Early evening, monday, at one
Early evening, monday, at one of the kitchen tables in the hostel
First, I think, the story of what I am doing now. It requires some explanaion. I found to my delight that the archaeological card was not lost, but had merely fallen in among the postacards. But all the museums to which it admits one were closed on Monday! Still, I am not too frustrated. I have not wasted my time in Rome, though I have made it to none of hte museum that i was planning on. I have seen beautiful ruins.
I was going to have gone to the Vatican museums this afternoon, and if I had manged my morning a little better, perhaps I would be there now. I went out to see the Pantheon, and visited the Piazza Navona, getting a late start, around nine, made even later by not taking the bus at Termini, the central station, but wandering down Via Cavour in the hope of finding a place that sold stamps. I found myself on the route that I had taken on Saturday, but this time turned off earlier and found myself in the Piazza Venezia. This is the square below the huge white marble building, the Victoriano, dedicated to the illustrious and ubiquitous Vittore Emmanuel II. I wish I knew who he was and what he did, I suspect that I’m displaying major ignorance of fundamental Italian history. The building itself is fair, but a bit grandiose. Sentimental in a post-Roman sort of way. But the sight of the flying chariots which adorn the two ends, glimpsed when coming up a hill, is quite striking.
FYI: In 1860, the southern Italian state voted to unite with the northern state and the single nation of Italia was born. Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of Italia in March, 1861. Italy had not been unified since the days of the Roman Empire.
June 10th, 2002 at 6:49 pmVERDI!
June 11th, 2002 at 4:40 am