Thursday 27 October 2011

The weather this morning was perfect: 70s, sunny, with a light breeze. I decided to go back to the heart of ancient Roma: the Forum Romanun, the Coliseum, and the Imperial Forums.  The water from last week’s flash flood storm had finally drained so I was able to do some closer examination of some sites.  The city wasn’t too crowded for once, one of the nice things about this time of year (the tourists swarm Roma in May and June).  Outside Julius Caesar’s forum a clarinet player was performing next to the Temple of Venus Genetrix. He asked me what I wanted to hear.  I told him Mozart’s clarinet concerto, and to my surprise he started in on the first movement!  I gave him two euro. 

The area around the Coliseum was packed as usual.  There are always guys dressed as gladiators and centurions around the amphitheater who will pose with you (for a fee) for photos.  My quest is always to sneak a picture of someone in costume doing something anachronistic like smoking, talking on a cell phone, or ogling a passing woman (that’s actually not anachronistic).  This time I was able to get a couple of pics of a centurion who was so lazy that he didn’t remove his hoodie before putting on his breastplate. The hood was pushed back over his armor and cloak and looked pretty funny. 

I decided to head north a little, so I went to the Coliseo metro stop and rode the subway a couple of stops.  I got out and wandered around, finally climbing the Quirinal Hill to the old royal palace, now the official home of the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano (not to be confused with the Prime Minister, the notorious and soon-to-be-booted-out Silvio Berlusconi).  This is at the top of the highest of the seven hills of Roma (the Vatican and Janiculum Hills across the river don’t count) and the view was spectacular.  It was also time to eat, so I wandered down the hill to find someplace to have lunch.  On the way I passed the Trevi Fountain, so of course I stopped and threw my coin in, thus ensuring my eventual return to the Eternal City.  I threw one in for Gary, too. 

I strolled a few blocks away from the fountain to find lunch (never eat within three blocks of a major tourist attraction) and settled on an outdoor table in the shade.  The waiter said that they had just finished baking cannellini stuffed with veal and ricotta, which was as good as it sounds.  I finished this with caffe freddo, sweetened cold espresso, so I’d have the necessary caffeine jolt to complete my walk around town.  Since I was in the area I stopped at two of the great baroque churches in the area, San Ignazio and il Gesu.  These are both Jesuit churches, and both are opulently decorated with polychromatic marbles, gilt bronze, and priceless works of sculpture and painting.  Both of these churches have astonishingly impressive frescoes covering their vaulted ceilings. I no longer try to take photos of church ceilings because they are just too big and too high unless you have the right lenses and a tripod.  The priests usually won’t let you set up a tripod anyway.  I overheard a couple of American college students in il Gesu debating, only half joking, whether they should go to confession to confess what they did the night before.  I wish that I could have overheard what exactly it was that they needed to confess so badly. 

Eventually I made my way to Largo Argentina, where I caught the tram back to Trastevere and went back to my apartment to write up some notes before dinner.  That evening I video-chatted with my parents on Skype for a while (hi, Mom and Dad!) and read some more before going to bed.  I meant to get to bed halfway early and made it by midnight (in Roma that is early), since tomorrow is supposed to bring more sunshine and I want to get up early.  Gary tells me that it’s cold and wet at home so I intend to make the most of the good weather here.