Rome some more

These aren't really in order, but don't worry about it.

Yay... posed coin shot by a Seattle man. The guy in the background has a way better pose than I.

This was my face for the first couple of hours in Rome.


Oh hey! Colosseum and full moon! Not bad.
I would walk around a corner and something like this would explode into view. This is a monument to someone very important. (First king? Did Italy have kings? I think the first president).

Rome continued to be fabulous after these pictures happened. I was so exhausted the first day that I didn't know if I could do three more of them, but I did, and what a time.

Pretty much I just FEASTED on art. Gorged myself, really (that's kind of a gross phrase). One day I went in search of Caravaggios lurking in various unassuming churches. I found the St. Matthew series, and gaped at them for a while. I wrote an entire PAPER on this piece!

I loved being able to see the edge of the canvas inside the frame. That means that it was actually on an easel once, in Caravaggio's studio, and he used actual brushes and oils to get all those crazy impossible light sources to work.

This contemporary piece by Alfiero Nena was in the same church as The Conversion of St. Paul. It was a little startling at first, but the more I looked at it the more its power blew me away.
Wrists pierced but not held down-- bound, yet Freedom itself.

I won't talk about every piece of art I saw, I promise. But Bernini's sculptures at the Villa Borghese left me breathless. I overheard a guide (I hover when I hear English and steal a few snippets of a free tour now and then) say that Apollo and Daphne was a miracle. I'd have to agree. And his David was spectacular as well (I couldn't take pictures, so you'll have to do research on your own). As I was walking through the museum, the temptation to touch the marble became unbearable. So I sneaked back to the David room and stood around nonchalantly until there was no one in the room or within eyeshot. Then I did it. I touched the foot. ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What a rush. I am a destroyer of antiquities.

I also loved my entire day at the Vatican. I had no idea that there was such a massive collection of modern religious art-- the whole exhibit was fascinating. I sometimes think that it's all been done before... can anything new be said with the same imagery (there must be 34,000 Madonnas and Child in Italy alone). Turns out, yes. Having such a focused exhibition made me think a lot more about the idea behind the image. I'm inspired.

And then there was the Sistine Chapel, and other art, all day, all the time. Nothing compares to seeing these things in person.

I even got to the Colosseum a few hours before I left for the airport.

And of course now I'm in Paris...and now that I'm caught up on Rome maybe sometime I'll write about its own brand of awesomeness. I'm loving it!