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The Crypt of the Capuchin Brothers, a ceiling decoration
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Another ceiling decoration
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One of the caves, with a painting of Jesus and Lazarus surrounded by bones
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A clock made out of bones
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Today I went to the crypt of the Capuchin Brothers. In it were skeletons and bones of poor people who had died. It was really gross!! There were chandeliers made from human bones, and all the decorations were real bones also. There were lots of different types of bones. Some of the bodies were still intact, some still with skin! One had eyelids! They were also wearing the clothes they died in. There were hundreds of thousands of bones everywhere!!! Some baby skeletons were hanging from the ceiling! One skeleton was holding bones from other people. There were some bodies that were buried. There were lumps where the bodies are. There was even one of the saints' heart.
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San Clemente, upper church
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San Clemente, painting in the upper church
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San Clemente, middle church (picture from the web, no photos allowed here)
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San Clemente, bottom church (picture from the web, no photos allowed here)
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Today I went to a church called San Clemente. It was three churches stacked on top of each other. The bottom one was very dark and old looking. In the bottom church there was a spring which you could touch water in. Lots of people would throw money in the water. In the middle church there were frescoes, which are paintings. This church was brighter, but still dark. It was still being excavated. The middle and bottom churches are underground. But you can still get to them. The top church was much like the other churches in Rome, it was light and it has all the sculptures and other things like Roman churches have. It was very interesting.
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Forno
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Chef making pizza at Forno
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Forno pizza
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Today for lunch we went to a bakery called Forno, which means in Italian "oven". It is really good. The strange thing about pizza in Rome is that instead of circular pizzas they are long rectangular pizzas (not all pizzas are like this; most rectangle pizzas are in bakeries). My favorite type is Margarita, which is cheese. I also like pizza bianca, which is plain with olive oil brushed on top. In Forno you can get pizza, bread, sandwiches, cookies, pastries, and drinks. The pizza is folded in half so you can have a pizza sandwich. There is a glass window next to the shop where you can see them making pizzas. It is cool! Forno is my favorite pizza shop in Rome!
This Thanksgiving we had dinner with all my dad's students. Everyone brought something. it was really fun. We had to seat 55 people. We did it in the conference room. We had lots of food. We had four turkeys, lots of mashed potatoes and stuffing, and lots more. My dad made pies, a turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. We had pizza bianca, which is pizza bread with nothing on it. We got a whole one for everybody. It was four feet long! It was a really fun Thanksgiving!
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cat
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cat
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me with a cat
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Today we went to the cat sanctuary. This time I actually went inside it. I saw a blackish-brown cat that had really thick fur. I petted it a lot and then picked it up. It was a really cute cat. There was a cat that only had one eye. Its name was Pirate. I was petting it when it rolled over and started to play with my fingers. I gave it a belly rub and it starting purring. There some kittens too. One was a tiny gray cat that only had three legs. It was very sad. They have about 250-300 cats in the cat sanctuary. They are abandoned house cats. The people who work in the sanctuary give them vaccinations and then give them a place to stay. Then the cats are put up for adoption.