Mid-March:
In March, for my archaeology class we went on an on-site class that was very cool. It was around my trip to Paris so I didn't talk about it on this blog. But, we went to a place called Monte Testaccio. Testaccio means clay, and the mountain is literally made entirely of clay. This is because in antiquity Romans would import wine and olive oil from places like Spain, Africa, and Greece. The liquids would be transported in pots with a pointed bottom called amphorae that were useful for packing on boats. Then, when the liquid was all gone, Romans would take the amphorae and throw it on a mound of thousands of amphorae. This eventually made an entire hill, one of the many you can find in Rome
Oh yeah, Testaccio is in the middle of the city and you can find sheep on the top of the hill, a "green" way to keep the grass short
view of Rome from the top of Monte Testaccio
The clay pieces that make up the hill
Also later in March I went on an onsite with my Roman history class for about 4 hours. We just walked around the city and looked at monuments and sites that we had already learned about. Anyway, on this trip I saw things that I hadn't seen already so I will post these pictures.
Temple for Hercules- it is rounded whereas most temples are rectangular
archway of an ancient marketplace
circus massimus- where ancient chariot races were held
Then we stumbled on a present day protest- seemingly for workers rights
column of trajan- the column depicts his war against the Jews in Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple
On another day in late March my Roman history class went to the Capitoline Museum, which houses items found from ancient sites. There are statues, remnants of a pre-Republic Pagan temple, and mosaics. The most famous though is what is left from a gigantic statue of Constantine. Only the head, a foot, and parts of his arm are left.
Constantine's foot- it is about the same size as I am
his head, elbow, and hand
Outside of class and my trips I tend to go on long walks around the city to see what I stumble upon. One day I took a walk around the Campo di Fiori and Pantheon area to find Piazza Navona because I heard it was really beautiful and I hadn't been there yet. In this area, if you take the wrong turn down a tiny cobblestone road, you'll get lost for a very long time. I did this a bunch of times this day but I stumbled upon a part of Rome that I didn't know existed. I'll call it the hipster/yuppie part of Rome. There were hip clothing boutiques, antique stores, and art galleries. It was really beautiful. I also saw some religious procession I didn't know anything about so I tried to avoid it. Anyways, I finally found Piazza Navona and of course, since I am my mother's daughter, that day there was an anti-war rally going on! I am not so sure what they were rallying against since at the time Italy was not involved in any war (they had not yet intervened in Libya) but it was really cool since there was live Italian music. Piazza Navona is also interesting because it is an oval shape because it is built over the ancient stadium of Domitian. In the Middle Ages Romans didn't know how to make concrete anymore because it died with ancient Rome, so they would build using ancient Roman buildings as their foundation
The rally wasn't that crowded, but it was a rally
A cool Bernini Fountain- Four Rivers
Also on this day I stumbled upon Castle San Angelo, which used to be Hadrian's mausoleum until the Christians took it over and it was made into a castle/fortress. Now it is a museum
A very unique looking building
Within just 2 weeks at the beginning of April I had 4 people visit that I know from school. First Cheryl and Laura stayed with me for three nights. I made dinner for them 2 nights- a lot of pasta and some veggies, and we went to Le Fate one night for bruschetta, ravioli, and tiramisu. One day I even put my tour guide skills to use and showed them around the Pantheon, the Forum, and the Colosseum. The next week my friend Mariel stayed with me for one night. Gabby and I took her for pizza for lunch one day then I cooked her dinner- sausage, asparagus, and little bit of pasta of course. Then we took her out that night. Anyways it was great having such close friends stay with me and made me miss the USA that much more. Finally last Friday Jared stayed with Gabby and we took him to the Colosseum (which was free for culture week!) and the Vatican. This was my first time there and the Museums are just as good as any other I've been to. The entire Museum though is just a long pilgrimage to the Sistine Chapel. It is amazing how Michaelangelo could paint that ceiling but I have to say, it wasn't much more impressive than any other Renaissance ceiling I've seen. Maybe I just didn't get a good enough look, or I should have taken an Art History class in Rome to fully appreciate it. Finally we went back to Le Fate that night and had more bruschetta, gnocchi, and a gelato + coffee dessert.
St. Peter's
a hallway in the Vatican Museum
This ceiling is probably just as cool as the Sistine Chapel!
As is this one!
Jared really love gelato, but we wouldn't let him have two gelatos in one day.
As I mentioned above, last week was culture week, which theoretically meant all museums were free. But this being Italy museums found a way around this and I didn't get to enjoy the perk as much as I wanted to. I did get into the Colosseum for free but then I went to the Capitoline museum since I wanted to see some artefacts I hadn't seen but the guy handing out tickets tried to convince me I had to pay 4 euro and I got so frustrated and left. Other museums I wanted to see had long lines. Then, on Sunday I had to go to the Roman Museum of Modern Art to see a special exhibit for extra credit for a class. I thought going during culture week meant I would get into the exhibit for free but I still had to pay for it. The exhibit was boring- modern artists trying to replicated Middle Ages and Renaissance Italian art. But the rest of the museum was interesting. The website said there were a lot of Kandinskys there (I only saw one), but they also had a lot of Duchamps, and Fascist era Italian paintings I recognized. Afterwards I walked around the Villa Borghese- kind of like Rome's central park. It felt just like central park anyways- a green haven away from Rome's dirty streets and traffic. I would love to rent a bike and ride around there just like I saw almost every other family do.
Duchamp took a urinal, turned it upside down and called it a fountain and wrote R. Mutt on it. But is that really art?
The Museum of Modern art- looks like an American Museum
Villa Borghese
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