Getting Lost

This everyday blogging probably won't be sustained when school starts, but until Monday, I have nothing better to do when I'm at our appartemento, so why not?

I woke up this morning at around 11 to the sounds of dogs barking next door and Vespas revving like we're all racing the Indy 500... I'm going to invest in some ear plugs. Anyway, I got dressed and headed out, intending to go straight to AUR, where I would sign up for my appointment to get my Permesso di Siggiorno (Permit to Stay) and look around the school a bit. It seemed from the drive to our appartemento yesterday that the directions to AUR were pretty straightforward. I went left our of the building and promptly got lost. No big, I had plenty of time to find my way, so I kept walking in what I thought was the general direction of school. I ended up way WAY far from where I was supposed to be going, and climbed this massive staircase on the Gianocuolo (Janiculum, the highest hill of Rome's 7) in order to get my bearings.

When that didn't really work, I stopped anyway to enjoy the view, then made my way down the Passaggio di Gianocuolo, which reminded me a little of Central Park. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going or anything, and was trying not to die crossing the street (incidentally, Roman drivers are exactly as insane as their reputation indicates) and when I got to the other side and looked up, St. Peter's. Right in front of me. I was at eye level with the dome and it felt like I could see forever. Rome is, from what I can tell, chock full of incredible
surprises like that.

For instance, later, after I had finally found AUR and done all that needed to get accomplished there, I was trying to find my way home. I made my way down the hill again, getting effectively lost along the way. Really, it wasn't scary or anything, since Rome in the afternoon is all bright and buttery and... well... hotter than hell, but who cares? Everything smells like pine trees and forest fires (it's fire season here, too) and this neighborhood I was in was full of gorgeous, swanky, vine covered apartment buildings. It really was a perfect afternoon for a leisurely, if aimless walk.

I found myself along the Tevere, bumming along and looking at the river and the bridges, when I stumbled across the Villa Farnesina, the smaller of two big giant houses built by the Farnese when their family were Popes in the 17th Century. Around the outside there are a few Roman sarccophagi and inside (though I didn't get to see) are some incredible works by Raphael. That's a project for another day!

I finally got back to old Trastevere, the neighborhood where 17 Via Mamelli resides, and decided that now that I wasn't lost anymore, I'd get some food and people watch in Piazza S. Maria in Trastevere, where there's an incredible Byzantine church with amazing frescoes on the inside and a cool fountain with steps from where I ate my delicioso pizza with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, arugala and some kind of sausage that tasted vaguely of when I was in France.

I got water from one of the communal drinking fountains that you find all over Rome... they're awesome. Basically it's just a faucet that runs continously, and in which I've seen people get water to cool their faces off, or wash their feet in the stream. It sounds a little gross, but there's also a little hole that when you plug the faucet at the bottom with your finger, shoots water for you to drink. I was a little unsure at first as to how sanitary these things might be, but then I just thought: hey, when in Rome... they're actually a godsend for a girl with an empty water bottle and no idea where she is, or if she's anywhere near her appartemento.

Trastevere is exactly what you think of when you think of Italy. In it's center, it's a maze of little cobblestone streets with pizzarias, gellaterias, fornarias, and all the other little 'rias' you could name, tucked into tall stucco buildings with ted tile roofs and ivy crawling all over everything. Vespas and little European cars abound, but pedestrians take the day. People yell at each other from tables set outside the pizzarias and little kids play on the playground that's in the middle of one of the main piazzas.

Every few blocks there's another church, and inside of these there's always (from the five or six that I visited yesterday and today) at least one old woman praying in front of an icon of the Virgin. These churches are astounding, like little modest looking jewel boxes with these astonishing rubies and 80 carat diamonds inside. At least, for an aspiring art historian that's what it seems like.

I could totally imagine myself living in Travestere for a lot longer than four months, and from the very tiny bit of what I've seen of Rome, this city is way more amazing that ever thought it would be, and I hyped it up a lot. I've been here around 28 hours now, and already I can tell why people have been mesmerized by this city for as long as they have. I've also discovered that getting lost is my new favorite passtime.