notesfromaslightlylargercontinent

Part the Second: In Which we find Spirituality and a Ducken...

Very (too?) early on the 6th, we flew to Rome (henceforth referred to as Roma.) During the flight I read my travel book and found that November is the rainiest month for Roma but I refused to accept this. I knew the gods would grant us a pleasant stay. We landed and promptly stood in line, in the pouring rain, for half an hour waiting for our bus. I was slightly amused. Becki was not. No biggie though, the rain let up while we were on the bus and we got to Termini only slightly damp and happy to note that we were comfortable sans coats. We checked into the Hotel Fawlty Towers and headed out to explore.

We saw some things: Piazza di Spagna, some mausoleum, the river Tiber and a bridge full of Bernini angels leading to Castel San Angelo. I'm not sure how everyone else feels but, I am constantly amazed by the sculpture of Bernini. I could stare at it for hours on end. Anyway, we continued from the bridge to Vatican City, stopping on the way for gelato. We were so lucky to go to St. Peter's when we did. Just as we walked in a vespers service was starting at the far end of the church. There's really nothing quite like St. Peter's. I'm not what you'd call a religious person but the sheer beauty of that building and the attention and care exacted in it's design makes me a little weak in the knees. All of that beauty was of course heightened by the sounds of mass going on; complete with organ and singing. If you ever get to, go to St. Peter's and try to feel what's going on. I'm not especially spiritual but the confluence of art and atmosphere in this place just feels so intense. Moral of this story-go to Roma, see St. Peter's Basilica at some point in your life.

Mass was ended, we went in peace to the square where the rain really started. This time however there was no bus coming to get us. We just had to tough it out and walk the 45 minutes or so while cowering under one umbrella. Admittedly, Becki got much wetter than I did and had to remove her glasses. She was therefore, cold, wet and blind in a foreign city where she didn't speak the language. That's an adventure! We made it home safe and sound and went to bed cold and tired.

Monday morning changed it all though. The rain was gone for good and we took off for a day looking at the Coliseum and the Forum. Il Foro Romano was much more interesting than I expected it to be and I was glad to spend some time there. After a few hours amongst the ruins we stopped at the National Monument and gazed at the tomb of the unknown soldier and various monumental sculptures. From here we hit Fontana di Trevi and then found the Pantheon which was a beautiful building but rather tragic. It's architecture very clearly denotes it as a "pagan" temple but it's decorated within in the most horrible "quick let's christian this place up" kinda way. So sad! In the piazza in front, we sat around a fountain and I eaves-dropped in German before a film crew showed up, seemingly making some kinda documentary. We may be in it. At one point, as Becki tried to wipe something off my face, I was forced to declare, "Never clean me in a documentary." When you think about it, those are words to live by.

After fun-with-film-crew time, we went to Piazza Navona for coffee and culture. Here we found a little Italian band with accordions and a crazy gypsy dancer who was quite viscous. Becki made a movie all about the viciousness and when I figure it out, I'll post it. After the dancing we witnessed a very bad British juggler who, "breeved fire."

We had agreed early on that we would go to the Trattoria dell'Omo for dinner one night as this was the site of many fond memories from my first trip to Roma. This visit however involved a table of about 20 Australian choir members. For a place with only one waiter, that puts a strain on everything. We had to wait a long time but it was okay because we got very drunk on cheap Italian wine. Evidence with toothpaste:

The next morning was, needless to say, rough:
We were in no mood to do much of anything so we headed to the park and just lounged all day. It was in the afternoon though that we started hearing strange noises. On closer inspection we discovered a pond full of ducks and geese and swans...and the ducken! The ducken was the strangest bird I'd ever seen. It looked to be some strange cross between a duck and a chicken (we could've called it a chuck!) and I'm pretty sure it quacked like a donkey.

After the park, we walked around for a while. We eventually sat at a cafe sipping coffees and peroni's while night set in. We found a little ristorante on the way back to the hostel that was great. It featured a large italian waiter who stood calmly in the doorway while another, smaller waiter buzzed around. I'm pretty sure they had aprons and towels tucked in their belts. We ate outside and after a while a street guitarist showed up to strum and sing (with the waiters singing back up) such songs as: Que Sera, Volare, and Arrivederci Roma. It was all so stylistically/aesthetically perfect. Arrivederci Roma indeed...