We opted to try out the Galleria Borghese, as it has been recommended to us now a few times by members of the staff here at the SJU Rome campus. I knew from the museum's website that they were pretty weird about tickets, but I didn't think we would have any issues other than potentially waiting in a long line.
To get to the Galleria Borghese, we first needed to enter the vast Villa Borghese, which is basically just one giant park with confusing paths all throughout. Classic Italian road signs were no help at all, so we got kind of lost at first. Eventually, I was able to figure out where we were and where we needed to go with my phone map, but not before we had already sweat like crazy (it was amazingly humid this morning, even for me).
Duck pond!
At the Galleria Borghese ticket office, we discovered that you apparently need to book reservations to enter the museum. Obviously, we had not done this. On top of that, the next available reservations were for this Friday. We thought we might go try a different museum, but on the way out we were stopped by an American lady offering up her tickets for today at 1 pm. Apparently she had booked the Galleria Borghese at the same time her daughter booked a tour of the Vatican Museum, and had three extra tickets she was looking to sell. It was such a weird coincidence! We were very excited, but now needed to kill three hours somehow. It wasn't quite enough time to go to another museum, so we decided to just wander.
We walked around the villa some, and even stopped for a while to listen to a man playing the mandolin. He played Unchained Melody and My Heart Will Go On, which were both excellent. We even tossed a couple coins in his case because we enjoyed the music so much.
Then, we opted to exit the villa to go find someplace to get a little lunch. We found a cafe in a nearby neighborhood that had really yummy sandwiches AND took tickets. The Coke I bought was kind of flat, but I toughed it out. We stayed there for a while just chattin' and enjoying the weather, which had greatly improved since the sticky morning.
Around 12:20ish, we moseyed back toward the museum. Before entering, we apparently had to check all bags...but were allowed to bring in cameras, phones, and wallets. It didn't really make much sense to me, but I was happy I could at least bring my phone to take pictures.
The museum itself was definitely worth all the hassle. I couldn't believe it used to be someone's home! Absolutely gorgeous. There were paintings by Raphael and Caravaggio, and plenty of sculpture work by Bernini, all accompanied by a plethora of beautiful art (and weird yet cool designer dress/sculptures...can't really explain). The Caravaggios were especially cool to see, as we witnessed their creation in the movie we watched in class last week. Also, they're just amazing.
Four paintings by Caravaggio
Three paintings by Raphael
The museum only took about an hour to get through, but we were plenty tired at that point. We headed back toward campus, but not without stopping to get some lemon Peronis. Katie and Gina also needed to hit an ATM, so we went to a bank and popped into a grocery store just 'cause before getting back to school.
Me with a statue of George Gordon, Lord Byron in the Villa Borghese
The afternoon was pretty chill. I finished up drafting what I'm going to say in my presentation over St. Peter's Basilica on Thursday, and started coloring in the book I got at Tiger yesterday. Coloring soothes me.
Katie and I had dinner at Mondo across the street. They serve your pizza to you on a tray, and a piece of paper covers the tray. This time, our tray covers featured an ad for an ESL school nearby, and also had a little Italian to English quiz on it. It was pretty amusing to read.
Later, Katie, Gina, and I had our second Tuesday evening of prosecco and treats. This time, the grocery store was out of the strawberry prosecco, so we ended up getting a pack of three mini bottles of a rosé prosecco. It was also amazing. We sat on the same bench as last week, just dog watching and talking about animals (don't ask).
Last thought of the day: Part of me wishes I had been born in Rome, so that I could live here forever without being away from my home.
Maybe I'll put that in a poem...
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