The park is incredible, containing about four square miles of paths, roads, sculptures, fountains and ponds. The trees there towered over us, creating a canopied roof on par with even the grandest churches in Rome. We found a bench along the Viale del Museo Borghese and had a quick snack before committing ourselves to the museum itself for the next hour and 45-minutes. Down the way, a flute player created a complete mood amongst the patches of shade. It was so peaceful, I could have easily fallen asleep on the grass and been perfectly happy.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
Inside the Villa Borghese, we were delighted with both an entire floor of paintings as well as an entire floor of sculptures. During our visit, a special display was weaved into the paintings. They were comparing the impressionist styles of Caravaggio and Bacon [Bacon being a recent painter]. Sarina and I wern't too wowed by Bacon. His work seemed a little juvenile and grotesque for either of our tastes. There were a few exceptions tho where at least I was impressed with his work.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
The statue floor was made of a collection of exquisite full sized marble statues. The detail in them was the best I have seen since in Rome, and probably ever in my life. The statues were made with such minute details that they nearly looked alive. Even the stone "props" they were created with were amazing. There was a woman reclined on a long pillow and I swear, the pillow begged to be touched just to verify it was marble and not cotton (of course, I couldn't touch it...that goes without saying). When an artist can take marble and make it seem soft and pillowed, they have mastered their art. Indeed, these statues were perfection set forever in sleeping stone.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
Having invested nearly two full hours, we left Borghese and found a nice spot in the park with a bench where we could lay out our picnic lunch. Using the back of a blue nylon Sketchers' bag for our improvised table cloth, Sarina set out our modest feast. The park bench was transformed into our own little bistro, complete with a block of parmesan cheese, fruit, olive tempanade, bread, toast and rose wine. After a satisfying little lunch, and about three glasses worth of wine each, we gathered our things and walked off our buzz.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
We came across a pond with what looked like the remains of a small temple. Not observing any respect for the past, the place had become home for many ducks, geese and pigeons. Sarina decided to have a little snack, however, she was quickly distracted by the shuffling of feathers. Working towards the requirements set forth by the Vatican, Sarina Ferguson, patron saint of the hungry birds, let fly hand fulls of crushed garlic toasts. The birds began to fill the space in front of Sarina over the next thirty seconds, until she had recruited most all the birds in eye-shot.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
Our next goal was to find some kind of bike rental for a ride around the park. We had nearly walked all the park already, but I was set on bikes. Sarina indulged me, as she generally does. The place we found offered these little rickety golf-cart style tandem bikes with a motorized assist for getting up hills. The thing was little more than two traditional style bikes welded together and an electric turn-key motor with nothing between us but a couple of dirty car batteries. We were skeptical at first, but after about 5 minutes into the ride, a mixture of fright and elation washed over us. It was like a go-cart with a bench seat. We rattled through the park, down the roads and around the trees via gravel paths that didn't respect the effort we put into our brakes very much. After about fifty minutes of joy riding, we returned our faithful carriage and made our way to check out Piazza del Poppolo while there was still plenty of day light to be had.
The piazza wasn't too occupied when we got there. With everyone still at work and it being the middle of the week, there was a nice relaxing calm. The most excitement was from a carnival that was made entirely of inflatable structures. Slides, fun-houses, and even game stalls were all like the inflatable jumpers people rent for birthdays. The contrast of the bright red, yellow and blue plastic against the giant stone obelisk in the center of the piazza made for a sharp juxtaposition. Like the needle of an enormous sun dial, the obelisk shot it's narrow shadow over the vast array of cobble stones. Before leaving we scouted out some spots to come back to at night for pictures. Then it was back to the Metro and our hotel.
Later that night, we returned to Piazza del Popolo for diner and night photos. The piazza was mostly empty save some flower sellers and the deflated remains of the carnival from earlier that day. Along the way we strolled through the streets that made up the mortar between the two hot spots of the area: Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. This part of the city is the expensive side. All the food cost more and all the shops are Prada, Cartier and Ferrari. Speaking of which, Sarina spotted a newer Ferrari parked outside a cafe'. It was neat, but the newer Farraris all look like Lamborghini-Mustang hybrids. Ferrari California will always be what I think of as an archetypal image.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
While finishing up with pictures, Sarina got hard sold on some roses. Not wanting to be a jerk, I gave the guy about 6 euro for the 3 roses he planted on her. With that, we headed back to the hotel and got some rest before the next day.
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| From Italy Honeymoon |
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