Rome - Day 4

Our 4th day was a little bit overcast, but still very warm and we headed out walking in the direction of the town centre. This took us past Trajan's Column, which had remained standing on the spot since Trajan was around over 1500 years ago. I'd seen a plaster cast of the whole thing in the V&A museum before and it's unreasonably massive up close.

[caption id="attachment_754" align="aligncenter" width="620" caption="Trajan's Column"][/caption]

This was all just part of the journey as we made our way through the morning traffic of Rome. As we went by the very busy intersection next to the "Giant's Typewriter" monument we noticed that there were no traffic signals directing the mass of traffic, but instead a pair of traffic officers performing a very intricate dance were keeping the cars in check.



We soon reach our destination: The Campo di Fiori market (meaning Meadow of Flowers) which holds a small but lively little market. It could hardly stand up to the very amazing London street markets, but it had a very exclusively Italian flavour to it, so it was interesting to us. For example, the sun-dried tomatoes and spices:



The strange vegetables:



And the very colourful displays:



When we were finished with the market, we took to the warren of streets around it and soon came to the Saint Maria Dell'Orazione E Morte with the very striking winged skulls decorating the façade. The Santa Maria was built by a confraternity that assumed responsibility for interring abandoned corpses in Rome (wikipedia).



After this we went into the Galleria Spada, which is an odd curation of 5 rooms of collected and patronised art by a couple of monks. One of the oddest features of their villa is pictured below. The collonaded hall appears to stretch off into the distance, but in reality is only a few metres deep.



From this gallery we headed through the Piazza Navona again and past the below, which I can't recall the location of at present.



We then arrived at the ancient and impressive façade of the Pantheon. This temple is still standing from ancient times and had at some point been re-dedicated towards Catholicism instead of its original pagan roots.



On the inside of the circular internal chamber is a high domed ceiling with the oculus (or eye) at the apex. This allows natural light into the place, which does an amazing job of illuminating the temple.



Around the floor of the place are the usual assortment of chapels and statues and artwork, only the place gives away a lot more of the contradictions of christian worship than I think they intended. Surely, each of these chapels was once dedicated to a different Roman god, now converted into areas of worship for saints and other idols. How can the very same building used for the fervent worship of make-believe gods be converted into one for the use of the single "true" god? It really does defy belief. Still, the artwork and the statues are beyond breathtaking and instil a deep respect for the abilities of mankind to create these wonders.



One thing that is very hard to find in Rome is a public toilet, so we began our search for a Mcdonald's, the public toilet of the world. With our quarry within our sights we headed through the below little compound. It's nothing special, just the place that some people live in I guess.



Feeling relieved and ready to continue, we did so by returning to the Trevi Fountain during the daylight hours. It is a very large and imposing water feature built into the side of a building and it really does draw the crowds. I would like to think of a fountain as a place of calm reflection and tranquillity where one can listen to the cascade of water and relax, but that's a bit hard here.



Next up was the Spanish Steps, which also seems to draw the crowds. I have to assume it's some name familiarity thing, because there's not much too them. All of Rome is so amazing that trying to draw one part aside and call it a 'must-see' puts it under a lot of pressure, understandably.



One of the most emotional parts of the journey was going to the Keats-Shelley museum in the building right next to the steps. Given the number of people milling around it, I would have expected more people inside the few small rooms where the poet, Keats, spent his last days. It was chilling to look around the small room that Keats called his own as he tried in vain to recover from the TB that took his life at the age of only 24.



Climbing to the top of the steps, we wandered along the plateau at the top of the hill with a view of the rooftops of the city. We continued on until we reached a platform overlooking the Piazza del Popolo.



Right across from this, at the top of the hill, was a garden that held a very curious and operational water clock.



When we had finished at the top, we made our way down to the Santa Maria del Popolo, another magnificent church on the edge of the Piazza. I love the morbid imagery of some of the sculptures, but even the most graceful and holy of them have an artistry that I can't even comprehend.



Heading out onto the square, we were met with the view of two smaller churches that had been built to almost mirror each other. Note that this is 3 major churches clustered around just one square. It's a bit extreme.



After this busy and tiring day, we dragged ourselves all the way back through town to stop at a small restaurant down a side street that looked good. We ordered a carafe each of house wine and started with fried, meat-stuffed olives and a fried risotto.



For our primi course we had the lasagne:



And for a main I had the lamb and potatoes and Kristen had the pork chop.



This was rounded off nicely by a chocolate cake and an expresso.