Rome, Day One

From October 30th-November 3rd I had a slightly more lengthy excursion to Rome with my good friend (and fellow GW student) Sara over AUP's fall break. It was EXHAUSTING, but totally worth it for the number of incredible things we saw and did. 

I will say this, however, about Rome: I much prefer Paris. Rome was loud and crowded and full of people constantly trying to sell you water, beer, flowers, scarves, jewelry, you name it. Not that I don't always have to be on my guard on some level walking around Paris or DC, but in Rome I honestly felt like I couldn't ever fully relax and just enjoy the ride because I was so very obviously a tourist and therefore always felt like I was so much more likely to be targeted. But fortunately, Sara and I made it through four days in Rome without any incidents with the locals. 

Our first whole day in Rome is rained. The ENTIRE day. And not just drizzled or sprinkled, it absolutely POURED. Thankfully I'm an incredible control freak about planning trips like this so I'd mapped out some things for us to do that involved staying indoors as much as possible. 

First up, the Borghese Gallery. Located in the northeast corner of Rome in the Villa Borghese Gardens (which, if you look at them on a map, were purposefully designed to look like a heart). You have to make ticket reservations in advance before you go, and it features some pretty spectacular art (unfortunately, like so many other instances this semester, you're not allowed to take pictures inside). They have two main sections: all of the rooms on the third floor are devoted to paintings, while all of the rooms on the second floor are mainly full of sculpture. The building itself used to be a cardinal's palace from the Renaissance (and a large portion of the gallery's collection of art was his personal collection).

We also wandered around the gardens immediately surrounding the gallery and stumbled upon this building:

The back of the gallery.

After the gallery, we grabbed lunch and then headed to the main branch (one of four) of the National Museum of Rome. It's a spectacular museum chock full of art and antiquities dating all the way back to the beginning of Roman civilization.

On the top floor they have a great collection of wall paintings from ancient Roman homes. Amazing how they can just lift these off of the original wall and sort of hang them up here.

They also had a number of amazing mosaic floor designs.

These are huge, all of them probably at least twice my height.

And of course, there was the obligatory collection of ancient sculpture:

Gorgeous hand mirror with a 3D metal relief on the back.

Down in the basement of the museum is their collection of coins, displayed in an exhibit that's located in a vault:

Apparently archaeologists discovered a well at a site in the town of Vicarello, and the earth at the bottom was a treasure trove of coins tossed down into the well over many years.

Our last stop of the day was the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria a few blocks from the museum. I specifically wanted to see this church because it's the home of Bernini's statue The Ecstasy of St. Theresa (featured as part of Robert Langdon's questing around Rome in both the book and the movie Angels and Demons):

Because it was dark outside by the time we went into the church, my pictures are less than stellar, but trust me, it's an incredible statue. It depicts an episode from the life of St. Theresa of Avila in which she describes being visited by an angel who repeatedly thrusts his fire-tipped staff into her heart, filling her with the ecstasy of God's love. And if that sounds incredibly sexual, you're nowhere near the first one to think that; the statue has caused quite a stir over the years, as it may very well show the saint in the throes of an orgasm.

The altar of the church. The statue is in the Cornaro chapel just to the left of this part of the church.

It's a beautiful church, but surprisingly small. If you've seen the movie version of Angels and Demons, this is the church where Tom Hanks tries to save the cardinal that the bad guy has chained up over a giant pyre that he sets aflame. Wherever they filmed that shows Santa Maria della Vittoria to be a MUCH bigger church than the real thing.