This is Saturday. You're Tuesday!
Trip Start
May 16, 2006
1
6
33
Trip End
Jun 13, 2006
Rome,
Italy
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The Galleria Borghese is separated into rooms somewhat categorized by the original content of the room i.e. The Room of the Hermaphrodite had frescoes and statues of the story of Hermaphrodite and the nymph, and the Egyptian Room had various Egyptian frescoes and busts of "African" looking people
Ancient building with no signage
. Since no pictures were permitted and I had no pen, it's kind of hard to remember all of my favorites, but I do remember that I liked Rafael's "Woman With Unicorn," Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne," Domenichino's "Diana," Bernini's "Rape of Prosperine," a "Sybil," and a specific "Madonna and Child" done by none of the usual suspects. Oh, and the statue of a boy picking a thorn out of his foot. Seeing the entire thing took between 1.5 and 2 hours, and we were famished by the time we got done. We took a slightly different way out of the park, passed some little kids sitting on their skateboards and riding them down treacherous inclines, and stopped at a gelato stand by a skyline view. While I got a gelato, Sarah was taking pictures, but a painter kept getting in her way, telling her, "They don't want to see you! They want to see my paintings! This is Saturday, you are Tuesday!" She left, as one does when confronted with crazy people, came back over to me, and he followed her, to begin chatting amiably in English, with a few Italian sentences thrown in. Turns out, he thought she was German, and that's why he was so rude. He also started trying to point out items on the skyline and tell long, pointless stories about them, while sitting very close. We nodded, let him kiss our hands, and escaped. With a quickness. Still, we don't get the Tuesday thing.
Contortionists in Piazza Navona
After wending our way to the bottom of the hill we found ourselves on, we turned out to be in the Piazza di Popolo. There was another obelisk. The Romans just seemed to run around sacking things and taking their obelisks. This looked like it would've been impressive, but it was covered by a sheet for some reason. We also found a little museum off to the side that supposedly had replicas of Da Vinci's designs, but we were too hungry to stop. We paused right before the bottom of the stairs down the hillside, discussed the view, and stopped to take pictures. As we looked down to adjust the cameras and our bags, we saw that there had been one of the old women sitting quietly on the steps in the shadow, staring at us, not two feet away. These old beggar women are creepy. We have both discussed taking pictures of them, but I hold a superstitious fear that they will curse me. Most of the people begging act reasonably like beggars everywhere, but there are a few old women that just seem to lurk and stare that you just wouldn't see in the states.
Stopped in a side alley for some totally unremarkable (though cheap) food - an enormous bowl of salad and cannelloni - guess who got what - and went on our merry way to the Pantheon. On the way, we found this enormous old circular ruin in the middle of the street that was not really signed in any way. Rome is strange like that. They only sign the super most important things. There was also a man participating in performance art, where he sat perfectly still next to a picture of himself sitting perfectly still.
We get to the Pantheon, and it closes for Mass exactly as we get there. Exactly. On the minute
Pantheon
. Off the top of my head, though, I would say it is dominating, somber, and impressive. It is also right next to a McDonald's. We're going to try and see the inside some other time. At this point, I was getting a headache and wanted to go home, so we were just going to stop by and see the plaza of three fountains (don't remember the name) and go home. We ended up getting sucked into a pair of contortionists performing. They were pretty good, had awesome cheesy music, and were wearing goggles. I retain the belief that in some of their shows something must get set on fire, otherwise there was no reason whatsoever for goggles. We both went up and dropped our change in their box, which held hundreds of euros from that fifteen minute performance. On our way out, we noticed a fellow right next to them trying to draw attention with a hand-puppet act. I have no idea what he was thinking. Maybe going for the pity vote?
We exit that piazza and stop at a bus stop with a few nuns on pilgrimage in white robes. The Rome busses turn out to be precisely like the Rome subways - people are shoving each other to fit more and more people in. Unlike the subways, the ride lasts substantially longer. Yet again, we didn't pay. I had money out in my hot little hand and everything, but there was no place to put it.
After getting back to Maian, I re-did the schedule and reservations so we'll have an extra day in Rome this week. There's just still so much to see. My night ended early when I went to bed with a headache. Think Sarah ran downstairs for some seafood, but am not sure.
(Pictures forthcoming)
ETA: Pics of yesterday's Rome up.
ETA: A few pics up - the rest of them are at Flickr.
