busy busy

Wow it has been a busy week! Sorry for the delay in posting.

Picking up where I left off... Saturday night we went to this AWESOME pizza place: Pizzaria da Baffetto. It was delicious and a great little family restaurant.


And then we went to the Trevi Fountain! Nighttime sightseeing is definitely the way to go. The places just come alive. I made a wish and then we sat in awe of the fountain for a while. Great people watching as well!


Sunday was the Porta Portese flea market in Trastevere! It was huge and overwhelming, especially the tables with clothing. There would just be huge piles to dig through with Italian ladies sitting on top of the tables, smoking and yelling at the passersby to stop and look at their wares. Definitely a sensory experience. I got a ring, a scarf, and some vintage Roma postcards to frame.

Monday we had Gifts and Sacrifice class, which I am actually really enjoying. The reading and discussions are thought-provoking and interesting. Our first test is Monday though-eek! After class and dinner, we went to the Spanish Steps! With a stop at Giolitti for gelato, of course. Nighttime sightseeing once again. A lot of young people go to the steps to hang out at night. We climbed to the top and got a great view of the city!

Crowded Steps!

The view from halfway up-that is the street with all the really expensive designer stores (Gucci, Prada, etc.) I wish I could shop there!

On Tuesday, our Art History class made a trip to the Vatican Museums. I was super excited to see all of the art, but it ended up being so crowded and hot that the experience wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I would like to go back some other time when I don't have to fight people to see the artwork. Plus there are twelve museums, so we barely scratched the surface. I still enjoyed it, though. Some of these masterpieces that we get to see give me shivers. We went through the painting gallery (which includes altar pieces from the original St. Peters), the sculpture garden (highlighted by the famous Laocoon sculpture), the old papal apartments (great frescoes in there by Raphael and other painters), and of course visited Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel (no pictures allowed, unfortunately). We will be going back to Vatican City twice more for class, so I will have a chance to go inside St. Peter's Basilica and see more of the area.

An altarpiece from the original St. Peter's Basilica

Raphael paintings-the middle one is The Assumption

A Caravaggio painting

The Laocoon

A Raphael fresco in the papal apartments

Yesterday (Wednesday) we had a long day of Gifts and Sacrifice class. I had a group presentation to give, and then after class discussion, we watched "The Merchant of Venice," analyzing the role of the gift in the movie/play. For Art History, we visited the Castel Sant'Angelo. SO COOL! It was originally the emperor Hadrian's mausoleum, but over the years it took on other roles, such as a military fortress and papal apartments. Now it is a museum and tourist attraction. Right when we got there, a thunderstorm started brewing in the distance, and by the time we made it past the Bernini sculptures into the Castel, it was thunderstorming like crazy. It was fun to be inside the Castel during a storm. I felt like one of the popes who escaped to the fortified Castel during times of danger. The view at the top was amazing too-we got panoramic views of the city as well as a great view of the lightning, getting soaked with rain in the process. So worth it though!

Going over the bridge (line with Bernini statues) to get to the Castel

Bernini Statue-very dramatic with the thunderstorm in the background!

View from the top of the Castel (St. Peter's in the distance)

The group at the top, soaked in the rain!

After our visit to the Castel we rushed to Angolo Divino for our wine-tasting appointment with Massimo! We had arranged a time for almost the whole class to go and learn about different types of wine, how to analyze a glass of wine (now I know what tannin is!), and of course to taste the wine. He had three different red wines for us to try, all of which were very good, especially with the appetizers he provided. I had never really known about wine before so this was a good introduction.

Our table at Massimo's

I will write another post soon about the sites we visited today and about the fun weekend ahead-we are planning a trip to the beach in Sperlonga! So ciao for now :)