Rome: Part One

The next four nights of our tour of Italy were spent in Rome; there we had apartments of 3 to 5 people each. We actually had all four apartments in the little building just of of Piazza Fiore, a piazza named after the flowers sold there in the market every morning.
We arrived on the evening of November 5th and, after settling in for a few minutes, went to see the Pantheon before dinner. It was really impressive to see it at night and it was exciting to see the piazza outside of it alive with people and music. As it was also the day after the election of Obama, there were also posters, newspapers, and magazines with his photo going up everywhere in addition to people shouting "Obama!" at us when they noticed we were a group of Americans. It was interesting to experience the election from a European view.



Photos of our piazza, Obama stickers, and Pantheon at night.

The next day we met with Frank to see a few churches, San Carlo alla Quattro Fontaine and another, whose name I cannot seem to find at the moment. San Carlo was a beautiful, virtually all white, church with oscillating, curved walls. Because of its scale, it was very difficult to photograph.

Photo of San Carlo.


When we branched off, Ashton, Danett, Megan, Kristina, Lindsey, and I decided to go see the Spanish steps and the piazza there than gives a beautiful view of at least part of Rome. From there we headed to the Trevi Fountain to through in our coins for good luck; it was amazingly busy. Many of the places we have visited have been much less busy this time of year. Rome may be less busy than it is in the summer, but it is definitely still very, very full of tourists. As we walked we happened upon a beautiful Galleria with a bit of an art deco feel. There we found Buddhist monks creating beautiful symbolic artwork by blowing sand through a metal "straw"; it appeared to be a protection wheel of sorts. If you donated a Euro, you received a protection bracelet which one of the monks tied on your wrist while chanting a prayer. Before dinner, Frank had us all meet at a restaurant to treat us to a glass of wine; we sat outside next to little gas fireplaces until it was time to head off to dinner. After dinner we went back to the Trevi fountain to see it at night and get some gelato.


Photos of Spanish Steps, Buddhist Monk, Megan and Danett at Trevi Fountain, and a bunch of us lined up at Trevi Fountain at night.

The next day was all one our own, so many people decided to go visit the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica in the morning. As a few of us had already been to the Vatican, we decided just to revisit St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world. We then went to see a nearby castle turned museum; we didn't go in, but enjoyed walking around the exterior space and following some of the old city wall. We, Danett and I, met up with those who went to the Vatican in the piazza, but as they had not gone into St. Peter's yet, we decided to re-meet them in the Piazza del Popolo. Danett and I then went to get lunch in the meantime at a little restaurant, where we could order real Italian pizza. We had little choice of food, because at dinner we received the menu of the day; often we got similar dishes from restaurant to restaurant. We then walked toward the Piazza del Popolo, stopping at a museum designed by Richard Meier along the way. He created an incredibly accessible and seamless building with a great public space, through the use of stairs and a water fountain running the length of most of the space.

Photos of St. Peter's, the castle and the Richard Meier Museum.


Later that evening we went to see the Coliseum at night before we went to tour it the next day!



More Rome later...