Ciao, Italia!

This morning I headed out to the weekly street fair in Trastevere - the one right outside my window. I always feel like Princess Jasmine when I walk through the crowd, it's fun. :) I'm getting a little more comfortable speaking to the vendors about what I'm looking for. I'm not in desperate need of anything right now, but it's still fun to look around.

- I really want one of these baby turtles! (They sell everything from pets to clothes, kitchen supplies to shoes!) -

Yesterday morning, I woke up and headed to the Piazza del Popolo (Piazza of the People), to see the Caravaggio paintings in Santa Maria del Popolo. It felt so surreal to be seeing these paintings in person!

- Piazza del Popolo -

- facade of Santa Maria del Popolo -


- A service was taking place when I entered. Here they are taking Communion. -


- Cerasi Chapel (The painting in the center is The Assumption of Mary, by Annibale Carracci) -


- Caravaggio's The Conversion of St. Paul -


- The Crucifixion of St. Peter -

I stayed around there for a while, enjoyed the nice weather, wandered into a park where there were tons of TREES! I didn't realize, until that moment, that there aren't too many trees around Rome! There was a nice view of Rome from the top. A random foreigner had taken a candid picture of me looking out at the city. I was so confused when he was trying to show me, because he didn't speak English or Italian! It's too bad I couldn't get it from him somehow, but who knows, it could show up somewhere. :)

- view of Rome and overlooking Piazza del Popolo -

I headed back down Via di Ripetta and made my way to San Luigi dei Francesi, where there are more famous Caravaggio paintings. Again, very surreal and amazing.

- Contarelli Chapel -


- The Martyrdom of St. Matthew -


- The Calling of St. Matthew -


- The Inspiration of St. Matthew -

Then I ran into a friend and we headed to the Tiber Island (the section down by the river was so dirty, it's a shame the Romans don't maintain parts of their city very well...), Circo Massimo, and the Colosseum, which I didn't realize are so close to each other! Then around to Piazza Venezia, Monumento a Vittorio Emmanuel II, and back home for a nap.

- Circo Massimo - where chariot races used to take place -

I have a lot of reading to do for classes, so I should get to that. Hope you're all having a great weekend. Buona domenica!