All -Mixing Italian effervescent aspirin with American Nyquil was probably not such a good combination. I did not wake up until 1PM! It's that or the jet lag caught up. Anyway, I feel like I slept great.
So I got a late start on an abbreviated day. This will be a quick update so I don't make the same mistake tomorrow.
My primary objective was to get to one of the four Basilicas today. I did St. Peter's yesterday so I trudged off to Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Walking out the door I had to pass the Colosseum, again (I see the Colosseum everyday; if you are curious, here is the hotel link - http://www.hotelforum.com/). The Basilica is on one of Rome's seven hills so my walk took me up a nice view back on the Colosseum and the Arco di Constantino. As I turned back for one last look, my attention was disrupted by two things - the 'roar' of an Italian jet fighter (looking like Vietnam-era US surplus) over head and the chanting of a pro-Obama march being led by Americans in Italy. Weird. You figure out which.
Santa Maria Maggiore is huge. If I had not seen St. Peter's the day before, it would have looked massive. Again, too much for the eyes to take in. Amazing statues, amazing paintings, amazing mosaics. One oddity was there was a box you had to put coins in to get the ceiling to light up. The entire ceiling. So you had hundreds of people milling around, confessions being taking, nuns working their rosary beads, and a service going on in a side chapel and then some overweight German in bad trousers with a belt hiked too high, a murse with too much junk in it, and b.o. that would burn the paint off a barn would waddle over and plunk a coin down and the entire Basilica ceiling would light up and tourist would quietly oooh while the whirl and clicks of cameras would go off everywhere. This would happen every ten minutes. It was almost interesting enough to just to do it myself to watch the pavliovian reaction. But not that interesting.
It rained most of the day but I only saw the puddles. Slept through the morning rain; was in the Bacilica for the afternoon rain. I left Santa Maggiore and made a dash for the Galleria Nazionale D' Arte Antica. First, nothing in Rome has a simple name; second; naming anything in Rome 'antica' is repeatitive. This was a cool little art gallery! This was a building commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and worked on by Borromini and Bernini and has this amazing fresco by Pietro da Cortona that will blow yer mind. It has the classic Henry VIII portrait by Hans Holbein as well as Raphael's The Baker's Girl. Ok, I admit I could not have match the artist name with the pictures but I certainly recognized the pictures.
Besides no Gap, Rome has no American fast food chains. I think I saw one McDonald's. You are forced to grab a cheese and tomato sandwich from a corner stop that serves espressos in teeny, tiny cups. Even the fast food makes you feel bohemian.
I had to meet my friend Gillian and her family for dinner at seven-thirty so I figured I'd make a quick swing by the Trevi Fountain. One thing I have notice in the last few days is that Italian street maps are hard to follow. To make things more interesting, streets will suddenly switch names. But, if you want to find the Trevi Fountain it is hard to miss. Even late in the day people are ten deep. I mean there were hundreds of people standing around this fountain. The famous custom here is to through a coin over your shoulder into the fountain. Supposedly, that will ensure that one day you return to Rome. I threw. By the looks of the crowd, I figured I could probably fish out enough coins to pay for my trip. However, apparently some homeless man beat me to that idea. People claimed he was making 1000 Euros per week for 34 years just raiding the fountain at night! Now the cash gets swept out for charity.
It was getting late so I darted back to my hotel, past the Imperial Forums which are only three blocks from my hotel door but with all this other stuff flying around I had not noticed, to change and hop a cab for dinner. I had my first real Italian pizza and it was awesome (thanks Gillian and Mark!). It does not have the bulky crust like our Americanized version and the toppings are not so pre-pressed. I also had my first real Italian cab ride. It was easier than I expected as my Italian has not improved. Although I now know how to say, "Sei la donna piu bella del mondo," that was not going to help in this situation as the driver was some little old dude with more hair coming out of his ears and nose than on top of his head.
Anyway, as I said it was an short day. I'm looking at the list of what I have seen and what I need to see and am thinking I still have a lot of walking to do.
Buono notte.
Hank
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