Rome, Part 1

The Colosseum in Rome.

It’s seems like absolutely ages ago that I was in Rome, but I’m going to post about it all the same. I hope I haven’t forgotten too much to tell the story. On my first day I flew from Lyon to Rome and then successfully navigated to my hostel. All the Italian I knew was from the phrases I’d downloaded to my iPod and all my information on what to do in Rome was contained in a tiny guidebook completely written in French. I was set up for potential disaster, but the trip was far from that. That first evening I didn’t do much, just met up with two friends who were also staying in Rome and had some pasta and then red wine at the hostel bar.

My traveling friend, Pontiki, at the Colosseum.

I woke up early the next morning and decided my first destination would be the icon of Rome: il Colosseo. However, being that this was my first day, I got a little over confident with my free hostel map and ended up going in the completely wrong direction. I think I ended up at an old city wall, but I’m still not exactly sure. Anyway, I did eventually make it to the Colosseum and dodged the fake gladiators to get inside. It was spectacular. I had downloaded an audio tour to my iPod, so I wasn’t completely lost, and there was a cool exhibit on the history of the Colosseum on of the floors. I wish that it was possible to see a bit more of it, although I would soon see many pieces of its former marble scattered around the city.

Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine), seen from the Colosseum.

After my personal tour through the Colosseum, I met up with Mari and Natalie (both assistants in France, from England and Scotland respectively) at the Arch of Constantine. While waiting for them, I took the first of many portraits that I would take in Rome. Apparently I am completely nonthreatening and don’t look like I’ll steal your camera. I hope they turned out.

Palatine Hill (Collis Palatium).

We bought some much needed pizza and bottles of water at a bakery before going to Palatine Hill. I mention the bottle of water because this turned out to be the only one I had to buy, as Rome has drinkable water everywhere. Even the water that comes out of the spouts in the fancy fountains is okay to consume. It was amazing, especially as the sun never stopped shining and there was limited air conditioning.

View of Roman monuments from Palatine Hill.

Palatine Hill was very cool, although I was glad there were so many walking tours in English and French for eavesdropping because it was hard to work out the imperial buildings from the ruins. The legend is that Palatine Hill was where the twins Romulus and Remus were kept alive by the wolf in a cave. Eventually in their story, Romulus kills Remus and it is from his name that Rome gets its moniker. Due to this, Palatine Hill was the most prestigious of the seven hills in Rome and was where many of the emperors had their palaces.

Chains at San Pietro in Vincoli (St. Peter in Chains).

We got some gelato and then there were the first of many churches. I stumbled upon San Pietro in Vincoli, known for its statue of Moses created by Michelangelo. It also contains the above relic, St. Peter’s chains, which gives the church its name.

Scary modern angel at Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri (St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs).

Then I saw St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, which has, in addition to this rather unsettling angel, the meridian line of Rome. The basilica was built over what used to be Roman baths.

Crowd at the Spanish Steps.

That evening, we took a free walking tour that started at the Spanish Steps. It covered all the big piazzas of Rome and gave me a good idea of the city, which would come in handy later when the ticket machines in the metro wouldn’t take my money or card and I had to navigate the streets.

Horse at the Pantheon.

From the Steps we made our way to the Trevi Fountain (where we threw coins over our shoulders) and then to the Pantheon, which was just as amazing as it was made out to be. We ended up at the Piazza Navona and then headed to the Piazza di Fiori and had dinner outside. I had a pizza. Yes, for the second time that day. This would be a trend.

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi at the Piazza Navona.

From there we walked back through the piazzas we had just visited, starting with the Piazza Navona. The Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of Four Rivers) by Bernini was even more stunning with the lights and shadows.

The Temple of Hadrian.

The Temple of Hadrian was also beautiful in the dark. It’sthe remains of the old temple built into a new building, but at night you can almost imagine the modern fading away.

Trevi Fountain.

The Trevi Fountain wasn’t any less crowded at night, but maybe more atmospheric. Rome is definitely a city to experience by day and night.

Wow, I did that all in one day! No wonder my feet were tired. I’ll post more about Rome soon!

A Last Weekend in Paris

Paris Space Invader, going fast.

I got to Quartz Mountain this Monday and have been meeting the other 26 counselors and helping set everything up before the students arrive on Saturday (today!). Don’t worry, there will be pictures and blogging. But right now I’m going to go back to the weekend trip I took to Paris at the end of April/beginning of May to visit my friend Helen.

L'Institut du Monde Arabe.

I first met up with Helen at the Nick Cave-themed creperie where she was working and had a mushroom and goat cheese crepe before taking the metro to L’Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arabic World). My tour was pretty quick, because although the building has a stunning exterior, I wasn’t too engaged by the rugs and artifacts inside. However, the exhibitions on science, particularly astronomy, were very cool and I would be interested in spending more time in the non-museum parts of the Institute.

Admiring an off-screen taxidermy head at Deyrolle.

I met back up with Helen at her charming and stair-intensive apartment and then we ventured over to Deyrolle, a taxidermy shop started in 1831 which continues to sell stuffed zebras and pinned butterflies to rich and discerning Parisians. Pictures were not allowed, but I slyly took one in the only hidden place.

Deyrolle window display.

Unfortunately, there was an awful fire in the shop in 2008 that destroyed much of the shop’s collection. Haunting pictures of charred taxidermy animals were hung around the shop, but they seemed to have already replenished much of their stock. I could imagine spending all day there just opening the cabinet drawers to see what exotic insects lay numerous inside.

Bird market.

I’ll skip ahead to Sunday morning and our visit of the bird market. It was kind of strange, as most of the people buying and selling the small canaries and finches were men who looked like they belonged in the mafia. They were all standing around the little colored cages and trading the birds in and out of their large hands. I was almost afraid to take pictures because I thought they might break my camera.

Toy boats for rent in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

I can’t believe how much we walked that weekend. I think we only took the metro a few times because we just kept exploring neighborhoods and streets on the way to our destinations.

Boats in the Jardin du Luxembourg fountain.

We ended up cutting through the Jardin du Luxembourg where they were renting these boats to children. They could push them with sticks across the fountain.

Musée Zadkine.

Near the Jardin du Luxembourg is the Musée Zadkine, which exhibits art by the Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine. We didn’t pay to go into the museum, but admired the outdoor sculptures, most of which had someone screaming in cubist agony.

Fontaine des Quatre-Parties-du-Monde

What I love about Paris and what continues to bring me back countless times is the exploring. There are so many arrondissements that I have yet to see and even the ones I have visited are still full of hidden streets, buildings, stores, monuments. For example, this lovely Fontaine de Quatre-Parities-du-Monde was on our walk from the Zadkine Museum to the Cimetière de Montparnasse. It’s probably a distance most people would cross by metro (and my feet might have preferred it that way), but watching the buildings and feeling the atmosphere change through the blocks is so enjoyable.

Grave of Samuel Beckett.

The Cimetière de Montparnasse, like the other big Paris cemeteries, has a few famous names that draw the tourists. So with our free map, we tried to find a few who we knew, including the above modest grave of Samuel Beckett.

Serge Gainsbourg's shrine/grave.

Unfortunately, the map didn’t make a lot of sense, and had roads marked where we could only find passages behind tombstones. Still, we did discover Serge Gainsbourg, César Baldaccini, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Charles Baudelaire. Sadly, Man Ray was impossible for us to find.

Ingres Puzzle at the Louvre.

It was the first Sunday of the month, so all the museums were free, including the Louvre and the Orangerie. We spent a little time in each before getting worn out by the crowds. I think it might be a good idea to have an express area of the Louvre where visitors could take a moving sidewalk by the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory, a large French painting, and an Egyptian artifact. This might clear out the rest of the museum just slightly.

Librairie Alain Brieux.

I don’t remember if it was Saturday or Sunday night, but we did see a concert at L’International in Oberkampf. For anyone going to Paris, I really recommend it. They have free indie/rock concerts almost every night and the one we saw was surprisingly good.

On Monday we stopped by the Librairie Alain Brieux, a medical library. It was small, but had some interesting old doctor’s kits and maps.

Crowd at the Sacre Coeur.

We worked through the crowds in Montmartre by Sacre Coeur and then walked back near Helen’s neighborhood by the canals. There we had a delicious picnic and watched the sporadic boats and hipsters.

View of Paris from the Parc de Belleville.

I still had a little while before my train back to Valence, so we hiked up the hill to the Parc de Belleville. And yes, the whole way I had the Triplettes de Belleville song stuck in my head. It’s a real place, though, with a great view of the city. We sat in the grass and enjoyed the sun until it was time to go to the station.

Nîmes

Crocodile chained to a palm tree on the shield of Nîmes.

Time to do some backtracking! All the way back to the end of April, when I visited Nîmes with fellow assistant Sarah. We had already visited quite a lot of the region on our previous weekend adventures, so we decided to take our last trip to Nîmes in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Well, I should say our last trip during the assistantship, because I definitely hope to see her again!

View of the Maison Carrée.

I know I just went to Rome, but the above temple is actually in France. Nîmes became a Roman colony around 28 BC, although it became an important center during the reign of Augustus when he made it the capital of the Narbonne region. This is when most of its monuments were built, including the above Maison Carrée (Square House), considered to be one of the best preserved Roman temples in the world. After being used for everything from a church to a horse stable, it now houses a 3D movie. We didn’t see it on purpose, we thought there was actually something of the temple inside to see. But the movie was over-the-top and ridiculous fun, so we were entertained.

Jardins de la Fontaine.

After the 3D film experience of the history of Nîmes, we got lunch at the delicious Mezzo di Pasta (which should really open up some stores in the States) and then strolled along the lovely canal to the Jardins de la Fontaine. There was some sort of comic book fair going on, but it was mostly raffles and kids sitting on the dirt reading Tintin, so we continued walking. The park really lived up to its “Gardens of the Fountain” name and was almost like a little Venice with its waterways and bridges. It was also incredibly green and the warmest it had been in a long time.

Tour Magne.

At the top of the park was the Tour Magne, a tower that was formerly part of the Roman ramparts surrounding the town. I should mention that I didn’t make it to the aqueducts, which are probably the biggest Roman attraction in the town, but are unfortunately not reachable by foot. Well, I always like a reason to return to a place. Maybe next time I go to France I will rent a car.

Temple de Diane.

Also in the Jardins de la Fontaine is the Temple de Diane, which is actually not a Temple of Diana, as its name might lead you to believe. No one is sure what the Roman ruins that make up the “temple” were for, but the name stuck when a statue of Diana was found in an excavation. Whatever the case, there was a cafe right next to it where we got ice cream.

Arènes de Nîmes.

The last stop on our Roman tour was the Arènes de Nîmes, the town’s Roman amphitheater and current home of bloody bullfights. I’d already been inside the amphitheater back when I was studying in Clermont-Ferrand in 2006. We were riding the train back from a visit to Barcelona and had a couple hours in Nîmes to see it. This time we just saw the outside, but it is the most breathtaking that way. Its the best-preserved of all the Roman amphitheaters, having more of its original stones than the Colosseum in Rome.

We caught the TGV back to Valence and Sarah took the bus from there to Privas. It was sad to say goodbye, but hopefully we will have more travel adventures some day soon.