Lunch at Cafe Capitolini Sat. March 10, 2012

The Chiostro del Bramante is my favorite place at which to eat and/or drink.  The Cafe Capitolini is my second choice.  It's got a wonderful view, to which these photos don't do justice.

Seeking Santa Maria delle Sette Dolore church, Fri., March 9, 2012

This photo sums up my church-seeking this morning.  A lovely location, but is it the right path?  Can't see the bottom of the path and certainly can't see a street sign down there.  This one worked, but there was a better one.  Typical of my path-choosing abilities!  The church I sought was supposed to be open.  It wasn't, but the hotel personnel next door let me in!  Hooray!

The big round "world" sculpture at the Vatican Museums---March 8, 2012

And don't forget the big pine cone (symbol of welcome), from which the Pine Cone Courtyard (which also has the big round world sculpture) takes its name.  I took these three photos while sitting, eating cannoli (The cannoli shells were lined inside with chocolate.), and drinking white wine and fizzy water.  While I was looking at the world sculpture, several big kids stepped inside the chain and made it spin!  How many times have I looked at that sculpture and not known it spins?  (When I was done eating and drinking I made it spin myself.  It's really heavy, which is why it took three big teenagers to really make it move.)  So, picture me sitting, looking straight ahead at the world and if I turned 90 degrees to my right, there was the pine cone.  The dome in the background of the "world" photos is St. Peter's dome.

St. Paul within the Walls, Rome March 7, 2010

St. Paul within the Walls was designed by a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and was a startling surprise to my eyes!  It's an Anglican church that looks like it left England on a vacation and decided to stay in Rome.

AU affiliates can read the article "Burne Jones' Roman Mosaics"  http://www.jstor.org/stable/879100   (And Yes, the proxy server's working!!)

Tituli Equitius underneath San Martino ai Monti

A titulus was an early Christian place of worship, which was in some cases, a home donated by a wealthy Christian.  As time went by and the church itself became wealthy, congregations larger and the liturgy changed, churches as we know them were built above the tituli.  I asked the sacristan if I could see the titulus. He asked me to tell him when I was leaving, so he could turn off the lights!  If only these types of areas could have the same technology applied as is applied to the Roman domus underneath the Palazzo Valentini!  (Google Palazzo Valentini; their website is great.)  Nothing of the reconstruction would then be left to the visitor's imagination.

Trevi Fountain, Rome, March 4, 2012

It's always hard to photograph the entire building facade that's the backdrop for the Trevi Fountain.  Today, being Sunday, the church of SS Vincensio & Anastasio, which faces the Trevi, was open.  Its top step provided me with a perch high enough and far away enough from which to photograph the whole thing.

Lo! And behold!  A miracle has happened.  I got the time to come out right on my camera. Wonders never cease.

part of lunch at the Cloister of Bramante, Rome, March 3, 2012

After an exhausting morning of tourist activities, I needed to go to my favorite place for a bite and a bevvie, the Cloister of Bramante.  Pinot Grigio, sparkling water, meats & cheeses and assorted breads hit the spot and kept me from keeling over.

Piazza della Repubblica, Rome, March 2, 2012

Beautiful, warm, sunny day for my first full day in Rome.  Shooting this fountain sums up the Rome experience: climbing around road construction barricades, walking in the street against oncoming traffic, and then climbing high enough to shoot over the tops of trucks, because if I waited for traffic to clear, it would be the next century before I could click the shutter.