Wednesday 3-7-2013

On Wednesday we meet up by the Colosseum metro station again and walked to another museum.    Apparently it’s pretty special, because Michelangelo drew there once as well.

The outside of the museum.  It kind of looks like a panorama when they're all lined up like this.

Before we went inside we were asked to draw some of the features around us.  Drawing detailed images of large buildings can be overwhelming, so I focused on the bottom of this lamp post.

Graphite and markers 

Then we went inside in the museum.  There was an exhibition on the Greek philosopher Archimedes but we weren't allowed to take pictures or draw in there.  We were allowed draw and take photos in the normal areas, but by that time, I'd forgotten that I had my camera with me, so I've got no pictures sorry, hopefully my drawings are good enough to give you an idea.

Statue of a lion eating a horse

On the left is a drawing of a statue (I think it was Venus.)  Then on the right are some notes written by my teacher Barbara who was teaching us about using construction lines.  I'm really happy that we got Barbara as a teacher, because she is incredibly nice and she’s also very passionate about drawing and teaching, which really makes a difference.  Because of the teachers' enthusiasm, all of us feel really motivated to work hard.

After that we went upstairs and saw the jewelry and coin collection.  Then we were told to try and draw them quickly with quick fluid movements as opposed to super detailed images (like the one on the far left).

From the museum we went off to the Jewish ghetto, which is where the Jews hid during WWII and finished our lessons there.  At first I was going to go to the Trevi Fountain, but the metro station was too far away, and the heat didn't help either, so I decided to leave it for another day and to just explore the area a little bit before heading back.

One of the other teachers; Francisco said that they tried to make new metro stations in Rome, but every time they dig up the ground they keep finding new ruins, which makes it impossible.  That's why we have to walk so much.

On the way back I meet up some people from my class; Kate, Mel and Tom who are all doing Fine Arts at my uni, though I've never really hung out with them before.  Then we hung out for a little while and went shopping together, after that we went home.

Later that night, there was supposed to be some kind of design meeting that the teachers recommended that we should go to.  So me, Lex (whose doing design at my uni),  Lucy, Tahni, and Erin (architect students from Canberra) went together, but when we got there we discovered that it was too crowded.  Not only that but it looked like we missed out on a lot of things and couldn't what was going on so we left and went to the the Pantheon, which was close by.

According to my guide book, which I'm reading now as I write, the Pantheon is the best preserved monument of ancient Rome and was built in by Emperor Hadrian in around 120 AD.  (I should really research these things before I go to them, instead of the other way around...)  It was first a built as place dedicated to all the ancient gods, but over time they changed it to a catholic church, which I didn't realize.  It didn't feel like a church inside.  I mean, besides it's unusual shape, it was very touristy like a museum.

Erin, Tahni and me in front of the Pantheon

By that time we (I) were getting pretty hungry (starving actually!) so we went off to find dinner.  Because we were outside the Pantheon, all the shop keepers were extremely annoying trying to offer us the best deal.  I'm seriously sick of these types of people, they drive me absolutely nuts!  However we were getting pretty tired and decided to eat at one of the restaurants.

The interior decoration was pretty nice though

Delicious steak!!! 

Because I was so ravenous, I threw away all senses of 'money judgment' and decided to splurge and get a stake, which I have to say was an amazing idea, though I was hoping for more stuff...

The bad side however was that the service wasn't that good.  Because we were in a tourist area, the restaurants were money grabbers and focused more on getting customers than proper service.  They hit Erin in the head with a plate, got some of our orders wrongs and charged us 20 euros extra for nothing.  (Which we protested and got them to take it off.)

After all of that the others went over to a local pizzeria and bought a few beers and drank them by the river.  Honestly I would have preferred going to a cheap pizzeria than that restaurant, that way we could have enjoyed our meal without having to worry about additional random charges.  (Some of these places are really sneaky, because they charge for water, bread and service.)

It was so nice at night, because by that time most of the people had cleared away and there weren't any hustlers.

Apparently the Italian economy isn't doing very well, so there are a lot of beggars and  hustlers in the street most of the time.  (The bad side of going to the city center.)  A lot of the time I fell pretty bad for ignoring them when they're talking to me, but if you acknowledge them then they'll start to nag you and force you to buy things you don't want, so it's better to keep walking without looking at them.  Sometimes people try to give you flowers (like if it's a gift) and then demand money for it, so be careful.

I've also heard that they are a lot of thefts in Italy as well, but they try to target naive looking tourists.  If you hold your bag too tight, they might think it's very valuable and will target you, but if you act casual as though its not worth stealing you'll be ok (still pay attention to your stuff though, just don't look like a stupid tourist!)

Anyway, back to the story...  We were walking by the river after dinner enjoying the sunset.

The dirty green river looked amazing with all the lights.  

It was awesome!

A lot of my pictures came out blurry,
but they still look pretty cool.

By then it was much cooler as well, so we decided to walk about for a while.  Then we realized that we were right next to the Vatican, so we figured that we may as well go and see it.  Nothing was open at that hour (about 9pm), but it was a much better atmosphere without tourists all over the place.

Vatican from across the bridge

Police car driving in front of the Obelisk

Erin, Me and Tahni in front of the Vatican

After that experience we then decided that we should go out at night more often to see the city, since its cooler, prettier and less busy, though I guess it all depends on how tired we are after the day.