Roman Aqueducts

Today was the day of the Allergy Crisis 2008. Apparently I have both indoor and outdoor allergies in Rome, and so I am allergic to my apartment and to all the blooming spring flowers. Today my allergies flared up to a point, that what could very well have been a fun day, was full of blood shot eyes, and a runny nose that wouldn't quit. Later, I stopped at a Farmacia and got some Reactine (Italian Clarinex) and all had been well ever since. Allora, toady was when we walked along the path of the ancient Roman aqueducts. Some parts are missing due to the fact that snot tissues and digital cameras are hard to juggle.

Aqueduct di Claudio, or whats left of it.

Walking through the marshes to get a closer look

Claudio!

Here is a greater, undisturbed chunk of it

While walking through some areas of the aqueduct, there are places where the homeless, the druggies, the poor live, and so we had to watch out for drug needles so as not to step on them. Here, Susan points one out so we know to walk around it.

Back in the 50's (I think) the aqueducts became a sort of refuge housing. Some people put in doors, tiles, wall treatments, etc.

One person's idea of a better housing situation for Rome, instead of the aqueducts. This is drawn on the inside of one of the arches.

Brandi posed for me while I took a photo of the creepy construction workers staring at us.

The arches of the 'ducts have been transformed into all sorts of things, here an alter of sorts.

railroad tracks and roads run through some (these arches have been modified)

Your aqueduct arch can be: a garage...

...the door to your home...

...a trash dump...

...a garden...

...a place to sell your garden statues...

...or just a place to hang out.

The end of our walk was to the Porta Maggiore (Major Port/Gateway), where the aqueducts 'become' a part of the Aurelien wall, the gateway into ancient Rome.

After the Reactine and some grocery shopping at Bet Kosher Mini Mart across the street from our apartment, I cooked Matzo Ball soup for dinner. Happy Pesach!

Sixtus V Walk

Today, we did a walk through Rome (all 32 of us), the theme: Sixtus the V. He was a Pope, way back in the day, who re-planned Rome by moving around obelisks to direct people from one important site to the next, and he "carved" three streets through the city, that come to a point (A trident). At the point of this trident is Piazza del Popolo, and these two churches:

Brandi and I, freshman year, had to remember the name of this Piazza for a test in ARCH 200, and to remember, we held our hands in this fashion to remember the two churches, it was a late night studying, you do some weird things when you are tired. Anyway, behind us you can see the three streets, divided by the two churches.

S.M. del Popolo (I think), A basilica in the Piazza. Here are some famous Caravaggio paintings, including one of the crucifixion of St. Peter.

Horse drawn carriages by the Spanish steps.

The Spanish steps in Spring are covered by these flowers, bella!

Brandi got pooped on by a bird...good luck? maybe?

A Bernini fountain, in piazza Barberini

The Boromini staircase in Palazzo Barberini

A beautiful painted ceiling in the Palazzo. We weren't supposed to be taking photographs...I had my flash off... (sneaky sneaky) We all lay down on the floor for about 10 minutes just looking at the ceiling, it is incredible.

The Bernini staircase on the opposite side of the Borromini one in the Palazzo

Santa Maria dello Quattro Fontaine (roughly: Saint Mary with 4 fountains), Named so because in the street in front of it, there are 4 fountains at the intersection, designed by Bernini (I think...I should probably look that up)

The dome in SM della 4 Fontain. It is odd because it is an oval instead of round.

Chiesa di Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, architect and sculptor: Bernini

The dome of S'A al Q

Trevi Fountain

The Baths of Diocletian. This was Kendrae, Brandi and my case study project. It used to be a Roman bath, before being transformed into a Basilica by Michelangelo. Any more details? Ask, I know quite a bit about this place.

Oculus (basically a big hole in the ceiling) in the Baths of Diocletian

Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the 'Big 4' Papal Basilicas of Rome

Pope stature below the alter

The alter...huge by the way, they don't call this basilica SM Mini, nope its SM Maggiore (Major)

More of the basilica

Star of David tile in one of the 4 Papal churches...interesting...

And now at the end of our day comes the story told a thousand times. We ended our walk at SM Maggiore, and were heading back towards Termini to catch a bus back to our Apartment, when Lindsey and I stop for gelato. It was good too. Anywho, we were walking back towards Termini (the train station) when we were stopped on the sidewalk by a group of 3 women. Then all of a sudden, one jumps out at Lindsey and smashes her gelato out of her hand and onto the sidewalk. Rapid Italian yelling ensues, and Lindsey is pissed. We walk away (quickly) and Lindsey is furious at this woman, and trying to figure out what just happened...meanwhile I inform her that it wasn't a woman, but a transvestite, and her/his pregnant girlfriend. Rome has some interesting people.

Architecture Presentations

Monday and that means back to school, and back to architecture. Today we went to an architecture school in Rome, where the grad students there gave us presentations on the area they were studying. Later, we will have to present our work around the same site to them.

Not much else this day. Food, Friends and Fun, as usual.

Futball!

Allora, our first Sunday in Italy was a busy one. First, we wake up around 8 am to strange noises coming from outside, and when we look out our balcony, this is what we see:

All these tents are where a busy 2 way street and giant piazza used to be. But apparently, on Sundays the entire city transforms into what they call "market" where all kinds of businesses and people come out onto the street to sell what they have. Some things are old antiques, some clothes, some food, some flowers, anything you could possibly imagine someone selling can be found somewhere in these crowded blocks.

Then, after we experienced our first Roman market (we saw some tiny ones in our travels-nothing compared to this) we went to play in a soccer (FUTBALL!!!) tournament hosted by the group Italiaidea, who teach us our Italian course here in Rome. Italiaidea teaches Italian to all kinds of students here in Rome, so they put together this tournament with a bunch of colleges from the US including: RISD, Washington, Dartmouth, Cornell, some Catholic school, and us, Ohio State (we brought 3 teams).

My futball team, the Croissants!!! The guys: (from left) Mo, and Kaveh, the girls: (from left) me, Amy, and Maiko. This is our intimidating look.

Another one of our Futball teams: (from left) Alex, Steve, Dan, Adam, Mary, Jeremy, and Lindsey. Their team name was Rage Against the Machine

There were 10 teams total in our tourney (3 OSU), and so when they pulled names out of a bag to match us up, it so happened that we had to play each other. So, for the first round we played the OSU "A" team: The Seven Deadly Sins

Brandi was my main photographer for the day, because she wasn't playing. Here, she takes a study break for some architecture theory...Italy is not all fun and games...

Our first match up: The Croissants vs. The Seven Deadly Sins

AND WE WON!

After winning, we were matched up again, against Washington. They happened to have a 45 minute break between their first match and this one. We had about 5 minutes. Basically, we were tired and lost. Bummer.

However, because we one a game we moved onto the semi-finals (more names drawn out of a bag) and played against the Catholic team

It was brutal, we had some injuries

But then, out of nowhere, from playing defense, I somehow had the ball, and a clear shot, and I scored! (not the winning goal, but a good one nonetheless)

And so, the Croissants take 3rd place

And all the buckeyes were happy.

After a long exhausting day, we headed back to our apartment, all nine of us, and we were doing laundry, cooking, taking showers, drying hair, running the dishwasher, watching TV...

...and our electricity went out. So, we sat around in mine and Lindsey's room and told scary stories with this flashlight.

The street at nighttime, giving us a sliver of light into our room. Notice how different it looks after market. Eventually a few phone calls and translators later, we got our lights back on. Va Bene.