What would happen if I visited Rome without the knowledge of all these important structures in Rome? Probably I would have not enjoyed the city as much as I did during my two weeks of staying in Rome. Well, I don’t think it was just not the ancient ruins or the churches that fascinated me in the city. There are so many other things that made me love the city and still I miss the city.
The first day when I arrived in Rome, I did not believe that I could be able to travel around the city by myself. However, as I stayed in Rome more and more I felt like being in Rome is so natural and I wanted to pretend like I am a citizen of Rome. I remember my solo trip to Campo de’ Fiori and to a shoe store. I was a bit scared to go to Campo de’ Fiori because the place is a maze to me. However, I wanted my own time separated from my friends. Also, I wanted to find my secret places to go shopping. As soon as I arrived to Campo de’ Fiori I bought a cup of tiramisu at the famous pastry shop and stared to explore the place. I found a few great clothing stores and I promised myself to come back to the stores and buy some clothes. Then, I walked along the narrow streets of Campo de’ Fiori hoping to find my way back to St. John’s. I was kind of scared because I thought I might not be able to go back to the campus if I don’t find my way out of this place. However, at the same time I was excited to be in a place like a maze and to look for my exit. It was a new experience I have never had. Also, when I was looking for a shoe store I had the address of the store and a map to the place. I was finding the place by myself while I was looking at the map. I got lost several times. I passed the street where I was supposed to turn left. Eventually, I could not find the place. Reading a roman street map was harder than what I expected. After I gave up on finding that store and came back to St. John’s I decided to award myself a cup of cappuccino and a chocolate croissant for attempting to find a place by myself and get frustrated in the middle of a street where I have never been.
The morning coffee and a chocolate croissant was my favorite thing in Rome. I always loved to go to the café near St. John’s. I had my first Italian coffee there and I fall in love eating cream croissants with a cup of cappuccino at that place. Drinking coffee standing on the counter was such a new experience. When I was buying coffee in the states, I will go to the coffee store, which is usually Starbucks. Probably I will do drive thru because it’s more convenient. I will as for a grande Americano and ask for cream and sugar. However, in Rome I follow the Roman rule. I go up to the counter and order what I want to drink or eat and pay. In return the cashier gives me the receipt. I will bring the receipt to the counter and try to have an eye contact with the barista. When the barista sees me he or she tears up the side of the receipt and makes my coffee. The moment of waiting for my coffee is always exciting because so far I all the coffee I had in Rome never disappointed me. Also, drinking coffee and eating a croissant are the perfect combination. You never go wrong with these in Rome!
The other thing I can forget about the experience I had was walking down Tiber River at night. Tiber River during daytime is also pretty but the color of the river is not that clean. However, the view of river was really pretty especially the light lit up for the bridges. One night when Professor Jackie, Sandy, Allan, Katie and I walked back from the Piazza Navona we walked along the river. It was really beautiful and for a while we just stayed there and looked at the bridge. It was one of the most wonderful experiences I had in Rome. It became a really romantic and unforgettable memory.
Experiencing Roman life for two weeks was like a dream and it came by too fast. I miss Rome and I think I was so lucky to share this Romantic Roman life with such a good friends.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Santa Maria della concezione
Before I decide which small church I want to visit, I was not sure which one I should go. I did not really know any of the small churches I was supposed to visit. So I thought I would just go anywhere my friends want to go. However, the day before I was going to go to one of the small churches, I talked to Guerry and told me that there is a big surprise in Santa Maria della Concezione. She was strongly recommending me to go to Santa Maria della Concezione and she said that I wouldn’t be disappointed by the surprise.
I really did not know anything about the church. I thought the big surprise would be something like a beautiful art piece because that is what I have been seeing at churches. I was expecting Fresco with gold or diamonds. However, my imagination totally crashed when I saw what’s in the underground of the church.
When Sandy, Allan and me went to the church, we decided to go to the underground first. We lined up and we happily donated money for our big surprise. As soon as I got I could say was “oh my god.” Instead of being in church, a place where I should feel safe and calm, I thought I just entered a hell.
The rooms in the underground were decorated with human bones. Also, there were piles of human bones and skulls. These were not just random piles. Someone organized the bones in certain ways. One of the walls was covered by at least a hundred of hip bones. It was just outrageous. I felt that this is disgusting. I am not sure if the bones were donated to decorate the church or to show their worship to the god, I just couldn’t understand why would someone ever want to decorate a church with human bones. Are they some kind of scarifications? There ware really so many bones in the church. I think the bones belong to at least a thousand of people who are dead now.
After we looked around this horrifying room, we went up to see the inside of the church. The church looked really old. I don’t think the church is preserved as well as other famous churches. However, the church was not that different from the churches that I have visited in Rome so far. The ceiling art was very impressive and it had the small chapels on the sides.
The ceiling painting on the first chapel to the right from the entrance reminded me of what I saw at the underground of this church. There are a lot of faces in circles on the painting. That made me thinks about the piles of bones. Also, I thought that these might be the faces of owners’ of those bones.
At the last room there was a phrase that really crept me out. It was “What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be.” It really made me scary and I don’t think I will never be able to forget the moment of reading this phrase while I was surrounded by bones.
I really did not know anything about the church. I thought the big surprise would be something like a beautiful art piece because that is what I have been seeing at churches. I was expecting Fresco with gold or diamonds. However, my imagination totally crashed when I saw what’s in the underground of the church.
When Sandy, Allan and me went to the church, we decided to go to the underground first. We lined up and we happily donated money for our big surprise. As soon as I got I could say was “oh my god.” Instead of being in church, a place where I should feel safe and calm, I thought I just entered a hell.
The rooms in the underground were decorated with human bones. Also, there were piles of human bones and skulls. These were not just random piles. Someone organized the bones in certain ways. One of the walls was covered by at least a hundred of hip bones. It was just outrageous. I felt that this is disgusting. I am not sure if the bones were donated to decorate the church or to show their worship to the god, I just couldn’t understand why would someone ever want to decorate a church with human bones. Are they some kind of scarifications? There ware really so many bones in the church. I think the bones belong to at least a thousand of people who are dead now.
After we looked around this horrifying room, we went up to see the inside of the church. The church looked really old. I don’t think the church is preserved as well as other famous churches. However, the church was not that different from the churches that I have visited in Rome so far. The ceiling art was very impressive and it had the small chapels on the sides.
The ceiling painting on the first chapel to the right from the entrance reminded me of what I saw at the underground of this church. There are a lot of faces in circles on the painting. That made me thinks about the piles of bones. Also, I thought that these might be the faces of owners’ of those bones.
At the last room there was a phrase that really crept me out. It was “What you are now we used to be; what we are now you will be.” It really made me scary and I don’t think I will never be able to forget the moment of reading this phrase while I was surrounded by bones.
Santa Maria in Trastevere
Trastevere is one of my favorite places in Rome. Like Campo de’ Fiori, in Trastevere I get to see how locals in Rome live in the city. From the beginning of the Rome trip, Trastevere was the place to explore. At the piazza of Trastevere, the church of Santa Maria is located.
To talk about the church, I need to talk about the appearance of the church and where it is located. The church I think is hard to find because it is surround by other building unless you know this is a church. Well, somehow I can tell that this is a church because of the statues on the top of the façade. I could not recognize any of the statues but it looked like they are priests. The Mosaic on the façade was really beautiful. According to the blue guide book in the mosaic, crowned figures with lamps make their way in procession towards the Virgin and Child. The two figures in the mosaic nearest to her are veiled, not crowned, and their lamps are extinguished. From the ground, it was hard to see the details of the mosaic. However, I could still see the figures clearly from the ground. The walls of the church are covered with Roman and medieval lapidary fragments. According to the blue guide book many of the fragments have Christian symbols.
When I entered the church I could see why the background color of the mosaic on the façade is gold. The interior of the church was covered with gold. I am not sure if it’s real gold but if the church wanted to show off its wealthy, I think choosing gold to cover up the wall was a good idea. The walls and ceilings decorations were not that different from other famous churches like the basilica of St. John Lanthern. Probably this church is smaller and less decorated than the basilica. However, still the style of decorating the church was similar. Actually, it was overwhelming for me. I thought this splendid decoration is too much. Especially, the mosaics of the triumphal arch and apse were wonderful but at the same time I thought there are too much things going on this mosaic. The mosaic starts from the ceiling of the semi-dome. Jesus as the center figure, there are St Peter, St Cornelius, St Julius, St Calepodius, St Calixtus, St Lawrence and Pope Innocent II.
There was an interesting thing in the church that I did not find from other churches. There are statues in the church and in front of them there are piles of letters. I thought it was really interesting because mostly you lit a candle and pray. I couldn’t figure out what people usually write on the letters and put them on the statues but I thought it’s really unique about this church.
After the quick tour of this church, I sat down on the chair and thought about all the similarities the churches in Rome share. Splendid interior decorations would be the most common theme that the churches share. After looking at the underground church, built before the catholic is approved, I wondered if this splendid decoration would be necessary especially when there are so many churches in Rome.
To talk about the church, I need to talk about the appearance of the church and where it is located. The church I think is hard to find because it is surround by other building unless you know this is a church. Well, somehow I can tell that this is a church because of the statues on the top of the façade. I could not recognize any of the statues but it looked like they are priests. The Mosaic on the façade was really beautiful. According to the blue guide book in the mosaic, crowned figures with lamps make their way in procession towards the Virgin and Child. The two figures in the mosaic nearest to her are veiled, not crowned, and their lamps are extinguished. From the ground, it was hard to see the details of the mosaic. However, I could still see the figures clearly from the ground. The walls of the church are covered with Roman and medieval lapidary fragments. According to the blue guide book many of the fragments have Christian symbols.
When I entered the church I could see why the background color of the mosaic on the façade is gold. The interior of the church was covered with gold. I am not sure if it’s real gold but if the church wanted to show off its wealthy, I think choosing gold to cover up the wall was a good idea. The walls and ceilings decorations were not that different from other famous churches like the basilica of St. John Lanthern. Probably this church is smaller and less decorated than the basilica. However, still the style of decorating the church was similar. Actually, it was overwhelming for me. I thought this splendid decoration is too much. Especially, the mosaics of the triumphal arch and apse were wonderful but at the same time I thought there are too much things going on this mosaic. The mosaic starts from the ceiling of the semi-dome. Jesus as the center figure, there are St Peter, St Cornelius, St Julius, St Calepodius, St Calixtus, St Lawrence and Pope Innocent II.
There was an interesting thing in the church that I did not find from other churches. There are statues in the church and in front of them there are piles of letters. I thought it was really interesting because mostly you lit a candle and pray. I couldn’t figure out what people usually write on the letters and put them on the statues but I thought it’s really unique about this church.
After the quick tour of this church, I sat down on the chair and thought about all the similarities the churches in Rome share. Splendid interior decorations would be the most common theme that the churches share. After looking at the underground church, built before the catholic is approved, I wondered if this splendid decoration would be necessary especially when there are so many churches in Rome.
Keats and Shelly museum
I am not really into poetry. I prefer reading fictions or watching movies. Also before I visited Keat and Shelley’s museum I have never read their works. However, after visiting Keat and Shelley’s cemetery I thought I should go visit there museum especially the museum is located near when I am staying. Also, the fact that Shelley’s wife wrote Frankenstein.
Keat and Shelley’s museum is located at Piazza Spanga and right next to the Spanish steps. It’s a small museum. The museum was donated on the apartment, which Keat lived until his death. In order to get into the museum, first I went up to the bookstore to buy a ticket. Then I went up to the third floor where the museum is. When I went up to the museum, a cute guy was waiting for me to collect the ticket. What a great way to start looking around a museum!
Bookshelves were covered the entire wall of the museum except Keat’s room. It was very interesting to see so many books in the museum. However, considering that Keat’s and Shelly were both writers, it was an appropriate way to decorate a museum dedicated to the writers.
I first started my journey from Keat’s gallery. There were Keat’s first edition publication, letters and his poetry works. Also, there were portraits of him and his lover. Also, there was a drawing or tracing of the Sosibios Vase in the Louvre that he drew. I was very impressed that he also can draw really well. It was a really detailed and well-drawn drawing.
I liked Keat’s room. His room was small but the view from his room was the Spanish steps and I thought this is really cool. The original furniture in Keat’s room were burned away after he died of tuberculosis and the Vatican decided to destroy his furniture. Therefore, current furniture in his room are not original but according to the museum it’s supposed to be very close to what it was should be.
There was another room filled with Shelley and Byron’s work. Honestly I didn’t really looked at what’s in the room. The weirdest things that I saw at the museum were the locks of Shelly, Keats and Hunt’s hair. According to the museum it was common for friends to exchange locks of hair as tokens of affection in the 19th century. However, I still thought that it is still weird to keep friend’s hair as tokens of affection.
Another strange thing I saw at the museum was the urn contains of Shelley’s jawbone. This just made me wonder why would someone want to keep dead person’s jawbone and why it had to be the jawbone.
According to the museum guy the most of books in the museum are Byron’s work. When Harry Nelson donated the museum, he mostly donated Byron’s work and made the museum also a library. When I was in the museum, I really felt like I am in the library instead of in the museum. If the museum was free, I would go to the museum and just sit there and read books.
Keat and Shelley’s museum is located at Piazza Spanga and right next to the Spanish steps. It’s a small museum. The museum was donated on the apartment, which Keat lived until his death. In order to get into the museum, first I went up to the bookstore to buy a ticket. Then I went up to the third floor where the museum is. When I went up to the museum, a cute guy was waiting for me to collect the ticket. What a great way to start looking around a museum!
Bookshelves were covered the entire wall of the museum except Keat’s room. It was very interesting to see so many books in the museum. However, considering that Keat’s and Shelly were both writers, it was an appropriate way to decorate a museum dedicated to the writers.
I first started my journey from Keat’s gallery. There were Keat’s first edition publication, letters and his poetry works. Also, there were portraits of him and his lover. Also, there was a drawing or tracing of the Sosibios Vase in the Louvre that he drew. I was very impressed that he also can draw really well. It was a really detailed and well-drawn drawing.
I liked Keat’s room. His room was small but the view from his room was the Spanish steps and I thought this is really cool. The original furniture in Keat’s room were burned away after he died of tuberculosis and the Vatican decided to destroy his furniture. Therefore, current furniture in his room are not original but according to the museum it’s supposed to be very close to what it was should be.
There was another room filled with Shelley and Byron’s work. Honestly I didn’t really looked at what’s in the room. The weirdest things that I saw at the museum were the locks of Shelly, Keats and Hunt’s hair. According to the museum it was common for friends to exchange locks of hair as tokens of affection in the 19th century. However, I still thought that it is still weird to keep friend’s hair as tokens of affection.
Another strange thing I saw at the museum was the urn contains of Shelley’s jawbone. This just made me wonder why would someone want to keep dead person’s jawbone and why it had to be the jawbone.
According to the museum guy the most of books in the museum are Byron’s work. When Harry Nelson donated the museum, he mostly donated Byron’s work and made the museum also a library. When I was in the museum, I really felt like I am in the library instead of in the museum. If the museum was free, I would go to the museum and just sit there and read books.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Space and Place: Vatican Museum
In Vatican Museum there is no freedom to create my own exploration route for the museum. You just need to follow where the crowds are going because the museum is packed.
Everyone talks about Sistine chapel in the museum. However, in order to reach Sistine Chapel you have to go through different rooms. The first room I visited was the room with ancient Roman sculptures. As I mentioned earlier the museum is very crowded at any place, so I had to skim through the sculptures. The interesting fact that I realized: naked statues of male figures’ genital areas were awkwardly covered with leaves. The amount of sculptures they have in the museum kind of overwhelmed me because I felt like the sculptures are jammed together in the room.
The best part of museum for me was the corridor with beautiful paintings on the every part of wall and really big and old textiles. I loved the corridor. I couldn’t stand as long as I wanted because of crowd but I was just mesmerized by looking at it.
Sistine Chapel was just really packed with people. There’s no way I could look at its artwork in any direction. However, still it was really beautiful.
Exploring Vatican Museum was like doing a quick tour. There were too many people in the museum that made me just want to get out of the place. Yes, of course I am regretting that I did not enjoy the museum. However, I wish there is a way I can use the museum space more efficiently to appreciate its great artworks.
Everyone talks about Sistine chapel in the museum. However, in order to reach Sistine Chapel you have to go through different rooms. The first room I visited was the room with ancient Roman sculptures. As I mentioned earlier the museum is very crowded at any place, so I had to skim through the sculptures. The interesting fact that I realized: naked statues of male figures’ genital areas were awkwardly covered with leaves. The amount of sculptures they have in the museum kind of overwhelmed me because I felt like the sculptures are jammed together in the room.
The best part of museum for me was the corridor with beautiful paintings on the every part of wall and really big and old textiles. I loved the corridor. I couldn’t stand as long as I wanted because of crowd but I was just mesmerized by looking at it.
Sistine Chapel was just really packed with people. There’s no way I could look at its artwork in any direction. However, still it was really beautiful.
Exploring Vatican Museum was like doing a quick tour. There were too many people in the museum that made me just want to get out of the place. Yes, of course I am regretting that I did not enjoy the museum. However, I wish there is a way I can use the museum space more efficiently to appreciate its great artworks.
Castel Sant'Angelo
Castel Sant’Angelo is definitely not a beautiful princess castel that I saw in Disney movies. However, this castel always draws my attention every time I pass by. Finally it was the time for me to go and explore the inside of this unique castel.
The first time I visited Castel Sant’Angelo it was night time so I couldn’t get into the inside of the caste. Professor Jackie, Sandy, Allan and Katie were on the way back to St. John’s from Piazza Navano and we happened to cross the bridge called Ponte Sant’Angelo right in front of the castel and we were amazed by it’s night view. We stayed there for a while taking pictures with the castel as a background.
The exploration of the inside of the castel was really interesting. First, when I entered the building I went up the long pathway to go up to one of the courtyard. When I was following the route to go up I felt like I am an archeologist exploring a pyramid. It was like a long cave. It was dark and cool. Only artificial lights were lighting the dark corridor. Contrast to the hot temperature outside, the inside of the castle was really cool. However, I couldn’t wait to get out of this long pathway. It was just too long for me.
When I finally got out of the long cave like pathway, the completely different scene of the castle surprised me. Standing up on the terrace made me feel like I am in the middle age. Small buildings around me were like middle age buildings. I don’t really know about middle age buildings but the colors of those buildings and the shape of roofs reminded me of middle age buildings.
The view from the castle was amazing. Since the hallway goes around the castel I could see the whole view of the Rome from there. The best view was looking down at the wedding cake. I was just so amazed to see the whole view of Rome from there. However, the better view of Rome was waiting for me at the top of the castel.
Before I went up to the top of the castel, I went through rooms. The rooms were really beautiful. The ceilings and walls were decorated with paintings. I think it is typical renaissance art. Those rooms were now used as a museum. There were many art works from the middle age or ancient roman period.
Finally, through the narrow corridor to the top, I arrived to the top of the castel. The view from there was just breath taking. It was really beautiful. Sandy and I decided to record a tour video of the view from the castel because there is no way I could capture the great view in one frame of picture. Also, we took a lot of picture from the top.
Inside of the Castel Sant’Angelo was different from what I expected. I expected it to be more have aspects as the mausoleum of Hadrian. However, it was more like the medieval castle. I really enjoyed my time there, I felt like I am walking down streets of medieval time.
* Also, I couldn’t forget the weird disgusting small soda that I bought for 3 euros.
The first time I visited Castel Sant’Angelo it was night time so I couldn’t get into the inside of the caste. Professor Jackie, Sandy, Allan and Katie were on the way back to St. John’s from Piazza Navano and we happened to cross the bridge called Ponte Sant’Angelo right in front of the castel and we were amazed by it’s night view. We stayed there for a while taking pictures with the castel as a background.
The exploration of the inside of the castel was really interesting. First, when I entered the building I went up the long pathway to go up to one of the courtyard. When I was following the route to go up I felt like I am an archeologist exploring a pyramid. It was like a long cave. It was dark and cool. Only artificial lights were lighting the dark corridor. Contrast to the hot temperature outside, the inside of the castle was really cool. However, I couldn’t wait to get out of this long pathway. It was just too long for me.
When I finally got out of the long cave like pathway, the completely different scene of the castle surprised me. Standing up on the terrace made me feel like I am in the middle age. Small buildings around me were like middle age buildings. I don’t really know about middle age buildings but the colors of those buildings and the shape of roofs reminded me of middle age buildings.
The view from the castle was amazing. Since the hallway goes around the castel I could see the whole view of the Rome from there. The best view was looking down at the wedding cake. I was just so amazed to see the whole view of Rome from there. However, the better view of Rome was waiting for me at the top of the castel.
Before I went up to the top of the castel, I went through rooms. The rooms were really beautiful. The ceilings and walls were decorated with paintings. I think it is typical renaissance art. Those rooms were now used as a museum. There were many art works from the middle age or ancient roman period.
Finally, through the narrow corridor to the top, I arrived to the top of the castel. The view from there was just breath taking. It was really beautiful. Sandy and I decided to record a tour video of the view from the castel because there is no way I could capture the great view in one frame of picture. Also, we took a lot of picture from the top.
Inside of the Castel Sant’Angelo was different from what I expected. I expected it to be more have aspects as the mausoleum of Hadrian. However, it was more like the medieval castle. I really enjoyed my time there, I felt like I am walking down streets of medieval time.
* Also, I couldn’t forget the weird disgusting small soda that I bought for 3 euros.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Piazza Navona
In Piazza Navona there were many different types of people. Most of them were travelers like me. However, there were people who always working at the piazza. Among all these tourists, what stands out to me was this lady who are cleaning the street around the piazza.
She was driving this small cleaning car. It would be her everyday routine of her work duty, cleaning the street of Piazza Navona. The piazza that I was looking at would not be same as the piazza that she was looking at even though we were looking at the same piazza. The piazza that I was looking at is a beautiful piazza that I have never seen before in my life. However, for her this piazza would be the same piazza she is looking at every day. Maybe this was her 430th time looking at the piazza. She might be got bored of looking at this beautiful piazza with great three fountains. She was not even looking at the fountains she was just merely cleaning the street. She was probably thinking what is so great about this piazza that bring all of these tourists because she is so used to be in the piazza.
Tomorrow, she will be back to the piazza and cleaning the street for the travelers who are going to visit this piazza. While the travelers get amazed by the beauty of the piazza she will be merely cleaning the street.
She was driving this small cleaning car. It would be her everyday routine of her work duty, cleaning the street of Piazza Navona. The piazza that I was looking at would not be same as the piazza that she was looking at even though we were looking at the same piazza. The piazza that I was looking at is a beautiful piazza that I have never seen before in my life. However, for her this piazza would be the same piazza she is looking at every day. Maybe this was her 430th time looking at the piazza. She might be got bored of looking at this beautiful piazza with great three fountains. She was not even looking at the fountains she was just merely cleaning the street. She was probably thinking what is so great about this piazza that bring all of these tourists because she is so used to be in the piazza.
Tomorrow, she will be back to the piazza and cleaning the street for the travelers who are going to visit this piazza. While the travelers get amazed by the beauty of the piazza she will be merely cleaning the street.
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