Better Than the Capitoline

Yesterday we bought umbrellas, since it started raining as soon as we set out. Fr. Maher showed us this big, indoor farmer’s market for the task, and it was fun to walk around the crates of fresh veggies, octopus, fish, and miscellaneous clothing before we caught the metro. Our first stop was the Diocletian baths, now Mary of the Angels and Martyrs Church. The baths extend out of the church and encompass the square outside the building as well that’s now become the street and other buildings. The massive granite pillars are still intact, as are the ceilings and cornices, and the calendar built into the floor also works. Sun comes in through a specific hole in the ceiling to hit precisely oh the date and time of year on a long diagonal diagram across the floor. Pretty neat. The size, again, was so impressive. Romans didn’t skimp on monumentality. We toured one of Rome’s oft-forgotten gems: the National Museum, or Massimo’s Palazzo. The museum is quiet, clean, air conditioned, and filled with nice bathrooms and lots of cushy chairs besides an incredible collection of Roman art. I definitely liked it better than the Capitoline. We walked through halls of marble busts of emperors, saw where the Pugilist ought to be (he’s on tour, so maybe I’ll go back later to see him), saw diskobolus, and strolled through literal rooms of Roman frescoes and mosaics showing just how much wealth the wealthy Romans had. There was also a sort of mausoleum for the poor that had incredibly detailed frescoes of birds decorating it. There were sarcophagi, statues, and even an exhibit on Roman coins in the basement. On the way home Fr. Maher turned us loose on our own to ride the bus without him. Call it our first pop quiz; we passed. After lunch I went with a few others to a little religious store a few blocks away. I don’t understand Catholic imagery entirely, but I’m working on it, and I think I’d like to learn to pray a rosary, so I picked up a few things. I also learned a lesson about the Italian value of coinage. At this large store I tried to pay for 5.20 worth of merchandise with a 20 (Fr. told us they would break bills here) and the lady wouldn’t sell to me unless I gave her 20 cents with the 20. They guard their coins jealously here. Fr. tells us that it’s very rude to try to pay with anything under 5 euro with a 10, etc. Fun fact. After cooking dinner in groups (much better than trying to cram 6+ people in one tiny kitchen) we went out for gelato to celebrate Mark’s birthday. We found out that today there is a strike on the buses and other transport, so our plan to visit a little town a ways out fell through. Luckily Fr. Maher knows his syllabus backwards and forwards, so today we still have plenty to do and we can go to Ostia next week. Instead…we’ll be walking a lot. My calves are going to look like Marcus Aurelius’ by the end of this!