From Europe, With Love: Roman Around

About 29 km outside the city of Rome is Hadrian’s Villa. A complex that was used as a retreat and eventually became the permanent residence of the Emperor of Rome, Hadrian, and his court. It is now, obviously, a pile (for lack of a better word) of ruins. Rome is one of the bigger cities we’ve been in, but much more pedestrian friendly than Paris … or maybe I’ve just gotten used to walking by this point. We started out our day in the city with a walking tour visiting small piazzas and churches, but the first major thing I did was go to the Coliseum. Although it was very large and much taller than I thought, somehow it still seemed smaller than what I was picturing. Later that evening we visited the Trevi Fountain at night first and later in the day. That was also very different from my expectations, from the pictures I’d seen I’d expected it to be in a large flat plaza however it seemed like buildings were cramped around it and there were stairs leading to it … not that I was disappointed in the least, it was still the Trevi Fountain, after all. The next day was spent at the Roman Forum, where the Emperor’s actual residence should have been/was prior to the Villa construction outside of Rome. That could have been more enjoyable if it wouldn’t have been for the rain. It rained every day we were in Rome, except for the last, and it was never a drizzle and it always happened first around 2:30pm and second at 5:30pm … kind of put a damper in our day/week. On Tuesday we spent the whole day at the Vatican, in St. Peters, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. St. Peters and the Museum lived up to my expectations but, I regret to inform you that the Sistine Chapel was a major disappointment. There is not an accurate enough description of how awfully disappointed I was, but I don’t blame it on the work of Michel Angelo, but on Mrs. Gilpin: former art teacher of the 6^th and 7^th grade at Southwood Middle School in Miami, Florida cried during our lecture on Michel Angelo over how brilliant he was. Anyways my disappointment was quickly cured by the work of Borromini in S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. Somehow I didn’t think it would be as great as it actually was, and I wasn’t even planning on visiting it until it happened to be on the way to the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps along with the Piazza del Popolo, were great plaza and provided such different views of the city that they were both great, I probably preferred the Piazza del Popolo more actually. My trip in Rome, Italy and Europe ended with one last visit to the Trevi Fountain (one more wish couldn’t hurt) and with a final cup of Gelato. Ciao!

FROM ROME (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

Olive Tree