Roma

This weekend we went to Rome - it was incredible, we went to St. Peter's basilica, the Vatican Museum, the Villa Borghese, and some other places.  I know pictures are worth a thousand words, so without further ado here are a bunch:

Piazza Navona

at the Pantheon

 inside the Pantheon.  It's amazing how big the thing is - how they built it 

without machinery, computers, or cranes is way beyond me.

 view overlooking the Roman Forum in the foreground 

and the Coliseum in the background

 il Foro Romano - the Roman Forum

 la Piazza San Pietro 

 in the Vatican Museum, in Le Stanze di Raphaelo (Raphael's Rooms).  It's really cool

to stand in front of so many of these sculptures and paintings that I've read about and seen

pictures of for years.

 in the Cappella Sistina

 If I could go back in time, I would want to see a gladiator fight in the 

Coliseum.  Seeing a picture of this building doesn't do it justice - at the height of

Imperial Rome's power, people (60,000 or so, at max capacity) would flood

this huge arena to scream themselves hoarse over gladiator fights that give

new meaning to the word "competition".

So that's a few pictures of what I did and saw this past weekend.  Some of the best art was at the Villa Borghese, where unfortunately cameras are not allowed.  I was a few feet away from Michelangelo, Bernini, and many others.  It is amazing how real and lifelike they could make stone appear.  Bernini's sculpture of David (just as he was about to sling the rock that killed Goliath, not the more-famous David that Michelangelo sculpted) was my personal favorite.  It was almost as if someone snapped a photo just as he was about to sling the rock - you can see the emotion on his face, how tense his muscles are, how heavy the rock is in the sling, how taut the sling is.  I was blown away at the detail and the precision, and I realized that every picture ever taken of it (and countless other works of art) just doesn't do it justice.

Rome is amazing, I obviously recommend everyone go there.  The amount and the scope of the history everywhere I visited in the city was incredible.


A presto,
Rhett

Il Palio / Firenze

This past week was the Palio, Siena's horse race in the Piazza del Campo, the main square in the center of town.  It was incredible - there must have been 50,000 people, probably more, crammed into the Piazza last Saturday to see the race.  There was a procession beforehand, like a parade, and each contrada was represented with drummers, horsemen, flags, knights, and trumpets.  It was like something straight out of medieval times.  Really cool.  Really long, but still cool.

Then after the procession was the race itself.  I've never seen anything like it.  I took a lot of cool pictures, but they were with someone else's camera so as soon as I get them I'll post them.

This is from one of the prove, the four days of test races before the real Palio.  

Also from the prove.  The real Palio is like this on steroids.  See how the Piazza is packed, and you can only see less than half of the whole crowd.  Plus, this wasn't even the day of the real race. 

After the prove, each competing contrada walks a lap around the Palio with their horse.

Also, a week or so ago we went to Firenze (Florence) as a class.  Like everything else here, it was incredible.  Saw the Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, and the Uffizi.  Didn't have time to see the David, but I'm planning on going back sometime in the next week or so so I can see the David and see the inside of the Duomo (the line was pretty long last time).  Here's some Florence pictures:

Il Duomo

Florentine architecture

The Birth of Venus, at the Uffizi Gallery

the Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

This weekend we're going to Rome, we'll see the Coliseum, the Borghese, the Vatican, and a few other things.

Ci vediamo,
Rhett