2 September 2007 · Comment [2]
Rome pictures out the wazoo
Hey everyone! It’s time for another picture explosion! Also it has recently been brought to my attention that I use a sickening amount of excamation points in these blog entries and I’d just like to clarify that I haven’t become freakishly excitable on this trip, that’s just the way I write. Like a thirteen-year-old girl.
On a slightly unrelated note, while I’ve become pretty good at meeting people on this trip, I have not become any better at not immediately disliking most people, so now I’ve amassed a huge collection of people I despise all around the world! How neat. The most recent addition to this collection is the boy from my hostel room who said he’s already read “American Psycho” twice and he likes the movie so much more than the book because in the movie they just show someone getting killed but in the book they go on about it for four pages. Creeptastic. Okay, but pictures!
This is the ceiling of the Coliseum. Haha, fooled you, it’s the Sistine Chapel. It’s crooked but I still like it. Also apparently you’re not supposed to take pictures inside the chapel? I didn’t know that until after I took this so it’s okay, but I’m still pretty sure that you’re not allowed to take pictures just so they can sell you more posters and postcards once you get right outside the door. Because it’s not like even using a flash would deteriorate a fresco that high up. Effing capitalism.
This is a fresco by Raphael that’s in the Sistine Chapel and I like it especially because we learned about it in elementary school.
This is the Hall of Maps in the Sistine Chapel. It shows how far the Roman Empire used to extend but I just like the colors and shapes, dur.
Ummm, this is a ceiling from… somewhere in the Vatican. Maybe somewhere in Saint Peter’s Basilica? But definitely not the main dome because I have a bunch of bad pictures of the main dome and this is not it.
This is a sarcophagus from the Vatican Museum! It really creeps me out when things have massively oversized heads. Like Zeniba in Spirited Away:
Also, while we’re on the subject of Zeniba, I spontaneously sprouted a bump in the corner of my eye just like her forehead bump when I was in Australia. That thing better go away soon or I will be forced to take drastic measures.
Fun handle! This is also from the Egyptian section of the Vatican Museum. I don’t understand it at all. This is what it was referring to, but I don’t see anything particularly fun about its handle:
I guess it’s kind of curvy and fancy, but all in all it doesn’t look like a particularly fun handle to me.
This is the spot where Cesar was stabbed! That’s the commemorative empty lighter. Also Rome doesn’t seem to be particularly proud of Cesar’s stabbing because there are placards all around these ruins (the Torre Argentina ruins), but you have to read them all really carefully for one little line about Cesar being stabbed here.
A cat! From the cat shelter that’s housed in the Torre Argentina ruins. Which I had to check out because the guide book touts it as the cutest place in Rome and it was really freaking cute even though I had a hard time with the breathing while I was there. Whatever, cute things!
This guy from the Italian Bennetton ads really speaks to me. He says, “O I am so emo, with my black nail polish wearing off and my too-much eyeliner even for a girl and the weight of my troubles that makes it so I cannot even stand up straight.” He also tells me that I will have a brain aneurysm within my first week of living in New York. From all the hipsters. Whom I despise already. Making my list of people whom I despise all around the world approximately infinity long.
Michelangelo’s Pietà ! In Saint Peter’s Basilica. In high school we learned that Mary’s lap is freakishly disproportionate, so better luck next time, Michelangelo! Just kidding, did you know he was only 24 when he sculpted this? Way to make me feel like a slacker, you jerk. Whatever, was HE ever in the credits of a Pixar movie? That’s right, didn’t think so.
Saint Peter’s Basilica! So pretty.
A scroll from the top of the cupola at Saint Peter’s Basilica. Man, I’m getting to use so many of my favorite words in this entry: cupola, aneurysm, sarcophagus, the list goes on and on. I could have used ubiquitous earlier because that stupid Bennetton ad is literally everywhere but something about that word really gets to me.
Me putting my hand in the Mouth of Truth! Supposedly if you put your hand in it and tell a lie then the mouth closes. I was going to try it but I didn’t want to risk having to spend the rest of my life wondering if I really am Canadian since the mouth didn’t close.
Also, this picture brings up an interesting point: before coming here, I had heard from multiple sources how relentlessly smarmy Italian men are but I hadn’t had much trouble for my first few days. Then yesterday, when I literally looked and smelled like a foot, I was approached by no fewer than four men who just wouldn’t leave me alone (“It’s your last night in Rome? You should’t spend it on the internet and dinner alone, let me take you to a movie.” Me: “No thanks, I really like being alone sometimes.” Smarmy Italian Man: “Oh come on! You shouldn’t be alone on your last night in Rome!” for at least fifteen more minutes) until I was torn between smacking them and just running away. FOUR TIMES yesterday. So ridiculous. As David said earlier this morning, way to live up to the stereotypes, Italian men.
The big spirally staircase in the Vatican Museum. The floor at the bottom is really pretty, too. It’s got these blue iridescent flecks in it that of course don’t make for good pictures.
Okay, now for the multimedia portion of this entry! When I’m online I like to listen to music videos on youtube so I thought I’d share some good songsjust in case you’re bored at work or putting off doing homework or something (ha ha, homework is for suckers).
I don’t know, I just found out about this song like half an hour ago and it’s neat.
It’s Mew!! So awesome. One of the best songs to ever exist ever and if you don’t think so then your opinion is just wrong.
More Mew but with a cuter video.
I’m a little bit obsessed with Mika because I found out about him while on this trip so I can’t put any of his music on my ipod.
Also Holst’s Jupiter that Jason actually showed me back in Berkeley, but embedding is disabled on that one so boo. I won’t be offended if you don’t click on that link because I’m certainly too lazy to watch videos unless they’re embedded most of the time.
Okay, now I’m off to see a creepy church made out of the bones of Capuchin monks and then have more delicious gnocchi and maaaaybe some more gelato (oh I did go back to that purported best gelato place in the world and I got peach and Valrhona chocolate and it was really really freaking amazing) and then I am going to take my first sleeping train to Vienna! I’m excited except I heard that sometimes people gas sleeping cars and steal your stuff. I’m pretty paranoid even in my sleep though so I think I’ll be okay because I’ll probably protect my backpack like as if it’s a newborn babe. Later!
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for the record, I’m a huge fan of exclamation points!! I even use the double one!!
see you wednesdayyyyy!!
— Jovanna · Sep 2, 08:19 AM · #
Google translates ventaglio as ‘fan’, not ‘fun’. There’s even a cool Wikipedia article. I guess this means papal infallibility doesn’t extend to Vatican Museum copyeditors.
— Nate · Sep 3, 11:30 AM · #