Caravaggio

My Italian school organizes a whole host of events around culture and food and getting to know Rome, but until today, I never participated. The events are usually held in the late afternoons or on non-school days for me and so it hasn't really been convenient. But since the semester is running down, and today's excursion sounded interesting, I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity. Josh kindly agreed to pick the kids up from school so I could meet some classmates in the Piazza del Popolo. Today, one of the Italian teachers, who is also an art historian, was taking us to see several of Caravaggio's paintings in churches scattered around Rome.

We met at 3:30pm but Santa Maria del Popolo does not open until 4pm (typical Italian planning) so we stood outside for 30 minutes while we learned about the life of Caravaggio. Once inside, we were able to see one of his magnificent paintings called The Crucifixion of St. Peter. The Conversion of St. Paul, the other Caravaggio usually in Santa Maria del Popolo was on loan to the Galleria Borghese which is currently having an exhibit entitled Carravaggio/Bacon -- juxtaposing the two artists works side by side. Still the painting we saw was beautiful, as was the church itself. Build in 1099, it had some additions in the 14th century. There is a cuppola entirely painted by Rafaelo along with two Bernini statues. It is the cuppola where several scenes from The DaVinci Code were filmed.

Next we went to San Luigi dei Francesi, the French national church in Rome, which is home to three Caravaggios. Each depicts a scene in the life of St. Matthew. These paintings were some of the first ecclesiastical commissions in Rome. Our guide, spoke only in Italian and although I'm sure she chose her words carefully, I did not have any difficulty understanding her. However, I returned home (after a chilly bike ride) and began to recount to Josh what I had seen -- in Italian -- the words did not come so easily and he had to correct me -- a lot! Well, afterall, it's only been three months in Rome. Maybe before we leave I'll be able to string sentence or two together.

In the morning, I went with Josh to the WIND store. He needed to change his cell phone plan but last week when he went they told him that his phone was registered in my name and that I would need to be present in order for him to make any changes. So here I was. I provided my passport and my Italian fiscal code and thought I'd done my part so I left for my Italian class. Later, I found out that in order to get the plan that Josh wanted, the phone had to be registered in his name...but it would take 24 hours to make that change, so he would have to come back. Can you imagine making three trips to the store in order to sign up for a cell phone plan in the States?

Similarly, I experimented at McDonald's today! Yes, I set foot in the only Mickey Dee's in central Rome. It happens to be near Piazza di Spagna and across from my Italian school, and on a cold and rainy morning, a hot cup of anything sounded good. Inside, the place is set up like any Italian bar -- huge espresso coffee machine and nice looking pastries in a glass case. The service wasn't anything like McDonald's either. I waited for five minutes to get my cappuccino and there was only one person in front of me. Definitely not anything like McDonald's in America!

Nice "to go" cups though.