Our day started with a visit to Galleria Borghese which I had heard from everyone is fabulous! I was very excited because there are lots of great works of art in this gallery. Our ticket reservations were for 9AM and they told us we needed to be there by 8:30AM to pick our tickets up or they could give them to someone else. The gallery is located in the Borghese Gardens (yes, the same gardens that just a few days before we were caught in the rain during our picnic!) and we, well Alissa, had a general idea of where in the gardens the gallery was located. We decided to walk up bc it's not that far of a walk and it was a nice morning. We reach the gardens and we see signs that lead us to the gallery which we were very happy about. Although, we end up reaching the gardens at about 8:40AM so we needed to get moving! After following the signs for awhile we are positive we see it through the trees and run towards it, only to realize it is the exit of the gardens. So we turn around and see we walked right by the gallery, and if we had taken a second to look at the signs we would have noticed! We have now realized that Borghese Gardens is not our friend after two different incidences! haha So we arrive, right before 9AM, and are able to get in. The museum was just as amazing as I've heard it was.
Galleria Borghese
We were only allowed two hours in the gallery so we left at 11AM. At this point we decided to get lunch bc we are starving!! And head towards the Spanish Steps bc that is where we want to be after lunch. We find a nice little place, away from the crowds, to each and enjoy just sitting and relaxing for awhile.
On the holiday of Immaculate Conception there is a big celebration/ceremony in Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps piazza). In this piazza there is a large statue of the Virgin Mary and on December 8th faithful come to the statue to pay their respects and they leave flowers at the base of the statue. Firemen also go up their ladder and lay a wreath of flowers around Mary's outstretched arm and bouquets of flowers at the base of her feet. On our way to to the Galleria Borghese we saw the firemen putting flowers at the top of the statue and a few people were already bringing flowers. The other big event is at 4PM the pope arrives and speaks to the crowd. When I found out about this whole celebration we decided it would be really neat to go see. So after lunch we decide to sit on the Spanish Steps for awhile since it was only 1PM, but first walked to see all the flowers around the statue. There were crowds of people all around and it looked like people were already sitting along the sidewalks/barriers that had been put up waiting for the pope. We sat on the Spanish Steps for about an hour, enjoying the sun and people watching, and then decided to get up and stretch our legs. We picked the perfect time to get up because as we walked towards the statue we realized they were starting to clear the street, so we found a spot right along the barriers and waited. There were lots of prayers, the president of Italy walked right in front of us (at least that who we think he was! haha), a choir who was phenomenal sang, and then the pope drove by. We were probably about 20feet from the pope!! It was the most surreal experience ever. The pope then spoke, all of which we could not understand bc it was in Italian, but after looking up a translation of it he spoke a lot about Mary and who she was. (Translation of what the pope spoke about if you're interested) Although we could not understand a lot of what was happening it was so great to experience a celebration like that and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to be there!
A parish bringing flowers to the statue and saying prayers the entire time
Statue of Mary, you can see the wreath of flowers and other flowers placed at the top by firemen
Flowers left by faithful. This was just one side of the statue, the flowers were all around it
Crowds of people, looking down from the Spanish Steps
The choir walking in
Lots of people!!!
The pope
Another great read!! Thanks!
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