Rome: Day Three

[erilyn]

Hmmm, this got a little long.

Went to the Galleria Borghese this morning, a lovely art gallery in a villa in a large park and garden expanse. The opulent and gorgeous rooms almost overwhelmed the artwork (but not quite), which included wonderful statues by Bernini (Sam and I were blown away by the detail on "Apollo and Daphna" and "The Rape of Proserpine"), some fascinating Greek and Roman artifacts, and wonderful paintings by Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Raphael. Also wandered around the grounds for a while.

Then, after some difficulty, got a bus to the Pantheon, which is the best preserved Roman building in Rome (thanks to it being turned into a church fairly early on). Called mum and dad from phone outside McDonalds (finding working phones to call home on have been an epic struggle in themselves the whole trip *g*). Wandered over to the nearby Santa Maria Sopra Minerva Church, which contains a Michelangelo statue of Christ carrying the cross. Then onto Piazza Navona, but Bernini's large fountain wasn't runnning, and had some scaffolding around it *pout*.

Caught bus towards Colosseum, and had great difficulty extricating ourselves from the mass of people who packed onto it after us, near the Imperial Forums excavations. Had a longer look at them today, when we went past the other day it was threatening to thunderstorm, so we were a little brief.

Then a bit of a walk to the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli (St Peter in Chains), which not only contains the chains apparently used to bind St Peter, but also the unfinished tomb of Julius II, with Michelangelo's Moses, Rachel and Leah. Dammit people, how hard is it to understand "no flash allowed"? Stupid tourists. And yes, I know I'm a tourist, but I observe and obey signs in churches that allow me to admire masterpieces for free. Grrrr. Minor peeve.

Headed back towards hotel, but ended up getting off one stop in wrong direction, so had a look at another Basilica, the name of which currently escapes me, which was designed by Michelangelo on the site of ruins of Roman baths. Lovely, huge place, with glass in oculus of dome that fragmented the light and bathed the entrance in a few rainbows.

We didn't actually plan the day to be mostly churches and Michelangelo, that's just what happened :) Off to have dinner in Trastavere, an old part of Rome across river.

Comments

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

The night before last, we were out a lot later than we planned, as we got chatting with an English couple at the table next to us. It's so nice to have someone else to talk to, and in English :) That's been the good thing about when we've been in hostels, we tend to be more social. In Siena, we met an Aussie girl who grew up in Chatswood, and teaches at my local Catholic primary school. Small, small, small world.

Re:

[tboy.livejournal.com]

LOL! That's like when I got to Tel Aviv. Checked into the hotel, looked out from the balcony, saw the beach, saw the hotel on the beach, went and sat under an umbrella... and the waitress was from Sydney *g*.

In Rome, I bumped into a mate, and on the flight home, another mate. It's a VERY small world!

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

You went to Israel? That's very high on my list of places I want to go to but won't (not until it's a lot more stable anyway, and who knows when that'll be). Egypt is also on that list. I'm a coward.

Re:

[tboy.livejournal.com]

I went a while ago now. It wasn't quite as volatile, but still a heavily defended area. Lots of military presence, interrogation at customs upon exit etc. Still wouldn't have missed it for the world, honestly. Fantastic place. And FOOD! My goodness, I fell in love with Yemenite food, it's wonderful.

My mate J just came back from Egypt. Organised tour, cities and desert (she slept in tents in the desert!! Go girl!) and I am HEAVILY jealous over all the historic sites she went to. Heavily. I should have been there.

You should do it. She loved it. Do it :-) .