Roman Night

Roma 29 Dec 2007

So, this last blog from Roma will be sadly devoid of many photos. My super awesome camera is not all that great in low light situations. Let me take that back. It does GREAT in low light, provided I am using a tripod. Since all of my tripods were in Columbus at the time, I had to make due. Rome was amazing, at night, btw. We stopped by the Piazza Navonna, which was having an Xmas market. I ate roasted chesnuts. The others got something akin to an elephant ear lathered with Nutella. The alleys of Medieval Rome were pretty cool in the dark.

The Pantheon is the oldest continually used building in Rome (the world?). Originally dedicated as a temple to ALL the gods, silly Christians later turned it into a temple for just ONE God (if you can call a god that has a son who is also, somehow, a part of the same god ONE god).

The dome of the Pantheon is also among the largest domes in existence. It is certainly the largest dome (in diameter) until modern times. The dome, itself, is constructed of poured concrete. Coffered frames reduce the amount of weight contained in the dome. An oculus at the top allows Natural Light to spill down onto the interior (I think I've attended parties where the same was true). By the way, the space contained beneath the dome forms a perfect sphere.

Tis photo provides a better sense of the interior space. I wish it had been less crowded and better lit. Both of these factors inhibited my photography. :(

Someone let go of a helium balloon in the shape of a horse. Now it is stuck in one of the coffers. Ha ha!
La Fontana di Trevi, or the Trevi Fountain. This grand design is also the work of Bernini. Like was the case with the Pantheon, the darkness combined with the crowd made this a difficult place to photograph. To top things off, this place is polluted with pan handlers and scam artists. A dude selling flowers walked up to Katie and tried to hand her a flower. She said "no thank you." He said, it's my last one, I'm giving it away. She said "thank you." He then turned to me and said "how 'bout a little something for the flower." I reached in my pocket and pulled out the change that I got to throw in the fountain. It was, like, .25 Euro. He got mad, gave it back to me, and took back the flower. We're Americans from the big city, dammit! I know better than to get out my wallet near a pan handler in a crowd. The way I see it, he's out .25 cents! Anywho, here endeth our day trip into Rome. We would hoof it back to the Termini Station to catch the late train back to Orte. Next up: Civita de Bagniareggio.

Il Duomo sopra la Basilica di San Pietro

Citta del Vaticano 29 Dec 2007

So, when's the next time I'm gonna be in Rome, right? Using this logic, Aaron and I decided to head up to the top of the dome. Katie and Maggie (who had done it at some point in the past) did not want to accompany us, so it was dudes time! Our glance at the line indicated that it would be short trip. We tell the ladies to sit tight. We'd be right back.

What we discover was that the line we saw was the line to get into the holding area before the line to pay before the line to get in the elevator before the line for the stairs (actually, the waiting area had multiple separate lines, itself). The "best" line was the one before the payment kiosk. That line had neat little mosaics to gaze upon. The above image is one such mosaic. I don't speak Latin. Consequently, I do not precisely know what the caption says. However, I do recognize the word "passionum" and the word "Christi." That's "passion" and "Christ." The first word is an English word. "Testis" is the singular form of "testes." Christ has a passion for balls?

Ah, now we're on the roof. This is the side of Michelangelo's dome. This is just the beginning. On to the inside...

Okay, so the fig leaf is covering this person's testes and schlong, but that vegetation below looks like the fig leaf is not doing its job. I have a fig tree back home, by the way. I can always cover up, if need be.

"Peter is Super!" Hey! My (given) name is Peter! I'm SUPER!!! Incidentally, these are the 6 foot tall letters, mentioned in the previous blog.

Okay. Now, we're actually up on top of the cupola. This is one of the panoramic vistas of Rome. I am gazing southeast. Bernini's colonnade can be seen on the left.

This is the tip of the cupola. If you look at my first photo of the dome (again, last blog), this is the "reservoir tip" at the very top of the dome.

Radio Free The Vatican. This hilltop broadcasting station intrigues me, for some reason. This is the view toward the north.

La Piazza San Pietro seen from il duomo sopra la Basilica di San Pietro. Notice how the arms of the colonnade seem to reach out, welcoming all the people into the Roman Catholic Church. Alternately, the colonnade arms can be seen as pincers attempting to grasp all of the souls that it can, in a desperate effort to combat the mass exodus from the Church at the time of the Reformation. It's both, actually. One is literal, the other figurative. Great view, though, huh?

The dome is an eggshell dome: two thin, concentric domes that support one another. The stairs to the top go between the two shells. Needless to say, the dome is not handicapped accessible (there were signs warning the old, weak, and "cardiopatics" to avoid taking the trip up). Heck, I kinda had difficulty fitting my shoulders through some of the space. It was very surreal, actually. Claustrophobes would be in hell.

One final view of the dome (from the roof). Katie and Maggie will be very pissed. They called asking how long we would be back about the time we were standing in front of the Icon of Christ, Teabagger. It took a LONG time to get from there to the top and back down, again. It's almost dark, too. The rest of our pedestrian (literal, not metaphorical) trip through Rome would be in the dark!

Citta del Vaticano

Citta del Vaticano 29 Dec 2007

Vatican City. The Papal See. The holiest of holies. Popeton. Catholingus. It goes by many names. Despite being the holiest place in Latin Christendom, it was a pretty cool place to visit.

The dome of St. Peter's Basilica (Basilica di San Pietro) is somewhat ubiquitous in the skyline of Rome. It can be seen from most big, open areas (NOTHING can be seen from the Medieval alleys around the Campo di Fiori - see last blog entry). Think of it like a bigger, older, taller (but still hulking over a corrupt organization) version of the Capitol Dome in Washington.

The dome is not the only cool part of the Vatican. No. The Piazza San Pietro, or St. Peter's Square (it's not square) was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Although I prefer his Ecstasy of St. Teresa (Grrrrr!!! - see 2nd to last blog entry), this is almost as good. The rim (heh heh) of the colonnade features statues of Bernini's 140 favorite saints. I would hate to be his 141st favorite saint. Jeesh.

This is the facade of St. Peter's Basilica. No, it is not a cathedral. Don't make that mistake! A cathedral is the seat of a bishop. No bishop = no cathedral. True, the Pope is the Bishop of Rome, but his bishopric is seated at the Cathedral of St. John in Lateran, which is on the south side (Souf SayEEED!) of Rome. St. Peter's is "just" a basilica (a name denoting its ground plan). BTW, Bernini also designed the facade.

I really like St. Peter's Basilica. It is among the largest buildings in the world. It was the church with the largest in amount of interior space until the 20th century (Stupid megachurches! Do they have to ruin EVERYTHING?!?).

Michelangelo's Pieta. I love this thing. I can't believe that some douchebag tried to smash it. Of all the things in the Vatican, this would be among the LAST things I would want to smash. Other "last things" I would want to smash would include The Laocoön Group and the Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel wall featuring the self portrait of Michelangelo's empty skin. Of things that would be among the FIRST things I would want to smash: The Papacy and the College of Cardinals. BTW, Michelangelo designed the dome.

Is that the light of God shining down on the righteous? No, dumbass, that's just regular light. Michelangelo was smart enough to fool lots of people with that one. Sure, it's beautiful. Certainly, it is a monument of human achievement, but see the key word there? HUMAN achievement. Humans did this. Claiming divine inspiration is just an insult to their talent. Cut it out!

More awesomeness. Next, Aaron and I would head toward to the dome. See that tiny black rim (heh heh) beneath the lights in the dome? Well, I'm gonna go walk up there. See the gold line with (barely legible at this resolution) writing? Well, those letters are 6 feet tall. I'm headed up there!

Medieval Rome

Roma 29 Dec 2007

Our next goal in our sightseeing quest in Roma was to reach St. Peter's Basilica, which is in the Vatican City. In order to get there, we needed to walk roughly northwest from The Forum. This path would take us through the heart of Medieval Rome. At the height of the Pax Romana, the city of Rome boasted a population of 1,000,000 inhabitants. By the middle ages, Rome had shrunk to a burg of about 50,000. Ferile packs of dogs roamed the streets. The little human population that remained crowded into the Medieval equivalent of tenements along the Tiber (constituting a westward demographic shift of population center of gravity, as it were). The result is a charming labyrinth of narrow alleys, ripe for exploration. This might have been my favorite part of being in Rome. I LOVE exploring.

I snapped this photo because Katie's family name is Montanaro. Sure, it's spelled differently, but the coincidence is worth a photo.

Charming Medieval Roman building.

Charming Medival Roman alleyway

I love these streets.

Finally, we have reached the Tiber (il Tevere). These are fun ruins in the Tiber. Until recently, the Tiber was more of an embarassment than a resource for the Romans. Centuries of neglect and pollution had made it a revolting flooding hazard (like the Scioto River, in Columbus). To cope, the Romans build tall walls along the banks and forgot about it. Fortunately, environmental efforts in the past several decades have made the Tiber lovely, again. There are bike trails along the banks, where one can view ruins in the water. Once crossing the River, we would reach the Vatican. Fun, fun, fun!

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...

Roma 29 Dec 2007

Well, not so much funny as annoying. Also, it didn't happen on the WAY to the Forum. It happened IN a way that forced us to go TO the Forum. I'll get to that. Today was the second opportunity for us to go to Rome. What made this day different was that Katie, Maggie, Aaron, and I (the young folks who didn't drive to Naples) took a train into Rome. That meant that we were on foot. Needless to say, I got a lot of exercise. Some of that exercise was unnecessary, disappointing, redundant walking. I blame siesta. Again, other people taking naps has become my nemesis. I had exactly two places that I ABSOLUTELY had to see in Rome: The Capuchin Crypt and Bernini's The Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Seemingly conveniently, these two places are on the same block, north of the Termini station. That was where we went first. The annoying part was, after walking about 10 blocks to the place, we discovered that BOTH museums closed from noon-3pm for lunch and siesta. It was 11:55. Shit outta luck. This "forced" us to go places that would not be closed, randomly, in the middle of the day, so we trekked south and west toward the Forum (hence, the title of this blog).

The good thing about many of the ancient sites in Rome is that they are outside and open to the public. Siesta cannot stop me, now! After stopping off for some pizza and a beer (to go - I love non-the USA), the first ancient structure we reached was the Colonna Traiana (aka the Column of Trajan). It's smack dab in the middle of the Mercati di Traiano (or Markets of Trajan or Forum of Trajan). Neat.

Mercati di Traiano

Mercati di Traiano

From there, we marched down the Via dei Fori Imperiali toward il Colosseo. Now, the Colosseum is not spelled like a coliseum. It's named for a nearby colossal statue of Nero (later remodeled into a statue of Apollo). The proximity of the statue had an eponymous effect on the more accurately named Flavian Amphitheater (so named, as it was built during the Flavian Dynasty: Emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian). You can just call it the Amphitheatrum Flavium.

Arch of Constantine. It's right across from the Flavian Amphitheater.

Above is a photograph of the actual Forum. People tend to refer to this area as the "Forum Romanum," or "Roman Forum." Well, there are many fori in Rome, so, to call this one the Roman Forum is inaccurate. One could call it the Forum Magnum (or Great Forum), as it is much larger than the other fori, however, the ancient Romans just called it the Forum. On the right you can see the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (the columns on the right), the Curia (aka the Senate) behind that, and the Memorial to Victor Immanuel in the background (on the Capitoline Hill). The Palatine Hill is off the frame to the right.

Palatine Hill

Neat frieze.

Above is a view of the Forum from the north. From this view, the Palatine Hill would be on the right. The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina is on the left. The Flavian Amphitheatre can be seen in the background. This view illustrates something really cool about the Forum: most of it is open to the public and completely accessible. I really like being able to touch history. It's not behind a velvet rope, or poorly reproduced in a textbook, it's right there where I can touch it, walk amongst it, and truly feel like I am a part of it. I suppose I would have to thank the sheer amount of archaeological treasures in Rome. A single manmade structure of equivalent age in Columbus would necessitate its own national park. In Rome, there are enough ancient column ruins just lying around that we can be allowed to climb on them. I think that's really cool.

Next stop: Medieval Rome!

Pigeon and Absinthe

Assisi 28 Dec 2007

Assisi is the birthplace of St. Francis (of Assisi). Therefore, it is one of the holier cities in Christendom. I did not find it to be that, so much. You will see...

Before we left for our (relatively long) road trip up to Assisi, I snapped another photo of The Valley. My quest to reach it would have to wait 'til another day. Notice how hazy the valley is. I think all of Italy was like that on that day. Also, it was very cold. A clear sky means high pressure. In Winter, that means COLD.

This photo is taken from the piazza in front of one of the medieval churches. The church, itself, was not particularly memorable. It had some neat archaeological excavations inside the church, but was, otherwise, a boring, renovated-during-the-Baroque-period-and-therefore-gaudy, small town church. The view of the fortress was pretty cool, though.

The coolest thing about that church was this plundered medieval sculpture. Violence at the doors of a church is very respectable, in my book.

Picturesque roadway.

The photo above features the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, or Santa Maria OVER the temple of Minerva. Stupid Christians! They take a perfectly serviceable pagan temple and vandalize it with Christian imagery. Come ON! Baroque? And not even GOOD Baroque, either. It's not like they built a St. Peter's or something on top. It's just a boring little church. I'm just mad a Christianity, right now. I'll shut up.

See what I mean?

Isn't this MUCH cooler?

At least they kept the sacrificial blood drain in the floor.

I am sad that this photo is so high contrast. I am definitely gonna hit this one with Photoshop. Toward the bottom of the frame is a woman in a wheel chair sitting right in front of the steps into the church. Apparently, neither the Ancient Romans nor the Christian renovators felt that handicap accessibility was a priority. My question is, why was the lady just sitting there at the base of the steps? It just screamed irony, to me.So, this is where we ate lunch. Thank you, Rick Steves Guidebook. It was AMAZING. I had pigeon. You heard me right, pigeon. It was delicioso. The meat was surprisingly dark. The cool thing is that it had the characteristics of dark meat, like roast beef, but the skin tasted like chicken skin (the best part of the chicken). I was served the entire pigeon. The bird had been cleaved (cloven? cleft?) in half, and the outer meat was still attached to the bones (including the teensy drumsticks - I probably looked like a giant while eating them). The interior meat was ground together into a sort of ragu. It was VERY flavorful. I would highly recommend it.

Assisi is located on a hillside, overlooking a broad plain. Had it not been so hazy (see first slide, above), I would have been able to see for miles and miles.

Maybe that's not haze. Maybe that's smoke from whatever's burning over there in the valley. Awesome view, no?
This very ancient-looking wall is just in someone's backyard. I stuck my camera through a gate to photograph this. I covet this yard.

This is the cathedral (I think it's a cathedral) of St. Francis of Assisi. The actual St. Francis took a vow of poverty, as he objected to the excesses of the Church. After he died, they went and build a bastion of excess and dedicated it to him. Nice, huh? This was one of the few churches that forbade all interior photography. Apparently, it's too holy a site for taking pictures, or there's too much money to made in the gift shop. Oh well. It was pretty cool. It has a two storey crypt. Sadly, they do not have Frankie's desiccated remains on display. Oh well, Austria has more gruesome relics, anyway. Am I being mean spirited?

Arcade. Groin vaults... groin.

Neat-o staircase.

I think that this is an amazing view.

So, this window beckoned to us. Can you tell why? We did not stop in here, as we were on our way to an internet café. This would be the first (and only) time that I could check my email while on the trip. This is quite unusual for me. Anywho, we found a quaint little internet café near the temple of Minerva. Keep in mind, that my plan for the trip was to try new things (such as the pigeon, and veal, which I normally refuse to eat - but, hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans do...). With that in mind, at the internet café, I tried Absinthe. Absinthe isn't like it used to be. It is now distilled so that it no longer exhibits the neurotoxic effects of the wormwood. Overall, I would say that the experience was like what I imagine imbibing a shot of one part Jägermeister, one part 151 would be like. It tasted like very strong, anise flavored liquor. It was yummy. I can now say that I have tried it (albeit, not the neurotoxic version beloved by such notables as Vincent van Gogh and Aleister Crowley). Vacations are about trying new things. In Assisi, I tried pigeon and absinthe.

I can assure you that it was not the absinthe that caused this (and the next) photo to be blurred. The light was quite low, so it was very hard to photograph the picturesque town in evening. I am sad that these did not come out.

So, we bid farewell to Assisi. I suspect that St. Francis, himself, would not have approved of my excesses, in his hometown (nor what his Church did to his town, but that's another story). I did enjoy the pigeons and absinthe. Were I to want to recreate this experience, at home, I would not have as much difficulty in acquiring the absinthe as I would have had just a few years ago. The U. S., recognizing the increase in quality of distillation processes since the 1920's, has relaxed the restrictions on absinthe importation. Alas, I could not purchase the variety that caused van Gogh to autoamputate his own ear, but who would want that, anyway? No neurotoxins for me, thank you very much. Of course, pigeons are easy enough to find. They're everywhere! All I need is some pigeon poison and it's bon appetite! Next stop: Roma (again)!