Rome 8 Borghese

Galleria Borghese
The Galleria Borghese is an art gallery in Rome, Italy, housed in the former Villa Borghese Pinciana. It is a building that was originally integral with its gardens, nowadays considered quite separately by tourists as the Villa Borghese gardens. 
The museum is in a large park, formerly the estate grounds and complete with a zoo. The museum itself was beautiful and full of more wonderful and ancient artwork. We spent two hours immersed in the glory of the past.

In the very first room of the museum we saw the installation above. It is a depiction of the "Slaughter of the Innocents" and I assumed it was an early version of animation. We found out later it was a contemporary piece. 
Every five or ten minutes, the room would darken and the piece would start to rotate. Once the piece got up to speed, a strobe light would start and the figures would become animated. While fascinating, it was also disturbing. As the name indicates, babies were being slaughtered.

So, it was on to the next room. The gallery is in what was once a large mansion and every room is beautiful in it's own right. Besides being filled with paintings and sculptures, there were also beautiful frescos. In the center of the next room was the sculpture of "Apollo and Daphne" by Bernini. 

              

As the story goes, both Appollo and Daphne were shot by cupids arrow. The problem was that Apollo was shot by an arrow of love and Daphne by a love repelling arrow. When Apollo, overcome by love, finally catches Daphne who is overcome by the opposite emotion, she changes into a laural tree. If you look closely at the photos above, you can see her flesh becoming bark and branches.
Many analogies to modern life came to light, especially " no means no".
Room after room we were greeted with splendid art works from past centuries.

Unknown mother and child

             

David with his sling shot

We spent two hours immersed in the glory of the past.

As usual, it was time to eat. We set out down an adjacent boulevard in search of food. Now, in Rome, that should be an easy task. But, this part of the city was a bit different and more modern. To our surprise, even after walking for several blocks, we never did find that great little place that existed in our minds. We did see a Ferrari dealership and of all things a Harley Davidson dealer. I knew they were around, Harley's that is. We would see and more likely hear them from time to time in the city. Roman Harley riders, like American devotees, love to create a deafening roar as they blast through streets, loud and proud. 
So, after being unable to find lunch, we went back into the park grounds of the Villa Borghese. As we strolled along in the sunshine my feet and legs told me that they love and crave the softness of walking on the earth. I am constantly on hard surfaces at this point in my life and crave the soft carpet of grass for walking. 
The park was lovely and after passing several musicians and seeing a colorful parrot glide from tree to tree, we happened on a Roman food/gelato truck. These trucks seem to be made by the same factory since they all resemble each other very closely. They are colorful and when seen driving they are about the size of a small RV, perhaps on a 1 1/2 or 2 ton chassis.

Gelato Truck

When stopped by the side of the road, they seem to open in all directions and become a full service diner. At least, they have power and can heat panini and serve gelato. When you are very hungry, these trucks are a real pleasure, so we enjoyed our one and only food truck meal, on a park bench with pigeons waiting for the spoils.

As we wandered on in the sunshine, we came on a small orange grove, part of the estate in a fenced area near what looked to be a conservatory of some sort. A short distance further along we came to the zoo entrance but more importantly, the zoo cafe. As usual we were able to refresh ourselves with cappuccino for €1, this time sitting in the sunshine next to a banana tree.

Our day at the Borghese was during one of the more intense snowstorms the northeast U.S.A. had in January, so we were sure to get pictures of ourselves by the banana tree in the sunshine. With some sort of perverse pleasure, the pictures were sent out to the frozen northeast.  

Rome 7

We really can't explain our VRBO experience without reference to Uncle Franco. We had accomplished all the business arrangements via email and paypal.  We were to be met at the airport by a driver whom we would pay with cash. When we walked out of customs, there he was with a sign. All it took was a stop at an airport cash machine and we were on our way. The airport is on the Mediterranean, about 30 miles from Rome. As expected, the ride into Rome was full of curiosity and wonder, from the industrial outskirts to the city monuments. 
Once we arrived at the Via del Pellegrino, our driver showed us the door and rang the bell. Soon, a pleasant looking man of undetermined age opened the door---it was Uncle Franco.
The driver left and we entered the foyer of an old(not that old for Rome, only about 400 years) but lovely building. Uncle Franco showed us to our apartment and started to explain EVERYTHING. By this time we had traveled from Tavistock, starting off at 0800 hrs. Luckily for us Roger and Carlena drove us the 90 miles to the Bristol airport. Eventually, we boarded an EasyJet plane for the 3 hr flight to Rome. Lots of people were speaking Italian on the flight and it began to sink in that soon we'd be in Italy. The flight was smooth and everything went well, but traveling takes a toll and we were tired but more than that, hungry.
So, here we are with Uncle Franco in our flat. Let me describe Uncle Franco. He was about 5'4" and slightly portly, with an unmistakeable twinkle in his eye. His english was------interesting. He had a great habit of using the few heavily accented english words he knew and stringing them together or filling in the blanks with "bubada bubada bubada. So, a sentence might go like this.  "The coffee the sugar the pot----bubada bubada bubada--- espresso. You could get his meaning most of the time. He was very talkative so we got lots of bubada bubada. He even showed us the pants he just bought for a very good price. One very important thing he told us was when we get the wine, leave it open for at least 4 hours or else it's no good. So, after lots of bubada bubada in the apartment, he took us out in the neighborhood. We saw the closest espresso place, the local food co-op, another grocery, a drug store and where to get bread and meat. We were exhausted and hungry by time Uncle Franco finally bid us farewell. 
So, next step, EAT. Uncle Franco's tour ended up in the Campo di Fiori which is surrounded by restaurants, so eating was no problem. It was certainly not the finest meal we had in Rome but tasty and accompanied by a nice house red, we were satisfied.
I remember wondering whether we would see Uncle Franco again. We had his phone number in case we needed something, but never called him. Everything worked well and figuring out the neighborhood is part of the fun of traveling. Even though we didn't see him again we had many laughs and special bubada bubada bubada conversations between ourselves as we thought back to our first night our apartment.
Just writing this and reading it to Bonnie caused a snorking fit of laughter for both of us.
AH, Uncle Franco, we won't forget you. We never met the woman who we actually rented the place from. 

I've already spoken about the location of our VRBO, but this is another example of how well located it was. 
When planning this trip, we spent time looking at maps of Rome and reading about the various attractions. Bonnie had been there already, so she had a better idea of the locations of the various sights. I didn't have a clue.
So, the day comes that we decide to see the Piazza Navona. From looking at the map, we knew it was close, but even Bonnie had no idea how close.
Let me say this. It was so close, we were there before we even started looking. It was 3 blocks(if blocks existed)at most. As I remember, we were suddenly in a huge Piazza with three large fountains. 
It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans came there to watch the agones ("games"), and hence it was known as "Circus Agonalis" ("competition arena"). It is believed that over time the name changed to in avone to navone and eventually to navona. 
It features important sculptural and architectural creations: in the center stands the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers (1651) by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, topped by the Obelisk of Domitian, brought here in pieces from the Circus of Maxentius.

Piazza Navona Panorama

Piazza Navona has two additional fountains: at the southern end is the Fontana del Moro with a basin and four Tritons sculpted by Giacomo della Porta (1575) to which, in 1673, Bernini added a statue of a Moor, or African, wrestling with a dolphin, and at the northern end is the Fountain of Neptune (1574) created by Giacomo della Porta. The statue of Neptune in the northern fountain, the work of Antonio Della Bitta, was added in 1878 to make that fountain more symmetrical with La Fontana del Moro in the south.

Piazza Navona