ROME - 1st stop out of Florence

25.05.2012 - 27.05.2012

The trip where I met new friends and also where I met him. At a train station in Rome. Perhaps God wrote this script for us. Who knows what lies in the future. Perhaps we'll get to jump in the Trevi Fountain like Sylvia and Marcello to share a dance?

      

             I went on my first trip within Italy by rail to one of the most romantic cities in the world - Rome. Well, or so it is believed. Media and websites tend to romanticize a place with all it has to offer, so we make our own judgement when we experience the place. It IS romantic. Like everywhere else in Italy.  I think that's why Italians smooch everywhere they go. Walking on the streets, in the park, in piazzas, looking at a monument together. So it's a pretty lonely place to be if you're on your own. Of course with the Roman empire leaving their legacy even after so many centuries, I had to take with me some sketches of Rome.

             I spent the weekend in Rome to meet up with a lady I met back in Singapore, Laura. We were taking Chinese painting lessons together and she was back to visit her parents. I reached Rome a day earlier before I met Laura, so I was very generously hosted by Vincenzo and his lovely family. Elisabetta was not in the picture as she was busy cooking up a storm in the kitchen to get dinner ready.

           Here's Laura with her lovely daughter and parents. We had great sugo all'amatrician with a rather fat pasta, something that looked like penne but it's name slipped my mind. Laura brought tofu - a kind of rather firm beancurd back from Singapore and asked me how I usually made it. So I cut into cubes, shallow fried it and sprinkled a dash of peperoncini (or chilli flakes) and we had them with salad. Ooo, yummy. I do miss tofu!

          I toured Rome on my own the next day, before meeting up with Laura again in the evening. So I went through all the places that a tourist should in Rome. I got ripped off by two Spartans at Piazza di Spagna. That was my very first lesson that nothing is ever free in Europe. They took my camera, one Spartan snapped a photo of me with his mate and asked me for 10 euros. I was just in shocked even as I took out my wallet and handed them the note. 

          

 

           Yeah, I was still smiling when I took this photo. That was before I was 10 euros poorer. It is such a beautiful piazza however and the steps were popular with tourists sitting on it and just taking in the May sun. Hey, I'M IN ROME!

          Piazza di Spagna. This sketch was presented to Joanne, who was deciding between this and another sketch of the Duomo from Via de' Cerratani. I thought it'll be nice to send her both, and my sketches will have a good home and owner.

            I wandered a little aimlessly and reached Via del Corso and chanced upon this magnificent church with the word humiltà or humility written on its glass doors. The Italian word is umiltà, so perhaps this is Latin? Indeed, humility is one of the virtues we require for a devotion towards religion. How else can we bow down to a higher being? This church is magnificent in its interior adorned with so much marbles of so many different variety and colours. Green, pink, yellow, maroon. Once again, nature never run out of ideas for designs. Basilica di Sant'Ambrogio e Carlo was truly the first church in Italy I ventured in. From then on, I realised that every church in Italy is a museum of painting and sculptures. From the ceilings to the walls and floors. Every chapel, every pillar, every tile is a work of art.

           

               Something is not too right with this sketch. The horizontal markings on the pillars are not aligned. I was quite pleased with the perspective as well as the lighting and shadow achieved, but then I forgot about the horizontal stuff and they ended up this way.

             Time was running late. I have yet to see the other great monuments! I got rather lost finding Fontana di Trevi. I would have loved to capture its beauty in my sketches, but doing so will mean drawing sculptures rather than buildings and I will not wish to do them injustice.

           

              These were the pillars from the left side of the Pantheon. I needed to rest my legs a bit from all the walking. I only had a felt pen, which I hadn't master control over. It was difficult to create light and dark areas and I was sketching on a textured paper at the back of a pamphlet.

         So here's my third attempt at the Pantheon. Somehow the first two attempts just got interrupted... I reached my destination on my flight, then my train arrived on my second attempt. The third time, I was determined to get it done. This is a very "postcard" perspective. 

           Another splendid church in a splendid piazza - Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona. I will never run out of places to kiss in Italy. This piazza is very special with 3 fountains aligned and elliptical in shape. Water of the fountains are supplied by the Vergine aqueduct, built in ancient times. After some pestering by Zachary, my 8 year old nephew who wanted me to reproduce this sketch for him, I decided to give him this instead, together with my sketch of the Colosseum, which I gave to Teck, since he and Angela had spent a holiday there before.

             My first view of this magnificent Roman architecture wasn't under the best circumstances. I had a full bladder and was in desperate need of a toilet. Lesson number two that nothing is ever free in Europe. Not even the toilets. I was willing to give ANY amount to use a toilet then. Why can't I find the golden arches of M when I need them???? I had to convince the waiter that I will buy a gelato after using their toilet. So this view was captured after I released the burden of a full bladder, holding a gelato I still remember was pineapple and peach flavour. Was rather good if it was not because I was standing under the rain with the cold wind and late for my dinner appointment.

             So my second attempt at the Colosseum, looking at the real thing and about one month apart. Comparing my two sketches of the Colosseum, it did inspire a young Danish I met at the mix hostel in Milan. He asked me if I just picked up a pen and started. Yes. Anyone can do it if they try. So he said he is going to do just that the next day. Get a pen and a sketch pad. To help him get started, I tore a few pages of my sketch pad and gave it to him. I hope he is getting well with his sketching now!

          It's a cliché but I'd still say it. Life is full of surprises. I should be annoyed with myself for leaving my jacket behind at Laura's place, had to waste the morning going back to get it and not have time to tour more of the historic centre of Rome. But I was not too grumpy about it. Just annoyed at myself for having to spend that cab fare. I went back again, got to meet some of Laura's relatives, and they invited me to stay for lunch. 

      

              I get to pat Yuke again, a big gentle dog of Laura's parents. He does not move so fast or see too well, but wag his tail fervently whenever I call his name.

         So, I happened to be at that place, at that time. In Aurelia, at around 4pm in the afternoon on 27 May when I first met him. Ticket office was close on Sunday, so I wasn't even sure if there was a train. He was at the platform, not too sure if there'll be a train. (But he was waiting ... for something ... wasn't he? hmmm) So he said he could help me with the language if I need to get tickets on the train and we talked. And we exchanged contacts. And we chatted all these months.

       My first visit to Rome. I promised to return and I did. Perhaps throwing that coin into the Trevi Fountain made it real.