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

[tboy.livejournal.com]

(sigh) envy, envy, envy.... *gg*

The Trevi Fountain was dry and scaffolded when I was there, and I failed on my first attempt to throw a coin in the fountain's well. I took that as a bad sign of my return *g*.

The Pantheon was scaffolded, too :-(

Bus travel in Rome ironically gave me my first and only experience of culture-shock induced panic attack. I survived the Middle East with nary a qualm, but had to get off the Roman bus before I freaked out totally.

Enjoy dinner! Tell more! :-D

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

It's always awfully disappointing when things are scaffolded. We haven't done too badly on that front this trip, Milan's and Orvieto's cathedrals are the only things that spring to mind. And the Fountain of the Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona yesterday. And bits of scaffolding inside some churches, like the Pantheon actually :) We timed Florence well, from next week they are starting to clean "David", though they claim the viewing of it won't be affected.

Ended up not eating over in Trastavere (the area was a lot...grungier and unwelcoming than we expected), so we were wimpy and came back over to near hotel and tried another cafe. Had a lovely grilled veal in white wine sauce (needed meat, I've practically gone vegetarian on this trip), and a not bad tiramusu (my first of the trip).

The buses...the system is reasonably well setup, we've done ok in getting around and finding buses (especially useful is the map from tourist office that lists routes for specific destinations), but when they get really full, it is awful. I get particularly worried since Sam can't take closed in, stuffy areas.

We're having a lazy afternoon today, went to Trevi fountain, Spanish steps and Basilica of St Pauls this morning. But we're both knackered, and Sam feels a bit off, so we've had a rest. Might even treat ourselves to a movie (if we can find a convenient session in English). Then we'll pack, as we're off to Naples for 5 nights tomorrow morning. Doubt we'll find such a cheap (only 3 bucks an hour) or convenient (round corner from hotel) net cafe until we're back in Rome, though :)

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[tboy.livejournal.com]

Rome has a lot of grungy, unwelcoming areas I thought. We were wandering around with a guy who was a sort of cop (international variety), who was pointing out the broken glass, ravaged cars, and discussing the drug / theft scene. It's not all picture postcards and awesome ruins, is it? Fairly standard for any major city these days, I suppose.

Your veal sounds nice. As does your lazy afternoon. Did you get to the Villa D'Este at all? Gorgeous gardens, about an hours (?) drive away.

Have fun in Naples, and good luck with finding another cafe. I'm sure there'll be heaps.

Keep safe, and hope you continue to have a brilliant time.

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

I've loved stuff within Rome, but it is just a big city afterall. As an overall place, thought Florence was much nicer than Rome or Milan, not unexpectedly.

Didn't get to the Villa d'Este, but we did wander about Villa Borghese gardens/park, which was almost as nice as getting away from the city :)

Will try and post again before we're back in Rome, but will depend on availability.

And then when I'm home, I can invite everyone over and inflict masses of photos and anecdotes on you all! *insert maniacal laughter here*

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[tboy.livejournal.com]

Oh nooooooo!!!! *g* Oh all right, if we must *g*.

Rome was better with a native guide, I must admit. Although he spoke no English. By the end of each day, I was exhausted from constantly translating in my halting way. Was a huge relief to speak English again.

[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.

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[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.

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[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 :-) .