Roma the Fourth

"I call that parking by ear... Ting!"

-Sandro

We tried to go to the Vatican today but Sean was right: we didn't get past the Heathen Detectors at the front gate. HA!

Actually, we woke up late and exhausted. When our host, Sandro, didn't have to work and offered to show us around Rome, we decided to adjust the plans and put the Vatican off until tomorrow. (The tabs of fun are still recovering from this adjustment).

Sandro showed us the Piazza della Veritas, the Trastevere neighbourhood (containing a prison), the Aventine Hill and San Giovanni (the old church where the Pope used to live in the days before the Vatican was built). We also went to this keyhole where, apparently, when you look through you can see a perfect view of Saint Peter's. However, a truck was blocking the drive and so all we saw was a bunch of sweaty delivery guys and their truck (I am reasonably sure that St. Peter's does not look like the inside of a U-Haul. If I'm wrong, tomorrow will be disappointing.)

We then went to see Sandro's new apartment - beautiful!

Throughout the excursion, we happily let Sandro drive. We drove to Fausta's house ourselves last night in rush hour. We made it but almost hit stuff 5 or 6 times and went the wrong way down a one-way street, forcing us to back up over half the length of the street while a line of cars waited impatiently.

Sandro managed to park the land boat in a space that in Canada we would beleive was reserved for compact cars:

At the conclusion of parking, this was the space at the front or our car.

This was the amount of space left at the back.

To accomplish this parking feat, Sandro had to "park by ear". Basically, this involved manoevering in one direction into the space until you heard a crunching sound (this sound being your car hitting the car in front or behind you) and then repeating in the opposite direction until the car was in the space.

I think I may have parked by ear myself, a few times.

Sandro dropped us off near the Colosseum and we walked over to the Complesso del Vittoriano where we saw the Giotto e il Trecento (Giotto and the 14th Century) exhibition. Giotto is "a symbol of the Middle Ages, the first truly 'Italian' artist" and as such had an extraordinary impact on every aspect of artistic language throughout Italy.

Example:


Of interest to certain blog readers, this is a copy of the Divine Comedy produced in Florence sometime between 1340-45 AD.

This is another typical example of the work of and inspired by Giotto:

Then the nice man asked me to stop taking photos (even though I was taking them senza flash.) Having seen the prison earlier, I decided to comply.

Following the exhibit, we decided to hit up the sites we hadn't yet seen, including the Piazza del Campidoglio:


It was then time for lunch, as we were both getting cranky. We stopped near the Piazza Navona and had good food for reasonable prices. I had the insalta caprese. Kate, this picture's for you (I know I don't need to tell you how delicious it was):

On the way over to Castel Sant'Angelo, I stopped to fill up our water bottle at one of the many public taps around the city.

Castel Sant'Angelo was built in the 2nd century for the Emperor Hadrian, and continued as an imperial mausoleum until the time of Caracalla. It functioned as a fortress in the Middle Ages, connected by tunnel to the Vatican by an underground passage (used by fleeing popes!) In the 14th century, it was a papal residence.

The Fromm says that this place is "an imposing fortress that has seen more blood, treachery, and turmoil than any other left in Rome. It is Rome's cheif citaldel and dungeon... The [walls of the papal apartments] have witnessed some of the most diaolical plots and intrigues of the High Residence."
This has only re-confirmed what I already knew: there's nothing like a good scheme!

There was some kind of function going on here after the Castel was closed to the public, hence the tables.

The outside:


From the very top of the Castel, on the terrace, you have an amazing view of the Eternal City. Because, aside from wedding photos, we have very few pictures of us together, we are now bringing the small blue camera with us (in addition to the giant black camera in the photo) to give to volunteer photographers. For some reason, the giant camera scares people off.

Following the Castel, we wandered back to Sandro's through an open-air market:

And passed some interesting signs (note the leash hoops):

We then bought food for dinner from the supermercato. Unfortunately, we caused a ruckus once we got to the front of the (very long) check-out line. Apparently, you have to weigh and price your own produce before going to the checkout (the cashier does not weight and price things for you.) Holding up about 20 people behind me, I had to go with the cashier back to the produce section to make this happen:

We know better for next time.

To the Vatican tomorrow, really!


Until then, please enjoy the Dude Scarf of the Day (it's an "action shot" and you have to squint but buddy is definitely debecked in scarffery - click to embiggen.)