Gianicolo Picnic

photo snapping/red bull excitement/genie preparation/genie outcome/Davide proper with pizza/Gianicolo Hill busts/Lea in fountain/Gianicolo Hill view/picnic lounging/down stairs

If a person ever goes to Rome, I think it absolutely necessary to go to the top of Gianicolo (or Janiculum) Hill and have a picnic. There's some story that Giorgio told Lea who told us about it... but I don't remember. I do remember a shaded lunch and lounging with an amazing view of the city, listening to Davide's character who "loves Rrrroma for dee Wedding Cake and MacDonald's" (I'm literally giggling out loud as I'm sitting here typing this), and discovering Lea's future wedding reception area.

When I decided to come to Rome, this is exactly what I wanted. Naturally I wanted to see the sights and churches and art, do tourist-y things, etc etc, but what I wanted even more than that was to get a glimpse into what it would be like to live here. The girls pictured above have lived in Rome for years and know it very well, are American-Italian (or Italian-American?) so speak both languages fluently, and have little to no interest in being around tourists on their days off. The weekend spent with them was exactly what I had envisioned before coming here... although I will say its much (much much much) more expensive to "live" than to be a visitor. No matter. I leave tomorrow morning, and the long weekend was the absolute perfect end to the trip.

[first, third, and fifth photos courtesy of Lea & Andrea LaPorte]

I Heart Napoli

street shot/clearance books/moped/burn mark/sweeties/mirrored trees/pigeons/political graffiti

A lot of people told me that Naples was dangerous; gross; scary; don't go there; blah blah. Personally, I loved it. It reminded me the most of a big American city and the people there were SO friendly. There were ten million bookshops and lunch for 2.50. Not once did I feel threatened or even remotely nervous. I'm sure there are gross, scary places in the city, but in what big city does that not exist? We stayed near Piazza Bellini, so maybe that was why I liked it so much.

Churches now; more on Napoli later.

Pompeii

Pompeii sign/plaster cast of dead guy/new growth/wall painting/columns/street/short door

Pompeii. You know about Pompeii. Volcano erupted? Covered the city with ash? Yeah. That one.

[last photo courtesy of Anna P]

The School of Athens

The School of Athens/Plato (Leonardo da Vinci) and Aristotle/Diogenes/Pythagoras/Euclid (Bramante), Zoroaster and Ptolemy, Apelles (self-portrait)/Heraclitus (Michelangelo)

If you got the descriptions, good for you. There were many rooms in the Vatican Museums that Rafael did, and to be honest after seeing them and seeing the Sistine Chapel, I am more impressed by Raphael's work than Michelangelo's. Raphael was always one of my favorite Renaissance artists anyway; with his good humor (not moody like Michelangelo up there) and supposed death by too much sex, why not?

Musei Vaticani Part Two

hall of expensive sh*t/Raffaello ceiling/stained glass altar/St. Sebastian/St. Sebastian and Irene

A few more photos from the Vatican museum. I got the first hall kind of emptied of people since we went early in the morning and immediately ran to the Sistine Chapel (which was somehow still filled with people). Its the only room in the museum that you can't take photos in, and the ceiling was very nice but I really preferred The Last Judgement wall. I looked at it (listening to the Kronos Quartet, which I've found is a great soundtrack for museums) for about twenty minutes it seemed, and I still was finding things I had missed.

I'm posting the School of Athens separately, so don't think I missed it.

St. Sebastian is my favorite depicted saint. So I've taken a lot of photos by different artists in different periods, etc. Here's two that were a bit different. I'd love to see one of Mantegna's St. Sebastians though... his are kind of why I fell in love with this particular saint's imagery in the first place.

Musei Vaticani Part One

a bajillion people/tapestry detail/animal room/stairs/muses/animal detail/dogs/large painting/vase

Part one of the Vatican Museums. Basically a place to house some of the most expensive sh*t in the world. Next post.

Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano

"that" photo/statues/cupola/curved dome walls/ceiling outside/dead pope guy/child sleeping but secretly praying/Michelangelo's Pietà/floor/skeleton/gold bird

The first thing we did at St. Peters was climb all the way to the top of the cupola. Five hundred and something stairs, nooooo problem. LeAnne got it dead right when she said that walking up those stairs in circles around and around was what purgatory must be like. When the dome got too small the walls began curving and it was like walking in a tiny corridor-ed funhouse (see fourth photo: was taken straight up and down. The walls really were curved that much). At the top, it was insanely crowded and almost not worth it, but there's a 360 degree view of the city and, you know, "that" shot.

The church itself is unbelievably large. My lens couldn't even encompass how large it really was (hence no "full church" shots). Besides the fact that there were twelve bajillion people inside. The kid sleeping was really cute, neither I nor LeAnne could get a clear shot of him so I think he's secretly an angel or something (for those who believe in such things).

The Pietà was much smaller than I thought it would be, Christ is a maybe a little smaller than life-size. Its only about 69 inches tall (aka five foot nine). Its behind bullet-proof acrylic glass because in the 70s some crazy geologist attacked it with a hammer, shouting "I am Jesus Christ" (according to his wiki page). Soo it was a bit hard to get a photo; that one was the best I could do. It is very beautiful though, and was always one of my favorite pietà portrayals (just like, uhh, everybody), with the very young Madonna and the totally altered proportions (yet somehow maintaining naturality) to make a fully-grown Christ look small in her lap.

Next post: Musei Vaticani.

We are headed down to Pompeii and Napoli tomorrow (yes, Kristina, I will get you things with your last name on it). I've heard Naples is not-so-safe, so I'm wondering how we will fare; just as long as no one tries to steal my camera, I won't have to hurt anyone too badly.