This post continues the chronicles of Steve Bridge’s class trip to Rome.
Today the students split off into two groups. Dr. Bridge, Ms. Fecteau, Lauren, and Matt all went to the Trevi Fountain area in order to pick up our tickets for this Sunday’s Pentecost Papal Mass. Meanwhile, Charlotte and I went to the Borghese Gardens and the Bioparco. The Borghese Gardens comprise the third largest public park in Rome. They consist of several different museums, shops, and parks. Contained within the Borghese Gardens is the Bioparco, Rome’s zoo. The Bioparco contains a wide variety of animals and it is huge. I was amazed to see peacocks just leisurely strolling around the grounds.
Another unique feature of this zoo are the overhead sidewalks that allow visitors to walk above the enclosures. While we were touring the zoo, it suddenly started to downpour. Charlotte and I ran for cover just as it started to hail (the size of pennies), thunder, and lightning. We waited out the storm in safety, and once it started to clear up, we decided to continue on through the light rain and see the other exhibits. We stumbled across the “alien fish” exhibit and went inside. We saw starfish, jellyfish, octopi, and weird-looking fish.
My favorite exhibits were the giraffes and elephants.
Charlotte’s favorites were the lemurs and the owls. Once finished, we went through more of the Borgese Gardens, where we found this beautiful manmade lake. In the middle of the lake was a columned monument with a statue inside and fountains on either sides. It was quite picturesque.
We eventually made our way back to the subway and met up with our group back at the apartment. Despite the surprise storm, this was really an awesome day in Rome!
Submitted by Aprille Hibbard