Just Pictures Today

I've been doing quite a lot of walking in the last few days--for various classes, for myself, for y'all--and I have tons of reading to catch up on and a presentation due next week and shopping `cause the sales are almost over and [insert excuse here].  So I'm just posting pictures today; some touristy, some random, some just adorable.  No explanations.

Ciao a tutti!

Church Day

Poor Julius, he commissions the greatest sculptor of his time-and perhaps all time-to create a tomb that will satisfy his ego and no one comes to see him-they only want to see Moses.  And this despite his sexy, Oh, baby, I'm ready for you pose.  I was also astonished that very few people stopped to look at St. Peter's chains.  I watched fifty of so people come into the church but only a small handful stepped down to see the chains and even fewer took more than a passing glance.

Today was a day for churches; in fact it was homework.  I was supposed to visit three important churches but San Clemente was closed so I'm going to have to go back to see that one.  

The first church I made it to today was the church of the Ara Coeli-the main Franciscan church in Rome.  I expected a subtle grandeur, it being Franciscan and all.  Sitting atop a long and very steep staircase the church's exterior  boasts a large yet plain and simple facade of brown brick.  The interior, on the other hand, is quite different.  The chandeliers are gaudy and entirely out of place.  Perhaps they were taken from the Roxy Theater in New York when it closed.  The rest of the interior is magnificent, sumptuous, breathtaking, covered with frescoes and marble columns and carved wood-the ceiling, oh my, the ceiling, coffered, carved, rosettes, paint, gilding-just not what I was expecting from this particular church.  Ah, well, just my take on things.

The other church I actually made it into was, of course, St. Pietro in Vincoli-St. Peter in Chains.  It is beautiful with a simple, white nave, elaborate baldacchino and, of course, the above mentioned tabernacle with St. Peter's chains and Pope Julius II's tomb.  How exactly does one describe one of Michelangelo's greatest and best known works?  I won't-save to say it is beautiful and I was lucky to have arrived between throngs of tourists so I was alone with it for fifteen minutes.






It is tomorrow now and I am sitting in a small ristorante having what is advertised ad " the best pizza in Trastevere."  It's not.  But it's fine and I was hungry.  Playing on the television is Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the Italian version.  Allora!

After the churches I finished yesterday with a light dinner and then a walk near the Coliseum.  It is so beautiful at night all lit up.  I got caught in the rain on my way home-a soft, gentle rain that make the city sparkle and reminded me of Seattle.  It was a lovely walk.




Today was a very long and full day of classes, first a visit to a museum filled with ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, then photography class-taking pictures of Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and assorted streets shops, piazzas, and churches along the way.  My feet hurt, my mind is much and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Ciao a Roma!

Some randomness

Random view of a piazza

Dinner-good.  Limoncello-bad

I have a massive hangover this morning and I think that I'll stay in bed and read most of the day.  But I must say that arriving at this hangover was so much fun.  Last night we celebrated Codie's birthday-she is one of the girls in our program.  We went to a lovely little restaurant behind the Pantheon, and had a simple dinner-bruschetta followed by a plate with two pastas and finally dessert.  The company was delightful-Codie invited a few of her other friends as well as our group.  I was seated between Kara, someone from our program, Chiare, an Italian journalist who enjoys talking about politics and movies and loves French men as much as I do.  My favorite comment of the night, "A friend and I were in Paris and I was supposed to ask for directions but as soon as he said 'Bonjour' I completely forgot how to say anything!"  Then out came the Limoncello and the remainder of the evening becomes a little fuzzier.  But I was well taken care of and two of my roommates even walked me home which I thought was very kind.  And they seemed to enjoy seeing the "old guy" smashed!

Random car...actually not so random-I walk by it almost daily.  It is in
really great condition except for the ding in the left front quarter panel.
It is a Citroen 2CV and I'm guessing from the mid-late 60's.

Yesterday I took a long walk but purposefully without a camera.  I walked over to the Forum-we're going to visit it in class next week-then around the Flavian Theater-aka the Colosseum-then up the hill and promptly got lost.  Not in a scary, what am I going to do kind of way but more like a I have no idea where I am but it sure is pretty kind of way.  It's kind of funny-from what I understand the Italians exported their anal retentiveness about parks to the French but apparently didn't keep any for themselves.  Don't get me wrong, the parks I've seen are quite lovely; they're just not maintained to within an inch of their lives.  The bushes are a little fuzzy, the grass is a little long, the trees aren't all the exact same size and shape. 

Enough random blabbing for one day.  Time to get back to studying.  Or sleeping.  Whatever.

Random hand crafted musical instruments-harps,
lutes violins, cellos-I accidentally found this shop
while walking after photography class

Isolo Taberni

According to the tour guide, who was chattering on as I was sitting at the foot of the monument of St. Bartolomeo, legend says that an Etruscan barge got stuck at this spot in the middle of the river and began to collect debris creating the island.  It is, as he continued, just a legend.  The island is a natural formation, a deposit of alluvial sand carried down and settling here where the river bends.

Pons Cestius with the hospital in the background

The island was host to several temples, the earliest, and perhaps, the most important was that of “Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing.”  :The decision to build the temple on the island, so the story goes, was made by one of the god’s sacred snakes who jumped off the boat as it came up river and swam ashore there.” (Claridge, 226)  It is appropriate, then, that a large and hospital sits on the island’s upriver side.

Pons Fabricius

Two bridges connect the island with the mainland; the Pons Cestius and the Pons Fabricius.  The Pons Cestius was re-fabricated in 1886-89 when the river embankment was widened but its central arch dates back to antiquity.  The Pons Fabricius dates from 62 BCE and was built by the commissioner of roads, Lucius Fabricius, and is the oldest bridge in the city.  The two bridges, flanking either side of the  island, give the island the look of a boat with its oars outstretched above the water.  A creative 2^nd century CE carver even created in stone a replica of a ship’s prow to emphasize the nautical nature of the island’s shape.

Just upriver from Tiber Island is another bridge-the Ponte Sisto.  The original bridge at this location was built in 211 by then emperor Marcus Aurelius to join the mainland with Trastevere.  The bridge went through several restorations but was finally left in ruins because of flooding after 791.  In 1475 Pope Sixtus IV rebuilt it on the ruins of the Roman bridge.  Its most prominent feature is the perfectly circular hole in the center.  It was placed there to allow water to flow through the bridge when the river was high.

The dome in the background is St. Peter's

Pizza anyone?

This is a pizza box I saw in a window.  I thought it was funny.

Puppies!!!

I saw these guys at the beginning of my walk yesterday afternoon.

Trastevere

As promised, I wandered around my neighborhood yesterday afternoon and had quite a nice day.  The area of town I'm living in is called Trastevere.  It was originally--we're talking Roman Republic/early Imperial days--a neighborhood of outcasts outside the city walls, Jews, Christians, and the like.  Fast forward almost 2,000 years and you'd find Trastevere a neighborhood of very old families with deep roots; the people living here felt they were more Roman than the Romans living in the city center and they were probably right.  Today, Trastevere is a vibrant community with a great mix of people including recent arrivals and foreign students like myself.  It is also one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Rome.  There are countless restaurants and bars and cafes as well as boutiques and clothing stores and nic-nac shops.   

The campanelli in the background belongs to Santa Maria in Trastevere. 
Google it because it is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever
been inside but was unable to capture it with my camera. 

This is a small part of the facade of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  The blocks
or marble embedded into the wall are pieces from ancient Roman
buildings that are being reused to provide both structure and history
to the church.  You can see that some of the inscriptions are official
while others are ancient graffiti. 

 Last night the faculty hosted a marvelous dinner for us at a restaurant called Taverna Antonina.  Did I mention that it was marvelous?  It was.  It began with the antipasti--a plate of several cured hams and cheeses, another with a pile of seafood, squid, shrimp, octopus.  A third of grilled vegetables and a fourth of bruschetta.  Then the pasta course with a red sauce and panchetta; others had a ravioli stuffed with pear.  The pasta course was followed by a plate of mixed meats for me, a small and thin steak, lamb chops and a patty of the beef and lamb mixed together served with a mouthwatering bearnaise sauce.  Others had either a lamb steak or a zucchini encrusted sea bass.  Finally a pistachio tiramisu with a side of hazelnut gelato ended the meal.  

 After dinner I went wandering around my neighborhood again.  It was a beautiful evening, warm and clear.  The streets were crowded with young people spilling out of the bars, restaurants and cafes.  It was loud and energetic and vibrant and I had a wonderful time. 

 

Io molto bene

I just finished a very yummy sandwich for lunch that I ordered all by myself without any english. 

Have I mentioned how frickin' cute the cars are?  Here is one of my particular favorites.  Nearby, there is an old Fiat that I'll get a picture of soon; I just need to remember my camera.  Hmmm....it's beautiful out right now-sunny and warm-I think it's time to take pictures of my neighborhood.  Ciao!

Classes have started!

Classes began on Monday and have taken up most of my time this week.  Well, that and shopping.  This is apparently the only time anything is placed on sale and some of the sales are pretty impressive.  I spent way too much money near the Campo De' Fiori but I have some wonderful new slacks, a lovely new sweater, a lighter coat, a scarf, a stunning new dress shirt and a pair of jeans that fit like a glove--speaking of, I need to find gloves; I lost one today.

Back to classes...the reason I'm here.  The Italian class is not as intensive as I had hoped it would be.  It makes my day easier but it means it will be more difficult to take in the language.  I must try harder to work on my own.  The photography class is fun but it gets dark so early right now so there are a lot of night pictures which I'm still struggling with. 

Both the Renaissance/Baroque class and the Ancient Roman Art class meet only once a week but I think they are going to be the most intensive.  Yesterday, for example, we stood in Santa Maria sopra Minerva for close to an hour looking at just one side chapel and its fresco series by Fra Fillipo Lippi.  It is one of those churches I must return to.  I've read that it is Rome's only Gothic church and our professor mentioned that one of the statues near the altar is by Michelangelo.

Tomorrow is a day off from classes and a chance to start studying.  That is if I can refrain from going outside and wandering around this remarkably beautiful city. 

School? I'm here for school?

Today was the first day of classes for us-Italian.  Two and a half hours twice a week should be pretty good.  Today we learned the alphabet and how to pronounce some of the more difficult letters, like C. Trust me, it's more difficult than it sounds.  Then the instructor, Eldamaria, gave us a spelling test.  I didn't do to badly, considering I can't spell in English.  I commented to several, ok, all, of my class mates that our instructor looked and sounded like Suzanne Pleshette.  Not one of them knows who she is-or rather was.  I realize that there will be generational discrepancies but c'mon, Suzanne Pleshette?  She's an icon!  It would be like someone of my generation now knowing who Audrey Meadows is-was.  

Actually, class was a lot of fun.  Elda-she'd rather we didn't use her full name-is funny, charming, and can speak at least three languages; she and I conversed a bit in French.  Yes, my mind is still in Paris even though the remainder of me is in Rome.

After class, Nick and I went to the Vittoriano to see a van Gogh exhibit.  Not his best known works but a very nice selection nonetheless and pretty sizeable too.  The exhibit also included several paintings by Gaugin, a few Cezanne's, a Senac, a Seurat, and a Pissaro as well as several prints by many of the above.  The focus of the exhibit was to show van Gogh's evolution and how different artists influenced him.    Picture taking was not allowed, sigh.   

We took the tram back to our neighborhood, rested for a moment, then headed out to see if the Pope was in--see the post below.  On the way home, we stopped in front of a corner market which isn't exactly on a corner--it is in the middle of the block--but it's close to our apartment.  They had some broccoli on display. 

It is the strangest broccoli I have ever seen.  I have no clue how it tastes....hmmm...perhaps I'll make soup.  Although it really isn't soup weather.  Today was sunny and 60.  Eh, I'll worry about that tomorrow. 

Il Papa

 Nick, one of my roommates, and I went to see the Pope this afternoon.  He wasn't receiving visitors.