I'm Here

I'm here!

This was one of the most uneventful trips overseas ever. The flight was fine, and I even got 2 hours of sleep! I finally got to talking to my neighbors about 2 hours before we landed, and it turns out that the husband was a Rome Prize fellow in 1958! He's a sculptor who works mostly in bronze and marble, so when I get the internet for real, I'm going to google him. He and his wife were on their way to their summer house in Umbria. Sigh. That would be the life... He used to live in a studio one street over from my apartment, and told me about a neighborhood restaurant around the corner which has good, cheap, working-man's food. I'll have to try it out!

My apartment is very nice, and the neighborhood feels very safe. There are lots of little old people wandering around, which is always a good sign. There's a grocery store literally across the street (more on that later) and a pizza-by-the-slice place and a cafe a few steps in the other direction. The only weird thing about the apartment is the things it is missing. Trash bags. Extra toilet paper. A corkscrew, and a knife that's sharper than a butter knife. There is, however, a cutting board. Weird, huh? I'm sure there's other things that I just haven't thought about yet. So at some point soon, I'm going to have to find a store that sells those kinds of things (the grocery store won't - they just do food).

Oh, and the apartment does have air conditioning! I don't need it yet, but that will be really nice in July.

Once I got in, I took a shower and a nap, and then I started walking. I walked most of the afternoon, to the extent that at one point I had to make myself go into S. Maria in Trastevere and just sit and contemplate the mosaics for 20 minutes. Without someone else to make me rest, I sometimes overdo it, especially during the first two days when I'm trying to not give in to jet lag. If I don't have a book, I don't usually like to sit at a cafe table by myself, so when I get hungry and tired I get a slice of pizza to go, which covers my need for food, but not my need for rest. So I made myself sit for a while, which was definitely needed. The apse mosaic of the church is pretty fantastic, too:



The church dates from the 12th century, and was one of the first in Rome dedicated to the Virgin. The central apse mosaic shows Mary sitting at the right hand of Christ with his arm around her, in effect justifying her veneration.

Oh, also: I first walked to the Academy, so that I could get an estimate for the time required. Now, Google Maps tells me that the apartment is .8 miles from the Academy. What it neglects to mention is that about a third of that distance is a very steep hill (maybe 30 degrees?) which is topped by a set of approximately 70 stairs. Ow. My rear end is going to be in fantastic shape by the time I get home! At least at the end of the day, it will all be downhill.

Once I met up with Chelsea, we went to the Gianicolo overlook:



We then wandered down to Trastevere, and had an expensive but delicious glass of fresh squeezed orange juice in Piazza St. Maria in Trastevere. Mostly I think we were paying for the ambiance - a perfect people watching spot. It was a nice way to end the evening. Now I'm back at my apartment, with a slice of pizza topped with squished cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and some kind of thin-sliced meat (maybe beef?). Hopefully I'll get my computer linked in at the academy tomorrow, where I can actually post this!