Home and jet lagged

After a long but uneventful flight, I'm back home. Gary picked me up at the airport in the evening. I went to bed exhaustee, only to wake up wide awake three hours later.

Arrivederci Roma!

I leave in an hour for Fiumicino (the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport).  Should be home by 7 pm Eastern time/1 am Roma time.  I threw my coins in the Trevi Fountain, so I'll be back.

Thursday at the museums (probably last post before I leave)

Thursday is my last full day in Rome; I leave tomorrow morning.  I did some research this morning, skyped Gary early before he left for work, and went back one last time to two branches of the Museo Nazionale Romano: the Terme di Diocleziano, which has an amazing collection of ancient inscriptions; and the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, which has an excellent collection of Roman sculpture, mosaics and paintings.

I went to the Terme first to go through parts of the inscription collection one last time.  I love this place; you enter through a big courtyard that is literally crammed with ancient Roman marble.  Statues, altars, funerary monuments, pieces of buildings, and other fragments fill the gardenlike courtyard, and there are usually cats playing among the sculpture. The museum is built into part of the ruins of the immense bathhouse built by the Emperor Diocletian.  As great as this museum is, it is seldom crowded.  I’ve never had to stand in line here, and you can often go through entire galleries without seeing anyone else.

The branch of the museum in the Palazzo Massimo is just across the street and down a block.  Some of the most important works of Roman art are housed here, and I’ve put up some photos of them.  Two life-size bronze sculptures are featured in one gallery, including a really great bronze of an old boxer taking a break between rounds.  Take a look at the pics and note the lead weights on his hands; sort of the opposite of boxing gloves!  The use of lead hand weights for boxing matches is well documented in ancient writings as well. 

One gallery houses several well-known sculptures of the Julio-Claudian family, the first dynasty of Roman emperors.  The most famous is a life-size statue of Augustus himself, portrayed as Pontifex Maximus, the head of the state religion.  The emperor is portrayed as a priest togatus capite velato, with a fold of his toga pulled over his head as a veil. Roman priests and magistrates covered their heads this way for religious rites.

One room in the Palazzo Massimo reconstructs most of a room from the villa of Augustus’ wife Livia at Prima Porta.  The walls are covered floor to ceiling with frescoes of a lush garden with flowers, trees, and birds.  Above the paintings are painted stucco reliefs.  The colors are predominantly greens and blues, and seem almost as vibrant as when they were new two thousand years ago.  This is really a beautiful chamber, and I got a few good photos.

I the late afternoon I made my way home so I could start to pack and prepare for my flight.  I leave early tomorrow morning, so this is probably my last post before I get home.  There is a final set of pics posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625163134648/.  These are mostly pics from these two museums today.  More from the US after I return.  -Dan

Ruins, dinner and my puppet theater

Wednesday was another busy day in the city, checking sites and taking what photos I could in the little time I have left in Rome.  I revisited some of Augustus’ monuments, including the portico he dedicated to his beloved sister Octavia and the theater named for her son, his nephew Marcellus.  Marcellus would probably have been named Augustus’ heir, but he died young.  Augustus only had one child, a daughter Julia, who caused him so much grief because of her promiscuity that he exiled her (no monuments named for her!).

Before I left for town, I realized that I had not taken any photos of the puppet theater in my bedroom.  I’m not sure why there’s a puppet theater there; maybe the owner collects them because there’s another, smaller one in the living room.  Anyway, I went into the city and spent most of the day there.  I came back by way of the Jewish quarter and got some nice photographs of the great Synagogue on the banks of the Tiber.

This was my second-last night in Rome, and since my final evening would be spent packing, I decided to have one last dinner at Tony’s.  I ordered a mixed plate of antipasti and spaghetti alla carbonara, one of my favorite traditional Roman pastas.  As always, Tony and Alex came to talk to me.   They always bring me a cloth napkin too, something that only regulars get.  They also brought focaccia al forno, thin crackling bread hot from the oven.  This isn’t on the menu and they only make it once in a while, usually when things are slow.  Tony doesn’t seem to charge for focaccia al forno; he just brings it as a special treat to regulars and favorites.  I get it every time they make it.  You can’t believe how good this bread is; you can taste the delicious wheat flavor.  You have to eat it while it’s still hot.  This may be the best bread I have ever eaten in my life.

After dinner I took an evening walk through Trastevere.  Dogs were playing in the piazza next to the fountain so I took a couple of pictures.  The evening was warm and pleasant, and the lights on the churches and cafes of Trastevere became brighter as the sky became dark and night set in.  I headed home, skyped Gary, checked my email, took some notes, and went to bed next to the puppet theater.

I posted another set of pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625036315619/  .

Tablecloth subscriptions

Tuesday was another beautiful day.  I spent most of the day in the city, visiting and re-visiting various sites and museums.  Since I was in town, I stopped and had pizza for lunch.  I ordered the classic Roman pizza capricciosa, a thin crusted, wood fired pizza with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, buffalo-milk mozzarella, olives, prosciutto, and fried egg.  I love it when they serve this pizza with the egg still runny so you can smear warm liquid yolk all over the other toppings.  I also had antipasti of mixed cured salami, cheeses, and pickled vegetables. Very tasty!

As I was walking through the city after lunch I came across a white panel truck, which stopped at nearly every restaurant and bar.  At each stop, folks would load huge sacks of some kind into the truck in exchange for stacks of something wrapped in paper.  After I had seen this transaction at several establishments, I became sort of curious to see what was going on.  Closer investigate revealed that this truck was delivering subscriptions of tablecloths and napkins.  The sacks being loaded onto the truck were stuffed full of soiled linen, and the wrapped packages were stacks of freshly laundered tablecloths.  The vast majority seemed to be the traditional red and white checked cloth.  Now I know when so many restaurants in Italy have the same tablecloths: they subscribe to them!  Sort of like diaper service, but hopefully less messy to launder.

I returned home in the late afternoon, skyped Gary, and caught up on email and reference questions.   My friend Margaret sent a great YouTube link.  This video features tigers, panthers and other big cats in an animal sanctuary, playing with Halloween pumpkins.  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcT4paZfflg&feature=fvwk. 

Since I had eaten lunch out, I ate dinner at home.  On my way back to my apartment I had stopped at a local bar to buy a spit-roasted chicken (yes, in Italy you can buy these in many bars).  I had good rolls from the local baker and some slices of smoked mozzarella, so I made sandwiches for dinner.  I went out to the piazza for a little while and listened to the jazz ensemble playing next to the fountain, then went back home, talked to Gary for a minute, and went to bed.

Rainy Monday in Rome

Monday was a quiet day.  It started raining Sunday night, and Monday morning it was really pouring.  I spent a lot of the day at the academy library.  In the afternoon I returned to my apartment for lunch and skyped Gary.  By mid-afternoon the rain had let up, and the sky looked like a watercolor painting: blues and greys running together, with little bits of sun peeking through here and there.  I decided to go to the Vatican and visit St. Peter’s Basilica.  You really can’t visit Rome without going to St. Peter’s!

I’ve written in the past about the immensity and opulence of St. Peter’s, the biggest church in the world.   Since everything is ginormous, there is a sense of proportion that keeps you from realizing just how big everything is until you’re standing next to it.  The holy water fonts are in the form of fat little baby angels (yes, art historians; I know they’re called putti) holding a bowl of water.  Once you approach, though, you realize that the fat little baby is as big as I am!  The length of the nave on the inside is longer than two football fields.  The subdued sky was a vivid contrast to the white, tan and gold of the basilica’s exterior, and the interior illumination made the colored marble and gilt bronze inside the basilica seem to glow.  Either because it had been raining or because it was Monday, there weren’t many people in the huge church.  A priest was saying mass at one of the dozens of side altars (only the Pope can use the high altar), but otherwise the church was quiet.  I spent some time walking around and looking at the art; a lot of it is by Bernini, one of my favorite sculptors and architects.

After returning to Trastevere, I spent a quiet evening at home.  I ate a salad and some fresh bread from the wood-oven bakery, wrote up some notes, and went to bed.

I put up a few pics from Sunday.  Check out the giant steak at http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625009418769/.

Sunday steak

Sunday was another beautiful day.  The morning was partly overcast, with the early sun shining through the mass of white and blue-grey clouds rolling in from the Mediterranean.  The bells of Rome’s 1,100 churches rang throughout the morning, trying to persuade the city to attend services (most Romans only go to church on major holidays, although a few, mostly older women, go to mass daily).  I cleaned the apartment a little, went through my email and caught up on the news, and prepared for Sunday dinner.  Sunday is the one time that Romans eat their main meal mid-day rather than the evening (on weekdays, Italians eat dinner at 9 or even 10 pm).  Sunday dinner is a family-and-friends affair in Rome, and is often eaten in one of the thousands of trattorie of the city.  I am always amazed at the behavior of Italian children in public.  They often accompany their parents to dinner, parties, and other outings.  I have never seen a parent reprimand or punish a child publicly in Italy; I have never seen an Italian kid doing anything that would deserve it.   I’m sure that they misbehave sometimes, but they don’t do it in public. 

Since this was my last Sunday in Rome this visit, there was only one place to go: Tony’s, famous for their bistecca fiorentina, an oak-grilled t-bone steak weighing a full two kilos; that’s nearly four and a half pounds.  While I was in Rome on sabbatical a couple of years ago I had partaken of this caveman meal several times.  I had last eaten there a few days ago, and Tony and Alex, the Egyptian headwaiter, asked me to return on Sunday.  Since I’ve been pretty good about eating on this trip (except for the gelato), I figured I could handle a little cholesterol.   Tony greeted me, Alex gave me a great seat outside in the shade, and I started off with a mixed salad of greens and vegetables with porcini mushrooms.  It’s mushroom season right now, and the shrooms are spectacular.  After the salad came the steak, looking like a hunk of mammoth-meat from The Flintstones.  The piece of meat was literally four inches thick.  I had asked for it al sangue (bloody), and I was not disappointed.  The outside was deliciously charred, but the steak bled when I cut into the red center.  Just in case this wasn’t enough food, the steak came with a side of potatoes roasted with rosemary in the meat’s drippings, as well as grilled tomatoes and radicchio.  It took an hour for me to eat the entire thing.  Although I swore I couldn’t eat another bite, they brought me a slice of torta made with ricotta, dark chocolate, espresso and orange.  I had arrived at Tony’s about 12:15; it was nearly 2:30 by the time I left.

In serious need of a stroll to walk off some of my monstrous meal, I went down to the Tiber and walked along the embankment across from the synagogue and Jewish quarter.  The day had turned sunny again, warm but not hot.  During the past few days the leaves on the sycamores had just begun to turn, but were still mostly green.  The palms and umbrella pines stay green all year.  Flowers were still blooming everywhere.  Other folks were out for their Sunday afternoon walk as well, families with children and couples dressed to the hilt to walk the dog.  I headed back into Trastevere, went up to my apartment, and skyped Gary.  We talked for a while, and I did a little bit of work.  By now it was turning to evening, so I went back out to enjoy the last light of day on the steps of the fountain in the piazza.  I took a short stroll through the maze of Trastevere, then called it a day and headed home.

More pics coming, including exclusive photos of the biggest steak you’ve probably ever seen.

Etruscans, rally, and laundry

Since it was the weekend, on Saturday I decided to take the day off work and visit the Etruscan museum.  This museum is housed in the Villa Giulia, a beautiful suburban villa in the northern part of Villa Borghese, Rome’s large public park.  I took the tram to Largo Argentina and caught a bus there.  The museum is excellent, filled with fantastic Etruscan antiquities.  The Etruscans were a strange people who dominated central Italy before the Romans (Tuscany is named after them), and much of their history and culture is still only partially understood.  When Rome was only a small city-state it was dominated for a while by Etruscans.  The Roman Republic was founded in 509 BC after driving out the last Etruscan king.  Unfortunately, I only got one photo in the museum before a guard yelled NO FOTO! at me (there were no signs).  I spent the morning going through the well-displayed and labeled exhibits of vases, weapons, sculpture, jewelry, and funerary monuments.  They do permit photography in the outside areas of the villa, which include a reconstructed Etruscan temple, so I took some pics there.

In the early afternoon I headed home.  A tram took me to Piazza del Popolo, where I unexpectedly encountered a huge rally of labor unions, activist groups, and students protesting the government.  I heard shouts of Berlusconi fascista! and Berlusconi va*******lo, so I assumed that they weren’t fans of the current prime minister.  I was about the only person crossing Piazza del Popolo in my direction; going the other way were about 10,000 other people.  I took some pics of the rally in Popolo.  The entire atmosphere was very festive; despite the anti-government shouts, people seemed to be having a great time, dancing and drinking wine while the speakers were talking.  The piazza looked quite cheerful with hundreds of balloons and banners decorating the baroque buildings and ancient obelisk in the center of the square.  Needless to say it took about twenty minutes to cross the piazza.   Walking down the street to Piazza di Spagna was like walking against a parade.  I eventually made it to Largo Argentina and caught the tram back to Trastevere.

At home I skyped Gary and we talked for a while.  Then I decided to try a new adventure: laundry in the little, high-tech washing machine next to the shower.  It’s not very big, and six pairs of socks and boxers made an entire load.  I remembered to put the drain hose into the bathtub (otherwise the water would drain all over the floor and drip into the shop below me).  The machine was actually very easy to use, but slow; a load takes over an hour to wash.  There’s no dryer, but the apartment has a drying rack, which I unfolded and set up in the living room.  The best part of doing laundry was the detergent, which smells so good you almost want to drink it.  The scent is muschio bianco, or white moss.  I don’t know if white moss is edible.  I’ll have to find out.

It was getting late, so I skyped Gary again, then went for a walk to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, my usual evening hangout.  The night was warm and the piazza was busy with both trasteverini and tourists.   An accordionist on a unicycle entertained the crowd for a little while, followed by an ensemble of guitar, saxophone, double bass and electric piano.  They were pretty good, and played traditional Italian music interspersed with pieces directed at American tourists, including Frank Sinatra songs and the theme music from The Godfather and The Sopranos.  After a small gelato (limone) I went inside, checked my email, and went to bed.

Some new pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625131027846/.

Friday in town

I walked all over town again on Friday.  Museum in the morning to check out some inscriptions, then I decided to got to Piazza Montecitorio, where the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian legislature, meets.  In the middle of the piazza is a big obelisk that Augustus brought from Egypt after he conquered to country.  This obelisk was originally the gnomon (pointer) of a huge sundial, the horologium Augusti.  There is an inscription on the base of the obelisk that I have been trying to photograph for years.  I never get a good shot because the light is difficult (the piazza is surrounded by tall buildings that block most of the sun).  Once again, I got a few shots, but they’re not really legible.  The trip was not wasted, though, because the obelisk stands right in front of Herder, an excellent bookstore, in which I identified several additions for the library’s collection. 

Since it was nearby, I took a stroll over to Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps.  Hundreds of pots of seasonal flowers often decorate the steps, but this time they were bare so people could sit there and enjoy the autumn sun.  At the foot of the steps is one of Bernini’s least monumental work, and one of my favorites: the Barcaccia fountain.  Since the aqueduct that supplies the water for this fountain is at low pressure at this point, Bernini designed the fountain to look like a leaky old boat.  Piazza di Spagna was as busy as usual.  This is a fashionable district, filled with boutiques and outlets for major Italian designers.  One fashionable lady was taking her wiener dog for a walk.  She kindly let me take a pic of the pup. 

I decided to walk back home, although it’s a hike (I needed to walk of my daily gelato).  On the way I stopped by the Trevi Fountain, beloved by tourists, pickpockets, and fans of Fellini’s La dolce vita.  I love this huge fountain, which symbolized for me everything I love about Rome.  If the Trevi were in Paris or London, it would be set in the center of a huge square or beautiful garden.  It’s in Rome, though, and the fountain is actually bigger than the piazza it’s set in (a Roman once told me that piazza is Italian for “parking lot”).  This is a great place to people-watch, so I stayed a few minutes.  I noticed that the orange jeans that men wore two years ago have given way to dark denim that is so shiny and stiff that it looks like it has been shellacked.  Also prominent is a hairstyle, often seen on boys and men from ages about 10 to 30, that I call the “modified Caesar hedgehog.”  Picture the guy’s hair about two inches long all over.  Now imagine a line drawn from ear to ear, going right over the top of the crown of the head.  All of the hair behind this line on the back of the head is spiked up like a porcupine.  The front half is then slicked forward into Caesar bangs that are plastered to the forehead.  I’ve seen lots of guys with this hair, and I am surprised that it doesn’t melt in the sun.  I left Trevi and headed for home.

Speaking of the sun, the beautiful day suddenly started to cloud over.  Huge, dramatic clouds came rolling in from the coast just as I was crossing the Tiber near the Vatican.  Since I was near the Ponte Sant’Angelo I decided to try a couple of artsy photos of one of the angel statues with a background of clouds and sunlight (they’re on Flickr).  I headed back for the final leg of my walk, strolling along the Tiber to Trastevere.  At home I stuffed some salad greens and mortadella into a roll for dinner, which I ate on the steps of the fountain in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere.  I skyped Gary and talked for a while, caught up on email, took some notes, and went to bed.

Some more pics

I've uploaded more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625121707680/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157625122006666/.  More blogging and pics coming!

Happy Homecoming!

So will Penn State beat Illinois?

Ten Ways in Which Rome is Like State College

Thursday was a fairly uneventful day.  I got up, did some research, and hit a couple of museums, to which I will be returning in a couple of days.  The weather continues to be beautiful, so I’ve been walking a lot.  I’ve gotten used to cobblestones again, too.

I skyped a few people today, including Gary, my mother (hi Mom!), and my friend Anne, who let me see her beautiful newborn daughter Lily (I wish I could sleep like that!).  The evening was so fine that I decided to go out to the piazza for a few minutes before I went to bed.  Sitting on the steps of the fountain and watching the people in the square around me, I started to think about how, despite their differences, people everywhere are a lot alike.  So here are my

Ten Ways in Which Rome is Like State College:

10: In both Rome and State College, ice cream is serious business.

9. People are on their cell phones all the time.

8.  All sense of courtesy is abandoned while riding public transportation.

7.  iPods.

6.  Lady Gaga is playing everywhere.

5.  Alarms start blasting every time the power goes out.

4.  It’s hard to decide which are more dangerous, the drivers or the pedestrians.

3.  Every clock is set to a different time.

2.  A lot of students seem to be majoring in alcohol.

1.  The town goes crazy with insane fans whenever there’s a home football game.

More photos coming soon!

Working on Wednesday

Wednesday was another beautiful day in Rome.  In the morning I went to the academy library again, and ran into a colleague from ALA.  Every time I’ve ever been in Rome, I’ve seen someone I know from the US.  We chatted a while, mostly about how glad we were to be missing East Coast American weather.  I did some more work in the library, stopped for coffee at the Bar G on top of the Gianicolo (this was a place where I hung out when I was in Rome during grad school), and came home to the apartment.  Gary skyped me and we talked for a while. 

I went downtown in the afternoon.  The day was perfect: upper 70s and sunny.  It’s amazing to see roses and rhododendrons blooming in October!  The flowers, umbrella pines and palm trees were a contrast with what I hear about the weather back home.  I caught tram 8 to Largo Argentina.  The streetcar was so packed, I felt like a sardine.  I am astounded at how many people will cram into a bus or tram car in Italy.  The shuttle on game day in State College isn’t even close.  Not only were people standing on the seats rather than sitting to make more room, but also two teenage girls were actually passed overhead like fans at a concert.  Since it was so warm outside, it was stifling in the tram, and the blend of clashing perfumes, colognes, and unwashed American college students was nearly overpowering.  Despite the heat, most of the Romans were wearing jackets, and one woman actually had on a scarf and mittens. 

We finally got into town and I took some photos of various archaeological sites and hit a couple of bookstores to look for stuff to buy for the library.  Since the weather was so fine and I had done so much walking, I figured I deserved gelato, so I had a small cone with fig and apple.  I walked it off by walking back to Trastevere rather than cramming into the tram again.  Along the way I ran into a charming older couple, dressed to the nines to take their four dogs for a walk (yes, Anne, they have dachshunds in Rome!).  I asked if I could take a picture of their dogs, which they graciously permitted, and then chatted with me for a couple of minutes, letting me practice my Italian on them and asking about the mid-term American elections.  Italians love to discuss politics, both their own and anyone else’s. 

Before could cross the bridge at Tiber Island back into Trastevere I had to wait for a military convoy to pass down the lungotevere.  Rome is filled with soldiers and military police right now.  In many European cities it is not uncommon to see soldiers stationed around town, and in Rome always has soldiers around.  They often carry huge automatic weapons as they stroll around town, and I’ve seen carabinieri direct traffic with assault rifles strapped to their chests.  However, I’ve never seen this many in Rome at one time. Even on duty they manage to look stylish in that way that seems to be innate to Italians.  Some officers at government buildings wear dress uniforms that look almost napoleonic, right down to the gilt hilts on the sabers they wear at their sides. The soldiers are always extremely polite, nodding a greeting and calling me signore.

In the evening I ate a little salad at home, sitting by the window and looking out at the piazza.  I wrote up some notes, answered a couple of reference questions (Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek poetry), and inventoried my laundry.  I haven’t tried out the mini-washer yet, but it looks like I will soon: I’m down to one pair of pants, two shirts, and two pairs of socks and boxers.

I’ve finally posted some pictures.  The uploads take a long time because the file are big (12 pixel camera), so I’ve been selective.  You can see my Flickr set “Rome October 2010 here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157624985334135/detail/.

Skinny yogurt in a saucepan

Tuesday I got up early again and got ready to go back to the academy library.  I had my usual breakfast of yogurt and granola.  The yogurt carton says Magro! in huge letters.  Since this means “skinny” in Italian I assume that it’s low fat.  The kitchen in my flat is nicely equipped with cookware, dishes, and utensils, but for some reason there are no bowls.   I eat my breakfast out of a small saucepan. 

Shaving is a little bit of an adventure here.  The sink in the bathroom is the proper height for your average Italian, meaning that it’s about waist-level for me.  I have to bend almost in half to get my face close enough to get wet.  Other than that, though, the bathroom like the rest of the apartment is pretty nice.  There is a tiny washing machine next to the shower.  Maybe Wednesday I will try it out.  I’ll have to remember to put the drain hose into the bathtub.

I caught the 115 bus up the Gianicolo and hit the library to check some references for topography and inscriptions from the late Republic and early Empire.  The library does not have wireless; you have to plug your notebook in with an Ethernet cable if you want Internet.  There are also a few public workstations to use.  I took my iPad this time because it’s lighter and took notes with it.  A few hours of epigraphic research goes a long way; when I finished for the morning I headed back down the hill to my apartment and a quick skype chat with Gary.  Then I headed into the city to visit another of my favorite monuments, the Ara Pacis Augustae, the Altar of Imperial Peace that the Senate dedicated to commemorate the peace that Augustus brought to the Roman world (by military conquest, political shrewdness, and being the richest person alive at the time).  The day turned very warm and sunny, a contrast to what friends at home tell me the weather is like there.

The Ara Pacis is a great work of sculpture in white marble.  An open enclosure, decorated with superb reliefs of religious symbols and a procession of religious and political figures, including Augustus and the imperial family, surrounds the altar itself.  Mussolini had the monument put in a hideous building that looked like a Fascist-era airplane hangar. It is now housed in a museum on the east bank of the Tiber.  The museum was designed by the American architect Richard Meier, and I love it.  It’s very minimalistic and in my opinion is a great setting for the altar.  Lots of Italians hate it, mostly because an Italian didn’t design it.

In the late afternoon I headed back to Trastevere and stopped to get something for dinner: a couple of arancini.  These traditional Roman street snacks are deep-fried balls of risotto with a center of vegetables and buffalo-milk mozzarella.  I took them home and had with a salad, eating once again on the steps of the fountain in Piazza Santa Maria di Trastevere.  A couple of Australian college students tried to hit me up for a “loan.”  I asked them if they had any collateral.  They changed “loan” to “handout,” and I told them that I was a poor student too.  I don’t think that they were amused.  Then I went to the little market in the middle of Trastevere (I was out of skinny yogurt).  Just as I was entering, the power went out for the entire block because of some construction going on.  This of course then set off a bunch of alarms (just like at the library at home!).  Eventually the power came back and I got my yogurt.

I took a walk around Trastevere as it was getting dark.  Since so many places are closed on Mondays, Tuesday tends to be a little rowdy.  Much of the rowdiness comes from American college students studying abroad who discover early on that Italians will sell alcohol to anyone over the age of nine.  I’m really glad that this apartment has double-glazed soundproof windows.  I headed home, checked email, read a little, and went to bed.

Starting work

I got up early Monday to head up to the Academy.  I say “up” because it’s at the top of the Gianicolo, the highest hill in Rome.  I saw that Gary had posted pics of our cats, Erik the Red and Xander the Great, on Facebook.  Take a look at them if you haven’t seem them!

The American Academy in Rome was founded in the late 19^th century to promote the humanities and the fine arts.  It’s in a beautiful villa on top of the hill, and has an excellent library for Roman studies.  I can catch the 115 bus a couple of blocks from my flat and be there in a few minutes.  I could walk, but the Gianicolo is both high and steep, and my knees weren’t up to it today.  I spent some time there looking for materials on the topography of the city during the reign of Augustus, the first emperor.  I’ll be going back tomorrow. 

The bus ride down the Gianicolo is more exciting that going up.  The streets are narrow, steep, and switch back and forth in a couple of hairpin turns.  This being Italy, the bus dodges cars and fleets of motor scooters.  It’s actually easier to stand on this bus than sit, because you’re likely to get thrown out of your seat at some of the turns.  After leaving the bus, I stopped on my way home at one of the street stalls on Viale di Trastevere to buy a new moka pot; the one in my flat has a bad gasket.  Six euro wasn’t a bad deal.  I also bought some fruit at the frutteria and bread at the bakery.  I skyped Gary, and then went across the river to a couple of major Augustan monuments, the Portico of Octavia and the Theater of Marcellus.  Octavia was Augustus’ sister and Marcellus her son.  Marcellus would probably have been Augustus’ heir had he not died young.  The emperor built these monuments to honor his sister and her son.  Augustus sort of owed Octavia, since he married her off to Mark Antony, who eventually ditched her for Cleopatra.  Both Cleopatra and Octavia had children by Antony, and after Cleopatra and Antony’s death, Octavia raised their children with her own (the lives of the Julio-Claudians is a soap opera, for sure).

It started to rain in the evening, so I returned home to eat a dinner of salad and fresh bread baked with rosemary.  The city is beautiful in the twilit rain, with all of the lights shining on the colored stucco walls and tile roofs of Trastevere.  Many restaurants and clubs (and museums) are closed on Mondays, so Monday evening is comparatively peaceful.  I wrote up some notes and got ready for the next morning, when I would return to the Academy for more research.

I promise that photos are coming! 

Sunday dinner at Tony's

Sunday was a beautiful day in Roma.  I got up early and had breakfast at home (granola and yogurt, coffee and juice) and did some work.  Then I went for a walk along the Tiber and back into Trastevere for Sunday dinner, the only day that Romans eat a big meal at noon (well, closer to 1 or 1:30).  I decided to go to Tony’s, a place where I hung out a lot while I was in Roma on sabbatical.  As I approached the trattoria I saw Alex, the head waiter, a friend I made the last time I was here.  He immediately recognized me and grabbed me.  I got the two-cheek kiss, and he asked me how I’d been the past two years.  Alex gave me an outdoor seat in the shade and ran inside to get Tony, the owner.  Another double-kiss and handshake, and then the whole staff came out to welcome me back to Trastevere.  It was great!  The Sunday special is lamb grilled on oak, so I had that, and they gave me a big tray of mixed antipasti (roasted vegetables, frittata, beans, olives, prosciutto, salami, and greens) and a glass of wine, none of which they charged me for.  What a great welcome back to Trastevere!

After dinner, I took another walk through the neighborhood and had a gelato (lemon, wild berry, and pear), which I ate on the steps of the fountain in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere.  This ancient and beautiful church, one of the oldest in the world, is the center of Trastevere, and the piazza is the social center of the neighborhood.  Tourists and trasteverini alike were hanging out in the square, on the fountain steps, or in one of the cafes around the piazza.  Several people had their dogs with them, and these were running around playing.  In Rome, people take their dogs nearly everywhere: cafes, bars, restaurants, sometimes even church (although they usually leave them on the porch).  They often let their dogs run loose, but I’ve never seen one bother anyone, beg, or jump on people.  The dogs do, however, often play with each other, and sometimes chase each other.  Two of particularly frisky mutts were chasing each other around the fountain in circles, when one finally ran up the steps and dove into the water!  The other dog followed of course, and then they jumped out of the basin and did what wet dogs do: they shook water all over everyone within ten feet.  It was quite amusing, because the main recipients of this canine baptism were a group of grimy American students who looked like they could have used a dunk in the water themselves.  The entire square burst into laughter.  It was a memorable moment.

In the evening I skyped Gary, caught up on my email, answered a couple of reference questions (yes, I am still working), and prepared for Monday morning, when I would register for a Reader'Card at the American Academy in Rome.

An autumn day in Rome

Saturday I slept in until almost noon.  I needed to catch up on some sleep.  I Skyped Gary and talked to him (and the cats!) and then got ready to go downtown.  I have a great bathroom here, with a nice shower (the bathmat works great, Emily!).  The shower has an adjustable massaging showerhead, with one really strong setting that I refer to as “sand-blast.” 

Only a couple of blocks away from me is a tram stop.  Tramline #8 goes right to the middle of the centro storico, the old center of the city.  I got off at Largo Argentina, one of my favorite spots in town.  In the middle of the square is an archaeological site with four ancient Republican-era temples.  It also houses the cat sanctuary that I visit every time I come to Rome.  They feed, fix, and care for some of the millions of stray cats in the city.  The cats roam free among the ruins, and it always amuses me to look down and see first a couple, then several, then dozens of cats sunning themselves on broken marble columns and stairs, just a short distance from where Julius Caesar was assassinated. 

Rome in autumn is fantastic.  The weather is warm, 70s during the day, and it’s been sunny so far.   The sycamores along the Tiber’s embankments are still green, and there are flowers everywhere.  At night it cools off to the 50s and 60s.  The city is busy, but not crowed with tourists the way it is in May and June.  I strolled through town heading toward one of the most beautiful public spaces in the world, Piazza Navona.  This long, oval piazza follows the outline of an ancient Roman chariot racetrack.  It’s often full of artists and street performers, and today was no different.  I decided to have a traditional Roman meal there, one of my favorites: spaghetti alla carbonara, pasta with eggs, cheese and pancetta.  A nice green salad with oil and balsamic vinegar and some good bread made dinner on Piazza Navona a perfect relaxing supper. 

After eating I headed for possibly my favorite Roman monument of all, the Pantheon.  This temple is the best preserved of all ancient buildings in Rome, and has been in continual use for nearly two thousand years, first as a temple to all the gods (that’s what pan theon means in Greek), then as a church dedicated to Saint Mary, Patroness of Martyrs, and now as the burial place of the kings of modern Italy (except for Victor Emmanuel III, who let Mussolini run Italy while the king spent World War II hunting on the royal game preserve in Tuscany; no wonder the Italians voted the monarchy out and established a republic after the war).  The Pantheon is amazing: one huge domed chamber, the largest dome ever built until the Superdome.  The temple has survived so well because the dome was cast as a single casting of concrete.  Shrines around the perimeter of the chamber used to house statues of the great gods of the Roman state.  Now they are chapels to saints or tombs of royalty.  The artist Raphael is buried here too.  A single red rose is usually on his tomb, and there was one today. 

I left the Pantheon and continued my walk throughout the center of town.  I came to a church (actually, there are usually several churches within spitting distance in downtown Rome) and saw folks heading inside, so I followed them.  The church was preparing to celebrate Mass.  As soon as I heard the organ play Frescobaldi I decided to stay.  No, I’m not Catholic, but I like good music.  The organist and choir were both very good, and I figured that following the liturgy would prep me for all the Latin I’d be reading the next two weeks. 

It was well after dark when I left, so I did what all Romans seem to do after mass: I stopped for gelato.  Now is not the time to wax poetical about ice cream (it’s actually ice milk), so I’ll just say that Rome is worth visiting just for the gelato.  Italians think you’re crazy if you only get one or two flavors, so I had stracciatella (heavy vanilla with dark chocolate pieces worked into it), pistachio, and hazelnut.  The weather was perfect, warm but not hot with a soave zeffiretto (a gentle breeze), so I walked all the way home.   The walk made me feel less guilty about the gelato and carbonara.  I got home late, after 10 pm (20:00 here), and went to bed.

Getting settled in Trastevere

The flight out of State College on Thursday was incredibly rough.  It was raining, and the plane was a two-propeller puddle jumper.  A few times we actually bounced so hard that overhead bins popped open.  It was sort of an exciting way to leave home!  We still landed safely in Philly, and I whiled away my seven-hour layover listening to 17^th century chamber music (Marin Marais and William Lawes) and watching episodes of Robot Chicken.  I knew the iPad would come in handy!

It was raining all day Thursday in Philadelphia.  The weather wasn’t bad enough to cancel flights, but the planes were backing up on the runway because takeoffs were slow.  We boarded on time, and to my delight I discovered that the only two empty seats on the entire plane were next to me.  I had an entire row to myself!  This meant that I could actually stretch my legs out, and when the passenger ahead of me reclined, it didn’t demolish my kneecaps.  Once we pulled out of our gate the pilot announced that there were 25 planes ahead of us waiting to take off, so we were delayed for over an hour.  Once we got in the air, the trip was uneventful.  The on-flight entertainment looked wretched, so once again I turned to my own programming via iPad.  This also gave me a chance to peruse my favorite catalog of all time, Sky Mall (I wonder who actually buys this stuff?).  The food was edible (barely), but at least they didn’t charge for it.  I tried unsuccessfully to sleep (I’d been awake since about 4:30 am and it was now almost 11 pm).  Finally, I gave up and watched more Robot Chicken (Seth Green is a comedic genius!). 

I love the night flight to Europe.  You fly through and over the darkness into the dawn.  The sun came up, and out of the left windows we could see the coast of Tuscany and Lazio; on the right side, the sun was shining on the silver and blue waters of the Mediterranean.  We landed smoothly, and I made it through passport control in just a few minutes.  I got my luggage, turned down several black market cabbies, and caught a city taxi into town.  The driver knew exactly where I was going, and soon we were winding through the narrow, cobbled maze of alleys that is Trastevere, the old medieval neighborhood on the west bank of the Tiber south of the Vatican, at the foot of the Gianicolo hill.  On the way I phoned the agent for my apartment, who told me that it was still being cleaned, but I could pick up my keys and drop off my luggage. 

The apartment is very nice: sunny, with huge windows and double-paned glass to shut out the night noise of Trastevere.  There is a full kitchen with gas stove and oven, a bath with shower, a living room on the corner, and a separate bedroom.  The ceilings are high, all the walls are whitewashed, and it’s comfortable and full of light.  As soon as they were done cleaning I called Gary via Skype.  Free international videophone!  It’s the only way to call.  We talked a while, and then I unpacked.  I was exhausted, but decided to stay up as long as I could to adjust my sleep schedule.  I went shopping for groceries: juice (blood orange and pomegranate), fresh fruit and salad greens, coffee for the moka pot, bread hot from a wood-fired oven, and cold cuts (prosciutto, mortadella, and turkey breast).   

By now it was Friday afternoon, and I was starving.  I decided to have my first meal at my favorite cybercafé in Rome, Good, about five minutes away.  I ordered a liter of water con gas and a huge mixed salad of greens and roasted vegetables.  I strolled through Trastevere, happy to discover that I remembered my way through the warren of winding alleys and streets.  Finally I went home, checked my email (the apartment has wireless!), talked to Gary again, and went to bed early because I hadn’t slept in about 30 hours.

In Roma

I arrived safely and am in my apartment. More tomorrow because I have to finish getting settled and then go to bed; I haven't slept in about 30 hours.

Off to Roma-arrivederci!

I'm done packing and getting ready. It's 5:30 am and raining. Thunderstorms and heavy winds predicted for the entire day, so I'm really hoping I get out on time. The next time I post, I'l probably be in Roma (or laid over in Philly!).

Laundry, packing and whatnot

I'm doing laundry and packing for tomorrow. I'm trying to travel light this time: one carry-one, a computer bag, and one medium-size checked case. In addition to what I'll wear traveling, I'll have two pairs of pants and half a dozen shirts, a sport coat and tie (I have to look presentable for some venues, and this is Italy!), and the usual unmentionables. There's one other thing I like to travel with, a rubber bath mat for the shower. Europeans apparently have suction cups on their feet, because they never have bath mats in their incredibly slick showers. Having nearly killed myself more than once slip-sliding around in a European shower, I now travel with one.

Off to Roma again!

I realize that I haven't posted here for over two years, since I returned from Roma last time. Since I'm going back to Roma to do some research, I thought I'd start posting again.

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