On two evenings in Roma

I've had a really busy week writing my first Art History term paper about Giotto's Bardi Chapel. I actually just finished the first draft of it about 15 minutes ago. So I apologize for not posting sooner. I have a lot I want to say about my weekend in Rome so hopefully I will remember it all. 

 Rome was absolutely amazing. It is easily one of my new favorite places. I was totally bewildered by the different layers of history juxtaposed throughout the city. The atmosphere is urban without being a huge noisy metropolis like London or New York (although I really love both of those cities too, don't get me wrong) and it has lively vibe even in the bad weather (it rained all weekend). Although one thing I didn't like was the lack of sidewalk. Maybe that's an Italian thing though since that seems to be a foreign concept in Florence as well, more so in Rome though. There isn't a concise layout to the city either, there are a lot of side streets and twists and turns in the road which was charming but also a little inconvenient. But I still loved the overall aura of the city and I really wish I could have spent more time there. But I have a feeling I'll be back someday, especially after throwing my coin into the Trevi Fountain. :)

Anyway, we left the Villa at 7:30 am and arrived in Rome around 11:30ish. We had about an hour to unpack at the Hotel Smeraldo before our tour of the Forum began. Our tour guide was a teeny little British woman named Angela and she was an adorable little bundle of knowledge. I couldn't believe how (relatively) well preserved the ruins are. I kept trying to imagine the movie Gladiator while I was walking around trying to put together what it may have looked like during the time of the Republic/Empire. Then we went on a walking tour with Professor Mariotti and we saw Trajan's column, Obeilsk's column, and the Pantheon. Unfortunately I forgot my debit card at the Villa and had no cash on me so when I went out to dinner with a big group of people in Campo dei Fiori I put everyone's wine and pizza on my credit card and I got cash back in return (success). After dinner a couple tipsy friends and I (see first picture) decided to venture to see the Trevi Fountain at night. What took us an hour should have taken about ten minutes, but we had fun aimlessly wandering around trying to find the fountain. It was totally worth it too, I don't care if it's super touristy, the Trevi Fountain is breath taking at night. We all got gelato and sat around telling each other about our significant others in front of the fountain (precious I know). We eventually decided to wander back to the hotel so we could meet up with the crew at one of the bars. Once again we got hopelessly lost for about two hours and once we got back to the hotel we immediately crashed. We had to get up at 6 30 am to go to the Vatican the next morning anyway.

 As a non practicing Catholic I was still blown away by the Vatican. I bet that tiny little principality is more wealthy than the entire country of Italy (not even kidding). We took a tour of the museum and saw the statue of Laocoon and Raphael's School of Athens which I was really excited about (and the Sistine Chapel obviously). I climbed up the continuously shrinking staircase up to the top of the dome and while I felt mildly claustrophobic on the way up We were rewarded for our struggles with an awesome view of the entire city. I thought with the unnaturally well manicured lawns, palm trees, fountains, and tiny little vehicles driving around that the Vatican property looked kind of like Disney World. Going inside the actual Basilica was cool too, it is overwhelmingly ornate though (but still beautiful). I also got to see the Pieta there! You really don't think about the huge art collection the Vatican has until you see it there.

After the Vatican a big group of us headed over the Colosseum in the pouring rain. Then I was really trying to recall scenes from Gladiator since the Colosseum is now a hollow shell of what it was back in the day. I still don't understand why the level underneath the arena needed to be so intricate and complicated. Wouldn't be a lot easier to have one big space? Oh well, I'm obviously not an ancient Roman architect. What do I know? Well even if it is a hollow shell, it's a cool hollow shell. You can really tell how influential its design is for stadiums and arenas and such. We may or may not have had a gladiator battle using our umbrellas (total tourists)...

After the Colosseum we headed to a Dominican Church called San Clemente which was really interesting since the foundations of a medieval church and Roman mint lie underneath it and you can go down and see them. It was kind of scary and labyrinth-ish but cool. There was an alter still sitting in the Medieval church and there were random ruins sticking out of the wall. I'm still baffled by how one can build on top of something else, do you just cover it with dirt? I need to stop asking questions.

That night two girls in the group had birthdays so we did a little bar hoping, we went to an Irish Pub (they are all over the place here) and had Strongbows (most amazing beverage ever, it's hard cider). And then went to a place called Sloppy Sams and then ventured back to the hotel eventually...

  Saturday morning we didn't have anything planned until 2 so my friend Ariel and I walked back to the Trevi Fountain to see it during the day and then walked over to the Spanish Steps and window shopped in all the designer stores. We were having a hard time picking a place to eat so eventually we just decided we would go into the next place we found and it turned out to be the most expensive one we had seen! We didn't realize until we sat down and saw the menu. We ordered wine thinking they would bring us glasses, but we got a whole bottle! Well, we didn't want our money to go to waste so we drank the entire thing between the two of us. Thankfully our buzz wore off before our tour of the Villa Borghese. The private collection of the Borghese family is mind blowing, lots of Bernini and Titians (Apollo and Daphne is there! One of the most beautiful neo-classical sculptures you will ever see) I am a total sucker for neo-classicism so that was really cool to see. After the Villa Borghese we hopped on the bus to head back to Florence around 5:15. 

 This weekend I will be venturing to Brussels, return for mid terms and then leave again for a week for Spring Break. Then the program will be halfway over! I can't believe how fast this whole thing is going. It seems like just yesterday I was delayed at O'Hare for over eight hours. O:-) I will do my best to update when I get back from Brussels if I have enough time between studying for mid terms. I will do my best. Ciao for now!