Today we made our way north from the hotel through the embassy district to the nearby Villa Borghese Park. The Borghese Villa was the home of Cardinal Borghese, the Pope's nephew. In a rather nauseating case of nepotism, Scipione Borghese parlayed his position into great wealth and used that to amass a large art collection which persists today in the public Borghese gallery. (Not the Catholic Church's finest moment, but it's a really great art collection!).
Congested areas call for clever parking. "Smart" cars can perpendicular and parallel park.
Outside the Borghese Gallery. Entrance requires an advance reservation and is limited to a two hour visit. They let a couple hundred people in, let them look for 1hour, 58 minutes, then they shoo them out. A unique system but it seemed to work.
The fountain outside.
The large fountain out front.
The museum was very strict about bags and photography and you had to check your camera. Thus, we don't have any pictures of what we saw. We had a guide for this tour, and she was fantastic, our best ever (also not shown). Below are what some of the photos would have looked like.
Bernini's Apollo and Daphne. Daphne turning into a tree to escape Apollo. Single block of marble. Flowing robes, leaves. Incredible.
Bernini's version of David. We might even like it better than Michelangelo's version.
Pluto carrying Persephone off into the underworld. Looking at the indentation of his fingers into her thigh, you forget it's a marble statue.
We had such a good tour guide and saw such incredible art that the Borghese Gallery was a big hit with everyone.
After the Art Gallery we explored the large adjacent park (more of Cardinal Borghese's ill-gotten gain).
Playgrounds meager by our family's standards.
Outside the Gallery we ran into this couple from New Delhi. We have seen them twice in Venice, once in Florence and on two consecutive days in Rome. At this point we decided to take our picture together, since we seem to be traveling companions! They were very nice. Scott calls them his "Indian Nanie and D-dad."
This guy was incredible. He was playing full concertos from memory. We sat and listened to him for 20 minutes.
We rented this bicycle-rickshaw thing for an hour to facilitate our exploration of the park. There were lots of complaints about the driving.
Davis outside the old Roman City Wall.
Next we headed to some Roman sites we have been wanting to see.
On our way to the Spanish Steps.
At the "Spanish Steps" (Spanish Embassy nearby). A famous tourist hangout.
We were there in the heat of the afternoon, when it is "quiet." Apparently it gets really crowded in the evenings. Can you spot Everlie and the boys? (They are wearing blue).
At the Trevi Fountain.
Throw a coin backwards into the fountain and you will come back to Rome…or so the story goes.
Chestnuts roasting on a semi-open fire. We had some, they were quite tasty.
The obelisk and fountain outside the Pantheon.
The Pantheon. Originally built in 27 BC, and in continuous use since, with a remodeling job in 120 AD by Emperor Hadrian. The Christians turned it into a church and kept it intact---well, except for the 250 tons of Bronze that Bernini took to make the altar in St. Peter's Basilica.
The "Oculus", the intentional hole in the roof.
King Victor Emmanuelle II, first ruler of modern united Italy, is buried in the Pantheon.
The famous painter Raphael is also there.
Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona. That Bernini was a busy guy (He had 11 kids, so we guess he had some bills to pay).
In Piazza Navona.
In most of the public places, in basically every European city we've been to, there are these guys pretending to be statues, angling for tips. The boys love them.
They'll pose for a Euro or two.
This guy was creating pictures with scarps of cardboard and spray paint.
It's a little "Velvet Elvis" like, but not bad for 15 minutes.
We stopped by an Italian Bookstore. Apparently "Schiappa" is Italian for "wimpy kid."
A day without Gelato is a day without sunshine!
Tomorrow: Ostia Antica--ancient port city of Rome. Arrivederchi!
Mime and I probably ate in that same McDonalds. The day we were there the paper dolie on the food tray had a map of the world. I the center of this world map was an outline of the state of TEXAS. Imprinted on this outline was the words " THE COUNTRY OF TEXAS". Not only did the hamburger taste good but the atmophere was like USA.
ReplyDeleteWELCOME HOMW!!
ReplyDeleteI do not believe I would ask the boys if they would like to visit a museum tomorrow?
Meme/Pawpaw