Quick update: Assisi

I've got a lot of work that I've been putting off all weekend, so this will have to be a quick update. Saturday we took a class trip to Assisi, about two hours north of Rome. This is the burial site of St. Francis, one of the early Christian evangelists, founder of the Franciscan Monks (obviously). Assisi is an oooold, old village located on top of a hill; it's since become modernized and expanded at the hill's bottom, but the hill itself still retains its medieval look for the most part. The church is a beautifully old structure with frescos by Giotto adorning the walls. Beautiful country.

If you see any dark splotches on the pictures below, it's from some dust that has gotten into the lens of my G7. I gotta figure out how to get it cleaned, or maybe I just need an excuse to buy a DSLR with the money I don't have…

View of the church from up on top of the hill. Notice the rose window in the center.

View of the town from higher up on the hill. Cranes over on the left with their sans-serif logos are totally messing up the view.

Another far-off view of the church. 

The castle up on top of the hill. Didn't go inside but it was nice to take pictures around it.

Evidence that I am indeed here.

Cinque Terre

And on the 8th day He declared, "There shall be great spots from which to take pictures with your digital camera." And so there were, and it was good.

Saturday morning, 6:15am. We stumble out of our apartment after about three hours of sleep, making our way to meet up with the girls and take the bus to Termini train station. This was to be my first time using public transportation in Rome, and thankfully there was a ticket box inside the bus so that we didn't get fined for not already having them. Termini is the largest train station in Rome, and looked the part of a modern airport. We took a fifteen-minute break to find some breakfast and have a coffee, then met back at the train which would take us to Cinque Terre, our destination for the day. It was a long five-hour trip in economy class,

 meaning regular seats which could be slouched about four inches to accommodate an uncomfortable sleeping position. Didn't happen for me, unfortunately (the sleep part). With about a forty minute delay, we arrive around noon. This would be my first "trip" outside of Rome since arriving in early September.

Cinque Terre is a coastline area with five seaside towns, connected by its own train route and several hiking and goat trails. In Italian the name literally translates into "The Five Lands", aptly put for the five peninsulas that jut out slightly into the water, upon which each town sits. It is the main tourist attraction of the Riviera of La Spezia, a hilly, rugged region. La Spezia is the staging area for getting to any of the five cities, and we took a train to the furthest one from which to start. After grabbing some potatoe-and-mushroom pizza and a sports drink, our group was ready to start up the hill.

The last hill (our first) was, naturally, the hardest one. It took us somewhere between an

 hour and a half to two hours to conquer it, and that was with several breaks along the way. The steps leading up didn't look challenging until you were already halfway up them, panting like you've just run a marathon. I spent a lot more time checking my footing than I would have liked, considering that every time I looked up, there was some magnificent vista to take in or snap in a photo. 

The trail itself was full of little things here and there to garner your interest. The small rock footbridge pictured right is among one of them, amid others such as small streams, terraced vineyards and a small cat sanctuary with a couple of snoozing felines.

 

The next few hills were less hell than the first, but they still were pretty tiring. The slopes were more gentle and plateaued for a longer time, and as the sun got lower the area became even more beautiful with the late evening light reflecting on the ocean and the small town buildings and churches. Really, there's not a whole lot that can be said to capture the feel of the area, so I'll just attempt to do it with the photos that follow. 

After getting to the last town, it was around 20:00 (8pm) and we decided that it was definitely time for some chow, real-Italian-cuisine style. There were only a few ristoranti in the area and they all had lines, but we did manage (with a little help) to find a small seaside wine bar that also served food, just only first courses (which is fine by our American standards). I had my first taste of a pesto dish, and it was so good I thought my tongue might get stuck to the plate. Me and a couple of my roommates also ordered a bottle of the house red wine, and, oh my god. Until then, I hadn't known the taste of a truly delicious wine, and I would drop another €15 instantly for that kind of wonderfully full flavor. 

We enjoyed our meal and paid our bill, then took the train back to La Spezia, the staging area. We had a few h

ours to burn until our train left back for Termini in Rome, so we went to a hostel where some of our friends were staying, corked open some wine bottles, and sat around a crowded room, myself perched atop one of the bunk beds, avoiding tossed wine corks while trying to get through the next game of Hang Man. The train ride back was an exercise in discomfort, the seven of us squeezed into one train cabin. I'm not sure how we all retained the energy to get ourselves off the train and onto the bus home, but somehow we managed. I rarely wake up at 3pm in the afternoon, but I'm pretty glad of it. Can't wait to feel those aches in my legs from all the up- and down-hill movement, but maybe those squats I did every morning in the summer will have finally paid off…

Manarola, the fourth city we reached. Cool sheer cliff face.

Took a picture of some trail hikers (circled) opposite the hill we were on, just for sense of scale.

Example of some of the lighter terrain we trekked through.

Plenty of other tourists on these trails. These wooden rails on the side are the exception, not the norm…

The closer you get to Riomaggiore (the town closest to La Spezia), the more gorgeous the paths become.

Looking down on what I think is Vernazza, the second town we went to.

Friends hanging out at the beach in Vernazza. Slippery rocks, I'm told.

This is what Vernazza looks like up close, umbrellas and all.

Church

This week for art history, we went a-walking through early Christianity. First was a church where St. Peter was said to have stayed with a Roman senator (not pictured), probably the earliest example of a Christian Basilica. Next, and more impressive, was the Santa Maria Maggiore, the first church dedicated to the virgin Mary. Early Christianity faced the problem of having many worshipers who would pray to the Virgin as an intercessor with Christ, but she did not have much significance in the Bible outside of giving birth. The first Ecumenical council established her authority, and to signify this Cardinal Colona had a church built in her honor.

It is a beautiful Christian Basilica, adopted from the former Roman-style Basilicas which were originally places of law and discussion. Ornate mosaics and painting adorn the walls, which have an upper clerestory which is the sole source of light in the church. This creates a heavenly feel, as if being in this church is experiencing the ethereal if even for just a few minutes. At the end of the nave, one large painting adorns the upper end of the apse, depicting Christ crowning the Virgin Mother, in essence giving her near equal status. Figures around them have hierarchical significance, from St. Peter to St. Paul to Cardinal Colona himself (though minimized). 

There are many more beautiful parts to the basilica, with every wall adorned with something. A couple of side chapels feature even more ornate altars and imagery. They really went all-out with the decoration, even for 500 AD. 

 

Side note: on our way to the church (you can see it on the right edge of the following photo), we ran into a group of striking hospital workers demonstrating in their own parade. Apparently this is a regular occurrence. The Santa Maria Maggiore is in a northern spot in Rome, not too terribly far from the Vittorio Emmanuelle Monument and the Colosseum, maybe twenty minutes walking.

Still Alive

Sorry for not posting much at all this week; homework and all the other little things have been taking up time, and the weekends have been a bit busier than I would like. We've found a really awesome Irish pub near here that takes up our Friday and Saturday nights, so I'm going to go ahead and blame that.

This week has been a little bit more work heavy than last, but I'm still trying to get into "school mode". Not having a design internship over the summer kinda didn't help. For one of my class projects I have to document one of the piazzas around here, so for mine I chose Capitoline Hill, one of the oldest of the seven ancient Roman fortress-hills. It's from this place that we derive the word "Capitol", since it was the head of government and religion at various times in Roman history. There is a temple to Jupiter, and an ancient Tabularium where records were kept in the 7th-1st century BCE. There's also a statue of Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher emperor, in the center of the square (it's a copy of the original of course). The entire area was redesigned by Michaelangelo during the Renaissance, but it hasn't seen much use since then.

I snapped some photos and did a watercolor drawing while sitting around there. People watching is a lot of fun in the square. Over the course of a few hours I saw a couple of wedding parties which came through for photos. There's a lot of tourists walking around too, kind of annoying because they can get in your way when you're trying to draw something. I still gotta come back and do a bunch more sketches, and maybe a few etchings. The square might stand out the most, but the little things are more interesting for me.

 

Monday: Pantheon

After a short permit of stay meeting at class, me and the roomies headed out to the shopping district. I needed a couple shirts (which I did not find), but the other guys found some much-needed shoes and socks. On our way we stopped by the Pantheon, a site I had yet to visit. It's such a big building in a small square that it's hard to take good photos of the outside, but the interior is quite majestic, especially the oculus up top (the big circular opening). The Pantheon is famous for its dome architecture, which had no precedent in the ancient Roman world. Layers of concrete were poured amid a wooden construction superstructure, if I remember my art history correctly. This design would not be reproduced for over a thousand years; later domes of the medieval and renaissance eras used a different (and more complicated) design structure.

The building used to be host to the major gods of Roman mythology, but since the Middle Ages it has been redecorated an

d rededicated to Christian mythology. The dome however remains untouched, and I am still fascinated by the patterned squares that adorn the interior above.

Weekend Adventures continued - Beach

I'm playing this carefully... internet access where I'm at is at a crawl, so posting piecemeal helps me make sure something will go up.

Saturday we rushed to get ready, having slept in too much and made plans the night before to meet the girls at 10 for getting on the train to the beach. The ticket machines were confusing at first because bus and train passes are basically the same thing, but eventually we got to the train (covered in graffiti). Not so nice of an interior. I had to give up my spot for an older man; wish I'd seen him first instead of being told to get up. We took the line all the way to the end, which took about a half hour. A bus from there took us to the beaches; I think the one we got off at was called "Paradise" (how original). We met some girls from a university in Philadelphia and set up camp on the beach next to them. I was a bit self-conscious the whole time, having one hell of a tan line from Wednesday's tour, but breaking out and running into the ocean was a lot of fun. I've been to the Atlantic before but never swam in it, so the super-salty Mediterranean was a kind of an unpleasant surprise. The waves were great though, and we had a blast wading out just to crash into them. I also got hella sunburnt despite slathering on a ton of sunscreen, but at least I'm red all over now instead of just on my neck.

The bus ride back was probably the most cramped I've ever been in public transportation. We were literally packed in like Sardines, and at almost every stop, someone else needed to get on. Our train back, by contrast, was much nicer, with air conditioning and a fully connected cabin (instead of individual cars). After some gelato (Italian ice cream, also fantastic) we got back home and showered/crashed, me for several hours. Later we decided to meet up with some of the guys up north, and went to an Irish bar called Scholar's. You wouldn't believe the feeling of being in a familiar environment again; most everyone was speaking english, and there were a lot of other college students about. It might seem strange but I found it therapeutic to be back in the 'rowdy asshole' routine in a crowded bar. Peroni's were the popular drink of the night, a bit expensive at €3.50 each but much better than the €5.50 I had spend earlier on a black & tan. There was a live band playing American and British hits, and I about orgasmed when they played "Wonderwall" near the end. Rounding up everyone to go home was a bit problematic (as was the morning after), but hey. Three day weekends pretty much make up for it.

Weekend adventures

Seems like I'm going to have to start writing this like a journal and not a tour-de-Roma.

So, let me recollect here. Friday... unnecessarily long photography class where our two italian professors bs'ed back and forth, mildly entertaining but I fell asleep a few times. I had a ticket left from our Wednesday class trip to the Roman Forum which would also get me into the Colosseum, so I made the trip from studio to the site (on my own since everyone else had things to do). Not a very long walk, but I was loaded down with my backpack, and on top of that I had a killer sunburn on my neck from walking around the Forum which seethed each time my pack straps moved. 

Having a ticket already proved to be pretty awesome, since I didn't have to wait in the huge line to get one. I'm not really sure what I can write here to describe it, it's just a big rock monument. No sudden epiphanies or anything, just a lot of tourists taking pictures. It was a good time of day to get in there and shoot, with late evening sun casting half of the circular area in shadow with the rest a bright rust orange. Of course, pictures speak louder than words, so...

Friday night we met some of the girls from another apartment near us and went to Bros (Broz?), a bar right down the street from us. The bartender and waitresses spoke a little bit of english, so some of us decided it would be a good idea to try and convince them we've become around every Friday. I think they'll get the idea better if we just do it instead of talking about it. Afterwards we went back and hung out at the apartment. Side note: alcohol and food are relatively cheap in Rome, even considering conversion from Dollars to Euros. A cheap bottle of wine, which still tends to taste better than wines in America, runs for one Euro. Peroni, the most prevalent beer, I've seen go for between €1.50 to €2.30 for a 40 oz bottle. Fruits, vegetables, and of course pasta can be bought for cheap if you know where to shop at. Thus far, our dinners have all been some sort of pasta dish, and cooking together, we're spending around €1 per meal each. 

Walking the streets

This is actually from yesterday; we took our first walk as a class to some of the sites in Rome that would become a part of our first project. I'll say this first: walking through Rome is tiring.  There is so much to see that it feels like I'm not seeing anything at all; thank god I have several months here to fully absorb the culture and architecture. Speaking Italian is also a challenge on its own. I have put forth an effort into a little speech here and there, but it's mostly greetings, goodbyes, and "could you please give me this" at the bar (café). And just getting around completely wipes you out, especially if you're not used to it. I would love to be out more but with the amount of walking it takes, two explorations a day are about all I can muster (less with sunburn). 

I went to the Roman Forum today as a part of a class tour, but wasn't smart enough to bring my camera with me, so that will remain another trip for another day. Hopefully I will have some images of the coliseum up soon, as my ticket there expires in less than 48 hours. For now, here are some pics from yesterday's walk:

Primo

First post to the Rome blog. I figured this would be easier than emailing everyone what's happening (that was before my browser crashed about three times before uploading this post). For now, here are some photos of the apartment I'm staying in on Via Mameli: