<p> 5/24 Rome</p><p>These are the chains that bound Saint Peter when he was arrested for preaching. Apparently, there was orignally two parts to the length of chain. Both were purchased, and supposedly when they were put together they somehow melded to form one again. A beautiful altar was positioned over the glass box and visitors were allowed to approach it and take pictures. In the same church was also the Mausoleum of Julius the II sculpted by Michelangelo himself. The center figure is Moses and the two figures flanking him are Racheal and Leah. Michelangelo supposedly carved his own face for the face of Moses. We're starting to see a pattern, we can now recognize the art of Michelangelo. The statue was beautiful, the lights made it glow green. Next we visited the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. There were four different chapels off to the side of the main hall. It was odd to see tourists with their cameras snapping pictures while there were services being performed in the church. Even though we felt like we were imposing, it was nice to hear their songs. Here is the group at the Spanish steps, a favorite gathering place for the natives. One of our group is missing - Jason K. was off touring every ancient Roman site under the sun. He was very excited to tell us all about his walking adventures, his favorite was the Capitoline Museum. Do you recognize this historical landmark? The Pantheon, is a temple to all of the Roman gods. Now it holds the graves and memorials of the Italian kings. The group was amazed by the site but some were also oddly estatic about the McDonald's across the plaza! Inside we were dwarfed by the immense size of the building. The room was filled with people craning their necks to peer up at the gigantic skylight that lit the temple. As you can see, Bruce was REALLY excited to hear about the McDonald's!! To get around Rome we take the subway, it has been an interesting adventure. We see a lot of different people and are often jammed so tight that we've gotten seperated at times. We've been blessed enough to slip by the guards and ride free for the last two days, but now one person in our group owes the Italian government $50 (100,000 Italian Lira) because her luck ran out! Don't worry parents, our experience with the subway system was rocky at first but now we're experts! </p><p>Tonight we were celebrating the birthday of our sweet Allisson, she turned 22. Her restaurant of choice - the Hard Rock Cafe. The servers were nice enough to serenade her with a birthday song in English. Her favorite seems to be pasta so she had a yummy Fetuccini Alfredo and then a scrumptious apple crisp with gelati (ice cream). We had some technical difficulties with the camera during the song, sorry Allisson. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! </p><p>May Seminar, 2001 -- Math 300 </p>