Sarah and Steve See the City

Days 1+

I realize it's been awhile since I've posted anything.

Let me blame part of it on a visit from Sarah and Steve, touristas straordinario! I was swept up by their enthusiasm, ideas, and energy! They arrived from New Jersey via Florence on the 20th, beginning a whirlwind tour of Rome. They had three and a half days to spend here and didn't waste a minute. They dropped their stuff in the apartment and off we went for Italian (late) lunch at the little cafe in the piazza near the Santa Maria dei Monte.

Then, straight to the Forum. Sarah read to us from the guide book, although her memory from studying here in her twenties was remarkably good, while Steve worked on figuring out where we were, or would have been in Imperial times. It is especially fun to be here in Rome with scholars. I think they both enjoyed themselves, too.


On the way home we dropped in on our neighbor 'Moses'. This is Bill's and my favorite of Michelangelo's sculptures next to the "Slaves" in Florence. Finally at home we cleaned up a bit and headed out to the Janiculum where Steve and Sarah had booked a reservation for the three of us at an upscale restaurant called Arco Antico. The food was very good, a real treat! Turns out Steve is as much a photo bug as I am. I got ready to shoot the dessert before he did. I may have eaten it before he did too!

Afterwards we took a walk in the dark in the park along edge of the hill. From here we had beautiful views of Rome in lights across the Tiber and could even see the Vatican through the trees in the other direction.


(Sarah and Steve are perfect house guests and were even very polite about sleeping on the sofa bed which they claim was reasonably comfortable!)



Beginning of Day 2
A couple of mokas (like espresso but made with the stove top maker) and yogurts in the morning, then it was off to our appointment at the Galleria Borghese. This is one of the most incredible art museums, and one of the first, in Rome. It is, however, a good idea to make a reservation in advance as they only let a small number of people in at a time and then clear everyone out after a couple of hours. But what a collection - definitely 'worth it'!

This photo is of the Borghese dragon and eagle. Real personalities and probably a good reflection of the Borgheses!


I've taken a few art history courses but never anything on the baroque. As a result, I had never appreciated two artists who I discovered for myself on this trip. Two sculptures by Bernini had me in awe, "The Rape of Proserpine" (same as Persephone?) and, my favorite, "Apollo and Daphne." Both commissioned and both assault themes; I clearly have to find out what was going on at the time.

There is lots of literature and pics of both works, so I will just relate a small story about the Daphne that I heard from the audio guide. (I always recommend the audio guides. They are very well done here.) The backstory of the "Apollo and Daphne" tells of Apollo's having fallen in love with the nymph Daphne, who was definitely not interested. He chased her and she, in fear of him, called to the river god, her father, to save her. He did so by turning her into a tree just as Apollo is about to grab her. This is the moment represented in the sculpture. Besides the beauty of the forms and the sensitivity of the carving, the thinness of the leaves growing out of Daphne's fingers is incredible, very close to nature! Now the story from the audio guide: Apparently, the sculpture was cleaned recently and the cleaners found that the leaves at the tips of Daphne's fingers rang like bells when they touched them. Wonderful! The ancient Chinese used jades to make music; I wonder if Bernini ever 'played' Daphne's fingers?

The other artist that I fell in love with is Caravaggio, but more on him later. His painting of Saint Ann, Mary and Jesus, and the serpent is on the ground floor of the Galleria and had me transfixed for quite awhile. I have a lot of reading up to do on him, too!

I could only do the first floor before being overwhelmed with images and ideas, so Steve and Sarah went on upstairs while I went outside to relax. I know I'll have to bring Bill, Max, Fannie, Andrew and Brittany here, so I'll be back more than once.

Bill got home from Jerusalem around the time we were in the Galleria so we met him for lunch afterwards. Bill joined us for further adventures and then, after Sarah and Steve left for home on Sunday morning he even managed to relax and hang around a bit over the following week. Now he's back in the States. The first couple of days he was gone, an acquaintance from Princeton and I got together, saw an exhibit about the Ottocento at Le Scuderie ('Horse Stables') and wandered around my neighborhood. Lots of fun and great to make a friend from home.

I have some quiet time for the next week with lots of reading to do and, obviously, catching up on the blog. I will do more on Steve and Sarah's visit in the next posts. I want to publish this one as it is, just so I can feel I've gotten something done!

Arrivederci, for now!