The Many Thrills of Rome

Rome with Ryan was a really good trip for me to make because I got to see a lot of art that I had missed the first time around, on a whirlwind of a visit in 2007. This time I started out alone when Ryan missed his plane from Chicago (NOT his fault). I met Jonna and her boyfriend at the Spanish steps (it was their last day in Rome on my first) and they took me to their favorite cafe where they apparently went almost every day after they discovered it. I was expecting classic, Italian corner cafe...I got Hard Rock Cafe Rome. It was pretty funny actually, once I finally caught on to where we were going. And they were right - the cappucinos were large and good and cheap.
After this little coffee break, we shared a cab to the airport where I was to meet Ryan. Fortunately, he had caught his plane from Charles de Gaulle in Paris with no problems worth mentioning, and he found me as soon as he came to the RDV point. Needless to say (but I will anyway), we were very happy to see each other.
Our five days in Rome were filled with good Italian food, gelato, and coffee. We both found inspiration in a new favorite artist - Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose work seems to be everywhere. 'The Ecstasy of St. Theresa' was one of my favorites. It's nestled in the corner of an ornately baroque church on the Via XX Settembre. We visited the Borghese Gallery on our last morning and saw Bernini's 'Apollo and Daphne', among many other pieces. This was one of my favorite places in Rome because every single room in this revamped old mansion is like being inside of a jewelry box. Precious stones adorn every crevice and wall; the ceilings are all vibrantly frescoed to depict Ovid's tales of the pagen gods. This small collection is also easier to handle than some other larger museums, which can seem to go on forever (case in point, The Vatican).
Climbing the Cupola at St. Peter's was a thrill; we had been to a real mass that Sunday morning in the cathedral itself. A different trip to the Santa Maria Maggiore showed us a gold-encrusted ceiling that was made with treasure brought back from the Americas. Of course, Michelangelo's 'Moses' and the Sistine Chapel ceiling were two other stars of the show that week. 'Moses' is incredibly imposing - he looks as stern in marble as I imagine he looked when coming down Mount Sinai to the revelry of the Isrealites.
The Trevi fountain and Piazza Navona were lovely as usual and every day was perfectly sunny. Unfortunately, Rome was a bit colder than we were expecting. It was downright miserable to be outside for too long a time - even when bundled up in winter coats and (in my case, since Ryan refused to embrace the European men's fashions) a scarf and boots over skinny jeans. After a week jam-packed with art, walking, hustle, fun, and not a small amount of stress, we two were glad to be heading to the airport again and back to Paris. We were expecting, and were delivered, a much more peaceful, slow-paced time in France.