Rome, Italy - Sept. 13-14, 2004
Wed, Jun. 27th, 2007 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterNote: This is an entry I am typing up from notes I just found, with a few edits. Aka, I am sadly not in Italy now. Anything in brackets are comments from now.
Sept. 13
Rome is entirely too much -- too many cars, too many tourists, too much all around. My head already hurts from all the noise, although I did have a kick going through the Forum and in general being awed by how old everything there was. I mean, ancient Rome! It makes the Renaissance feel recent.
Unfortunately, I've never been a big Roman history buff, so I don't quite know all the stories. But I remember looking at Trajan's Column during Art 101, and I amused myself by taking a picture in front of the temple of the Vestal Virgins. Otherwise, I'm not much sure if I like Rome. I had thought Florence to be crowded, but it's got nothing on Rome.
I don't think I've ever felt so overwhelmed by a city before. Beijing has the insane traffic, Tokyo has the crowds, no one has the sheer amount of tourists and the various touristy institutes that go along with that. Also, I've never felt quite so crowded, even in Tokyo or Hong Kong, because they felt like cities. Rome feels like one enormous tourist trap.
Of course, it's rather unfair to complain of tourists when one is one ;).
Sept. 14
Rome is much better now that I'm not carsick and now that we aren't driving to roughly ten tourist spots every hour (or so it felt). Also, I must be getting more used to the absolutely insane traffic and the hordes of people around.
Of course, today we visited the Vatican, so there were still incredible crowds. I wasn't paying much attention to the exhibits in the Vatican Museum until we hit the big stuf -- lack of placards and having a Chinese tour guide lessens the amount of time I am willing to stare at unknown statuary. But I was quite happy to see the Raphael rooms and suitably impressed by the Sistine Chapel.
It's actually smaller than I imagined, but that's probably a good thing, given the time I spent boggling anyway. I think my neck maystill have a crick in it. Also, the paintings are so incredibly 3D-feeling -- parts of the ceiling and the Last Judgment really seem to be standing out. I think in general, though, I like Michaelangelo's sculptures more than his paintings. His sculptures feel more refined, while the people his the paintings feel like writhing masses of pink flesh.
Also, I swear the Renaissance artists (or just Michaelangelo) have never seen women before -- theirs all look like very muscular men with very unrealistic breasts pasted on. ["My brests are pastede on yay!"] The tour guide said it was because Michaelangelo used men as models for both sexes. St. peter's is very big and the Pieta is very pretty. By that time, I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Ergo, not much impression of the Pantheon as well.
Later on, after a very yummy pasta lunch and rest, we headed off to lesser-known tourist attractions. We saw Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa (very weird), at which I said, "This was in The Da Vinci Code!" After the eighth time I said that today, I realized it was probably Angels and Demons instead. Oops. My dad was amazed that some sort of Da Vinci Code tour hasn't already sprung up. Despite the horridness of the prose and the characters, I may end up rereading anyhow just so I can try to catch mistakes or some such.
We also saw some Caravaggios at the Palazzo Barberini, which was a nice contrast to all the Renaissance art we've been seeing. Renaissance art is really very pastel and fleshy, which gets to me after a while. The Caravaggios and Caravaggio-inspired works were much darker, more into realism and somehow closer to the concept of "art" in my head. It's funny how such things change over the years.
Sept. 13
Rome is entirely too much -- too many cars, too many tourists, too much all around. My head already hurts from all the noise, although I did have a kick going through the Forum and in general being awed by how old everything there was. I mean, ancient Rome! It makes the Renaissance feel recent.
Unfortunately, I've never been a big Roman history buff, so I don't quite know all the stories. But I remember looking at Trajan's Column during Art 101, and I amused myself by taking a picture in front of the temple of the Vestal Virgins. Otherwise, I'm not much sure if I like Rome. I had thought Florence to be crowded, but it's got nothing on Rome.
I don't think I've ever felt so overwhelmed by a city before. Beijing has the insane traffic, Tokyo has the crowds, no one has the sheer amount of tourists and the various touristy institutes that go along with that. Also, I've never felt quite so crowded, even in Tokyo or Hong Kong, because they felt like cities. Rome feels like one enormous tourist trap.
Of course, it's rather unfair to complain of tourists when one is one ;).
Sept. 14
Rome is much better now that I'm not carsick and now that we aren't driving to roughly ten tourist spots every hour (or so it felt). Also, I must be getting more used to the absolutely insane traffic and the hordes of people around.
Of course, today we visited the Vatican, so there were still incredible crowds. I wasn't paying much attention to the exhibits in the Vatican Museum until we hit the big stuf -- lack of placards and having a Chinese tour guide lessens the amount of time I am willing to stare at unknown statuary. But I was quite happy to see the Raphael rooms and suitably impressed by the Sistine Chapel.
It's actually smaller than I imagined, but that's probably a good thing, given the time I spent boggling anyway. I think my neck maystill have a crick in it. Also, the paintings are so incredibly 3D-feeling -- parts of the ceiling and the Last Judgment really seem to be standing out. I think in general, though, I like Michaelangelo's sculptures more than his paintings. His sculptures feel more refined, while the people his the paintings feel like writhing masses of pink flesh.
Also, I swear the Renaissance artists (or just Michaelangelo) have never seen women before -- theirs all look like very muscular men with very unrealistic breasts pasted on. ["My brests are pastede on yay!"] The tour guide said it was because Michaelangelo used men as models for both sexes. St. peter's is very big and the Pieta is very pretty. By that time, I was feeling quite overwhelmed. Ergo, not much impression of the Pantheon as well.
Later on, after a very yummy pasta lunch and rest, we headed off to lesser-known tourist attractions. We saw Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa (very weird), at which I said, "This was in The Da Vinci Code!" After the eighth time I said that today, I realized it was probably Angels and Demons instead. Oops. My dad was amazed that some sort of Da Vinci Code tour hasn't already sprung up. Despite the horridness of the prose and the characters, I may end up rereading anyhow just so I can try to catch mistakes or some such.
We also saw some Caravaggios at the Palazzo Barberini, which was a nice contrast to all the Renaissance art we've been seeing. Renaissance art is really very pastel and fleshy, which gets to me after a while. The Caravaggios and Caravaggio-inspired works were much darker, more into realism and somehow closer to the concept of "art" in my head. It's funny how such things change over the years.
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(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 28th, 2007 06:44 am (UTC)I'm really loving all of these entries and am keeping track of the places you did and did not really like for the day I eventually get to go traveling.
(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 28th, 2007 05:12 pm (UTC)*snorfle* I may not be all that fond of Michaelangelo's paintings, but his sculptures really are gorgeous.