bldgs

First let's start out with, what might actually be, the greatest picture ever taken. Ever.

http://chillicheesefries.deviantart.com/art/Cowboys-and-Marines-65504164

That one is for you Tim.

This was a pretty cool weekend. I'm finally getting used to being here, the streets which were previously so intimidating are starting to become a little bit more familiar and there are circumstances you can always count on. (The teenagers will be loud and at the bus stop at 8 am with another showing at 12:30 pm, Fabrizio at the film store will never have the slides done on time, The Trestevere market is the perfect place to find...whatever, etc.) It will never have the same charm as the Old-Line State or even the Keystone, but I've come to think of it as my Home sweet Rome.

Originally I planned to take this weekend to go to Florence for a day-trip, However when the time came to organize it there was not enough time to figure out casting and travel arrangements. Instead I made a list of the things I have yet to see in Rome which I need to, and happily completed two of them. One of them was to visit the Piazza Navona, which my friend Brian Reynolds led me to. (It should be noted that he didn’t know how to get there, but to get to the pub next to it)One of the fountains by Bernini was under renovation which was ok because there was a puppet-show next to it, so I was satisfied. Also there is a great church by Borromini that's there.

* Let's take this moment to review *

Bernini = Sculpture that defies the nature of rock
Personality = http://www.buddytv.com/articles/Image/The-Bachelor/jesse-palmer-retire.jpg

Borromini = Architecture that defies the nature of gravity
Personality = http://www.angelfire.com/emo2/prettyxlittlexlush/the_emo_loser_who_dyes_her_hair_too_much/rawr.bmp

Their rivalry is legend.

Back to the Navona

The Piazza is actually a pretty touristy area, which is kind of interesting. I like the tourists in Rome, every so often you hear a familiar dialect, plus when you go there with a sketchbook people like to look, even if they are in the way of what you're trying to draw.

Rome and tourism seem to be inseparable bed-fellows. I think Roma, in all her glory is actually fairly lazy. Unlike Milan or Torino which cling to fashion or business, Roma is content to be herself. She doesn’t have to re-invent her appearance to keep you interested, she knows you will come to her and even if you try to resist, she's been alluring far too long to be ruffled by the likes of you. You will come to her and you will be begging for more.

Later that night we went to Botticello's (the pub I was led to earlier) and had a few drinks, mine was of something green and then something light brown; the other girls had something bright pink. A couple of us eventually made it to a club opening, but it was about 1:30 in the morning the line was about a block long and the likelihood of us getting in was not that great. So we headed back home, taking a taxi for my first time here. Most of the time public transportation is the way to go, but our driver was great and it was not entirely unreasonable.

This morning we got up early and went to the Catacombs along the Appia Antica. It's pretty far out from the city and you get that whole "Italian Provincial" look that seems too perfect and must therefore be a fake. It leads one to think that you're not actually in Italy, but you took your study abroad semester to a soundstage in Burbank.

The catacombs held the remains of the early Christians of Rome, as well as some of the first Popes. The remains had been removed for "aesthetic purposes" which was actually morbidly disappointing. It was 30 feet underground and I was really surprised that, in terms of architecture, it's definitely way up on the top 10 places I've been to so far.

This was not architecture to impress rivals, or an overly decorated allegory hiding under the mask of salvation, establishing authority (I'm talking to you Barberini family). This is a structure of redemption and will and belief. They didn’t allow you to take pictures so I’ll try to describe:

First we went down a long set of stairs until the smell of damp earth is wrapped around you like a blanket. There is a series of arches and vents (some of which were added when the catacombs were re-discovered after being lost for centuries) but unlike some other structures, this isn’t forced, there is an earnestness to the spaces with which you can tell that each shovel of dirt was done in grief. They move in scale from the large, tall rooms to the cramped hallways, to the niches of history. There is also a beautiful sculpture that stands over where the remains of St. Cecilia were found. St. Cecilia being the patron saint of music.

http://members.chello.nl/~l.de.bondt/StCecilia.jpg

There are three different kinds of tombs, the "family" tombs, like an underground mausoleum, (several of these came with frescoes that had never been restored and still kept their reds and blues intact from almost 1800 years ago, depicting the themes of The Last Supper, John the Baptist, the Fishers of Men and the Lamb of God) the tombs of Popes and Martyrs which were room-like shrines, which also had some really old frescoes, including one that was clearly a Greek-inspired and finally there were just holes in the wall where you would lay the bodies of everyday citizens. These were then covered with stones which had carvings in Latin and Greek. They also had a room which contained all of the old amphorae and oil lamps.

The catacombs went around for over 13 miles (over 1/2 a million people were buried there, many of them children as a large number of people did not live past childhood) and were set up like a labyrinth so I naturally stuck to the tour guide like glue. Finally we walked up back towards the light and could smell the fresh fields. Nothing like death to remind you of life.

Tomorrow I'm going to keep working on the list. I'll let you know how it goes.