Rome pictures II

Here are some more picture from Rome....(because, you were so enchanted by the last post, I'm sure.)...

This here is a Swiss guard at the Vatican. I love his outfit, and apparently everyone else did too. These guys are much photographed, and though they seem quite annoyed by it, I couldn't help myself.Here are some more ancient ruins near the Colisseum. I don't have a clue about their significance....just, look! someone once lived here. Someone rich once lived here. If I'm remembering right, the neighborhood around the Colisseum was the rich neighborhood.
This here is the Pantheon which I was quite impressed by...
...because of this dome that is made entirely out of concrete. Architects and scientists still can't figure out how this thing was made...or how it was made and is still standing. The concrete gets thinner as you go up...but it's still really amazing if you think about it.
This is the famous Trevi Fountain. I don't know the significance, I just know it's famous and found myself obliged to take a picture. There were tons of people around it, so I didn't get very close.

Rome pictures I

Here are my favorite Rome pictures...

This is near an old wall...before Villa Borghese...this big, beautiful park. I didn't realize what a rarity parks like this are....there are so many in Vancouver, but green spaces were kind of hard to find in Florence and in Rome, but here's one the main one in the latter...
The gardens of this reputedly awesome museam, the Museo e Galleria Borghese, but it was closed...And this is Piazza del Popolo taken from the balcony of Pincio Hill.
And here's the inside of the Colossium. It's much smaller than I thought it would be, but apparently, this was not the biggest one. Circus Maximo, maybe? Anyway, it was pretty interesting, this thing used to be completely covered in marble, but all of that got pillaged, century after century, and the marble got reused in things like the Vatican. Gruesome things happened in here, and it still didn't stop it from becoming a like a duplex for the up-and-up. I so would not have wanted to live here.
The outside of the Coliseum again...
This is the Basilica and Catacombe di San Sabastino, which is on the Via Appia Antica---I think the latter is the coolest street in all of Rome. Unfortunately, I didn't get a great picture of it. It's got all these ancient ruins on it....and in its time (390BC) it was revolutionary, because it was almost perfectly straight. Apparently, that's a hard thing to do. Anyway, back to the Basilica and Catacombe. This was my favorite place in all of Rome. It was just so interesting, and the tour guide was great. We had all these questions, and he let us come into his office and talk to him for a good while after. Anyway, the story goes...Christians were being persecuted like crazy in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and they needed a place to be buried outside the city so their bones wouldn't get disturbed. There were a few pagan catacombs (still perfectly preserved, totally amazing) outside of town near a cave, and Christians dug their catacombs on top of that. There are miles and miles of tunnels underneath. Anyway, this particular place was the first place to get the name "kata" (under) "comb" (cavity/cave). All the bones were taken out, so people could tour the catacombs, but apparently, this catacomb has always been open in part because of the church on top. The other reason is because in the 3rd and 4th centuries, Christians under threat again by Vespasian, wanted to safeguard the bones of St. Peter and St. Paul, so they moved them here...and this site because this place where people came to pay homage to them. There are all these engravings and stuff....and since people were coming here already to worship and pray, they built a church on top to further facilitate that. The bones of Peter and Paul part aren't confirmed...I think they are under the Vatican? (Couldn't get tickets to that tour, text time)...but people did think they were here in this catacomb....
This is St. Peter's Square in the Vatican...and that domed structure, is indeed St. Peter's Basilica, the one that the indulgences (protested against by Martin Luther) helped pay for. If you double click on this photograph, pull it into Photoshop, and zoom in real close....you may get to see Pope Benedict. We went to the Papal Audience which the Pope has almost every Wednesday. Tons of people show up, and he basically speaks in like 5 different languages, acknowledging groups that have come from all over the world, and gives each group a particular blessing. It was cool, but it was also very hot that day.
This is the inside of the Vatican museam---which is like the posh-est museam I've ever been to, and I think I've been to most of the world's greatest museams. It felt like someone's private collection: everything was in super-mint condition, trophies from the world over and so, so, so, spectacular. I honestly am not sure how to feel about it. Anyway---this is the map room or the Galleria della Carte Geografiche which was my favorite. Basically, there were 40 big paintings of maps made between 1580-3 for Pope Gregory 8. Really facinating how they saw the world back then...and these maps are in spectacular condition.
This is the staircase that takes you out of the Vatican museams. Guggenhein-esque, but better. Notice that people are only walking down on certain rings of the staircase. On the off ring, people walk up...but you can't tell this is happening, unless you stare at it.
This is a detail of a relief on the door to St. Peter's Basilica. I liked it.

I just thought this was really sweet...

Okay, I really didn't mean to be a stalker, but I just thought this was really sweet....

This is me, waiting around in the main train station in Rome, trying to capture this Grandpa with his sweet little 1-year-old-ish granddaughter. This is me, trying to be discreet.

$&?@! Rome taxis

Despite all the great night life, despite the fact that restaurants don't open until 8:30 pm...Rome public transportation shuts down really early. The metro stops running at 9. The buses stop at 11:30. There apparently are night buses which run through the night, but it took us until our third or fourth day to figure out the system because everyone we asked seemed to know about the night buses, but no one seemed very familiar with them.

Our first night out, we wanted to taxi back...only to find that it was extremely difficult to get a cab in this city. I then whipped out my Lonely Planet...only for it to tell me the same thing. "Forget about catching a cab on the fly; go to a Taxi stand." (My rough paraphrase.) But we couldn't find a taxi stand...and after an hour of waiting, walking back and forth, attempts to phone taxis, debates whether or not to walk, Ed finally wandering into an intersection and stopped a cab at a right light. He was pointed the other way, but the cab driver was gracious enough to take us home.

Our second night out was even worse. It was the night from hell. We had stayed out and wandered from the Piazza Novena to the Piazza del Popolo...to the balcony on Pinic Hill (or something like that) to get a photo of Rome at night....no taxi...and we ended up somehow at the Vatican. (The Vatican is quite nice at night. Empty, except for a handful of stuck tourists like ourselves and lots of Vatican police. (Random fact for you from the Lonely Planet: the Vatican is one of the smallest countries in the world, with a neglible population, but it has one of the highest crime rates, way higher than Rome. It's mostly all petty crime, however, pickpockets and the like. Apparently the last homicide was in 1998.) Anyway, of course all this was extremely frustrating...and after an ill-fated attempt on the wrong bus, we ended up asking advice from some kids at a Taxi stand and later a police lady at the Vatican. Both were super compassionate, and both let us know about the taxi strike...and told us to forget about trying to get a taxi. No taxis today and tomorrow. The police lady said to walk....and this is what we did.

Our third night, we made sure we caught the last bus home, even if it meant missing the last part of the Italy-Germany game. We heard about Italy's last two points on the bus. Point 1 was indicated by our stopped bus in front of a restaurant where men in suits were jumping and screaming like little boys. Point 2 we heard about from a girl who had a cell phone on the bus; someone was relaying to her every move, and she shared this with the rest of the bus. We could tell that Italy had won by the impromptu parades down the street, people screaming and honking, waving flags...well into the night....it would have been nice to see those 2 points, but it was still fun.

Our fourth night...we became masters of the Roman public transportation system. Ask us. We can tell you. We caught an elusive night bus home.

Last morning in Rome!

Well, it's my last morning here in Rome...I'll be heading out in a couple hours to brave myself into the pouring rain. It's been literally POURING for the last several hours; I've always loved the sound of heavy rain. It's been fun to hear, and I love the smell of everything after a good deluge; everything smells so fresh. The biggest bonus is that the heat has significantly let up. I'm actually sitting here with long pants and a long sleeved shirt.

Rome has been good. I definitely like this city better than Florence. It's bigger, there are more things to do, and the people are nicer. Rome has this strange sense of holiness to it (we've been staying near the Vatican), but also this very modern, worldly sense. It's really interesting.

Rome-lows for me would be: being stranded unbeknownst to us because of the taxi strike, and not finding a big screen for the Italy-Germany game.

Rome-highs: relaxed and delicious dinners, wandering around alone in the Centro Storico and discovering little shops and ancient monuments, the Catacombs of St. Sebatian, bumping into my Berkeley friend Jane Z on the street, the Colossium, private moments alone with God in my hotel...

Well, I'm super behind on my blogs...and I've mentally logged some stories so I guess I'll start writing. Read on...

Chance Jane meeting in Rome!

Guess who I bumped into on the street in Rome---Jane Z! Jane is from my Berkeley days (2001-4)...when we both headlined at Church without Walls. Jane, though left a year or so before I did to do some stuff in Guatemala...and I have not seen her since then. So, it was a real treat to see her on the streets of Rome. My friend and I were wandering around looking for an outdoor place to watch a World Cup game, and I saw her and her friends staring at some bus signs. They too were looking for a World Cup venue. Anyway, the interaction, sadly was too short and sweet to be photographed, but we hugged and greeted, and then a bus came suddenly and they hopped on it...and we both screamed to one another to email. It was so delightful to see her. She was leaving town the next morning. So wonderful to see her.

This world is really small in some ways. Back in college, a similar thing happened. Dave Tay and I bumped into the Ong sisters at the Statue of Liberty, and literally only hours later bumped into Angela Lim, her sister and her mom in Times Square. Dave was visiting NY from Singapore/California, the Ong's from Phoenix, and the Lim's from Chicago. That was weird.

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.

Florence Retrospective

So...I feel like I really didn't share very much about Florence...so I'm going to do that now. I think all my blogs are going to be super non-linear...especially since it's a bit difficult to post pics right now. But those I will post when I get to Switzerland, when I have access to my computer and will be in a stable place for one month.

Anyway, about Florence or Firenze. It was good. I was there with my friend Ed for 3 days, and it took a while to adjust to the heat and my jetlag. Ed was also a bit sick, also not very fun...but overall it was very fun. (I think the heat in Italy and being in a constant state of sweat is killing all my brain cells. My thinking and writing abilities are definitely dulled...so sorry.)

Anyway, Florence was good! The highlight would definitely have to be the Museo de San Marco...where Savonola and Cosmo di Medici lived. Savonarola (spelling?) was this prophet-like monk who spoke out against the excesses of the Renaissance and whose efforts coined a the title to a 1990s Tom Hanks movie that I have never had (and still don't) have a desire to see: Bonfire of the Vanities. Savonola staged the first(?) modern book/art burning ceremony...which I suppose to our postmodern sensibilities is a very bad thing, but I think he meant well. Then again, he did rule Firenze for a while in this dictatorship, only to be dethroned, and then burned or something like that. Anyway....where he lived as a monk was amazing. Each monk's cell has a fresco in it, and they were really neat. Imagine meditating all day long on the Transfiguration, or the Betrayal of Jesus, or the Annuciation. Okay, I guess it would be really too intense; half of these frescos made me almost want to cry...but it was very cool.

Cosmo di Medici also had a cell there...but I don't know much about his significance other than he was a Medici....and they basically funded and ruled all of Florence....his family was so wealthy, in the family church (this huge thing) called Basilico di Medici (or something like that)...they buried him right before the altar. My Let's Go book jokes that they basically did this to ensure worship of Cosmo. I really hope not.

(A footnote is needed here: i got a lot of this info from guessing at some italian signs so...read my anecdotes here with a huge grain of salt.)

Highlight number 2: in the same square of San Marco is this amazing pizza shop. SO GOOD.

Highlight number 3: Ancient ruins underneath the Duomo. Remains of an ancient church...really quite amazing. The Duomo itself was okay; a very large building. Very crowded, women wearing sleeveless tops were given these blue things that is like a hospital gown you get at a doctor's physical exam. I was not wearing a sleeveless top that day; but I was very amused to see these women...

Florence pics

Here are some of my favorite pics from Florence!

Here's Ed at the underground ruins of the ancient church under the Duomo. That was really cool.
And here's some kids feeding and scaring pigeons. I don't really like pigeons (rats with wings) but this amused me greatly.
And a requisite scenic bridge shot...
And this is the famous David, which we found quite overrated, but you kind of have to take a picture...it's like law or something. So here is my picture.
And this is a picture of the Duomo, with its famous dome that proved problematic for lots of years until this guy Berta---something, comes along, stares at the Pantheon in Rome and comes up with this ingenius solution, lauching the Renaissance...