Day 13 - Europe 2010

We were able to sleep in this morning and that was sure nice.  We took some time to finish up the blog and then we headed to the Borghese Museum.  We wanted to find some food near our hostel so we hit up the train station where we actually found some good food that was worth the price.  It was really nice to eat a good meal, something other than bread and fruit.  I had some pasta, chicken, potatoes, and green beans.  Yay for a real meal!

We took the Metro to the Borghese Gardens, a pretty big place that had a lot of nappers, runners, and dog-walkers.  We got to the museum which is inside the park and I was hoping it was good because we were pretty tired of museums.  It was small but we weren’t disappointed.  While there were plenty of somewhat interesting works, the real gems were the Bernini statues!  Wow.  There was the statue of David which was so captivating because he is in action rather than standing ready or standing victorious as he is in so many other works.  I loved with his focused expression and his stance ready to throw the stone.  It may be my favorite David statue.

And then there was Apollo chasing Daphne which was beautiful.  The story is that Apollo was chasing Daphne, a nymph, but she didn’t want to be caught.  So she pled for help from her dad and he turned her into a tree.  I was always interested in the story just because I figured if I were her I would be very mad at my dad, thinking, “This is not what I meant!”  I did my own Daphne sculpture but Bernini outdid me by a long shot.  The detail was amazing.  She has roots coming from her toes, branches from her fingertips, and her hair looks as if it is flowing into bark.  I just couldn’t figure out how he had chiseled out these mass amounts of leaves and small roots without having them break apart.  Everything about it was awesome and I went back to look at it a second time just to take it all in.

In the next room was another statue by Bernini of Hades capturing Persephone.  Hades is ruler of the underworld and he liked Persephone so he swallowed her up into his kingdom.  Persephone’s mom, Ceres, the goddess of nature, bargained with Hades and ended up sharing her daughter with the god.  Half the year she is with Hades and the other half Persephone is with her mom.  When Persephone is with Hades, Ceres is sad and thus we have winter and fall, the months of sorrow.  Good thing I am such a Greek/Roman Mythology geek because it really comes in handy when looking at art.  Anyway, this statue showed Hades carrying Persephone odd and I was in awe of the life-like quality, especially his hand on her leg and what a grip was felt there.  You could see his fingers digging into the fleshiness of her leg.  Even the bottom of Persephone’s foot had those little crevices that feet have.  And Hades beard was crazy cool.

There were some other cool pieces but I feel like I’m describing statues in every blog post.  Anyway, definitely one of my new favorite artists is Bernini.  I just can’t believe his skill with stone and how he can bring out such detail and expression.  He definitely has his own style that, in my opinion, is unbelievable and awe-inspiring.

We took a nap in the park afterward then headed home to do some laundry – so expensive here but Nick refuses to wash in the sink again.  Finally I am caught up with the blog and have time to study but now, for the first time ever, everyone in our room is not out drinking but wants to have social hour in our room.  I wouldn’t mind except that I have barely studied.  So I tried to study and listen/talk at the same time.  We have a couple from Minnesota, a girl from Missouri with a guy friend from Belgium, and three girls from Washington DC.

PHOTOS:

Yay for a real meal and finally it's worth the money, at least in terms of Europe prices.

Nick is ready to dig in.

We bought this apple kiwi drink and it was gross.  Nick decided to decorate it.  The apple is evil.