Fourth of July in Italy

So I suppose we do celebrate the 4th of July in Italy, of a sorts, it's just that it's late, long, and quite hot.  By which I mean that I am at the tail-end of the 'Long Weekend' that gives us a four day period off from the program proper so that we can all go hopping about Italy, Germany, whatever and wherever we might choose.  As you might expect from my adventurous personality... I chose to remain in Rome and see a few more of the sights around town and take advantage of the laid back atmosphere and lack of fellow attendees to explore a bit on my own.  Or at least in smaller groups.  (Have you ever tried getting a table for 12 with no warning?  It's hard!)

So what have I been up to?  Before the break, well, it feels like we've been just about everywhere!  I'll tell you one really fantastic thing about this program - they make a real effort to get us out to the rest of Italy (or at least Latium, the area around Rome) to get a better sense of what was going on 'out there' as it were.  Thus we've been out exploring the Etruscan tombs at Cerveteri and the Roman Colony at Alba Fucens,  for instance, in addition to the big Roman sites like the Colosseum or Pantheon.  So the fact that this program has a bigger base of operations, as it were, has been a real plus and helps put some of the truly exceptional things about Rome into a larger Italian context.

One of the biggest highlights, however, had to be the dreaded Autoptic Exam we faced about a week ago.  What, pray tell, is an Autoptic Exam?  I'll be honest in saying that I still haven't a completely clear idea.  But here are some things it seems to involve.

1. A lot of students freaking out the night before (because they don't know what's coming)
2. A random un-labelled site (Alba Fucens - a quite lovely site, actually)
3. A sudden, ferocious rainstorm
4. Dividing off into groups
5. Identifying Roman Building Types from the remains during said rainstorm
6. Profit.

But perhaps I shouldn't be so flippant, since it was actually quite a fun exercise to do.  Most of the time, we are prejudiced, I want to say, by the labels that have already been applied to sites.  That is the Baths of Caracalla, this is a House structure, that is 2nd Style Wall-Painting, etc.  But for the most part none of that is Roman - all they've left behind are the remains themselves.  Certainly no ancient Roman spent a sleepless night worrying whether posterity would recognize his temple from the remains of its walls alone.  Of course not.  He just built a temple, and it had many more clues: a roof, painted decoration, priests, pilgrims, a cult statue, etc.  So it was fun to get back to the 'roots' of archaeology - let's look at these remains that we have and, knowing what we know, attempt to figure out what was done here, when it was done, and maybe who did it.  So much is lost, of course, but so much is also still there.  And that's what we're learning, right?

But still, the rain and all too brief time limit didn't exactly do much to help everyone's stress levels.  And let's not forget the building type our instructors forgot (the macellum - a meat/fish market) and the bizarre structure that no one has offered a plausible explanation for.  (Seriously, it was nutty - 3 rectangular rooms with apses that let in sun, but only the tiniest of doors between the rectangles.  Some sort of industrial space? I dunno)


So what else has been going on?  Oh yes, the so-called Fourth of July Long Weekend!  What have I been doing with myself and four free days in Rome?  Well, there was an attempt to see the Villa Borghese on Friday - but unfortunately our best-laid plans were laid low by (what else can I say but) Italy.  You see, the Galleria is very particular about visitors reserving tickets in advance.  They only let in some 300 or so visitors to the Villa for a strictly enforced 2 hour tour.  I suppose they don't want to have large crowds absolutely swamping the art and making it impossible to really appreciate the villa or even move about it.  But they also say that you can easily reserve a ticket online. which we did - well, my friends, that particular cake turns out to be a lie.  Big surprise.  Although, to their credit, they are completely willing to tell you that their system works perfectly and you must have done it all wrong somehow.  In any case, the upshot is that we were told we didn't have a reservation for Friday, but managed nonetheless to get tickets for Saturday.  So I guess the point of this whole rant is, what exactly?  I don't know anymore - but you shouldn't trust the Italian internets.

When I finally did manage to get inside the Villa Borghese, it was absolutely wonderful.  It's really hard to describe how the rooms of the Villa all fit together artistically to portray some theme or even a particular story, most often from Ovid.  Thus the famous Daphnis and Apollo sculpture, for instance, isn't just an isolated work of genius - as this stolen picture would have you believe...

(I can't take any credit for this photo - they absolutely positively indubitably do not allow any pictures inside the Villa - you will be ejected) 

But, to return to my point, what's really cool is how the statue actually fits into the entire scheme of the room it was designed for.  Thus there are amazing ceiling paintings depicting different episodes of the story surrounded by imaginary architecture - columns reaching into a beautiful blue sky, etc - as well as recycled Roman materials - such as elaborate sarcophagi, planted within the walls that might portray a related mythological scene.  The artist even recommended to the family which way the statue should face so as to garner the most impressed reaction from visitors!  So the level of care and detail around each room is just plain astonishing. 

My only complaint - and this is really just a complaint made in fun - is this:

HOW MANY DEPICTIONS OF AENEAS DOES ONE FAMILY NEED?!  GOOD LORD!!

So, yeah, the Borghese were really projecting their love of the Aeneid all over their house.  That and the Madonna and Child were everywhere, though Aeneas may have had a slight edge.  But I suppose that's the impression they wanted to make, that they were an extremely devout and cultured family.  Who also just happened to have enough wealth to own an entire section of the city of Rome and turn it into a fantastic pleasure palace.  But the best part of the experience was simply seeing some of these pieces of art in their original, intended context - and also thinking about how closely this probably resembles ancient Roman customs as well.  I could imagine Cicero, for instance, taking a second to think just where to place that statue of Socrates in his library to really impress his viewers.  And then what sort of painting should adorn the walls around him.  And then fit that to the organization scheme of his library.  And then how that fits into the rest of his Tusculan Villa.  Ad Nauseam.  Perhaps aristocrats never change, only their fashions do.

Is that supposed to be some deep thought?  Not really. But I've always loved visiting cities, like when Dave and I went to Istanbul, because it gives you a sense of the entire history of the city rather than just that one era.  And Rome certainly has that sort of historical depth in spades.  Hope everything is going great where you are, and a new batch of silly postcards are on their way!  Go go Italian Postal System!

Busy, busy, busy

It's been a couple crazy days here at the Centro.  I'm beginning to see why Anna warned me that there wouldn't be very much time to yourself.  But of course I say this right before the start of my first weekend at the program which are largely unscheduled.  Tomorrow there is a trip to the Villa Guilia to see the Etruscan artifacts, which I plan to follow up with a further visit of the nearby Villa Borghese.  But that's tomorrow.  What have I been up to?  Well,

Yep, repeated trips to the Forum Romanum!  This is a shot taken from near the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina (shhhh, it doesn't exist yet.) of the land that once held the Domus Publica.  That is, the official residence of the Pontifex Maximus.  And the most famous one of those (perhaps) was Julius Caesar.  So on this spot, Julius Caesar once lived and owned a house.  But that doesn't exist yet either.  Still, pretty cool, eh?

Otherwise, we've been gallivanting about the countryside to witness the magnificence that was Etruria.  So yesterday was a day trip up to Tarquinia to see the museum, the Etruscan tombs and necropolis nearby, and a second Etruscan town at Cerveteri  (pronounced with a 'ch' at the beginning).  These monumental tombs were most often carved out of the living rock and then occasionally embellished with paintings and sculpture.  There were some fantastic paintings, which I couldn't take pictures of, so you'll have to settle for a shot of the interior of the Tomb of the Capitals from Cerveteri.

Notice here that the column itself is carved into the Tufo rock of the Tomb.  So that whole structure is just one giant piece of stone carefully carved out to resemble a set of bedrooms for the deceased.  Way cool?  Certainly these bystanders from the group seem to think so.  (Sorry about the flash, guys)

Today was even more travel by bus.  First up to Lavinium, where we saw the famous 12 altars (apparently they discovered another 2 recently) of the supposed Latin League and the 'Heroon of Aeneas'.  Yes, Aeneas is buried there.  I even stopped in a coffee shop named the Caffe 'Enea which proved the identification.  The Lavinium Museum was a bit silly, designed to appeal to schoolchildren and get them interested in the history of their area - but even so had some interesting artifacts.  Then we rushed off to see Lake Nemi and the famous ships of mad emperor Caligula.  (Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed there.)  The real tragedy is that these ships, which were recovered in the 1930s, were burned up by the retreating Germans during World War 2.  On that account, the museum now holds 1/5 size models - and even those were impressively sized.  I cannot imagine what the full ships must have looked like.  Just gigantic.

Finally, on our last stop of the day, we parked the bus next to an example of a Roman aqueduct, the Aqua Claudia.  I won't say much about these, except of course that they are awesome example of very practical architecture.  But it was extraordinary that even today the modern city of Rome runs a gigantic water pipe along the exact same course.  I suppose when modern and ancient peoples have the same problems, they tend to find very similar solutions. 

With that said, I think I am heading to bed.  The Villa Guilia and Villa Borghese tomorrow!  

The First Few Days

So, as I mentioned before, I made it to Rome.  Another city I can totally get lost in - although the busy first few days of the program have kept me from wandering off too terribly far.  I just found a decent map that shows some of the major bus routes, so from now on I'll become a little bit braver and perhaps crazier in my travels.  So far, however, I feel a little bit like a baby duckling - must follow the group!  And the spectacle of 25 people trying to make their way through the cramped and winding streets has been quite humorous.

But here, photographic PROOF that I have arrived in Italy!

Yes, that's me with Cicero!  Do you know what the red background means?  It means you're not supposed to take pictures.  (shhhh....) Fortunately another member of the program ran interference for me by distracting the museum guard and a second snapped my photo, Gopher hat and all.  Coniuratio Quam Propria!  (How appropriate a conspiracy!)

The whole program has a chronological organization which is rather interesting, but so far it has consisted mostly of jokes that "here's the remain of a Palatine Hut - that temple of Magna Mater is NOT HERE YET."  Or "don't look over THERE!"  because over there is the Basilica of Maxentius or some such.  

  

And the Monument of Victor Emmanuel?  Yeah, that is definitely not there.

Back to the chronological arrangement.  This means that we've been running about trying to get a sense of Etruscans, early Greek influence, and Regal Rome (The Rome of the 7 legendary Kings).  You know, back when the Forum was a swampy drainage.  

How exciting!  (Well, it's only a model.  But you get the idea.)

The accommodations here are actually rather amazing now that I've had time to process it a bit.  We have complete access to the American Academy Library and grounds at virtually any time, which is an amazing resource.  In addition, there's a pretty full library at the Centro itself and space to spread out a bit and enjoy the night air (without air conditioning, this is suddenly a rather important consideration).  Plus, the food has been absolutely amazing.  I am not kidding when I say they ring a bell to call all the current residents to both breakfast and dinner, but I can't really blame them because the food has been wonderful.  2 course meals, with dessert, for every dinner?  One could get used to this.  Plus, they're even willing to explain how to eat these traditional Italian dishes - and yes, it's definitely more than just spaghetti.

Anyways, with that I'm going to conclude.  It's currently 9:30 here and I'd like to do a little bit more reading before I head off to bed.  Gotta prepare for tomorrow's trip and what I'll do during my free afternoon.  

Checking in from Italy!

Well, I made it to Italy.  What a flight!  I'll save that story for when I had a little bit more time - suffice to say there was a particularly ridiculous English bus trip, a near miss of the connecting flight, and finally, a bag handler strike in Rome that left my baggage lost for 2.5 hours!  Woo.

I can't get photos up at the moment, as I just have a little bit of time before I need to head down to the Forum.  But the welcome here has been fantastic, the people friendly, the accomodations are... a little 'cozy' (rustic?) but definitely manageable.  And the sights - awesome.  I'm having a ball so far.  Now I just need to find time to do some of the readings for this week.  Hopefully next time I can get my laptop connected to the wifi and give you a real update. 

Pictures? Please work, please please, pretty please...

Dare I try to upload a few pictures?  I'll give it a go...

Here's looking down on London from the top of St. Paul Cathedral.  Whoa, pretty...  It was also extraordinarily windy up there.

The inside of the restored Glob Theater.  They were setting up for Doctor Faustus on stage.  Just in case you were wondering what that thing is on stage, well, it's the devil.

Only the British Museum would do this, and then have the nerve to call it the 'Reserve Room' of Greek Vases.  That is, not good enough to go into the 'real collection' downstairs.  Not that they don't have some fantastic stuff set up in their main Greek and Roman display area...

A Sleepless Night

            The past few days have been pretty wild – I am actually really enjoying this whole ‘travelling alone’ business.  It’s actually quite relaxing because there’s no one else to consult about what to do next or where to go.  If I feel up to it, I go do it.  If I don’t, I take a break and sit down for a few minutes and then head out again. 

            You should see the hostel I’m staying at, it has some seriously bare-bones accommodations.  I’ve got a bunk bed in a room with 7 others, a place to lock up my more important valuables, and a rudimentary kitchen in the basement where they serve a complimentary breakfast of corn flakes, nutella, and toast!  Not exactly the traditional English Breakfast (all that ham, mmmm) but it does get me going in the morning.  And unlike everything else in this crazy city (except the museums – boo yah!), it’s free.  One of my major impressions of London as a city is that it is extraordinarily expensive.  I don’t know if everyone is secretly eating ramen or if they’ve got some secret cheap restaurants out in the burbs, but every meal seems to take at least 8 pounds.  So thank God for that free breakfast and the 30 pence rolls at Tesco.

            On another note, this will be yet another picture-less update as the internet at this wacky hostel is somehow not able to handle pictures.  Maybe they’re afraid that if they did, everyone would use up all the bandwidth.  I just don’t know.  But in any case, hopefully once I get to Rome and get settled I will try to upload some of my photos from today.  And there are some seriously cool ones coming.  I’ve got the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the inside of the restored Shakespeare’s Globe.  I’m actually quite disappointed that I wasn’t able to get tickets to see the current show in the Globe.  But they were sold out of all tickets (even standing room only tickets!) for a production of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.  Now that would be a cool play to go see in a period theater!  Nevertheless, I took the tour of the new Globe, saw a swordfighting demo, learned about bear-baiting and the history of the south bank area, etc.

            The highlight of the day, however, had to be St. Paul’s Cathedral.  It is a magnificent building, to my American Protestant eyes which are used to bare wood and a nearly iconoclastic avoidance of figures it is perhaps even opulent or garish.  But if it isn’t beautiful, I don’t know what is.  Still, and I suppose this is a very ‘provincial American’ reaction, there is something creepy about the memorialization of war heroes (and by extension imperialism) in a place of worship.  I’m not saying it’s wrong (who am I?), but it is odd to have monuments to Nelson, Wellington, and the Blitz in the building of a religion of peace. I did, however, appreciate Admiral Nelson’s monument, which was decorated with four sleeping lions representing war which his actions had ‘put to sleep’ as it were.

            But those were all in the Crypt, the highlight of that visit was in the other direction: the seemingly endless ascent to the top of St. Paul’s Dome.  I believe they said it was around 500 stairs to the top (maybe 560?), but however many it was the trip is completely worth it.  And I finally lucked out and caught some sunshine up there.  But you climb and climb and climb, up to the Whispering Gallery, then another 100 steps up to the Stone Gallery, then another 150 up winding narrow metal staircases to the Golden Gallery.  If you have a fear of heights, avoid it.  But what a view of London!  The Cathedral, a 400 year old building, it still virtually the tallest building in the entire London skyline and you can see the city stretching all the way to the horizon.  It gives you a sense of the sheer magnitude of the place.

            And if I’m yammering a bit, forgive me.  I’m on a bit of a coffee binge at the moment.  I scheduled my flights very stupidly (7:15 am from Heathrow – what idiot... oh, right) and unfortunately the Tube doesn’t run early enough to get me there in time.  So that means I’m taking a Night Bus (route N9 to be exact) at around 3:30 am local time to make sure I have time to get through security for my flight to Frankfurt and then... Rome!  So I’ve decided, rather than trust myself to an alarm clock, that I will simply accept that I should not sleep tonight.  Instead I plan to get some rest on the planes.  This may not exactly do wonders for my mood, but at least I won’t miss my flight.  Once there, I’m going to be hopping a train from Fiumicino up to the Trastevere Station (and that ought to be fun for someone who doesn’t speak Italian) and then hoofing it up to the Centro.  So ‘tonight’ and ‘tomorrow’ (is there a difference?) could turn out to be quite interesting...  But I’m sure I’ll survive.  Next update will most likely be coming from the Eternal City itself.  Here I come!

Short and Sweet

The internet here is really pretty bad and it's taking forever to load photos.  In addition, I don't really want to bore you with the minutia of my day - but I really got all over the place: Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Tower of London (the tour by the Beefeaters is pretty hilarious!), and, of course and over and over again - the British Museum.  If I get a better connection at some point I'll try to upload photos.  But for now all you're getting is an apology.

But - hey, I'm a real Londoner now.  I got stuck on the Underground for half an hour!

Strangest thing about London: 50% of joggers are wearing backpacks.  That seems odd.

Thing I miss most about America: Ubiquitous public restrooms.  Yeah, those would be nice.

Coolest thing so far: I got a kick out of the Winston Churchill War Museum.  And the fact that there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln (!) in Parliament Square.