Roman Wanderings

Just a few days ago, Ben and I returned from a wonderful weekend in Rome. I had been to Rome once before, but it was very exciting to see the Eternal City in a new light-- with Ben, outside of peak tourist season, and away from the hot and dry summer heat. 

summer 2008: hannah, jen, emily, and I spent a fantastic
weekend exploring rome.

On Friday, Ben spent the majority of the day at an brain-machine interface conference with his lab. Originally, we had thought that he would be done with the conference a little after noon, leaving us to spend most of the day together. Unfortunately, the conference ended up being farther away from the city than we had realized, leaving Ben not to return to Rome until Friday evening and me to have most of the day to explore Rome solo. 

I began my day of exploration at a branch of the National Museum of Rome. When I was in Rome during summer of 2008, I toured most of major tourist attractions, but I didn't come close to seeing all that Rome has to offer, so I was excited to see some of the museums I had missed the first time around. Unfortunately, I didn't plan my museum trip too carefully-- I thought that the branch of the National Museum I was visiting was showcasing Roman art and statues, when it actually focused solely on Roman war artifacts.

While I find history (especially Roman history) to be very interesting, the sunshine peaking through the museum's windows seemed much more inviting that yet another row of helmets. I cut my museum trip short, and decided to wander away from war artifacts and explore Rome on foot. Armed with good walking shoes, a map, and an absolutely perfect sunny day, I proceeded to walk nearly seven miles through the winding cobblestone streets, taking in the sights, reading the informative signs, and learning more and more abou this incredible city.

Castel S. Angelo,  housing the branch of the National
Museum of Rome that I visited. 

all roads may lead to Rome, but once you're actually in
Rome, it's a bit of a gamble! I wasn't planning on walking
through the colonnade by the Vatican, but I somehow
found myself there!

Madonna statue by the Vatican

Saint Catherine

one of the many beautiful, statue-lined bridges stretching
over the Tiber

these guys never fail to amuse me- dressed
up and painted, they stand perfectly still--
like human statues-- until someone gives
them a coin. then they switch positions. I
suppose if you're determined to be a street
performer but lack any real talent, this
is the way to go.

the beautiful (but rather dirty) Tiber.

exploring ruins! since I took an archeology
course this past spring, I found the excavations
to be particularly fascinating.

walking near the famous medici villa. 

piazza venezia

the monument, for vittorio emanuele II, stands
on the ancient roman capitol hill, near the
ruins of the roman forum. 

italia!

so many obelisk! 

After a wonderful (and tiring!) day of walking around Rome, I finally met up with Ben. We enjoyed a lovely Italian dinner and then spent a while walking, admiring Rome by night. Much of the city was already decorated for Christmas, and it was fun to see the city streets, decorated in light-up Christmas trees, glowing bows, tinsel, and lights. 

we meandered towards piazza de popolo, to see one of
famed egyptian obelisks. naturally, ben decided to
climb on the lions....

....and then preceded to divert the water stream so that it
hit me! 

egyptian obelisks. 

As a not-related-to-Rome note: Ben is currently flying from Paris to Guangzhou, China on his way to Sydney for the IEEE ICDM Conference. Keep his safe travels in your thoughts and prayers!