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!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Rose Colored Glasses
I decided earlier this week that I needed to buy some sunglasses in order to a). fit in with the Italians at least a little bit more and b). hide my eyes so I'm free to gawk or stare in awe or look around as much as I want without having to worry about how out of place it makes me look. I picked up a pair in town today and turns out they give everything a reddish/pink tint like photographs from the 60s (as my friend pointed out). So I guess I'll be seeing Rome in funky colors for the next three months.
Anyway, the first week has continued to be great. I get to walk around the city a lot between my three classes that have walking tour components and the general exploring we do on our own everyday in search of restaurants or gelato. On Tuesday I had the morning free and managed to get myself into one of the two closest shopping areas via some random, residential backstreets without getting lost. I was pretty proud of that. By now, though, that's old news. In that same adventure I went over to the Santa Sabina Basilica (mentioned below) and started working on a watercolor.
While I was painting an elderly Italian woman started trying to tell me something about the church. I was simultaneously ecstatic that she was actually speaking in Italian (most people here automatically jump to english without even giving us a chance) and struck by how ridiculous it was that I didn't even remember how to tell her I didn't understand. Hopefully that will change... Yesterday I had a walking tour for my Ancient Arts of Rome class, which seems like it will be fabulous. The professor is pretty quirky but awesome and has a very dry sense of humor. We went to the Centrale Montemartini, part of the Musei Capitolini. This museum used to be an old industrial building and the old machinery now serves as a backdrop to the classical busts and sculptures that are on display. It's a really bizarre combination but I thought it was really cool. I would love to go back there with a camera before I leave.
Today's walking tour was for my seminar on Bernini, taught by one of the heads of the program who we affectionately refer to in conversation (not to his face) as Dad. It was a gorgeous day and a fabulous way to spend 4 hours of class time. We went to the Palazzo Farnese, a Renaissance palace that currently houses the French Embassy. No cameras allowed. (Blame the French). There's a famous fresco cycle by Carracci that we saw among other things. I also bought a cute little guide to nice caffes and views in Rome with water color illustrations. It was too perfect to pass up, aside from the fact that it's all in Italian! Stopped for a coffee break as a class at an eclectic little bar and then went to another buidling to see what's referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of Mannerism."
All-in-all a really good morning. Other highlights so far have included going to this popular deli/grocery store called Volpetti's where they love the students here adn spoil us with lots of samples, hitting up the closest gelato place a few too many times, adn an Italian barista singing along to U2's "Still Haven't Found What I"m Looking For" while my friend and I sat drinking our cappuccinos (this time it was before lunch...totally kosher.)
Anyway, the first week has continued to be great. I get to walk around the city a lot between my three classes that have walking tour components and the general exploring we do on our own everyday in search of restaurants or gelato. On Tuesday I had the morning free and managed to get myself into one of the two closest shopping areas via some random, residential backstreets without getting lost. I was pretty proud of that. By now, though, that's old news. In that same adventure I went over to the Santa Sabina Basilica (mentioned below) and started working on a watercolor.
While I was painting an elderly Italian woman started trying to tell me something about the church. I was simultaneously ecstatic that she was actually speaking in Italian (most people here automatically jump to english without even giving us a chance) and struck by how ridiculous it was that I didn't even remember how to tell her I didn't understand. Hopefully that will change... Yesterday I had a walking tour for my Ancient Arts of Rome class, which seems like it will be fabulous. The professor is pretty quirky but awesome and has a very dry sense of humor. We went to the Centrale Montemartini, part of the Musei Capitolini. This museum used to be an old industrial building and the old machinery now serves as a backdrop to the classical busts and sculptures that are on display. It's a really bizarre combination but I thought it was really cool. I would love to go back there with a camera before I leave.
Today's walking tour was for my seminar on Bernini, taught by one of the heads of the program who we affectionately refer to in conversation (not to his face) as Dad. It was a gorgeous day and a fabulous way to spend 4 hours of class time. We went to the Palazzo Farnese, a Renaissance palace that currently houses the French Embassy. No cameras allowed. (Blame the French). There's a famous fresco cycle by Carracci that we saw among other things. I also bought a cute little guide to nice caffes and views in Rome with water color illustrations. It was too perfect to pass up, aside from the fact that it's all in Italian! Stopped for a coffee break as a class at an eclectic little bar and then went to another buidling to see what's referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of Mannerism."
All-in-all a really good morning. Other highlights so far have included going to this popular deli/grocery store called Volpetti's where they love the students here adn spoil us with lots of samples, hitting up the closest gelato place a few too many times, adn an Italian barista singing along to U2's "Still Haven't Found What I"m Looking For" while my friend and I sat drinking our cappuccinos (this time it was before lunch...totally kosher.)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Who knew getting coffee could be so stressful??
Not me. You think Starbucks is stressful? Way too many options just so each person can have exactly what they want from the proportion of milk to foam to cream to pumps of chocolate syrup (that is assuming the barrista actually makes it right). Yeah it's obnoxious, and I hate it too, and can happily say I haven't seen a Starbucks since setting foot in this country. BUT try sitting down in one of the ever-romanticized streetside cafes in a neighborhood in Rome only to have the waiter respond to your order with, "Are you sure?"
"Si." I nod confidently.
"Freddo. It's with ice," he responds, questioning my knowledge and judgement.
"Si, si."
He's still frowning at me, looking doubtful, as I mumble something in English about it being warm outside.
Thanks a lot Brunswick Maine for making me think 60 degrees qualified as warm and was acceptable iced coffee weather. Yes, it was the last day of January, but in those conditions I would've been wearing a sundress and sandals in good ol' Brunswick.
Alas, I'm still learning...
Classes started yesterday and seem like they'll be great. I have my first walking tour this afternoon for Art Conservation which should be exciting. It will also be my first encounter with Rome's public transportation system....wish me luck!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Here At Last!
Well I'm here. Finally. It's still pretty hard to believe that this is my home for the next few months. The process of getting here was challenging enough. Between a blizzard hitting DC the night before I left that caused the power to go out, leaving me packing in the dark, to getting my passport stuck in a machine at the airport, to a woman taking my seat on the airplane, to discovering right as the plane took off that all the music on my ipod had somehow disappeared, I was starting to worry that the bad luck would follow me to Rome. So far so good, though. (knock on wood). My first two days have been wonderful and have gotten me really excited to continue exploring.
I'm living in a convent in the Aventine (one of the seven hills of Rome) where Trinity College rents space for the program's main campus. I've got a nice little single right next to a door that opens out to the terrace at the convent. It's very quaint and classic Rome--terra-cotta architecture and tropical greenery.
The convent is right near Santa Sabina, a basilica whose name I once remembered in art history based on some mnemonic involving the name Sabrina along with a series of other similar seeming churches. Turns out, it's a gorgeous building with a conglomeration of historic carvings, frescoes, mosaics and stained glass windows inside.
Just a short walk from there is "the Orange Grove," which is my favorite so far. It's a nice little park with a little fountain you can drink out of, lots of orange trees (though the oranges are reeeeally sour) and best of all a spectacular, clear view of basically the entire city of Rome. It's amazing. I think we've already been there at least three times in our 2 days here. 
For the last two days the program leaders have taken us on walking tours in the morning to help us get our bearings. That will definitely take a while as there are so many random backstreets and piazza's everywhere. Also, turns out none of my friends so far really pride themselves on their senses of direction, so it's been an adventure. Today we walked down the Via del Corso which goes past many of the most historic destinations--the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, etc. It was just meant to be a brief tour, so we hardly stopped even though there was so much to see! I was taking photos and others were trying to figure out what we were looking at, so we kept getting stuck on the wrong side of the crosswalks. Whoops. (Sidenote: crossing streets here is terrifying. Very different from Brunswick, ME). Anyway, we're definitely going back to that area to explore in more depth, hopefully at night when there aren't as many tourists.
I had my first gelato, espresso and cappuccino here today, so obviously it was a great day! We're in the process of checking out all the cafes (called bars) in the neighborhood around the convent to decide where we want to become "regulars". We figure even if we seem like tourists because we order cappuccinos after 11 am (apparently a big no-no, according to all of our guidebooks), at least if we're regulars that's a little better.
Haven't really mentioned the food, but it's been delicious so far, of course. I've already eaten more pasta than I did all last semester, but I'm not complaining. I'm really excited to go to the grocery store and the open-air market and just see all the unusual things they sell. The window displays are mouth-watering enough.
The weirdest thing so far, other than the ridiculous amount of graffiti, is how many ruins there are that aren't even identified by a sign or anything. It's as if there's too much history for anyone to really cover or care about it all. I'm really excited for my on-site art history classes to help demystify some of it at least. Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Trastevere which I loved when I went there last night, so I can't wait to see during the day. Narrow cobblestones streets and lots of little shops. And then classes start on Monday which will be a shock after such a long break from work, but at the same time, it should be nice to settle into a routine.
Anyway that's enough for now. To be continued...
Ciao!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)