It's been a goal of mine to actually get to know my way around the city while I'm here, but I've realized that every time I've gone out so far, it's been with groups of people in which I always end up relying on someone else to navigate the streets. This Friday provided me with the perfect opportunity to explore the streets of Rome for myself; On Wednesday, our art class went to Palazzo Altemps, a branch of the Museo Romano which houses a lot of old sculpture. The ticket we paid for happened to be good for three days to get into the other three museum branches throughout Rome, so I thought it the perfect opportunity to do a little museum-hopping and take advantage of it.
I love, love, love seeing all the art and sculptures and elaborate churches everywhere in Rome. Unfortunately, I had difficulty finding someone who shared my enthusiasm and wanted to spend a Friday going into churches and museums with me... So I took the opportunity to venture out into Rome on my own, and I had a surprisingly good time going solo. (And everyone should be super proud of me for not getting completely lost either!!)
First I went to see the Chiesa di San Luigi dei Francesi, the church home to the three original Caravaggio paintings: The Calling of St. Matthew, St. Matthew and the Angel, and The Martyrdom of St. Matthew. I spent awhile staring at those.
 |
| You may be starting to notice a pattern that all the churches in Rome are incredibly beautiful. |
 |
| I love the details. |
 | ||
| A picture of a picture. Of course it can never really do it justice. |
I then made my way to Crypta Balbi, a block of Rome where the Crypt and Theater of Balbus was in ancient times; The museum housed a lot of relics focusing on the archeology and evolution of the area over time. I got to go on a free tour of the underground area, which allowed me to see some of the very, very old construction and remains of buildings, though unfortunately the guide spoke Italian the whole time, so I only understood about a quarter of what he said.
 |
| This was apparently something like an ancient pub. See the pipe system on the left? |
Next, I walked a ways on to the Palazzo Massimo. I was stunned by how gorgeous and huge the palazzo was, and I wandered the rooms for a good amount of time just looking at the art. The palazzo had two floors dedicated to sculpture, one for mosaics and frescoed walls, and a basement with a huge display of ancient coins and jewels.
 |
| The famous Discus Thrower |
I made it to the last museum, the Baths of Diocletian, about forty minutes before closing, so unfortunately I wasn't able to go inside, but I was allowed to wander the gardens, so I still consider it a success. I'll definitely have to make time to go back at some point and see the rest, though.
 |
| The gardens. There were ruins and old statuary everywhere. |
By the time I started making my way back to campus I was starving so I stopped in the cheapest place near the termini stop, which I am ashamed to admit, was a McDonald's. (I ordered my cheeseburger in Italian though, so that counts for something, right?) An Italian McDonald's is definitely different from an American one - they have things like calzones and cornetti on the menu. And Mark, I can finally dispel the myth for you: a quarter pounder in Europe is still called a quarter pounder, not a one newton burger, so you may tell your physics teacher he is a liar.
Anyway, I made it back to campus without incident. Overall, I'm pretty happy with myself for getting everywhere I intended to today. And now I can brag to my philistine friends about all the cool stuff they missed out on seeing.
