Monkey See Monkey Do

            Today, my roommates and I decided to go to the Rome Zoo and the Caprium Crypt.  First, we would go to the Rome Zoo, which is located in Villa Borghese so we would have to take the Metro in order to get there.  In order to get to the metro we had to cross through Saint Petersburg Square.  As I was approaching I could hear a speaker and a large crowd chanting and cheering.  As I neared the square I realized that there was a massive world youth day event going on.  I have never seen so many kids and families gathered in one place.  The speaker was speaking in Italian so I could not understand however the excitement in the crowd offered a replacement.  It was really cool and inspiring seeing so many people gathered in one place.  After we got off the metro we walked to a Piazza de Popolo, which is a famous square.  The square has a vast amount of space with churches bordering it.  At one end of the piazza a huge concert stage was being set up for an after event for the kids after the youth day at the Vatican.  At the other side of the square a large crowd was gathered watching an interpretation of Michael Jackson.  The interpreter looked like Michael Jackson and was dancing to all of his songs doing the moonwalk and others of Michael Jackson famous dance moves.  I took a couple of funny videos.

            In order to get up to Villa Borghese we walked up a large flight of stairs to a garden and park called Pincio.  In the park a great view of the entire city awaits.  This park also marks the entrance to Villa Borghese, which is the largest central park in Rome.  Quickly, this park became one of my new favorite places in the world.  The park is 226 acres and it is filled with vast grassland, changing autumn trees, fountains, and little artificial lakes.  It is really a breath of fresh air being in a beautiful park amongst a big busy city.  I want to come back to rent a bike to explore the park more and also bring a book to read or write.  In order to get to the zoo we had to walk through the entire park because it was on the opposite end. 

            Once at the zoo or in Italian “bioparco” we immediately began exploring.  First off we saw giraffes, elephants, and bears.  One of my favorites was the monkeys.  I spent a large amount of time watching a baby monkey and his mom play.  I also saw lions, buffalos, many different species of birds, camels, and hippos (I named him Otis).  I have recently been to the San Diego Zoo and I noticed some vast differences.  The SD zoo is much more progressive.  They have a large emphasis of preservation of endangered animals and strive to put animals in a most natural habitat as possible.  Here in Rome, the cages were too small for the animals, the water was dirty, and it was very clear that there were no animal rights activists walking around.  The zoo was not for tourists and locals and their kids made up the population of the zoo’s visitors.  I have not seen kids for a while so I found so many of the kids to be adorable.  I love looking at babies’ feet and seeing just how small their feet are.  It’s a little fetish haha.

            After the zoo, we took our time strolling back down the park and went of to our next destination, which was the Capuchin Crypt.  I have been told that this is a place to see artistically placed bones.  The bones of more than 4,000 friars who died between 1528 and 1870 are in the basement of the Church of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception.  This was definitely the place to visit right before Halloween because it was extremely spooky and eerie.  I have never seen anything like this before.  As you entire the roomfuls of artistically decorated bones a message reads “We were what you are…you will become what we are now.”  How scary!  The first crypt is the crypt of the Resurrection and it has a painting of Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life.  The next crypt was called the crypt of skull and the central scene is an hourglass with wings to send a message that time on Earth flies.  The next crypt is the crypt of hips because there was canopy of hipbones.  There were six crypts in total.  All of the walls were filled to the brim with bones and as I looked above me there were even chandeliers made entirely out of bones.  I am having trouble to put in words what the crypts looked like.  I have included a picture on the top to give an idea of what it looks like.