Here is an image of the outside of the church of St. Sebastian. The church is on the outskirts of Rome, along the appian way which is a beautiful old road which is now surrounded by some very expensive villas. There is a course being offered here all about St. Peters and the Vatican which I am not taking, but luckily all of their field trips are open to other students. This was the first one, the catacombs of San Sabastiano. According to the professor, this church/catacomb is particularly important because after the deaths of the apostles Peter and Paul their bodies were taking to this site temporarily for worship.
That story set aside, the catacombs were really cool! Although quite dark, small, and even a little scary at first, there were many beautifully painted rooms and ornate sarcophagi. We even got to see the ruins of a beautiful house which had been at the site around the 4th century. The walls of the house were covered in frescos and some of them even had stuccos. We ended the tour by seeing entrances to a few family mausoleums which looked quite similar to the family burial sites that you see in Romeo and Juliet.
All in all it was quite the excursion. I plan on taking advantage of all the field trips of this class as often as I can, espeically because my knowledge of St. Peters and the Vatican is virtually non-exisistant, and it just gives me even more of an opportunity to really get to know Rome.
Nora - I continue to enjoy the stories of your adventures in Rome. Nothing anywhere near as interesting is hapening here. Marilyn is rehearsing for some concerts later this fall, and I'm spending two dasy a week with Habitat. That will continue unless (until?) my body breaks down. Got a new computer, and almost finished getting it into service. Take care and keep writing! xoxoxo Kieran
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