Rome...Holy Stuff...Tiffany Arrives...

(Sun. Dec. 6th- Wed. Dec. 9th)

Back in Rome. Ta-da. I don't really remember what I did Sunday but it might have involved finishing my remaining school work so I was free when Tiffany got there. We had to set up another rollaway bed, which despite me and my roommates, and my friends down the hall, saying exactly what was going where and how to set up the rooms (and even that WE would do it) turned out to be quite the ordeal because Michelle (the owner) really had her own idea about how to do things. So we hadta rearrange after we let her do her thing. Geez.

Tiffany arrived that Sunday night at Fiumicino, which, while being the Rome airport, is quite a ways outside the city. I looked at multiple ways of travel since it was like 1.5 hours depending on the type of transportation, and costed a LOT. I ended up taking the subway to the train, the train to the airport, and a different train back which dropped us off in Rome but uhhhhh, kinda far from our hotel :) Aaaaaand she had a wheely bag. Normally I wouldn't mind pulling it (except that they NEVER make the handles long enough for normal height men) but Rome, more so than even the average European city, is COVERED in cobblestones. Yeah pull a wheeled-suitcase over cobblestones for 45 minutes. OR EVEN FIVE. I was getting pretty annoyed to the point that I couldn't even focus on the task at hand- getting some dinner. I wanted to get home and get rid of the thing.

Tiffany could tell I was annoyed and distracted, and also not wanting to stop for food till we were at least closer, since I still wasn't precisely sure how far away we were until we go to the river, cause we were quite a ways south in Trastevere (means "across the river"). So I think maybe she was there an hour or less before we had our first quabble :) It was definitely weird to see her, who I used to see and talk to every day, after not having seen her for 4 months. Took some adjusting to, for me anyway (apparently not for her).

We finally walked all the way back to Campo dei Fiori, and got food there- close enough that I knew where we were and how to get back and how long it'd take, and could settle down and relax and eat :) We got some, uh, pasta, and some wine, and took some time to talk and enjoy the fact that we were having pasta and wine in a piazza in Rome together. It was chilly, but they had lots of those umbrella tree-looking space heaters that bars and restaurants have in their outdoor areas these days.

We headed to bed, more or less, after we finally got back. Monday was another morning meeting with Alexander to walk around the city. Tiffany was interested in tagging along and he of course said it was fine if she did.

Here's a little peek at the Pantheon as I walked by. I couldn't resist. C'mon, its awesome, its huge, its a giant dome with a HOLE in the middle, and its 2,000 YEARS OLD. What's not to love. Right around the coner to the left there is a McDonalds. Yeah.

It was a particularly dreary Monday, but oh well. We were walking around Rome (and as we'd find out, it was much warmer than Prague!). This time we were going north a bit, meeting at Piazza del Popolo (piazza of the people) that was where a couple diagonal streets intersected- part of the master plan of the city that was put in place I think by Mussolini, but honestly I forget now. Big wide diagonal streets though.

And here's the piazza, looking south from the middle where a giant water fountain resides. I can't believe I didn't come here with my dad and Chris! You can see the three streets going off into the distance, and the two identical churches (except for non-matching bell towers) that were apparently built by someone to commemorate his two daughters, or something. I could be really wrong about this info because it was awhile since we were there hearing stories about it. Oops.

Turning around and walking north though through the piazza revealed something unexpected- Modern Rome. I don't mean modern Rome as in contemporary Rome, as in Rome today, I mean Modern with a capital M, mid-century, 50s and 60s Rome. Interesting.

And here it is, for starters. Black steel, external expressed structure, yep its all here. I imagine it was pretty hard for Romans to stomach at the time. Still not terrible attractive per se, but certainly quite visually interesting at least.

We made our way farther north in the drizzling rain to some campus of buildings of some international school, where they had different buildings for different nationalities, where like foreign diplomats or something would send their kids. If I'm remembering this correctly... They had like a Belgium building, Austria, etc., and I think the buildings were usually done by an architect of that nationality.

But the coolest thing we saw there was MINI HORSES!!!

After the little campus of buildings (they weren't that interesting to look at) we moved on to a neighborhood, also Modern, some contemporary as well. Here's one that responds to a job in the street down below.

And around the corner, another Fiat 500 (Cinquecento) which was my favorite car in Europe but mostly found in Italy...they had dashboards that were the color of the body, in this case a cream white. And tan interiors. Loved them. See, it was raining.

These little guys are coming to the US like NOW, which is awesome. Gonna be making electric ones next year. I'm in, if I need a car, don't buy a Mini, and can't afford a Tesla.

Look at it! Kickass!

And now, the photo of "where three or more Smart Cars are gathered". Notice how one just parked its nose into the curb. That's how short these cars are.

You can tell that the architecture we were seeing, while interesting, was visually underwhelming. But we were seeing a different part of the city, more middle-class, more every-day, more like a normal lived-in neighborhood, not the Rome you usually think of.

Two Smarts in the foreground, two in the background. Score.

We kept walking north, near the Olympic Village that Shauna and I had already visited, and to this that we had already visited as well- a Zaha Hadid renovation/add-on to an existing building to make a museum. Yep, that big concrete block up there is part of it.

And here's the side. We couldn't get in cause it was closed. DAMMIT! Very uh, concrete-y and swoopy. It looks like woven strips from up above. Tiffany was a trooper for putting up with architecture tours all day long.

Guess what. Smart Cars. We were walking back, it was evening after a long day, this was a tiny piazza, with three Smart Cars. Rockin. Lots of yellow-ish lights in Rome. Makes it feel older and more mysterious or romantic at night.

There's Tiffany in her long, white-ish (gets dirty fast) coat, enjoying the three Smart Cars.

Back in Campo dei Fiori at night, trying to figure out dinner for the evening, there was some plastic furniture lit from within. I dig it.

Tiffany and I kept walking more that evening, back to Vittorio Emmanuele II, where we discovered the Christmas tree!

After walking around and heading back, we heard lots of chirping up in the trees, smelled something kinda stale but moist, like when you go in a cave and can smell the bat droppings...and sure enough, the birds we saw flocking before like to roost in the trees near the river.

Under which people like to park. But probably don't like having their Mercedes' pooped ALL OVER. We later saw cars covered in plastic. How gross is that?

I'm missing a day, so I have no idea what we did Tuesday. Maybe it wasn't interesting. Cause I know that Wednesday, we had big plans for a Papal Audience, that Kat was so nice as to get tickets for us for. I initially thought it was a mass, which took me awhile to figure out that it wasn't- surprising, since there were giant youth groups there waving flags and singing songs beforehand- I thought they were just exuberant and irreverent. I also thought it was a pretty special opportunity, until I found out it happens twice a week. Oh well. We saw the Pope. Il Papa. Not to be confused with il papa, which means "the potato". How did THAT ONE happen, back when the language was forming?

Here's the building where they have the Papal Audiences. HUGE. Built by Italian concrete engineering genius Pietro Nervi. FanTAStic roof.

But kinda large columns up there on stage.

By the way, security, as you could imagine, was pretty stringent getting into this thing. They wouldn't even let liquids through- like it was the airport- and I hadta leave my flask (THAT I GOT FOR WATER, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAFTA SAY IT) behind, but they promised I'd get it back. We'll see about that.

Here's the Pope sitting up there on stage, in front of a pretty crazy sculpture. It wasn't until well through the cardinals standing up there greeting different countries and peoples, in different languages (6 total I think) that I realized it wasn't gonna be mass. Everything was repeated in English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, and I think Russian maybe...I forget. There were some prayers though at least.

We went back through security, and amazingly, there was a guard holding my flask, and he even RECOGNIZED me, approached me before I saw him, to give it back. Amazing! Mille grazie! I did actually say that to him. "A thousand thanks".

It was time for one of the main events. St. Peter's. We went in at ground level of course, but the real interest is climbing the dome. Climbing things for views is always worth it. Always. Look at the little ants down below.

And here's across the dome. You can see now that the words around the dome's edge are in fact 6 feet high, as tours mention- you'd never believe it from the ground. Unreal.

Then we got further up into the dome itself, en route to the roof. Rockin. This is one of my favorite climbs I've ever done- inside the shells of the dome, where both sides start to curve. This isn't a trick of photography. That's why Jessica and Tiffany leaned back, and Britta stood up straight. It got hard to walk around in a circle up curving stairs with curved walls...

And then we were in a tiny spiral staircase, too tiny for a railing apparently, so it had a ROPE up the middle. YEAH. Felt adventurous :)

And here, the view, WORTH IT, of Vatican City and surrounding Rome, from up on the roof of St. Peter's. Those statues down on the front of St. Peter's are 12 feet tall. And of course St. Peter's Square is ENORMOUS. Its also an ellipse, with water fountains at each of the centers, or foci (its a math thing).

From the ground now, thats the dome that we were up in and around.

Here's another breathtaking thing: A statue of St. Peter. Bronze sculpture. I forget how old, but LOOK. We're talking solid bronze here. Metal. Hard. And yet his foot had been touched so many times that the finger oils alone had worn his foot down from sculpted toes to a rounded knob. That is AMAZING.

Tiffany and my shadow, cast across the cobblestones of St. Peter's.

That night after dinner we came back to Vatican City area to go to my favorite place- Castel Sant'Angelo. Had many uses over the years, including castles, dungeons, place the pope lived, etc. Its round, and has spiral ramps inside. Pretty awesome. And secret passages.

These spiral passageways were wide enough and gradual enough that they could take horses with buggies (or chariots, or whatever) up into the middle.

These two pigeons were apparently staying warm on the light. It looked cool.

Here was a drawbridge (still like inside the walls of the castle, cause there was also a central courtyard).

The original Michael the Archangel statue that graced the top of the castle, before it was replaced by a bigger, more awesomer one. (more curvy S...I said CONSUMMATE Vs!! Sorry...obscure joke)

And, once again, the view is always worth the climb. We spent awhile up here just looking. St. Peter's off to the right.

And be-deep-be-deep-be-deep THAT'S AAAAALL, FOLKS! Next up...more Rome.