That's Amore

Rome was a beautiful city, but we couldn't have picked a more hectic time to visit... Easter weekend. Granted, I'm sure Rome is always packed with tourists, but from what Rolf told us, it was even busier this time around. Regardless, I enjoyed every minute.

Friday morning, we reluctantly said our goodbyes to Berlin. It couldn't have been a worse morning. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. We left a bit late, the buses took forever, we were the last of the group to meet at the airport... I was sweating and out of breath by the time we met up with everybody. But, we weren't even that late. And... (drum roll please...) we were on the same plane as Famke Janssen (aka Jean Grey/Phoenix from the X-Men movies). Celebrity sighting #5! It's actually funny how it all happened. First, Erblin noticed her and told Sarah that it was an actress (but he couldn't place her). Then Sarah exclaims "JEAN GREY!" and so, of course, being the paparazzi that I am, I walked up right behind her, and I conveniently looked at her plane ticket and confirmed it was her. I know; I'm a creeper. So then as we boarded the plane, I had to take some creeper shots. I was super jealous though because Jeri and Sarah actually sat behind her on the plane.

Our first day in Rome was relatively calm. We settled into our hotel rooms and searched for some lunch. Our first stop with the class (all of Italy was for our Urban Design class) was Piazza della Rotonda, where the Pantheon is now located. We studied the space, did some sketches, walked around, then discussed it as a class. We also went into the Pantheon which for me was surreal. Like I've mentioned in previous posts, it's always pretty crazy to see something that you've studied for years.

Our next space was Campo de Fiori. Unfortunately (or fortunately) all the market vendors were packing up, so Rolf decided we would go back the following day to sketch and discuss, so we were "dismissed' for the day. We went back to the hotel and rested for a bit before searching for dinner.

Jeri, Sarah, Kemal, Erblin, and I decided to get dinner in Campo de Fiori since it was so close to our hotel anyways. We ended up at some random restaurant and had some okay Italian food (what else can you expect in a touristy spot). However, the gelato I had afterward made up for it. I'm pretty sure I had at least one gelato a day for all the days I was in Italy...

After dinner, Erblin, Kemal, Sarah, and I walked around the city for a bit and took some night photos. We ended up walking over to Il Vittoriano and then shopped around some souvenir vendors. Somehow we ended up in Piazza della Rotonda again, so we took a few more pictures before calling it a night.

The next morning, we stopped by Campo de Fiori briefly before doing a small city walk towards the Colosseum. We walked by Michaelangelo's Palazzo Farnese, a few piazzas, Michaelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio, and the old forum.

The Colosseum was indeed impressive. We spent about an hour exploring it on our own. I got some pretty sweet panoramas from inside. And by the end, the sun started to come out from behind the clouds! I wonder what it was like to see an event in the Colosseum... the whole time, I kept thinking of the movie Gladiator. Crazy, crazy.

From the Colosseum, we took the tram to the newer area of Rome to visit the Museo della Civilta Romana (The Museum of Roman Culture). There were several models of everything from buildings to bigger models of ancient/present day Rome.  There were also sculptures and replicas of columns and all that. An interesting museum, but I wasn't all too excited about it.
We had a brief lunch break (I had some lasagna and of course a gelato) in the area before heading back to the center.

We spent the rest of our afternoon experiencing Piazza d'Espana, most known for the Spanish Steps. The square was completely packed with people; it was like playing Where's Waldo? if I was looking for somebody. Again, we analyzed the space, sketched it, and discussed it as a class. When we finished, we were free for the rest of the day. I stuck around with a few other people and checked out the space a bit more. From the top of the Spanish Steps, you can see the crowd of people and the street that they funnel in from. To the side is one of the main axes of ancient Rome that connects to Piazza del Popolo.

We eventually made our way over to Trevi Fountain and made some wishes. I'm not hugely into superstitions, but I feel like it's appropriate in Rome. So I took some pictures, threw some coins into the fountain, and made some wishes. I kind of regret not going to see it at night; it probably would have been quieter and much more romantic.

From there, we made our way back to Piazza del Campidoglio since we didn't have enough time to absorb it in the morning. My favorite part is the way Michaelangelo worked with the stones on the ground. He created an oval with this sun/flower pattern on the inside with the statue in the center. It looks great in my panoramas. Unfortunately it started to rain so we didn't get to go back to the Forum. Instead, we went back to the hotel to rest for a little bit before going out to dinner.

This time, we headed in a different direction and ended up in Piazza Navona, where Sarah instantly recognized it from Angels and Demons. The space was filled with vendors, so Jeri asked one of them for recommendations for restaurants. We went off to a side street and found the restaurant (completely forgot what it was called) and had a fabulous dinner. The pizza I ordered was amazing, everybody's food looked great, and I had one of the best tiramisus there. Great night for food.

After dinner, we walked around Piazza Navona a bit more. Here's another side story. Around the touristy spots, there are always guys approaching you, trying to sell you something. On this night, there were guys who were launching lighted things into the air and they would float down towards the ground. Well, Tyler decided to steal one of these things when it landed and run with it. It was highly entertaining because at this point during the trip, Tyler's hair had grown out, so when he ran, the only thing you could focus on was his hair swishing in the wind. He ended up returning it to the vendor since he's such a nice guy.

We returned to the hotel, and I took a quick shower before going out for the night. Jeri and I kept going back and forth about going out, but finally concluded that we had to because we didn't go out the night before and wouldn't have the chance to any other night. We paid a 10 Euro cover to get into a nearby bar/lounge called Studio 18 where it was an open bar until midnight. It was 11:30 when we got there, so you can imagine how we tried to get our money's worth.

A little after midnight, we left and headed to a bar in Campo de Fiori called The Drunken Ship. I don't recall how long we spent in there, but it was a fun night. We kept getting harassed by a guy offering to take a Polaroid picture for 5 Euros... and since the boys recognized him from the night before (and he recognized our boys), John paid 5 Euros and we had two pictures taken with the seller himself. Those pictures are priceless. At some point, the bar had to close, so we wandered around the square and John ended up buying a megaphone for 7 Euros from another of those vendors. We spent a while just talking outside of our hotel, and I got a rose from another random drunk person. Oh, what a night.

The next morning (Easter Sunday), the class started off by visiting a few nearby churches, and of course we found ourselves in Piazza Navona once again. We were given about 20 minutes to explore the space, check out the main church, and analyze it all. Of all the piazzas, I think Navona was probably my favorite.  There's a lot of open, public space with plenty of vendors selling crafts, paintings, souvenirs, etc. with lots of side cafes and restaurants... I guess it's no different than all the other squares, but this one just stuck with me. Maybe the company I was with the night before made it more memorable.

From Piazza Navona, we walked over to Museo dell'Ara Pacis, designed by Richard Meier. As the title suggests, this was the museum that housed the Altar of Peace. I didn't really care about the altar, to be honest... I spent my time checking out the architecture. I've seen a few of Meier's works so far, and this was very much Richard Meier--everything from the materials, lighting, shadows, colors, etc. I liked it a lot.

We took a quick lunch break (another sandwich and gelato for me) and met up again in Piazza del Popolo. We (surprisingly) didn't analyze the space at all; we just met at the obelisk and went to our next destination by tram: MAXXI (Modern Art for the 21st Century).
As I think about it now, I read about the opening of MAXXI in the NY Times a few years ago, and that was the first time I learned of Zaha Hadid, the architect who converted this from a military barrack into a museum. I loved all of it. The exhibits were fantastic, especially the architecture ones that showed original drawings from architects like Corbu, Scarpa, and Rietveld; can you imagine drafting plans, sections, and elevations? I sometimes wish I had the time to go back to sophomore year and produce drawings like those. The building itself was also quite nice. I loved the circulation in the space. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the exhibits (boooo), but let me just say that Zaha definitely redeemed herself after the fire station at Vitra.

After talking about the museum, we were dismissed for the day, so Jeri, Sarah, Kemal, Erblin, and I made our way back over to the Forum. At this point, my knees were killing me (they crack a lot after hours/days of walking), so I didn't spend too long photographing. I eventually broke off from the group and went back to the hotel to rest my legs. By the time everybody got back, it was about 8:30 and I was starving for dinner. We went to a very shabby place for dinner. Their kitchen had closed so I couldn't order a pizza, and all their pastas weren't made fresh; they were reheated. Thankfully, the gelato I got from next door cheered me up. It was topped off with whipped cream and a mini cone! I went to bed early that night to prepare for the early morning.

Monday morning was our free time, so the usual 5 of us got up early and went to Vatican City around 7am. The weather was misty out but we didn't let that get us down. I'm so glad we went early. We didn't have to wait in any lines and there weren't crowds of people in my pictures.
Our first stop was St. Peter's Basilica. Truly amazing. There are no words. All of us just photographed in awe. I hope my photos do it justice.

When we left the Basilica, we saw signs up for the cupola and the tombs underneath. Immediately I pulled everybody into the cupola line. For 5 Euros, we climbed up hundreds of of stairs (my poor legs) to the top of the dome. First was were on the inside of the dome and could look down into the basilica. Then we got to go outside and see Rome from the top. The view was breath-taking. I couldn't believe where I was. We spent a good while up there taking photos and soaking it all in. Thankfully everybody was patient with me because I ended up going around the dome, making a panorama. I think it turned out quite nicely.

We wanted to go to Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel, but unfortunately, Jeri told us it was closed. I guess it was perfect timing though because it started to pour outside. Thankfully we weren't still at the top of the cupola. We walked back to the hotel in the rain (word of advice: bath tub laundry and rain do not mix well) and grabbed some lunch before meeting up with the rest of the group.

From Rome, we took a train to our next city: Venice!