5/7 - Rome (Part 2)
*Some of the photos with which this post was to have been illustrated with have been lost for eternity thanks to the incompetence/stupidity/laziness of a French Internet Cafe staff member in Nimes*
The audioguide said that we are indebted to Pius IX for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. I'm not sure if that's the word to use - "saddled" would be more appropriate, given the fuel that it gives Protestants and Orthodox Christians.
There was a showcase with a piece of a sari worn by Theresa of Calcutta, and a piece of cloth soaked in her blood. The audioguide noted: "The authenticity of these relics has been certified". Right. Unfortunately they were not on display.
*St John the Evangelist and his acid trip in Patmos*
1595-1608. Made in Florence.
In the main basilica, there was supposed to be a fragment of wood from the table of the Last Supper. Unfortunately I couldn't find them, not least because of the lack of labels and a floorplan. Presumably the audioguide revealed its location. I almost couldn't find the 4th century statue of Constantine since it was well hidden, but eventually I stumbled across it.
*Leo XIII*
*Soldier guarding the tomb of both Leo XIII and Innocent III*
Recovered picture:
I'm not sure why both names were on the tomb.
*The tomb of both Leo XIII and Innocent III*
Recovered picture:
*4th century statue of Constantine*
Recovered picture:
The grill was irritating and wth was with the shower cap?!
*The most 3D relief I've ever seen*
This was at the side of the entrance. The guy was leaning out so far, I thought he'd drop out of the sculpture.
*Dedrite St Francis of Assisi*
1226 & 1926. Memorial erected on the 700th anniversary in Piazza di Porta San Giovanni
*Fiat Punto Ad*
Recovered picture:
This is my brother-in-law's favourite car.
I didn't know why more people didn't use umbrellas. Having them in Greece in April may be nua, but Rome in July is a different story.
I had this excellent bruschetta pizza (tomato, mozzarella pieces and basil). Unfortunately it was very expensive - a portion that'd cost me €2 for some other flavour cost me €3,80 there, so I asked them to cut it in half, not least because this was only tea/a lunch supplement.
At ISO 100 the grain is almost the same as at "Auto" (which almost always seems to be 50). Unlike on previous trips, I'd no time, energy or memory space to follow my prior practise - take multiple takes at ISO Auto and play around with the shutter speed (though that sometimes failed, eg the Cantor's Staff at Aachen).
*Basilica of St Ambrose & St Charles - Back*
*Basilica of St Ambrose & St Charles - Chapel*
Recovered picture:
*Ceiling*
Recovered picture:
*Exterior*
Recovered picture:
There were hilarious brochues inside. For example, the seditious brochure: "The Catholic Church and non-Christian religions" by Raffaello Martinelli [NB: The site is Gecko/Firefox unfriendly]:
"non-Christian religions also contain false elements, theoretical and practical errors, malformations, deformations, distortions, reductive visions"
I have a feeling these adjectives came from Vatican II, so they can all be thrown into jail, together with the current pope. Interestingly enough there was nothing on non-Catholic Christians. The brochures also asked one to refer to pontifical documents for more information - if anyone actually did that (given that they're more dense than the brichures) I'd give him €1.
Even more amusing was Artificial Insemination And In Vitro Fertilization: Are They Morally Acceptable?. Hilarious extracts:
- "it is not right to achieve good though evil: the end does not justify the means. [Ed: Like crucifixion?] Therefore, the service to life (which is sought through in vitro fertilization) should be accomplished by other means that are not immoral"
- "homologous and heterologous fertilization dissociate the procreative meaning (ordered toward to the transmission of life) from the unitive meaning (mutual self-giving of the spouses) in sexual relations between a husband and wife" [Ed: Does this mean that the rhythm method is unacceptable?]
Goddamnit, it's been more than 30 years since IVF first appeared. You'd think they'd have gotten over it already.
More interesting pamphlets
*Mausoleum of Augustus*
Recovered picture:
Unfortunately I couldn't go in - it was closed.
Mausoleum of Augustus
Unfortunately the Ara Pacis was closed.
Sail down the river which brings us life
There were a lot of mosquitoes in Italy, but after the Island of Doom and the School of Many Monsters, nothing fazes me anymore.
Wth obelisk in Piazza del Popolo.
At 4:50, when I reached the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, I wanted to collapse.
What the bicycle is to the Netherlands (and Flanders, to a lesser extent) the scooter is to Rome (and Italy, to a lesser extent).
Though there were people dressing up in various outfits for coins (static performance buskers), no one dressed up as Palpatine (either the Star Wars or the Vatican one). Pity. That'd have been really funny.
Piazza del Popolo
Fountain in there
Terrace in there
Twin churches
Pinturicchio - Nativity with St Jerome. 1488-90.
There was a sign asking people not to use their flash in the chapel with the Caravaggios. Amazingly, people obeyed. Probably it helped that they had the temporary spotlight (running on an honour system - you dropped coins in and pressed the button).
Caravaggio - Crucifixion of St Peter, 1601
Caravaggio -
Carracco - Assumption of the Virgin, 1601
Altar
Organ choir with angel and putto
Garzi - the Eternal in Glory. c. 1685
Santa Maria del Popolo
There was this interesting exhibition ("The Genius of Leonardo da Vinci") where they'd (re)built some of Leonardo da Vincis gadgets. Some were quite cool, like a hammer driven by an eccentric cam; an odometer (a gadget "known since antiquity") where every round the wheel turned, an upper wheel would turn a notch and when it reached the proper position a stone would fall - counting the number of stones would let one calculate the distance traveled; a hygroscope where a cotton ball was weighed against a weight which would be the same weight as it when dry (and how much heavier the wet ball would be would've been measured - I wonder how they'd dry the cotton ball out for reuse though); a trench digging machine (the Island of Doom could'v used some). Some gadgets had "don't touch" labels - evidently they weren't built as well as they should've been.
Naturally, photograph and video recording were not allowed, even though the copyright to the inventions was held by Leonardo himself (hah!) - he'd turn in his grave.
There was a "self-moving car" from the Codex Atlanticus, f. 812. For some reason the mechanism had a cross bow. The writeup for this read: "In a few lines of the Atlantic Code, Leonardo declares that the car is the main human invention". I was confused and wondering if Dan Brown had come up with a new book, until I realised that they'd mistranslated "Codex".
Emergency Bridge
This can be made with small tree trunks - no planks or ropes. If you press on it it just makes it more secure
Sculpture with arms above Piazza del Popolo
This was supposed to be a stitch, but the other picture has disappeared, thanks, no doubt, to the French idiot
The stupid Uffizi gallery in Florence, after charging me €18,20 per ticket (making it the most expensive museum in the world), had the temerity to require that vouchers be printed out to be exchanged for the tickets; if I had turned up with no voucher, I would not have been able to get the tickets that I had paid for already. Irritatingly, the voucher was in colour and the internet cafe I printed it out at had no Adobe reader, so I had to convert the PDF online and pay €1 for printing out the page (vs €0,50 for black and white). The stupid internet cafe also charged €2 for the privilege of plugging in your camera. Wth.
I saw this girl with a spaghetti strap worn on top of her bra. Showing your bra strap is normal European practice, but in this case I saw 2 colours on her chest. On a slightly closer look, it looked like she'd pulled down the front of her spaghetti strap to reveal the entire front of her bra, since the fabric of the spaghetti strap resumed below her bosom. Then again, the more I think the more I think it was designed like that. Gotta love these Europeans.
I saw condoms being sold in packs of 3 (street dispenser) and 6 (shops) in Rome. In the rest of Italy they're all in 12 packs. Now I know why Italy has such a low birthrate (this would appear to be counter-intuitive at first, but on reflection the reader should be able to come to the same conclusion as me)!
Travel tips:
- Hostelling International affiliated hostels are cheaper, but they tend to be in the middle of nowhere, so if you have no car they can be hard to get to, especially if you have a heavy load; it's worse if, like me, you stay at them for only a night or two. The up to €3 surcharge for non-members is irritating though, so remember to get your membership card before leaving