Longhorns' Fun Facts about Rome

After three days in Rome, the Texas players and coaches found out some interesting facts about the city and its historical landmarks. Below are each person's "fun fact" she or he learned while in Rome.

Bethany Howden: In St. Peter's Basilica, I thought it was interesting that when Bernini was sculpting the high alter in place, no one knew Peter was actually buried directly beneath it.

Sarah Holloway: I was impressed to find out that all the ancient ruins, like the Pantheon and the Forum, were built before Christ was born, but are still standing today and people still marvel at them day after day.

Jenny Andrew: I like the fact that we can come back in 2025 and walk through a set of doors at the Vatican and have all of our sins absolved.

Jen Christian: I can't believe all the letters at the base of the Rotunda at St. Peter's Basilica are 12-feet tall. I stood right there and looked at them and I still don't believe it. The whole church was just colossal.

Erin Larson: We noticed there were so many cats roaming around the site where Caesar died, almost 300 of them, and we were told that they were considered sacred because they keep watch over the ruins.

Leticia Armstrong: I never knew they had to move so many buildings and displace so many people who were living where the Coliseum was built.

Dariam Acevedo: I never knew that someone came into St. Peter's about 25 years ago and broke Michaelangelo's statue and they were able to put it all back together again almost seamlessly and no one would have known anything ever happened to it.

Brandy Magee: It was really cool to find out the paintings in St. Peter's are not paintings at all, but rather reproductions done in stained glass mosaics so that nothing would happen to the original canvases.

Jessica Curtis: I never knew that the original foundations of Catholicism - like the arrow that pierced Jesus on the cross, or the actual piece of the cross, or a cloth with his blood on it - are stored in the Holy Relic Vaults in St. Peter's above statues that show the biblical chartacters with the artifacts.

Mira Topic: I just couldn't believe how beautiful all the sculptures were at the Vatican and how there is a meaning behind every one of them.

Head coach Jerritt Elliott: I am still amazed at the fact that the Pantheon was built in 27 B.C. and still standing in all its glory. It's amazing to stand in there and know so many great acts in history happened in the same building.

Assistant coach Tonya Johnson: The traffic here is crazy. I can't believe that scooters and what we would consider itty-bitty cars like the Smart Car dominate the roads here and drive everywhere. It makes Austin traffic look tame.