A wonderful way to start a Sunday morning

This morning I went to my first Catholic Mass in Rome. I went to the church called Basilica di Maria in Trastevere. This church was built by Pope Julius I in 313 dedicated to Virgin Mary. The whole mass was in Italian and every alter was completely filled with people. Even though I couldn't fully understand everything, the music was beautiful and listening to a mass in a different language was really interesting. The ceiling stood out the most for me, it was outlined in gold with compliments of red and green. The rest of my day has consisted of Italian language homework with my apartment mate Jessica at a local cafe along with a cappuccino freddo. Yesterday five of us went to the Galleria Borghese located in Villa Borghese, which is the central park of Rome. My friends and I packed some brie cheese, bread and grapes for a little picnic in the Villa Borghese before we went to the gallery. We had to make reservations to go inside the Galleria Borghese three days in advance. They only allow 200 people at a time in the gallery and have very strict rules. We all had to check in our purses at the entrance and cameras were not aloud inside. I was able to see some amazing sculptures. My two favorite sculptures were "Apollo and Daphne" and "Persephone" both sculpted by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It was incredible to see how detailed the statues were. I was able to see the soft expression of Daphne as she was slowly transforming into a tree. Her toes were intertwined with roots and the top of her fingertips were transforming into leaves. The fabric wrapped around Apollo was swirling in the breeze and looked as soft as a sheet. It was truly the work of a genius, Bernini was an amazing artist. On our walk back from the gallery we stopped by a bakery full of pastries and I had my first canolli in Rome! Simply a perfect, relaxing day!