The Diary of Melanie Martin by Carol Weston

Author:Carol Weston [Weston, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-48380-5
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2000-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

March 25

Dear Diary

We walked our feet off today. Right now we're on top of this high hill that we hiked up so we could watch the sun set over Rome, the capital of Italy. Julius Caesar and Cleopatra used to have dates around here.

I like having all of Rome at my feet. I've been up the Empire State Building, and it's cool because you're surrounded by other skyscrapers. But what I like about this view is that you're outside the city, so you can sort of take it all in. I mean, Rome has been growing and action-packed for, well, almost forever. Rome was here before people even knew about TV or cars or freezers or Scotch tape or e-mail or vaccines or M&M's or anything.

Dad said Rome is called the Eternal City.

Mom pointed out the Vatican and said that tomorrow we'll see the Sistine Chapel—“one of the masterpieces of the world.”

It took Michelangelo almost five years to paint the whole ceiling, and he had to do it lying down on a bunch of scaffolding with paint dripping on him from above, and he didn't even like to paint as much as he liked to sculpt.

“Did the paint drip into his ears and nostrils?” Matt asked.

“Probably,” Mom said, looking sort of sad for Michelangelo. She told us that one reason why Michelangelo sculpted so well was because he had done something illegal.

“Against the law?” Matt asked, his eyes all big and round.

“Against the law of the time,” Mom said. “He dissected corpses so he could better understand human anatomy.”

“Huh?” Matt said.

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