Day #35 in Orvieto (Rome weekend)

March 29, 2013 - Friday 

On Friday morning, we woke up at 7am to pack, finish cleaning (because we had a cleaning check later that day), and I had to RUN up the street with wet hair (there are many, many problems with this and I got a few stares) because I needed to find a cafe with wifi so I could figure out a few more travel details before we got on the train. I stood outside of Locanda for a few minutes and thankfully it worked, so I then ran back to the monastery to grab my bags and Becky, then we both took off toward the funicular to start the weekend. The funicular shuttled us down to the train! We were like 15 minutes early because we weren't sure how long it would take us to arrive, but I guess it was better than being late...

Soon the train came and we took our seats. It was nice to just listen to my music, and kind of sleep for the hour and a half ride. It took that long because we were on the regional train. The woman sitting next to me asked if she could borrow a pan (in Italian) and I understood her and squeaked out a little "Si!" and found one in my purse. So that was an Italian success.

Becky and I had a little trouble getting to Heather's once we arrived in Rome (which was 100% my fault because I read Heather's directions wrong), but we eventually made it! It was good timing too because right when we arrived, Jon walked out of the building and asked if I was Heather's cousin. Which was great because he let us in! Soon after that, Heather and Jon took us to a coffee place, the cat sanctuary (I KNOW), and some place to eat! At the coffee place I got a "shakerato," which was the closest thing to an iced coffee/frappaccino so it was delicious because I've been missing cold coffee drinks. We then went to the cat sanctuary!! It's pretty much this huge space (some people thought this is where Caeser was stabbed but apparently that is somewhere else) and these older ladies take care of the cats and get them ready for adoption. But they just hang out in this space. When we came to Rome a few weeks ago, we walked by it a few times but Prof. Doll didn't include it as part of the tour! I don't understand why not...

Cat sanctuary in the middle of Rome!!

Some cats chilling in the sanctuary

We then went to eat somewhere and I had fried calamari and some other fried things. Delicious. Heather had to go to work so Jon took Becky and me to the Capuchin crypt/museum. The first part of the museum was a lot of old things (a good description, right?) that belonged to the Capuchin monks including books, watches, clothes, and some works of art. We stumbled upon this Caravaggio painting (It said it was by Caravaggio - unless it's a fake or something) so that was pretty cool. After moving through the museum, you enter the "crypt" or cemetary part of the tour. The crypt/cemetery contains everything from light fixtures to picture frames to furniture made of human bones. According to the Catholic Church, it was meant to be a reminder of the swift passage of life on Earth and our own mortality. As I walked through the crypt and observed the stacks of femur bones, the chandeliers made of wrist bones, and pelvic bones fastened to the wall like picture frames, it could be easy to forget that these were once real, human bones. That was their original form. It was possible for me to glance around the room and see these bones as piles and constructions of separate things that couldn’t possibly have been put together to form a human. But then suddenly I would look at a pile of femur bones and see a human skull sticking out of the pile and it would hit me: THESE USED TO BE PEOPLE! So pretty much I went from being impressed to sketched out in like two seconds. Overall, it was cool to see! I even wrote about it in my essay for Renaissance Narrative, so it was worth the price to get in the museum. 

Caravaggio's "Francis in Meditation" - even Prof. Doll hasn't seen this one yet!

Capuchin crypt... no big deal.

Also on Friday, we went to the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum! It didn't seem that crowded until we actually got close to the Colosseum and it was CRAZY. So many people! It was cool to see Rome at night though because it was really beautiful, especially the Colosseum. Unfortunately, we couldn't really see the pope because everyone else wanted to get up close and see him (What the heck. Why would they want to do that?) but we walked around the entire Colosseum and got a few pictures. 

Stalking the pope - he was near the flaming cross

The trees that I drew on my last visit to Rome!

Flaming cross under the Arch of Constantine

It was soon time for dinner, so we met Heather at the restaurant (unfortunately I don't remember the name...) but I had the BEST PASTA I'VE HAD IN ITALY SO FAR!!!!! It didn't even hit me until once I was halfway through the dish (I was so hungry so I finally stopped to taste it after I had eaten most of it). It was seriously soooooo good. But this is bad though because any other pasta that I have will probably not live up to that one. Ah well. I'll just have to go back and eat it again. We then walked back to Heather's and stopped at one of the bridges to take a few pictures. It looked to cool at night! Anyways, that was day #1 of our weekend in Rome. :)