Catching Up
One of the things I most love about cities are marketplaces. Marketplaces exist in the country too, but they always seem livlier and more exciting in the city. A few blocks from where I’m living in Rome, there was an open-air street market where vendors had stalls of everything you could imagine...
It was great, because the market was actually right along the road that I use to walk to school, so I got to walk through it every day. One morning there were construction vehicles along the road; they had closed the vendors down and were tearing down the stalls. I was totally bummed until I found out what was going on: they were building a brand new complex for the vendors, on the same street but all on one nice, new building.
So now, after a few weeks of marketlessness, the new building has opened and I went in today. It’s covered, but still open to the air so that it doesn’t get smelly or stuffy. There are nice wide aisles for people to walk through and stop at each stand. And there are skylights so that everything looks really clean and bright. It’s a lot like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, except bigger and newer and cleaner. The cool thing about this market is that they have everything. Seriously, anything you could want to buy. Actually, it’s a lot like going to Target, except each department is owned by a different person, and you have to pay sepaerately at each one. They have a stand that just sells vegetables, one that sells fruits, one with meats, one with cheese. They have a stand that just sells eggs. There are stands that sell pasta. Some sell bread and pizza by the slice. There are shoe vendors, cleaning supply vensors, and fabric vendors. There is even a stand that just sells pajamas. Today I bought a slice of lasagna for lunch (it was amazing, by the way) and the lady gave me a free doughnut. Needless to say, my overall impression of the place is very good.
I know I’ve been lax about updating my blog. (Aren’t you all dying to know what I’ve been up to?) Well, the truth is that I’ve been so busy I’ve hardly had time. That’s actually a good thing though, because it means that I’ll have lots to talk about when I finally do get to sit down and write about it. Two weeks ago I went to Paris for the weekend. Paris was one of my must-see cities, and I wasn’t disappointed at all! I think I made pretty good use of the 48 hours that I had there (Aunt Ja, you would have been proud. I don’t think I could have done it without the supurb example that you’ve always set for how vacations should be done. ) I saw amazing churches and art, and ate some really fantastic French food (fondue, yum!). One thing that made a strong impression on me was the cathedral of Notre Dame. I took a Gothic Art class two years ago, and we talked about how Gothic cathedrals were built so tall in order to be closer to God. Well, I climbed up to the top of the bell tower in Notre Dame. 400 winding, spiral stairs in a narrow tower. All you can see are the few steps ahead of you until the staircase turns out of sight. It’s hypnotic to climb them; you start to think that maybe it won’t ever end, or that you’re on some kind of holy stairmaster that just keeps on going forever. It struck me that someone climbing those stairs during the Middle Ages would have felt like they were climbing to heaven itself. It certainly was a long enough trip.
Paris was beautiful, although I was happy to get back to the much warmer climate of Italy. Just four days after getting back from Paris, I was back in a plane heading to Venice. I wasn’t sure when to expect in Venice, but I was actually blown away. The city itself is the sight, so you don’t need to do anything there other than walk around and take everything in. To add to that, it was pre-Carnevale weekend so there was a lot of excitement in the air. There were quite a few people dressed in crazy elaborate costumes and masks. I loved all of the beauty and the color; I’m pretty sure Carnevale is the coolest festival idea I could imagine.
Now I’m back in Rome for a few more days, catching up on work that I’ve been neglecting. I’m working on my photography (I’m taking a black and white photo class), and preparing for a class field trip to Naples this weekend. I’ll be doing a presentation on a painting while we’re there, so I’ve been putting that together. Next week is midterms; I know that it’s cliche, but I seriously can’t believe how fast my time here is going.
It was great, because the market was actually right along the road that I use to walk to school, so I got to walk through it every day. One morning there were construction vehicles along the road; they had closed the vendors down and were tearing down the stalls. I was totally bummed until I found out what was going on: they were building a brand new complex for the vendors, on the same street but all on one nice, new building.
So now, after a few weeks of marketlessness, the new building has opened and I went in today. It’s covered, but still open to the air so that it doesn’t get smelly or stuffy. There are nice wide aisles for people to walk through and stop at each stand. And there are skylights so that everything looks really clean and bright. It’s a lot like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, except bigger and newer and cleaner. The cool thing about this market is that they have everything. Seriously, anything you could want to buy. Actually, it’s a lot like going to Target, except each department is owned by a different person, and you have to pay sepaerately at each one. They have a stand that just sells vegetables, one that sells fruits, one with meats, one with cheese. They have a stand that just sells eggs. There are stands that sell pasta. Some sell bread and pizza by the slice. There are shoe vendors, cleaning supply vensors, and fabric vendors. There is even a stand that just sells pajamas. Today I bought a slice of lasagna for lunch (it was amazing, by the way) and the lady gave me a free doughnut. Needless to say, my overall impression of the place is very good.
I know I’ve been lax about updating my blog. (Aren’t you all dying to know what I’ve been up to?) Well, the truth is that I’ve been so busy I’ve hardly had time. That’s actually a good thing though, because it means that I’ll have lots to talk about when I finally do get to sit down and write about it. Two weeks ago I went to Paris for the weekend. Paris was one of my must-see cities, and I wasn’t disappointed at all! I think I made pretty good use of the 48 hours that I had there (Aunt Ja, you would have been proud. I don’t think I could have done it without the supurb example that you’ve always set for how vacations should be done. ) I saw amazing churches and art, and ate some really fantastic French food (fondue, yum!). One thing that made a strong impression on me was the cathedral of Notre Dame. I took a Gothic Art class two years ago, and we talked about how Gothic cathedrals were built so tall in order to be closer to God. Well, I climbed up to the top of the bell tower in Notre Dame. 400 winding, spiral stairs in a narrow tower. All you can see are the few steps ahead of you until the staircase turns out of sight. It’s hypnotic to climb them; you start to think that maybe it won’t ever end, or that you’re on some kind of holy stairmaster that just keeps on going forever. It struck me that someone climbing those stairs during the Middle Ages would have felt like they were climbing to heaven itself. It certainly was a long enough trip.
Paris was beautiful, although I was happy to get back to the much warmer climate of Italy. Just four days after getting back from Paris, I was back in a plane heading to Venice. I wasn’t sure when to expect in Venice, but I was actually blown away. The city itself is the sight, so you don’t need to do anything there other than walk around and take everything in. To add to that, it was pre-Carnevale weekend so there was a lot of excitement in the air. There were quite a few people dressed in crazy elaborate costumes and masks. I loved all of the beauty and the color; I’m pretty sure Carnevale is the coolest festival idea I could imagine.
Now I’m back in Rome for a few more days, catching up on work that I’ve been neglecting. I’m working on my photography (I’m taking a black and white photo class), and preparing for a class field trip to Naples this weekend. I’ll be doing a presentation on a painting while we’re there, so I’ve been putting that together. Next week is midterms; I know that it’s cliche, but I seriously can’t believe how fast my time here is going.