Sauntering in Rome...
So, today is my first full day in Rome, and it really has been lovely. It's also been quite HOT and STICKY...but I think I'm finally getting the hang of taking lots of breaks and sauntering----not walking, but sauntering....walking quarter-tempo, conserving as much energy as possible, enjoying everything as much as possible. It's amazing how long you can walk in the heat while sauntering.
Anyway, I spent the day alone sauntering....and I actually decided to whip out my Lonely Planet guidebook---which is something I never do when I travel alone because I'm always fearful I will be mistaken for a tourist. But the Asian skin, the camera, the slouchy clothes are already giving me away, so what the hey. I actually decided to do one of the Lonely Planet walks...it was really nice. I started out at the Spanish Steps...walked up them to a church, and then sauntered my way along an old wall of some sort, until I got to Villa Borghese, this gorgeous, well-marked park. It was so nice and peaceful because was a bit deserted compared to the other parts of Rome, and then I soon found out why. As I sauntered up to the main attraction in this park, the Galeria de Villa Borghese (I'm still not super clear about all the names of these places---but anyway, this is supposely the best museam in Rome....Renaissance art and the like)....so I'm sauntering up to this museam, spending a good 20 minutes looking for the entrance, only to see that it's closed on Mondays. Oh well. The park though is very nice. I did a lot of good strolling, meditating, thinking, it was very nice....until I got hungry and needed a washroom. It's really hard to find a washroom in Rome. I spent another 30 minutes following these serpentine sights for a "WC" only to get to this graffiti-uglified building that just looked so sketchy that at first I walked away....but I really had to go so I went, and inside is ironically the cleanest, most well-kept toilet I've ever seen.
Then I sauntered up to this balcony...Picnic Hill? This is not the real name of the site, something like that...and the view is AMAZING. It overlooks the Piazza del Popolo and you can see the Vatican, the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, all these rooftops. I think it's the best view I've seen so far....and of course my camera battery had died by then.
Anyway...at the Piazza del Popolo is a church called Santa Maria del Popolo (or something like that) and that's where this painting by Caravaggio is hidden. I really like this painting, it depicts the conversion of Saul:
I did some more sauntering, past big name coulture shops I was ill-dressed for, Vaticanesque buildings, I don't think I'll see too many museams here....Rome itself seems like it's one big museum, anyway, it's just been a really nice day.
Anyway, I spent the day alone sauntering....and I actually decided to whip out my Lonely Planet guidebook---which is something I never do when I travel alone because I'm always fearful I will be mistaken for a tourist. But the Asian skin, the camera, the slouchy clothes are already giving me away, so what the hey. I actually decided to do one of the Lonely Planet walks...it was really nice. I started out at the Spanish Steps...walked up them to a church, and then sauntered my way along an old wall of some sort, until I got to Villa Borghese, this gorgeous, well-marked park. It was so nice and peaceful because was a bit deserted compared to the other parts of Rome, and then I soon found out why. As I sauntered up to the main attraction in this park, the Galeria de Villa Borghese (I'm still not super clear about all the names of these places---but anyway, this is supposely the best museam in Rome....Renaissance art and the like)....so I'm sauntering up to this museam, spending a good 20 minutes looking for the entrance, only to see that it's closed on Mondays. Oh well. The park though is very nice. I did a lot of good strolling, meditating, thinking, it was very nice....until I got hungry and needed a washroom. It's really hard to find a washroom in Rome. I spent another 30 minutes following these serpentine sights for a "WC" only to get to this graffiti-uglified building that just looked so sketchy that at first I walked away....but I really had to go so I went, and inside is ironically the cleanest, most well-kept toilet I've ever seen.
Then I sauntered up to this balcony...Picnic Hill? This is not the real name of the site, something like that...and the view is AMAZING. It overlooks the Piazza del Popolo and you can see the Vatican, the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, all these rooftops. I think it's the best view I've seen so far....and of course my camera battery had died by then.
Anyway...at the Piazza del Popolo is a church called Santa Maria del Popolo (or something like that) and that's where this painting by Caravaggio is hidden. I really like this painting, it depicts the conversion of Saul:
I did some more sauntering, past big name coulture shops I was ill-dressed for, Vaticanesque buildings, I don't think I'll see too many museams here....Rome itself seems like it's one big museum, anyway, it's just been a really nice day.
posted by graceh at 8:20 AM
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