Since my last blog, I have finished my stay in Rome and am now living in Florence. Here, I will try and summarize the rest of my amazing experience in Rome.
Since my last blog, I have finished my stay in Rome and am now living in Florence. Here, I will try and summarize the rest of my amazing experience in Rome.
MC 272: My last blog was sadly a negative depiction of my class in Rome. Yes, I did end up not enjoying my professor, but class became better once I stopped giving my opinion in class. Soon after I wrote my last blog, my professor and I had a good conversation and from then on, we were fine. I'm disappointed in the class, but not in Rome.
June 1st -- Villa Borghese | Wikipedia Page |
The Villa Borghese is a lot like Central Park in New York City. It’s a gigantic park in the middle of Rome with events happening all the time. Near the back of the Villa Borghese is the Galleria Borghese, a museum of the collected art of the powerful Borghese family in Rome. It’s basically a house created to show off the Borghese wealth and has tall ceilings with frescos on all the ceilings, paintings against the walls, and statues in the middle of the rooms. These paintings and statues, however, are some of the most amazing I have ever seen. Examples:
Everyone knows of Michelangelo’s David, but what about Bernini’s --
This is Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne -- Here Apollo is swooning after Daphne while she is in the middle of transforming into a tree. To see the detail up close is astounding.
This final Bernini is the Rape of Proserpine -- The most amazing part is in Proserpine’s leg, where Pluto’s hand is grasping it. It seems impossible that these are made of stone, it looks like flesh up close.Check out the Wikipedia Page to see more on work from Caravaggio, Raphael, and more.
June 2nd -- Republic Day
June 2nd was the Italian Republic's 65th anniversary. This was a pretty cool day. Normally the streets are packed with cars and the tram is filled, window-to-window, with people. Not on Republic Day. It seemed most people had the day off and those who were up were probably at the parade near the Victor Emanuele building for the parade. Sadly, our class conflicted with most of the festivities, but we did get to catch them on television. It looked to be a large military display demonstrating long range missiles, tanks, speed boats, battalions of troops on horses, on foot, with instruments, and more. It ended with a group of 9 planes that sprayed green, white, and red streams to form a giant Italian flag in the sky. Pretty cool stuff.
There was also a car accident this day. We were talking toward our apartment when we heard the horrible squealing of tires followed by a crash. The two men involved jumped out and began arguing in their suits. It was fun to watch, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar in the States.
June 3rd -- CLIMB CLIMB CLIMB
There was also a car accident this day. We were talking toward our apartment when we heard the horrible squealing of tires followed by a crash. The two men involved jumped out and began arguing in their suits. It was fun to watch, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar in the States.
June 3rd -- CLIMB CLIMB CLIMB
After class on Friday, a group of us decided to climb to the top of St. Peter’s Basilica, or the Vatican. It cost 5 euros to walk to the top or 7 euros to take the elevator. So, we took the stairs, of course. This was quite the ordeal as we climbed hundreds of stairs that spiraled around up and up and up. A few minutes later, we reached the base of the dome and walked inside to see the vatican church far, far below. We were able to appreciate the mosaic art in the dome that is unseeable from the ground, all beautifully done. After this, we decided to climb some more to the very top of the Basilica, on top of the dome. As we began our assent, the walls began to close in around us, up, and up we went. As we continued, the walls began to bend toward us, demonstrating that we were literally in the walls of the dome. This gave the illusion that we walking on the walls and could fall at any time. One of the coolest climbs I have ever had. After this there were some very tight spiral staircases to the top with a single, thick rope in the middle to hang onto. Finally, we made it to the top and saw the most breathtaking view of Rome we have seen yet. We could see the entire city and the landscape around it. I wish my camera worked so I could show you all the pictures I took. After the climb up the vatican, we went back to our apartments, packed for our early train to Naples the next day, and fell asleep.
June 4th -- NAPLES and POMPEII
Yhe train to Naples was a simple 2 hour trip very early in the morning. When we got to the station, we were surprised to find that no one was there to check our tickets. We awkwardly climbed aboard the train, found some seats, and sat down. Little did we know that we had chosen the only 1st class car, while everything else was 2nd class, which our tickets mandated. After the train had begun, we realized this, and made the effort to move (even though no one ended up checking our tickets). We traveled to the very front of the train where we sat near a loud family with children, and attempted to sleep. Magically, 2 hours later, we were in Naples. I was now on a vacation from my vacation... wow.
Naples has a completely different feel to in than Rome. While Rome is for the tourists, Naples is far more gritty, with trash flowing through the streets, graffiti lining all walls (even the beautiful churches *tear*), and people... oh wow! PEOPLE LIVING THEIR LIVES. This was the coolest part about Naples, seeing Italian families -- children with bikes, groups of women in one area, and groups of men in another area, both discussing loudly. Anyway, we stayed in a hostel where the person who checked us in took advantage of our political knowledge to catch up on United States politics. After we checked in, we immediately headed back to the train station to grab tickets for Pompeii. I was now on a vacation from my vacation... from my vacation. 0_0
Pompeii was phenomenal. Most people know the tale of Pompeii being buried by the ash of the volcano, Mount Vesuvius. Naturally, my theme song for the place was “Blow” by Ke$ha -- “this place about to blowwwwohhohohohohhohhohhh.” Sadly, I know this song all too well from working in the Cafe at Michigan State and had it stuck in my head the entire time. After some digging by archeologists, what is left of Pompeii is amazing. You may be imagining some ancient ruins that aren’t all that impressive. Oh no, Pompeii is a city of ruins... and by city, I mean 1.5 miles in length city. There were houses, shops, theaters, and amphitheaters. Most everything was missing its roof, but it still felt like a city with walls and roads and buildings. After this, we struggled back to our hostel, and passed out with ease.
June 5th -- Pizza and Drizzle
When we woke the next morning, it was drizzling outside -- our first rainy day in Italy. Luckily it wasn’t hard, so we braved the weather and began to walk around Naples. Naples is known for inventing the modern Pizza and thus everyone who comes needs to get pizza. So, naturally, we searched for a good restaurant to eat pizza. While most in our group agreed that what we found was some of the best they had ever had, I am clearly spoiled by Chicago. It was fantastic though, and I even got to try a pizza with corn on it.
Our goal for the day was to visit the two castles in Naples, but both sadly were closed for the day. Thankfully, there were some churches open to see, such as the Doumo. Other than that, we spent the day walking around next to the coast line in the drizzle exploring Naples. With little else to do in the small time we had, we caught an early train back to Rome, and trip that took 3 hours. The reason for this increased time probably had something to do with the fact that every inch of the train was crammed with people. At one point, a baby started to cry, and the mother couldn’t console it. The father asked for someone to please give up their seat. My friend Dylan immediately stood up, raised his hand, and gave his seat to the mother and child. The father was so thankful that he not only shook Dylan’s hand about 5 times, but also hugged him when we were all off the train. This is ROMAN VIRTUE!
June WHAT? -- The Blur of Rome
For the life of me, I cannot remember what day we did what from here on out. We started revisiting a lot of sites, wrapping up the final stretch of our class, and just began to live in Rome. I think I can say that I toured Rome for 2 weeks, and lived in it for 1 week. New places that we visited include an outdoor market outside the Castle St. Angelo, the Mausoleum of Augustus (the first emperor of Rome), the Alter of Augustan Peace, the Piazza del Popolo (saw more incredibly famous Caravaggio paintings -- The Conversion of Saul and the Crucifixion of Peter -- and Bernini sculptures).
I do know that on Wednesday, June 8th, we went to the ancient port city of Rome, Ostia Antica. While not as preserved as Pompeii (most of the walls were gone with only foundation and stone left), it was incredibly preserved. There were even some buildings that were refinished to look how they were supposed to in ancient times. Basically, this city was loaded -- it had a sauna, a bar, a sun room with glass, and a section of the city dedicated to the dead. Our tour guide was fantastic. He is a historian from Stanford who had that stereotypical calming voice of a scholar. He had a lot of information to delve out, that's for sure.
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Later in the week, a group of us returned to the Palentine hill in order to take more extensive photos of the area. This time we weren't with a tour guide, so we spent hours visiting the ruins. We went back to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum as well. It was a good wrap-up in the city, as the ancient ruins were my favorite part. Many times I would look at the ruins with domes in the background and think of Naboo from Starwars.
That friday, we had a class dinner that was paid for by our professors Craig and Petrie. Professor Petrie had just gotten to Rome and came to dinner after a quick nap. You could tell he was exhausted. Dinner was nice, even with a TV right above our heads that was showing some kind of funniest home video show. It distracted all those who were facing it, but was fun to watch my friend's reactions. Afterward, we all traveled to the Vatican for one last group photo. After this, the entire group, including Professor Petrie, went to the bar for one last night of fun in Rome. Great time.
Now, with Professor Petrie in town not knowing anything about Rome, he was very insistant that someone take him to the best places in Rome, and there is no better collection of Roman statues and art than in the Vatican museum. The next day when Dylan, Joe and I took him there, we were surprised to see Petrie rush through as if he didn't want to see any of it. He stopped at a few statues and paintings here and there: one of a man sticking a sword in his head (which is now called the PTCD major statue), one called The Nile that disgusted him, and lastly what is now dubbed the PTCD room, Raphael's "School of Athens." Other things he stopped to take pictures of were the window views to the outside of the Vatican. He told us that there is an excellent painter who went to the Louvre and when asked what he liked, he said they had some nice window views. He then continued to take pictures of the Vatican's window views. Everything else he skipped, probably because of his fear of crowds. The Sistine Chapel was as awfully crowded as ever, so that too was mostly skipped after a few minutes at attempting to enjoy it. Afterward, we four had a fantastic lunch and talked mostly about the upcoming Florence class. It was a great time.
Sunday was our last day in Rome. Like every Sunday, the market magically appeared in the morning when we woke up. I went down one last time to see all the illegal branding and shoddy consumer electronics. I almost bought a wallet, but decided to wait for Florence to get a real leather one (now being here and seeing their expense, I may just stick to the one I have :P). In all, it was a relaxing Sunday getting ready for Florence.
The next morning we got up incredibly early to please those in the group who were worried about getting to the train station on time. We awoke at 6:30, got the the train station at 7:15, and waited until much later to get our tickets and for our train to finally leave. After a quick 1 hour 30 minute train ride, we were in Florence! A taxi ride and some stairs later, we were in our new apartment, a much more homey and inviting living quarters. The rest of our day we had our orientation to Florence.
We were out of Rome and into Florence. A new city awaited.
CONTINUED NOW:
Later in the week, a group of us returned to the Palentine hill in order to take more extensive photos of the area. This time we weren't with a tour guide, so we spent hours visiting the ruins. We went back to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum as well. It was a good wrap-up in the city, as the ancient ruins were my favorite part. Many times I would look at the ruins with domes in the background and think of Naboo from Starwars.
That friday, we had a class dinner that was paid for by our professors Craig and Petrie. Professor Petrie had just gotten to Rome and came to dinner after a quick nap. You could tell he was exhausted. Dinner was nice, even with a TV right above our heads that was showing some kind of funniest home video show. It distracted all those who were facing it, but was fun to watch my friend's reactions. Afterward, we all traveled to the Vatican for one last group photo. After this, the entire group, including Professor Petrie, went to the bar for one last night of fun in Rome. Great time.
Now, with Professor Petrie in town not knowing anything about Rome, he was very insistant that someone take him to the best places in Rome, and there is no better collection of Roman statues and art than in the Vatican museum. The next day when Dylan, Joe and I took him there, we were surprised to see Petrie rush through as if he didn't want to see any of it. He stopped at a few statues and paintings here and there: one of a man sticking a sword in his head (which is now called the PTCD major statue), one called The Nile that disgusted him, and lastly what is now dubbed the PTCD room, Raphael's "School of Athens." Other things he stopped to take pictures of were the window views to the outside of the Vatican. He told us that there is an excellent painter who went to the Louvre and when asked what he liked, he said they had some nice window views. He then continued to take pictures of the Vatican's window views. Everything else he skipped, probably because of his fear of crowds. The Sistine Chapel was as awfully crowded as ever, so that too was mostly skipped after a few minutes at attempting to enjoy it. Afterward, we four had a fantastic lunch and talked mostly about the upcoming Florence class. It was a great time.
Sunday was our last day in Rome. Like every Sunday, the market magically appeared in the morning when we woke up. I went down one last time to see all the illegal branding and shoddy consumer electronics. I almost bought a wallet, but decided to wait for Florence to get a real leather one (now being here and seeing their expense, I may just stick to the one I have :P). In all, it was a relaxing Sunday getting ready for Florence.
The next morning we got up incredibly early to please those in the group who were worried about getting to the train station on time. We awoke at 6:30, got the the train station at 7:15, and waited until much later to get our tickets and for our train to finally leave. After a quick 1 hour 30 minute train ride, we were in Florence! A taxi ride and some stairs later, we were in our new apartment, a much more homey and inviting living quarters. The rest of our day we had our orientation to Florence.
We were out of Rome and into Florence. A new city awaited.
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