La Citta Eterna

Overnight field trip to Rome was quick, really fun, and not nearly long enough. It's sad because I'm not sure I'll get back there before coming home in about a month. The city's big - Florence is more the size of a Roman neighborhood - but not as overwhelmingly big as we may have imagined. The Metro is limited but useful - really, it covers only the areas that would be more than a half-hour to walk - and otherwise it's easy to find your way around. plus we tended to move in groups of at least five or six, which probably meant we were going more slowly.


We stayed at the Albergo Sole near Piazza Navona, which was accommodating and comfortable. Then we went to the Villa Borghese to see some Bernini sculptures, including my favorite: Apollo and Daphne. Check it out:

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/b/bernini/bernini_apollo.jpg

Then we wandered on foot to see the Trevi Fountain


and ate at a small pizzeria before wandering into the pantheon at night.


The next morning we walked over to Saint Peter's, but there was such a crush of people we couldn't go in to see Michelangelo's Pieta. What a scene! We stuck around in the piazza for a few minutes to take it all in.


Then came the rain.


Thanks to Madeleine for the great umbrellas shot.

The afternoon was all I had for Rome because I met up with Josh Cook, who is taking the semester off from Georgetown to travel through Europe working on organic farms. A self-made man. He came back with me for a few days in Florence, and it was a pleasure to have him over. Check him out at organicjosh.blogspot.com

In the hours we had left in Rome, Madeleine, Lynsey, Deirdre and I went to the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill.




Back soon, I hope -- much more to see in the Eternal City...