else in the lobby to move our things to our new hotel, about fifteen minutes away. We all settled in and then toured a few smaller churches. The first stop was Sant' Andrea al Quirinale, designed by Bernini. His rival, Borromini, designed San Carlino Alle Quattro Fontane which we visited next. Both were very similar in their integration of sculpture and painting. Santa Maria Della Vittoria was our last stop. It houses the famous "St. Theresa in Ecstasy", which was gorgeous! The paintings in the church were also cool because the overflowed over onto the sculptures in a way. The churches were all a little less overwhelming and a good finish to our class tours in Rome. The rest of the day we had time to finish our sketches for our last turn in and then we went our to dinner together at a restaurant near the Colosseum. We had a very rambunctious waiter who kept the evening interesting. We are all enjoying a little time to relax before we leave on Monday!