July 26, 2019 Friday Rome
We had coffee and breakfast after a
miserably hot and intermittently sleepy night.
Then we set out to visit the Stadio Olympico, the stadium from the 1960
Olympics. Visiting Olympic sites is
another thing we do. It was just a
couple of bus rides to get within a short walk across the Tiber to reach the
site. I’m sure the stadium is still used
for sporting events. In fact when we
were in Malta we saw a footie match between Real Madrid and Roma played in the
Stadio Olympico. It appears that the
National Teams may have their headquarters here also. The first thing to greet us as we walked
toward the stadium was the Mussolini Obelisk.
The internets informs me that Mussolini erected this in 1932 as part of
a plan to try and win the 1944 Olympics.
The obelisk is 120 ft tall and made of Carrara marble, what else? I’m kind of surprised that it wasn’t pulled
down when Mussolini was killed near the end of WW II.
Sue went into the building to see
what was open to the public. I took
photos of the athletic figures on the front of the building. The only thing open to us was a track next to
the stadium. The track is named the
Stadi dei Marmi, the Marble Stadium. It
is ringed by large Fascist-Era statues of athletes. This running track doesn’t make any sense
with regard to the Stadio Olympico, because there was no place for seating. Turns out it was built/completed in 1928 for
the Fascist Academy of Physical Education which was located next door. We didn’t think the stadium would be open for
us to walk into, and it wasn’t. So I took
a few more photos and then we were off to our next location. The panorama of the stadium turned out pretty
good. Did I mention that you should
never get a new cell phone?
The next stop was the Barberini
Gallery to see the Caravaggio painting “Narcissus” that is ALSO a 1001
painting. This trip required a bus ride,
the subway, and walking one of Rome’s seven hills to get to the museum. It was there that we learned the painting was
in Potsdam, Germany!!!! I had contacted
the Barberini Gallery via its Facebook page.
I asked if the painting would be on display when we visited at the end
of July and the first week of August.
They replied that it would be on display. Who knew that there was a Barberini Gallery
in Potsdam! I had used Google to search
for the Barberini Facebook page, and then just asked my question back in May. When we get the internet, probably not until
we are in a hotel in Sicily, I’ll see if I missed that I was using the Potsdam
Barberini Facebook page. Well it turns
out that I should have used the “official” name of the Gallery: Barberini
Corsini Gallerie Nationali to get to the right Facebook page. Well, the painting still would not have been
there even if I had the right page. But we wouldn’t have been counting on
seeing this painting. We were so upset
that we didn’t even go into the museum.
Our next stop was the Palazzo
Venezia which is in front of the Victor Emmanuel Memorial in the Capitol
district. This palace was built in the
mid-15th century for a Cardinal who became Pope Paul II. It is now a museum. It does have paintings, but it is more a
museum of how the rich and powerful lived.
It has a painting by another artist whose paintings I want to see. He is known as Giorgione. There are probably less than 50 paintings
attributed to this artist. He died
young, I believe in one of the plagues that occurred fairly regularly back
then. The painting I wanted to see was
there. Giorgione’s painting present his
subjects in a more realistic fashion.
There was also an exhibition of the history of the Bulgari fashion and
jewelry. I know nothing about either,
but some of the jewelry exhibits were impressive. Sue even had to ask the attendant, who turned
out to be in charge of the exhibition, if the jewelry was real. He explained that all the jewelry was real. There was even a dress there for
Melania. It was basically totally see
through; it was on a manikin. The
Palazzo had two typical paintings that we make a point of seeking out: St.
Jerome and the lion and the Annunciation.
I have added one of our favorite Annunciation paintings by Otto Dix. The painting is at the Musee Unterlinden in
Colmar France. This painting to me is a
realistic image of what happened (if it happened). Imagine being a young teenage girl (I know, I
know) being told by an angel that you are going to have a baby! That might be just a little scary.
After we got home, Sue laid down to
rest. I went outside in the shade to
locate a hardware store where I might be able to buy a fan. The closest store was only about a 15 minute
walk, so off I went. The store was dark
when I got there, but the guys inside must have seen me looking in the windows,
because they door was open when I went around the second time. There was a floor standing fan, almost
exactly like one we have at home. I
asked how much, they said 20 Euro, and I said I’ll take it. I then walked back home with the fan over my
shoulder like a rifle. We move the fan
into the room where we are sitting or sleeping and it really makes the
apartment bearable, not comfortable, but bearable.
We had tickets to visit the Vatican
Museum tonight at 7:00 PM. I had read on
Trip Advisor that the Museum was less crowded in the evening. We took the Metro to the Vatican area and sat
outside at a restaurant to have a beer before the Museum opened. Even with timed tickets there was a line to
get in, but we didn’t have to wait too long.
We of course had visited the Museum before, but it is one of the things
you do when in Rome. We took the selfie
at the top of the blog was taken at the open air Court of the Pinacoteca, so
that is the Dome of St. Peter’s in the background. The Pinacoteca (painting gallery) was closed
because of a concert. That area is
usually almost deserted because most people go straight to the Sistine Chapel. There is still too much to see: sculptures,
tapestries, maps, and paintings. By the
time we got to the Sistine Chapel it was crowded. To me this is a place you must visit, but if
you really want to study the paintings you need to get a book. The ceiling and end wall are by Michelangelo
have so much going on that you need to have learned who all the figures are,
and what their relationships mean. The
paintings on the side walls are by other famous artists, and they all have
their own stories to tell. Even though
we didn’t get into the Pinacoteca, I still took a lot of photos. After we left the
museum we went back to the restaurant where we stopped earlier. We had a terrific meal. We split a meat and cheese plate that was
enough for four people, and then we split an entrée that was again
delicious. I think it was large ribbon
pasta with bacon zucchini and a cheesy sauce.
I told Sue that I was surprised by how much I liked it. On the way home
we stopped for gelato at a local store, then it was home to sleep in front of
our new fan.
I’ve included three videos in the
Vatican Museum album. I may have to post
them separately, and even then they might run because the files could be too
long. I won’t know until I post the
files. Well the videos played for me, now I'll have to see if they work on Sue's computer when she comes back from the store. The videos ran on Sue's computer, so hopefully they will work for everybody. One other note, a couple of the photos are jumpy; there is a "Move On" icon at the top of the photo, click it turn off the motion. I haven't learned what I'm doing to cause this, have I mentioned don't ever get a new phone?
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