Next to Last Day

Wow! The time has flown by, as I knew it would.  This morning we were set on a march around the city trying to fit in the last details that our instructor thought we should not miss.  I was on my feet from around 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. My feet ached!

Group photo at Trevi Fountain

But finally we were dismissed.  I had to go to the student center to print out my paper and turn it in.  Then it was back to the apartment and off to the beach.  We took the Metro to a train and from there to just south of Ostia.  Sarah had been there last weekend and knew just where to go. It was a good 45 min or so before we were watching the waves of the Mediterranean Sea crash in on the sandy shore.

I did mention that I'm not really a beach person, right? It was about everything I expected it would be.  The sand sticks to everything, there are many people lying around in various stages of undress (and in Italy it is less than I'm used to) I worry about getting sunburned and my back starts hurting from sitting on the sand.  In addition, here in Italy, there are hawkers who make there way around the beach trying to sell bracelets or sunglasses, or paintings, or beach towels, or scarfs or swimsuits, or fresh coconut...shall I go on?

One type of vendor offers massages.  I chose to have her massage my lower legs and feet.  My feet were still pounding from all the walking of the day and it felt heavenly. By the time she was done I had happy feet and that made me happier.  Then I could enjoy the sound of the waves as they rolled into shore, I could enjoy the smell of the salt water and feel the spray on my face.  It was slightly overcast and later in the day so I didn't worry too much about sunburn.  It was very peaceful to just sit, knowing that my homework was turned in, there was no other place to be, and I could rest in the moment -- sitting on the sand near the Mediterranean for Pete's sake!

Looking out to sea.

We spent several hours there before returning to Rome and finding a place for supper.  I chose the pizza capricioso which had mushrooms, olive, egg, ham artichokes and mozzarella.  It was very tasty! We are all thinking about our favorite foods back home, though.  As much as I like pasta (and I do like it a lot) there comes a time when a person just needs some mexican or good old hamburger!

Tomorrow is our excursion to Tivoli and then we need to pack up our stuff and clean the apartment.  We have a large group dinner provided in the evening and then the following morning we will be collected and brought to the airport for the long day of traveling back home.  I don't think I'll have time to blog until after I get home and from there I will post a final wrap up.  Thanks so much for traveling with me and being so supportive.  I can't wait to see you all again in person!

Winding down

It is really hard to believe that our time in Rome is fast coming to a close.  I have been very busy these last few days writing the course paper that is due on Fri.  We've been trying hard to get it done early so we can take the half-day set aside for working on the paper and do something fun instead.  So, tonight I did the final spell-check and grammar check and I think it'll do. At least I have done what I could and I will turn it in.

We have been visiting the palazzo's of the Borghese and Barberini families, who in the 17th century were very powerful and wealthy citizens who used their power and influence to gain wealth and more power.  It was very sad to me that Scipione Borghese, a Cardinal of the church and nephew to the Pope, was such a ruthless collector of art that he resorted to plain theft -- and got away with it.  Considering that his country Villa was decorated with lewd and sensual frescoes and that seemed to be the type of art he prefered, he seems like an all around scoundrel.  I was amazed by the sumptuousness of the surroundings and the expansiveness of the collection, but I can't say I really enjoyed myself.  It was too disturbing. 

Today at the Palazzo Barberini it was a different story.  Although there was some nudity in the art, it did not seem to dominate in the same way as at the Villa Borghese.  I was sidetracked into admiring some 18th century paintings and some 16th century paintings but the instructor didn't seem to mind too much.  It was a highlight to me to see the portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein.

Also a highlight and a part of our course were half a dozen Caravaggio's.  I especially admired Judith Beheading Holofernes and Narcissus. I think I could have sat in that room all afternoon, just soaking it in.

Charis and I decided to finish our papers in the afternoon and then take off, just the two of us, and have some quality mother-daughter time.  We went back to the Piazza Navona which was abuzz with activity.  We sat near the fountain and listened to the street musicians for awhile.  Then we wandered around and found a bench to sit at and watch the people, and admire the facades, and just enjoy being together in Rome. 

We then walked the short distance to the Pantheon.  I still think that's my favorite place.  It gives me such an interesting feeling just to be there looking at it.  I imagine how it must have been when it was a working temple to the pantheon of Roman gods.  I think it must have been a really creepy place.  I'm so grateful that Jesus has set us free from the fears of superstition and bondage of idol worship.

I enjoyed just sitting there, watching the play of light as the sun was lowering on the horizon and watching the people mill about.  Charis sat with me and wrote in her journal.  It was such a peaceful, poigniant time that I will always treasure. 

We found a restaurant near our apartment and had a nice meal together which we strung out long over not one but TWO bottles of water.  We are such heavy drinkers! haha!  But we were just enjoying the precious time together and did not want it to end.  We decided we needed to not be too busy back home to find those times together.

We have two more days here before we head home.  Already we are looking forward to being with family and friends.  We are thinking about making something other than pasta (although I am still enjoying it.) But we are trying not to let our eagerness to be home crowd out any enjoyment we will have in the next two days.  Once we are on the plane, then we can let ourselves go with excitement and anticipation of coming home.

Antiques and More

This was a beautiful day with partly cloudy skies and a cool breeze.  Sarah and I got up and made our way via Metro and Tram to the neighborhood of the Ponte Mulvio first Sunday of the month antique market. We figured it would be too expensive for us but I wanted to get a feel for what we could expect the prices to be.  Sarah speaks a little Italian so she understood when the vendor told her it was 1000 euro. Whoa! That was a shocker.  I congratulated her on her good taste. :)

We moved on and looked at many booths with collections of jewelry, porcelain, silver, furniture and paintings.  It was all in all a very interesting time.  We both love antques and just looking at the variety was interesting.  We tried the fresh squeezed lemonade with ginger and really enjoyed it.  I'll have to make it like that when I get home.

After collecting the others, we went to our favorite pizza place in our neighborhood.  The pizza is sold by weight.  They have already cooked varieties to choose from.  You point at the one you want. They hack off a chunk and weigh it.  Then it goes in the toaster oven to be reheated.  A chunk the size of a personal pizza costs around 3 euro.  Today I had the one with tomato sauce and salami topped with mozzarella.  Actually, I think the cheese goes on top of the sauce and the salami was on top.  The crusts are all thin and crispy and really delicious.  Some of the choices include broccoli and sausage with no tomato sauce; spinach and sausage; potato,  again with no tomato sauce just cheese on top of the crust and thinly sliced potatoes on top; mushroom and cheese with no sauce; mushroom and cheese with tomato sauce; and every little shop has their own slight variations on this theme.

We like this little pizzaria becauase it is friendly.  The girl who works there is always accomodating and friendly toward us, unlike many of the places we've been.  It is also close to our apartment and open 24 hrs and quite affordable.  So we've gone back there enough times to be regulars. :)

The afternoon was spent in writing our papers.  I am about half-done having written 7 pages comparing and contrasting different examples of Baroque painting we've seen.  I now need to get busy and do the architecture and sculpture sections.  We're hoping to get done by Wed night with our papers so we can take the half day on Thursday to go to the beach. If I had known that Charis had never been to the ocean before, we would have done that with the girls yesterday.  They all want to go back on Thursday so we'll see if we can make it work.

Buona Sera!

Saturday

I enjoyed sleeping in today and then spending some time working on my course paper.  I felt good about the progress I made, in fact I didn't really want to quit writing but Charis and I had plans to try to find the museum of musical instruments today.  The other girls in our apartment went to the beach, which is about 45 min away by bus.  Charis and I are not beach lovin people -- which to those of you who are is really incomprehensible. But the sand, the sun and the water are all wasted on us.

We navigated our way to an unfamiliar part of town and managed to pick the right bus and using our map found our way to the right building.  We had the place to ourselves -- go figure! :)  It was great fun seeing the collection of old instruments from around the world, some of which were totally inexplicable.  Something I had not seen before were instrument like a violin but only slightly wider than the fingerboard.  Also, they had a whole collection of lutes made from armadillos. The variations on the piano and organ were pretty cool too.

We felt like pros as we made our way to the bus stop and had no trouble getting back to familiar territory.  It may seem like a small accomplishment but for us it was big!

Our apartment and a couple of girls from another have been having fun hanging out together and we decided tonight was the best night to really splurge at a good restaurant.  We chose the one in our neighborhood situated in the piazza with the fountain.  It is always packed and hard to get into without a reservation.  We made reservations early in the evening and went back for dinner at 7:30.

I had an avacado-mango-palm heart salad with balsamic vinaigrette, ravioli and tiramisu for dessert.  We all agreed it was one of the best places we've eaten yet. The fountain area is always crowded with people just hanging out with friends every single night.  Sometimes someone plays music and it's always an active place.

It's a little hard thinking this is our last week here. The time has flown by and at the same time it feels like we've been here an age.  I will be ready to be home but I'm determined to just take the moments as they come without tingeing them with regret.

We're planning to check out the 1st-sunday-of-the-month antiques market tomorrow...I just have to keep remembering to keep it light and flat! Here's hoping tomorrow is a little cooler than today.  It was in the upper 80's and seemed even hotter walking on the hot cobblestones.  We do not have air conditioning in our apartment. We open our windows wide and hope for a breeze! Considering the weather we've left behind, I guess I'd better shut up about it, though. :)

Time for me to get busy with more writing before heading to bed.  See you all soon!

Never a Dull Moment

This morning began with a Metro ride to the Spaish Steps. We went early in order to have time for a croissant and espresso before meeting the class at the top of the staircase.  It was a wonderful way to start the day.  The sun was shining and a light breeze blowing and we were having caffe in Rome!

I once again climbed the Spanish Steps - albeit rather slowly.  I have since learned that that is what the designer of the steps intended.  He planned wide spaces and a rather meandering movement in order for people to enjoy the climb, and rest along the way.  We took a round about jaunt up and down the streets of that neighborhood in order for Profesore Stoughton to point out items of interest pertaining to 17th century Baroque art. 

Sarah & Charis on Spanish Steps

We came to the Casino Ludovisi where we had an appointment to see Guercino's Aurora and Tithonius with Allegories of Night and day.  This is a private residence that is open to the public on certain Fridays - for a fee.  Our instructor had told us about the very elegant Principessa who had recently married the current Prince Ludovisi. (All titles were done away with in Italy during Napoleon's time but in conversation the titles are still used out of courtesy.) This new Princess hails from Texas, USA and brought a lot of wealth into the match which it appears she is using to restore the grandeur of the old home. On a previous visit our insructor had met her and she was so gracioius and charming he was hoping we might get the opportunity as well. 

It wasn't long before she did arrive in the room we were visiting and introductions were made.  She was a vivacious woman in her 60's, tall, well groomed and very well poised.  She took us on a personal tour of the place and told us stories of her husbands ancestors. ("The Savoys became royalty because they were more vicious even though they were only dukes and not princes.") We were shown into some of the private areas that were being restored to see a Caravaggio ceiling painting and other master paintings.  Then she showed us the table at which Cardinal Ludovisi had entertained his Uncle,  Pope Gregory XV. In the next room there were the chairs they used to sit in.  She said, "Who wants to sit in those chairs? Come now, don't be shy. I'll take your picture." So we all had a turn sitting in the Cardinal and Popes chairs of state with the Princess taking our picture.  It was quite a riot! She was obviously having so much fun sharing her inherited history and having us appreciate it too.



Charis and me sitting in state in the papal chairs


From there we rode a bus across town to a church which was established in the 3rd century A.D. redecorated in the 12th century and contained an important sculpture of St. Cecilia from the early 17th century.  The final excursion was to see Bramante's Tiempietto which is a late Renaissance piece.  To get to it meant a lot of uphill walking culminating in a grueling set of stairs cut into the hill that made the Spanish Steps seem mild by comparison.  I can hardly believe I made it! I was not the only one struggling either.  Once we got up there it comanded a grand view of the city and the architecture known as Tiempietto was very interesting to see.

1st part of steps up to the Janiculum

view from the top of the Janiculum

Class was dismissed and we all went our separate ways.  Some were traveling to Florence and others to Sorrento.  We have chosen to remain in Rome instead of taking other excursions.  Instead we found the Botanical Gardens and had a very peaceful afternoon meandering among exotic shrubbery and flowers.  We trekked back to the apartment and my feet and hips were letting me know they didn't appreciate the abuse I'd heaped on them all day!  It looked like we'd get drenched before making it to the apartment because huge thunderclouds were forming and sounding threatening.  But so far no rain.

lunch at cafe

All in all this was a very interesting and satisfying day in Rome. 

Happy 150th year of the Republic

The city of Rome was on holiday today.  There was a huge parade and speeches by dignitaries which, unfortunately, we missed out on because we were in class.  On the way to school the roads were blocked off and crowds were gathering and it was tempting to cut class...but nobody did.  I figured I was letting Kim and Tabitha down but I've never cut class before and by now it's kind of late to break the mold. :)

We did get in on a military fly-by with colored plumes of smoke in the shape of the Italian flag.  We saw them through openings between the buildings and it lasted all of 2 seconds.  I tried to take a picture of the quickly dispersing smoke but it didn't come out well.  It was just one of those times you had to live in the moment.

During our lunch break today Charis struck up a conversation with the maintenance man whose name is Xavier. He looks hispanic so I suggested she could probably practice her Spanish with him.  It turns out he is from Peru and does speak Spanish.  I could understand a fair amount of the conversation and Charis was able to converse well enough to get along.  He has been in Rome for 13 years and likes taking vacation in Peru where the euro is strong and he can afford to have a lot of fun.

We had planned to take a tour of the President's gardens in the afternoon.  One day a year the President opens up his garden for the people to enjoy and this Celebration of the Republic is that day.  And in fact, the official presidential residence is only a few blocks from our apartment. We waited for quite awhile with a large queue of people but only came to find out that today they were not going to let anyone in.  It has been moved to Sunday.  We'll see if it works into our plans to get there on Sunday or not.

So we spent our afternoon resting in our apartment and then went out again for dinner around 7:30.  I'm really embarassed to admit what I had for dinner.  I just have to preface it with the disclaimer that it was totally not my idea but one of the other girls in our group really wanted to try it so we went along with it. It was McDonalds! Yeah, I know.  It's really lame.  But there was also a curiosity to know if it was the same as back in the States. The menu was very limited compared to back home but I got the Big Mac.   It tasted pretty much the same except there was no ketchup in sight.  Also, I really doubt there were onions.  I was going to just eat the onions which I would normally request to be withheld but didn't want the confusion of communication.  But they were either very nominal or non-existant.  As I was eating it I realized that I have been eating way less meat here than I normally would back home and it really tasted good. I know I'm going to get a LOT of guff for this one, but there it is -- it happened.

On the way back to our place we encountered a traffic jam with buses and taxis and motorcycles all stopped and honking.  There was a large building nearby with convenient steps to climb to see what was going on.  It turns out that the police had the road blocked in order to let many entourages of diplomatic cars through.  It was fun for us to watch but the people in traffic all seemed rather hot under the collar.  There was a lot of shouting, some rude gestures, honking of horns and incessant police sirens. I don't know how long it had been going on before we happened upon it but we watched for a good 20 minutes.  I felt like we got in on a parade after all!  I'm going to share the video Sarah took if she posts it on fb.

Now the girls are playing cards, I'm off to take a bath, and then maybe a little homework before going to bed. 

More Churches

I always used to tell Tory that I wanted to travel in Europe and go to every Cathedral and museum there was. There are plenty of places with large churches and great museums I still want to visit.  But, I seriously underestimated the number of both of those things!  In fact, I do not think we will go into every church in Rome during the 3 weeks we are here and we are averaging 3-4 per day!!  It is unbelievable!

Today we visited one which could easily be my favorite.  Although 3 out of the four we saw today could be in my top 5.  My favorite was the one called Santa Maria degli Angeli which was built by Michaelangelo in the ruins of part of the ancient Roman Baths of Diocletian.  It was built in the high Renaissance using much of what remained of the ancient architecture.  I found it light and grand with a totally different feel than the Baroque churches we're studying.

Santa Maria degli Angeli

We did a fair amount of walking again today.  I'm feeling better and better.  There is a staircase near our neighborhood that I took on one of the first days in Rome on which I had to rest part way up.  Today we went that way again and I was able to do it all in one trip.  Here's a picture.


Noni's corollary to Newton's law: "What comes down must go up."

 So life goes on. Tomorrow is an important holiday celebrating the founding of Italy as a republic in 1861. They have been preparing staging for the big parade ever since we've arrived here.  I don't know what to expect but we will be in class during the morning festivities anyway.  Arrivederci!