Day Two: Villa Ada, a walkabout, and the Trevi Fountain

Sunday was the opposite of Saturday--packed to the brim.  I'm still exhausted from doing so much yesterday.

Everything here is so GREEN.   I
am not sure the photo really
expresses it.

I woke up pretty early for Roman time, thanks to my prompt fall into my bed on Saturday afternoon.  So, after a light breakfast (fun fact: Italians are not big on breakfast. If you are looking for eggs (which I am not) or sausage or bacon or pancakes, you have to go somewhere that serves "American Breakfast"), Simonetta took me to Villa Ada.  In Rome, "Villa" signifies a very large park.  And in Salario, with the cool breeze and the random hills, I honestly felt as though I were walking around Buena Vista park in San Francisco again.  It was a little insane.

Piazza Navosa

Then, after lunch and an afternoon nap (which I read through), we headed into Rome's historic downtown.  The Italian group was meeting up on Largo Argentina to do a brief walkabout and see where the study abroad school was.  (In case I failed to mention it: I enrolled in a summer art and culture course while I am here.)

La chiesa alla Piazza Navosa.  One girl decided to
take her birth control in front of the church,
declaring "Sorry, Jesus!" as she did.

Bernini did this.
(But the bird on the finger was all Mother Nature.)
(And no, I do not mean the finger-bird.)

From the Pantheon, the school is
straight ahead!

We loved wandering around.  It was pretty amusing, because if one or two of us broke off from the group, we could easily pass for Italians, but as a whole, we were obviously the most obnoxious group of 30 Americans ever.  But it was a relief to speak in English.  My Italian is fine, but underdeveloped, and Simonetta doesn't speak any English whatsoever, so communicating often takes several repetitions and an extended game of charades.

We passed an excavation-in-progress,
but I'm not sure what it is...

What is truly amazing, though, is just how OLD everything is here.  And I know that that should be an obvious statement, but it still takes me aback when I think of it.  This stone was brought here over a thousand years ago, and it's STILL HERE.  I've never even lived in one place for a decade.  It's the magnitude of everything that surprises me.  And the beauty.  I could spend 40 years working on marble with a laser cutter and not get it to look as amazing as Bernini did with a metal SCRAPER.  And it isn't as if there is only one sculpture that is impressive.  These things are EVERYWHERE.  It blows my mind.  Obviously.

Piazza Venezia is where I catch the bus!  And where we
sat on the steps to people watch for a good long time.

After the walkabout, I went to dinner with 5 of the girls in the group.  We wandered around as things got dark, and by 10:30pm, we had found our way to the Trevi fountain.  So we claimed some space sitting on the edge of the fountain, pulled out some coins, made our wishes, and simultaneously threw the coins over our heads and into the fountain.  It was one of those picture-perfect moments that caught the attention of the Canadian guys sitting on a bench across from us.  That led to a pretty fun conversation that almost made us miss the last bus at midnight.

La Fontana Trevi è molta bella alla notte!

But the highlight of the evening was when this roar took up around the fountain, and we turned to see this chick in a pretty nice dress wading deeper and deeper into the fountain.  Her shoes in hand, her arms were lifted up in victory and she made her way out to play tag with the statue.  The shrill whistle of the Carabinieri meant nothing to her.

You might not be able to tell,
but the Carabinieri are definitely in
that crowd, waiting to nab her.

I found out, though, that if you want to take a dive at the Fontana Trevi, it will only cost you a €150 fine.  Pretty affordable, in my opinion.  I'll let you all know what I decide by the end of the summer.  ;-)

I have Wi-Fi at the school and I'm going today to buy a temporary Italian burner phone, but it is strange to feel disconnected.  On the one hand, it's nice to unplug, because I am not constantly checking my phone or waiting for someone to get back to me.  I can read for hours without feeling guilty about ignoring anyone.  But on the other, I feel a bit estranged.  I wonder how six weeks of this will affect my behavior when I return to the states.

As a reminder: don't text me.  My phone is going to remain in airplane mode until July 5th, and there is an impossibly good chance that any texts sent will be dropped by then.  But please do email me, even if it is less than 160 characters.  I promise to respond, though not in a timely fashion.

Buona giornata!