Took a day trip on Saturday to Tivoli with two friends. It's a small town about 40 minutes outside of Rome, by bus. We hit up Villa d'Este (an old renaissance villa designed and built by Ippolito d'Este and known for its impressive gardens and waterworks) and, after some struggles with the bus systems of Tivoli, made it to Villa Adriana (ancient Roman ruins of Hadrian's villa, a short bus ride away from Villa d'Este) as well. As most people are aware, I'm pretty obsessed with fountains and water and that sort of landscaping, so of course I was pretty impressed. However, as a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a slideshow...
Other highlights of the week:
Sunday: Randomly took a stroll down Via del Corso and happened upon a Chinese New Year's celebration. Talk about Rome being a cosmopolitan city...
Monday: Planned the trip to Tivoli for Saturday.
Tuesday: Got to go to the restoration labs at the Vatican Museums in my art conservation class. Later, that night we walked down to the Trevi Fountain. It's sooo beautiful the way it's lit up at night.
Wednesday: Went "church-hopping" and saw some pretty interesting places including Il Gesu which has got to be one of the most decorative, most lavish churches in existence. Also went to Gioletti's, famed for being one of the best gelato places in the city. It definitely lived up to its reputation, though I think the whipped cream there was even better than the gelato itself!
Thursday: There was a transit strike meaning we had to walk all the way from the Aventine to Villa Borghese for my Bernini class. If you look at a map you'll discover that that means we basically walked all the way across the city. We went to the gallery at Villa Borghese and saw some of Bernini's most famous sculptures (Pluto and Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, and David), among other works. I definitely need to go back to see more of the art and to explore the grounds of the park. It's one of my favorite places I've been so far, as is the coffee bar we stopped at on the long walk.
Friday: Observed a ballet class at the National Academy of Dance that's right across from the convent where we live. If everything works out I'll start going to dance classes there this coming week. Should be fun!
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