Now, I'm not one to over-romanticize relationships, and I don't want to be too sappy, but Italy and I have been together for a little over one month now and I want to shout it from the rooftops! I'm in love and I don't care who knows it! I've only known Italy for a little over thirty days, but as they say, when you meet the right one it feels like you've known them forever. I also don't want to be the kind of girl who drops everything and everyone for their new lover, but you might not be seeing me for awhile. We are far too caught up in each other.
Sadly, we must part for about ten days. It's gonna be really hard, and I hope the new boys of Berlin and Dublin don't steal my heart, because I'm very committed to Italy (and extended metaphors).
Anyways, I just returned from my weekend trip to Rome. I kind of forgot about Rome, whether it is the over-exposure or the fact that every cool picture of art and factoid desensitized me to it, but Rome is literally the coolest city I've ever been. I love Florence, and I love living in Tuscany, but Rome is Rome, and thus on a different scale entirely. Most places you go, including large cities, a tourist site consists of just one popular landmark. Not so in Rome. There is actually too much to look at. I was thinking on the bus ride down there, man, everything is in Rome, this will be so awesome, etc. But then I got off the bus and was like, wait, EVERYTHING is here. Literally, everything. The ancient Roman fora, the innumerable triumphal arches of Roman emperors, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Piazza di Fiori, the Vatican.
The first thing we saw was the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. I love seeing things I studied in art history in person. It's like meeting a movie star and I did it all day long in Rome. The Colosseum was magnificent. It's crazy to see/be in and even crazier to imagine it in its original context. Now, it's just a skeleton of it's former self. Maybe it was the fact that we watched Ridley Scott's Gladiator on the ride down there, but as I stood in the Colosseum I saw the enormous amphitheater rebuild itself, watched sand cover the base and animals and men sprout from the now-mossy ground floor, and heard the cheers and jeers of the ravenous crowded.
By the time we reached the Pantheon, I was utterly exhausted, and kind of asleep on my feet. But really, the majesty and perfection of that building blew me away and woke me right up. I seriously have absolutely no idea how anyone could build that, let alone the ancients. It's a perfect dome with a nine meter wide oculus at the top. How do you build a dome and also incorporate a nine meter wide perfect circle at the absolute apex????? Seriously, people. I don't care who you are, that is damn impressive.
Sometimes when I look at landmarks like that, really big, almost intimidatingly impressive buildings, I get that feeling you get on roller coasters- like your eyes and your brain can't handle the implications of the dimensions you're staring at and it kind of blows your mind so much so that you get physically a bit uncomfortable. That's how I feel staring up at the Duomo in Florence and the Pantheon, let alone everything St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
My two favorite things had to have been the Trevi fountain and the Vatican. Trevi is just basically the shit- it's so much bigger than I expected, and I'm pretty sure it's the coolest fountain ever made, ever seen, and ever to exist, ever. Did I mention ever? A couple friends and I decided to spend the first night drinking wine on the steps and just staring at the Trevi. The way the artists sculpted the fountain is so exemplary of the baroque style, the marble looks like it's moving and the figures are interacting with each other in a way that's so palpable you expect them to move. If you just stare at them, you'll swear they are slightly adjusting themselves every couple seconds. Pictures don't do it justice; its cerulean blue (esp. at night) and gorgeous and I love the sound of the water rushing, there's so much of it that it actually gives off a light, really refreshing breeze. Amazing. Three boxes (yes, boxes. I'm a lady.) of wine turned into another two bottles of wine and a bottle of champagne, which we popped on the steps to the confused looks of all the other fountain-goers. Anyway, all that alcohol turned into four really drunk American tourists, so duh, we hopped in the fountain. Apparently it's a hundred euro fine but we saw a woman go in before us. Cops are always around the Trevi and they didn't stop us. Tourism WIN.
Vatican City is ridiculous. The city is basically the Pope's city. The Vatican museums are like the Smithsonian- they have EVERYTHING. One of my friends made the comment that apparently the Vatican has a history of stealing artifacts and I really don't doubt it. They have an Egypt room with tons of sarcophagi and an actual mummy! I really geeked out when I got to see the ancient Assyrian art. The reliefs of Sennacherib, Assurbanipal, and Assurnasirpal were amazingggggg. The Vatican museums have pretty cool little courtyards too, one has a random pine cone sculpture, another is surrounded by ancient marble sculptures. Right before the Sistine Chapel is Raphael's fresco room- The School of Athens was awesome to see in person. Nothing can beat that damn Sistine though (sidenote: totally thought of that moment in Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams yells at Matt Damon, telling him he couldn't tell him what the Sistine Chapel smells like. I could! But it was just a general old-room smell. Damn.). I could spend hours in there just staring, especially at Michaelangelo Bounarroti's The Last Judgment. Ghirlandaio's side panel of the Preachings of Jesus is amazing too, especially in it's vibrant colors and perspectival prowess.
My favorite landmark, ever ever ever, is St. Peter's Basilica. I had always heard how impressive it is, but no picture nor description could ever do it justice. I seriously have no words for how amazing and stunning it is. It's the biggest church in the world and absolutely magnificent. It has tons of Bernini-style baroque sculptures that are like twenty feet tall and amazing.
I'm exhausted and in love with all of the above.
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