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Postnote to yesterdays entry.... I had just posted when a local started asking me about my phone - ended up going on my first italian gelato date - hilarious! Got told i have very important eyes. He was very young and charming and I was curious to see if all the cliches were true (yep, they cut to the chase fast and are over the top romantic). I blew him off after I finished my icecream as I wasn't really interested and it's hard to find a real connection when the language isn't there and the guys moves make you feel like you are in a bad Italian movie! Still hillarious end to my evening, even if I didn't get much Internet time.
The photo today is of the popes weekly address to the faithful in st peters square - you can't see him but he was there with his Swiss guards and a whole heap of cardinals and throngs of tourists and the faithful. A unique experience. I was there to see the Vatican museum, a vast collection of art, holy relics, antiquities from all over Europe, and of couse all that incredible ceiling art by michaelangelo and his 15th century colleagues. And the ceiling art is incredible, corridor after corridor of masterpieces. I was able to photograph this but not the Sistine chapel, where the most famous art is (the creation of Adam). There is so much to see it becomes overwhelming so I picked just a few of the galleries and will save the rest for another time and st peters for tomorrow. The weather is really hot and the walking and queues take their toll.
I took a taxi to the piazza del popolo, a massive piazza with an egyptian obelisk and fountain that used to be the site for all public executions and now the start of the smart shopping streets that lead to the Spanish steps. As far as steps go they are very grand and have nice views, but it is a massive tourist gelato rest stop with hordes of non Italians selling crap. A walk past the big name clothes shops leads me into piazza San lorenzo, famous for their old style pattisserie restaurants. It's lunch time so I stop for porcini risotto and sacher torte. After a delicious lunch I went church hopping, in the immediate area around piazza navona there are lots of amazing Byzantine churches hidden in the backstreets, it feels like a secret discovery tour.
There are discreet billboards discussing various films that have featured Rome prominently, and highlighting exact locations of particular scenes. Today I have stumbled across sites for roman holida, eat pray love and the talented mr ripley, and angels and demons.
One of the things unique to Rome is the amount of priests (and nuns) walking around. It is unusual to see such a visible display of clergy, and alot of them are young. They even have a hot priests calendar!!!???? Because of course priests as sex symbols is consistent with the vow of celibacy! Sex sells I guess no matter what the product.
I have had dinner in my local area (fried stuffed zucchini flowers and braesaola rocket and parmigiana salad). I think I have found the best gelato yet around the corner of where I am staying - today's flavours mint chocolate and really dark chocolate with candied oranges - AMAZING! And €2. I move on to the campo de fiori (site of the morning market) - but night is a different vibe completely, young, hip, all the hole in the wall wine bars open up and the whole place is buzzing. I have picked my aperitif spot right on the piazza to watch all the action - there are musicians, magicians, people going to a very swanky do at the French embassy around the corner, kids and dogs, nonnas hanging out the window!
I move onto an area which is an archeological site - and a cat rescue sanctuary. The cats live among the collumns and remainders of ancient temples, and are fed, neutered and given medical care. I walk the buzzing streets back past the pantheon, piazza and finally call it a night.
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