Rome via Brooklyn

609 words 3 minute read time DOUBLE POST

Julia invited me to tag along and walk in Trastevere which I thought was beautiful! I also didn’t recoginize till we got there that I have been to the neighborhood before so it was cool to be able to see it during the daytime. The walk there was not bad and much needed, my mom and I were in a competition to see who got the most steps and I definitely won. We saw a beautiful orange chat and I found it ironic that it was near a Garfield statue on the top of the door. I love the influx of cats I have seen on the trip especially since I don’t have a cat and want one so bad. I also started to make a habit of if I see a dominican flag I will take a picture of it. 

I got to go to the pantheon which I was super excited about and I thought it was beautiful. I liked the use of the different stones as well as the way they used gold in the building. The Pantheon was dedicated to the God’s so its transformation into a Roman Catholic Church intrigues me a bit. After the Pantheon Julia and I went to get Gelato and it was 15 Euro (I know I am crying on the inside too). I tell myself what made it worth it was that they were playing soca music and it tasted pretty good. Definitely got tourist trapped for sure. 

We went to the Museo Altemps and I saw a lot of art that I found interesting. I liked seeing the small chapel in the museum which was the Church of San Ancieto which was constructed in the 17th century by Giovanni Angelo Altemps. He dedicated the Chapel to one of the first popes and was built to hold the remains of San Ancieto. These remains were the first to be permitted to be held privately. 

Professor Yarrow showed Julia and I a statue of a satyr with a young boy teaching him to play an instrument which was seen as harmless right, wrong. Apparently the centar has his leg up to hide his erection. The sculpture is of Pan teaching Daphnis to play the flute and according to Ovid, a great poet, Daphnis was the victim of a love tragedy and was petrified by a jealous nymph after he made love to a woman. 

Later in the day Moussa gave an excellent presentation about the Colonna di Marco Aurelio which demonstrated how the Romans portrayed themselves and their enemies. The column reminded me of the phrase history was written by the victors and how they control the narrative of how they were perceived and every other perspective isn’t as well know or lost due to the defeat. Unfortunately the column was under construction which has been a common theme as we have been staying in Rome. A lot of things have been under construction so we could not take in the full beauty of the a lot of these sites. 

After that Mazzy, Elena, Julia, and I walked in the direction of this place that makes these amazing balls made from rice cheese and other fillings. I liked them a lot! Especially the cacio pepe one, we got caught in the rain on the walk back to the apartment and the rain felt amazing. I was definitely saying “we needed this rain” like how my uncle would say staring off on his balcony.  When we got back to the apartment I crashed for sure because it was a long hot day of walking but I wouldnt have it any other way.