Day 76, 4/6/2010

Day 58, 3/19/2010

This was another day in Rome. We decided to go check out a park in the city that was the largest in the city. I think it was originally part of the Villa Borghese. The entire place was a park with some fountains and several museums as well as a zoo. We were looking forward to seeing the Musee Borghese. This museum contained some of the most famous Bernini sculptures including 'The Rape of Persephone' and 'Apollo and Daphne.' So after eating breakfast and riding the train over the the Piazza Poppolo. This was one of the beginning/entrance of the park. We decided to just head right in and follow the maps we had as best as we could. It was a great park mostly just because it was very very beautiful. I took pictures all over the place. We went to a lake in the park as well and I was able to get some nice pictures of Ducks and Geese. Eventually we came up to one of the museums in the park. We went in to see how much it would cost to go into the museum and we didn't know how long it would take. It cost more than we wanted to pay and we really wanted to get to the other museum. So we just purchased a more detailed map about the area and left. Eventually after walking through this park for several hours we got to the Musee Borghese. This was a slightly exciting moment just to get shot down by the people in the museum. Apparently this museum can be sold out and according to them we should have known that this museum required a reservation. This just really pissed us off because it says obligatory in the Roma Pass book. It was kinda wrong but it was the only place that we could see these sculptures obviously. So we got the number to call and after become extremely disgruntled. This was also the place that they were the rudest to us. They basically called us stupid for not knowing we needed to make a reservation. It was very disappointing so with our extra time we decided to go to the zoo because we wanted to make ourselves happier again. Animals could do that for us. When we got to the zoo it was quite enjoyable. We got to see a lot of different animals that we've never seen before, like the African Wild dog. That was really cool. The only sad thing was that you could tell they were board. The dog kept walking from one side to the other, back and forth. It was also really really cool because we got to see Asian Lions, and Indian Elephants both of which I don't remember ever seeing before. It was a nice day at the zoo we were able to see a lot of other animals as well. My favorite were the African Vultures. One had itself completely spread out on the ground it look like it was dead. We walked around the entire zoo and when we finished we grabbed a late lunch at one of the stands. I had a pizza sandwich. Then we headed out of the park out of the different exit on our way to the Parthenon to get some more Gelati because Catie had fallen in love with that Gelati shop that we ate at the day before. Then we headed to the museum that contained the Ara Pacis. This was cool because we got in for free, that was nice cause we didn't want to spend the money it would have cost to go in. This was really neat because it was yet another thing we learned about last semester. It was beautiful. I liked it because I got to see everything that I wanted to see on it. Sadly much of one of the panels was missing. That sucked a lot but I already knew that. We went through that place and while I was resting my feet Trisha came around the corner yelling at me about one of the people on the Altar. At about that time a gentle man came up to us and started talking to us about it and where we were from. Then he asked us what text books we used in our History classes. Trisha and I mentioned that we used "Art through the Ages." Then he says well I was one of the Authors. Both Trisha and my jaws dropped. It was like meeting a celebrity. We became kinda giddy after that. It was just really cool to get to talk to this guy. I was really happy about that. After we looked at this thing for a while Catie got bored and wanted to leave so we headed outside to see if we could figure out where we wanted to go next. While we were standing out there the same gentleman came out and talked to us again giving us some good places to go see and he pointed us in the direction of the Trevi Fountain. That was where we were headed next. This was awesome as well. Another Bernini fountain. All of us did the traditional throw the coins over our shoulder because that would bean we would return someday although for me to do it would be a little self serving I did it anyway. We only stayed there for a little while because it was really crowded and no body wanted to stay with all those people around. So we just left and headed on our way to the last place of the day at the Piazza Novona. I finally convinced them to go so we went and Trisha and Catie were really happy that I finally did. It was beautiful. I loved it. Sadly the fountain in the middle of the piazza was covered. We looked at it through the glass that they provided around the boards that covered it. After we walked around the piazza we found a shop that they wanted to shop at before we headed back to the hostel for the night in order to get some free food. They provided pasta for us for free, so it was only good to take advantage of it. So we headed back to the train station down the same street that we went down the day before in order to go home. Once we got there we had our pasta then went over to the other building where our rooms were so we could get ready for bed. Then they met up in my room so we could watch another episode of Glee before going to bed.


Day 59, 3/20/2010

This was the only day that I spent by myself. I decided to sleep in for a little while. At one point I got kinda mad at the cleaning lady because she came into my room at 9 in the morning while I was still sleeping I didn't like that too much. I was confused as well because I thought that they weren't suppose to start cleaning till after people had checked out. Any way, since I'm going back to Rome at the end of the semester I was ok with getting to sleep in. This was the day that Catie and Trisha were heading to the Vatican. I had the first part of the day to myself. I decided after I woke up to go and look at the bed and breakfast that Sean and I would be staying in at the end of the semester. One really cool thing is that it ended up being right next to the hostel that we were staying in so it didn't take me long to get over there. Right after that I decided I wanted to walk around so I did. I went and saw some of the ruins that were just a little ways down the street from us. After that I decided to go see one of the churches that we weren't able to see before now. After that I headed to the trains to meet up with Trisha and Catie at the Musee Borghese because the reservation we made the day before was for three. So, I got off at the piazza de Spagna. Then, headed toward the museum. This didn't take me long and I was actually at the park a while before I had to be so I grabbed some lunch at one of the street vendors just inside the park and sat down to eat it. As I ate I watched a pigeon bully his fellows for the little bit of food I dropped for him. It was funny because he would chase every other bird away so he could have the food. I don't just mean chasing them away for a few feet, he would chase them for up to ten feet before returning to the food. It was quite amusing. At about that time Trisha called to see where I was. I told them that I was almost there so I headed down the road toward the museum. It only took me about ten mins of walking to actually get to the building. So I decided to go into the shop so I could write down some names to books I was interested in. Then they called me again and I headed outside to meet up with them to go inside. This was yet again another amazing place. I was so excited to get to see the sculptures. The first one we saw was a lady lounging on a bed/couch. It was so well done I actually wanted to sit on the cushion on the couch. It really looked like it would squish if I did sit on it. It was so real. I was just amazed at the level of detail he put into it. There were even creases and stress lines on the cushion. I also loved the way he carved her hair. It was just as well done. I wish I had long enough hair so I could put my hair up like that as well. I just loved the entire work. This one, however, was nothing compared to the next two. These were the best pieces of sculpture I've ever seen. I would say that they are possibly better than Da Vinci. It was amazing. I was so excited to get to see these. Almost as much as Catie. She was about to jump out of her skin when she saw them. The articulation and the detail in each were just... wow! I could talk about these two pieces of work all day. The first one was 'Apollo and Daphne.' This was the point in the story where Daphne's father is turning her into a Laural tree. Because of Eros, Apollo had fallen madly in love with Daphne and also because of Eros she had her heart turned against Apollo. It was an impossible match because of the different arrows. So she asked her father to save her. By doing so, he turned her into the tree. This was an amazing sculpture because she is in that process. She has branches starting at her fingers, her feet are turning into roots and sending shooters into the ground. and she has bark and branched running up her body. Although she is still partially human. You can see the look of terror at being pursued by Apollo and not being able to get away. She even has a couple of tears carved on her cheek. I was completely amazed at this and how well it was made. The other sculpture was the 'Rape of Persephone.' This one was just as amazing. It has the part of the story of how Persephone became Hades' wife. The name of sculpture gives the point of the story. It was also just as amazing because of the detail and the realism of it. His fingers even made an impression into her skin so you could see the force he was using on her. It was just amazing at how real it looked. I was so surprised at this. I just wanted to look at this sculpture all day. However, we didn't have all day and there were other parts of the museum so we headed to the other rooms. Sadly nothing else was as amazing as those first three sculptures and we didn't see anything else that came close. Only one other thing is worth mentioning and that is a painting of Artemis's hunters as well as the goddess herself. It was so great because it was the group of hunters as well as a couple of men in the bushes off to the side. It was quite amusing because we know the story about Artemis if she would have found them they would be dead. Right their on the spot. After that we didn't do anything else for the rest of the day because we were really really tired and we were leaving the next day. So after the museum we headed back through the museum and then headed toward the metro station right outside the same metro station I came out of to get to the Villa Borghese. When we got back to our rooms we decided to take a little bit of a nap before the kitchen opened up for our free pasta. After we got our pasta we were still hungry so we headed to the pizza place we've eaten at before and got ourselves some pizza. Then we went back to my room to watch Glee and eat our pizza we watched two episodes because we didn't want to sleep yet. After they went to bed I watched a few more episodes and then went to sleep.