More Jesus, big feet, Mary, Laser Tag, Martinis, Nero, Mussolini and attitude

And we're off:

Mary hated Laser Tag because the angels always ganged up on her.

Does this halo look like a film reel, or what?

These are supposed to be Jesus's footprints from when he and Peter had their "Quo vadis" moment.
I put my shoe next to this to get a comparison. Jesus apparently was about a size 10.

What the heck does this mean??!!

Remember our friend Saint Sebastian? Basically an excuse for sculptors and
painters to do a near-nude male in a sacred setting.

Here's the cool bridge we had to cross to get to the Centrale Montemartini museum.

The Centrale Montemartini is a decomissioned power plant
that is now a showcase for some ancient Roman sculptures.

It has nothing to do with martinis, but that does remind me of a joke.

Roman soldier to bartender: "I'll have a martinus."

Bartender: "Do you mean martini?"

Roman soldier: "Hey, if I wanted two I would have asked for two."

Thank you.

We also went to the Domus Aurea, only recently opened to the public, and only on weekends so it's a really hot ticket. Speaking of hot, it's the massive house that Nero had built for his guests right after the huge fire that destroyed so much of Rome.

They give us these lovely hairnets and construction helmets,
always a favorite combination of mine.

Apparently we have to wear these helmets because some of the workers have slippery hands.
This sign says "Falling material from above".

We were led through some really massive vaulted areas in the house
which is now completely underground, thanks to Trajan who decided to build some baths on top of it.

A lot of the rooms still have their fresco decorations.

The condition of some of these frescoes is amazing.

It's hard to get a sense of the angle of this, but it's a ceiling panel that's parallel to the floor beneath.
When the archaeologists came across it they pronounced it a miracle that it hadn't collapsed
and that the decoration was almost pristine.

Water continues to flow in, causing calcium deposits and other problems.

Still, some pretty incredible stuff. The plan is to have it all secured and cleaned within four years.

Here's the masterpiece. A huge round room with a circular opening overhead.
It's believed that Nero entertained guests here on a giant rotating platform.
And remember, this is all currently underground.

Next we were off to the Baths of Caracalla, south of the center of Rome.

It's the scale of the place that is so unexpected.

This one reminded me of Escher.

See the little tiny person in red? She's not even under that arch yet.

They also stage operas here in the summer.

And there's a lovely garden as well.

On a completely different front, one thing that's interesting, especially in Rome, is how often you can still come across Mussolini's legacy.

It's a little hard to read, but this obelisk has Mussolini's name carved vertically on it.
It's on the same grounds as the Italian Open tennis tournament going on now.

There are mosaics of a crowd yelling "Duce, Duce" and giving the fascist salute.

And mosaics saying "Finally, Italy has its empire!"
referring to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia.

And there are bizarre fascist slogans such as this one:
"Many enemies
Much honor"

And this one:
"It is necessary to win
But it is more necessary to fight."

And there's the fascist style of sculpture as well, also on the same grounds as the tennis tournament.

Some of the statues are very earnest in their pose.

And some are almost regal (despite the fact that he's apparently a naked Alpine skier).

And then there's my personal favorite -
The hand on the hip.
The sweater tied around the hips.
And serving out attitude for days.

That's it for now. Tomorrow we leave for two days in Assisi, then four days in Barcelona.