This past Sunday we went on something of a tradition here at Temple Rome; the Wall Walk with Jan (Yan) Gedeyne. Boy, what a day. For those that don't know, Rome is a walled city. Back in the day when the empire was really important, and therefore warranted protection for various things, they built 28 foot walls around the entire city, the length of which runs about 12.5 miles. Because we couldn't follow the wall exactly, we walked roughly 14 miles yesterday, and were gone from 8:30 in the morning, until 4:15 in the afternoon. Ouch, is really what I have to say about it. But, about the wall walk, since I promised an illustrated entry:
We started out at San Giovanni, one of the "gates" in the wall. Very quickly I realized that 10 feet of wall, 12 miles of wall, it all kind of looks like, well, wall. I don't know what I was expecting. I think the friezes that tend to be on columns and the general care the Romans took to emblazon stories on just about everything had me assuming that the walls might be just as ornamented as the rest of the city. I was mistaken. But, here's a picture of the wall anyway.
There it is. A wall. Just pretend there are about 48 of those, and you've seen the entire wall.
But I digress. It is quite a phenomenal thing, really, they tenacity it must have taken to build these walls, walls all the way around an entire city. It is impressive. But it is less so when your knees are swollen and your feet hurt. But now I can say I have walked the Aurelian walls, and everyone can stare at me and go "huh?" but I've done it.
The cultural experience along the walk was really interesting though. I guess that's sort of what it's meant for....
Statues like this are everywhere. So frequent in fact, that I can't remember who it is or what it's for, or where I found it. But I like this one especially. Here's the thing; one of these in New York City or Philadelphia would be exceptionally memorable, because it would be one of a few. In Rome, statues, friezes, basilicas and obelisks are easy to forget the names of, because they are everywhere. Beautiful, but everywhere.
This man was playing trumpet to Micheal Buble's "Save the Last Dance for Me." American music is literally everywhere here. MTV is largely American music videos. I liked this guy though. He looked right at me while I photographed him. I liked this image... I think I like the implication that he's just hanging out playing. He was very good, though.
It is Carnevale season in Rome. Carnevale isn't for another couple of weeks, but it's a big deal here. The children all dress up, and they throw confetti. Which I hope is biodegradable, because it was everywhere. I'm not kidding. People without children had it in their hair, and it was all over the ground. Everywhere. And then there was the puppet show, which I found a little bit amusing, because we don't do puppet shows so much in the states anymore. Because we were on a schedule to keep, though, I couldn't hang around and watch more. But it was funny.
For lunch we got to hang out on the Gianicolo Hill (also known as the Janiculum hill in American culture, I guess) which is the second highest point in the city, after Monte Mario. It was pretty cool, seeing most of the city.
I like this photograph for the Italian flag in the background.
I liked this guy a lot. These actors are everywhere. Some of them are Statue of Liberties. Some are Egyptian Pharaoh tombs. Some are just statues. A lot of them aren't good. But this guy, he was alright. The Pharaohs are cheaters, because they hid behind masks. They just stand there perfectly still with their arms crossed. Amateurs.
Fun juxtaposition. A castle and an Egyptian pyramid. Just something else for funsies here in Rome. Apparently one of the rulers of Rome had an affinity for pyramids, and insisted he be buried in one. So here it is. This was one of the challenges of having the wrong lens. Lets just say the pyramid is a little bit implied. And there's a castle! With turrets? I don't think they're really turrets, more like towers. But there's a fun word for you: turrets.
I hope that's sufficient for my analysis of the Wall Walk. I think it sounded really interesting, and I got my hopes up and had expectations that were not met. But it was still a good day. And then Carolyn and I went to the Irish Pub Abbey's Theater to enjoy a cheeseburger, some fries, and the Patriots Chargers game. More Patriots fans than I expected, and they won! Hooray!
Well, I need to read up on Barcelona, so I know what we can do when we get there, and I need to get ahead on my homework so I don't feel guilty when I go away this coming weekend and next (Tunisia is the first weekend in February! I'm going to become very well traveled in a very short period of time!)
<3
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