Thoughts of Rome

Im still in Como working away on my new project and finishing up my drawings from Rome and Florence, and generally fitting into the Como life.  My days consist of waking up around 8:40 and rushing for a shower and a quick breakfast to get out the door by 9:05ish.  Then its time for studio and I head off toward the lake and our studios which are located in Villa Olmo on the top floor first window to the left of the center.  It is about a 20 minute walk through town through the small streets packed with old houses and lots of shops down to the lake past the Terrangi WWI monument and the Volta Temple, then along the amazingly beautiful lake for about 10 minutes finally arriving at the park outside of our studio which usually has people milling about in it enjoying their mornings as well.  Then we have studio all day with a 2 hour lunch break which I walk back to the apartment for lunch or hit a cafe for a pizza or something like that.  Then at 6:30 we get kicked out of our studio and head on home to start cooking up some dinner.  I crack open a bottle of wine and dance along to the music while cooking and then enjoy dinner usually with a bunch of others who all bring their food as well.  Needless to say, we eat really well.  Then its time to draw some more or watch a movie and whatnot or read the paper in Italian and such until its time for bed.  We often go to bars when theres a good soccer game on or for apertivo where if you buy a drink, you get free food all night.  A pretty amazing day full of incredible scenery, attempts to pick apart Italian language, and amazing food, and well i guess some work too.

Villa Olmo

So, at this very moment, I am sitting in Villa Olmo (one of the most impressive villas on Lake Como) which is to serve as my studio.

I have just finished my whirlwind trip through Rome, Florence, and Cinque Terra, and now get settle in to Como for two weeks of studio and try to make it feel like home.  I will stop living out of hotel rooms and be in my apartment for a bit.  This also means that I have the internet now, and can tell you all of my affairs.  

So after I arrived in Rome, I was still jetlagged much to my disbelief.  I wanted so much to go out and explore, but the first two nights found me asleep by 7 or 8pm.  But the third day and the ones following were much better.  Sleep or not, during the day we make the best of it.  My first day there, I decided to make my over to the Sistine Chapel.  It would be the best way to kick off my stay in the Eternal City.  I roll over the Tiber River and up the long corridor to St. Peters, Michaelangelo's great intervention, and walk off to the side of the building to find the burried wonder.  In the museum, I venture through the halls and rooms, looking at all the busts and paintings that have found their way through the years.  Getting through the series of rooms, I thought I had missed the chapel when I found a small sign in the corner calling my name.  I followed down dingy stairs and turns and twists, and found my way into the world wonder coming out the service entrance oops.  The second I looked up at that ceiling, I was hit like a ton of bricks.  For the next three hours, I could do nothing but crane my neck up and look like towards the heavenly ceiling.  I can't start to talk about it, everywhere you looked and every detail you saw seemed to bring greatness into reach.  It was so mind numbingly beautiful that it put me in awe of the human achievement of it, and made me want to achieve so much the same.  

All in all, it was an amazing way to kick off my trip.  I couldn't stop grinning the entire time, my trip had already paid itself off.  After the museum, we set off to pick up our soccer tickets for the following day, Roma was to do battle with C.......... I don't remember.  On the way to the ticket vendor, I ran into the Pantheon head on for the first time and it is HUGE.  I had always thought the piazza in front of it was quite large, but it was only about 1 1/2 the size of the facade of the building.  The facade is so daunting that the space compells you.  You are simply overtaken with the pure magnitude and longevity of the building, given that it is the best kept building from the Roman times.  The building has been completely isolated from all that is around sits amidst its nest among the neighboring buildings, having forced itself in there.  

I had seen two things I had only glanced at in books that so completely overwhelmed me, that the trip seemed to seem rather full of wonder being that it was my first day.  Just to cap off the day, Ryan, Aren, and I went for some gelato while sitting on the Spanish Steps, which were so packed, that you had to wheedle your way into them with great care.  People always rave about the gelato, and it is all true.  Ice cream doesn't compare to the light fluffy wonder that is gelato.  We went back for seconds and tried all the varieties we could get our hands on.  We made our way up to the top of the steps, and overlooked the mayhem of the throng of people to take it all in.  While there looking down, the bells in the Church of the Trinity at the top started ringing.  I meandered on in for a glimpse, and caught the tail end of a mass with an incredible choir singing an incredible song in which I understood a handfull of words.  Finally, having seen so much and tried our hand at Italian enough, we decided to call it a day and went off to bed.