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
SO great that you were able to see some Bernini!! Did you see the statue of Pluto capturing Persephone? Amazing!
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