Villas, Castles, and Prisons, Oh My!

As my time in Rome is soon coming to an end, I'm beginning to feel a little anxiety about leaving, so I am frantically trying to see as much of Rome/Italy as I can. On Saturday I did a little shopping (surprisingly for the first time in Italy!!!!) with my roommate because the season is changing and clothes are pretty much half off in all the stores. Afterwards she went home and I decided to do a little twilight touristing. Along with some churches, I managed to see the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on the Campidoglio. This was a little oblong square surrounded by civic government houses on top of the Capitoline Hill designed by Michelangelo. This statue is also on the 50 cent euro coin, and I had always wondered why there was a starry/flowery design on the bottom. Now I know why.

On Sunday I got up bright and early to go to Tivoli again to see the ruins of Villa Adriana, which was a retreat for Emperor Hadrian. I met this Korean girl on the bus named He Seoun and we ended up walking around together. The bus dropped us off at this "stop" and we ended up walking another 45 minutes along questionable road signs at brisk pace before arriving at the entrance. However the villa was truly beautiful and I'm so glad I saw it, with lots of ponds, baths, temples, etc. However, the most beautiful pieces are in museums all over the world now. The design of the villa are supposedly to remind the Emperor of his favorite places in the world.

Mosaic on the floor of one of the rooms that housed the Emperor's guard. There are 3 niches for beds and a pretty floor in the middle. Each room's design was unique.

The "Maritime Theater" but actually a round artificial island with the Hadrian's private study. In antiquity there were 2 drawbridges that were let down if he wanted to enter. He is said to have also swam in the canal surround the island. Now there are little fish.

The Canopus, named after an Egyptian city of the same name. There is a long reflecting pool with some remaining fountains

The four figures in the center are copies of the copies Hadrian made of the karyatids on the Erecthion in Athens.

View of Tivoli, which sits on top of a mountain. Beyond are the other mountains: the Monti Tiburtini.

When I returned that evening, a friend and I climbed Gianicolo Hill in Rome. This hill is actually very tall but not considered one of the "Seven Hills" because it is on the other side of the river and way outside of the ancient city. The monuments on the hill were constructed about 150 years ago, after the Reunification of Italy by Garibaldi and his "1000 Heroes," or his Redshirt army Each of these heroes has a bust on Gianicolo Hill, but Garibaldi gets an enormous statue (that I could not capture in the night light) and his wife Anita gets a smaller one a short distance away.

View of Rome from a monument of a lighthouse on Gianicolo, see Piazza Venezia in the center. The cross-shaped building in the foreground is actually a very famous prison. Supposedly from this location, the acoustics are very good so the wives of prisoners (before phones were invented...?) would come to this point and declare their undying love for their husbands.

We then went to the Castel Sant'Angelo, which is the enormous fortress on the Tiber River. It used to be the Mausoleum of Hadrian, but most of it was torn down to build the fortress that also has a fortified corridor to the Vatican to protect the Pope. Inside we got a special ticket to see the the prisons. They were actually nice prison chambers, rather large in size. I think they showed us the best prisons and omitted any torture devices. The Castel is now a national museum, but it has actually been turned into a tourist hotspot. With our ticket, we could eat at the restaurant or get food at the bar and sit on the tables overlooking the Tiber or with a view of St. Peter's. There were also shows of stand-up comics and four-string quartets and the platform to one of the four towers had been turned into a tango dance floor.

A relic catapult? There was a pile of projectiles to the right. See the comedian in the background.

View of the Tiber River from the top of the Castel.

St. Peter's at night.

One of the many fashion exhibitions present in the Castel.

At midnight, we were surprised by the sounds of blasting, so we swiftly climbed to the topmost terrace to see the fireworks display. It was a great way to end the night.

And in lab....I've gotten to perform even more surgeries so I'm actually getting pretty good at it. It still takes me a long time though, because of what others in the lab have dubbed my "gentle touch." People are basically spending these days analyzing the data and such, and Dr. Badiani has gone on a vacation in Brazil. We just got another batch of rats, which I think will be getting some intracranial lesions and then have their self-administration observed. Unfortunately, I will only be here for the handling of the mice, and I won't get to see the surgeries.

I am so sad to have only about a week left in Rome. There is still sooooooooo much to see. Maybe I will get some more in this week before I go.