Ugh. Around 10:30 this morning it started pouring and it didn't stop until nearly 4 PM. Between those times we did the best we could to keep occupied (and dry, but that was Epic Fail #1). First we walked to St. Peter's Basilica to climb the dome and to give Andrea and Khuzema a chance to see inside. But everything was closed due to some sort of Pope-related event (who does this guy think he is?), leaving hundreds of people huddled under the colonnade to get out of the rain and resulting in Epic Fail #2. Instead of standing around trying to figure out what was going on, we decided to move along and took public transit to our next destination, the MAXXI.The MAXXI (Museum of Architecture for the 21st Century) is a fairly new building with exhibitions in architecture, photography, and art. The building itself is a piece of art, with a complex combination of curved walls, open spaces and great lighting. The main gallery showcased the history of architecture, including the doodles and sketches of some architects and how they evolved to the final design. The remaining galleries had some hit-and-miss modern art pieces.
After grabbing a late lunch, the rain finally stopped (the sun actually came out to help dry up some of the small urban rivers and lakes that had formed), and we decided to walk around. We visited the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, two gelatarias (Mike and Khuzema were happy), and the Gesu church for the 5:30 PM show we talked about in this post.We went home to relax and change into some dry clothes and met back up with our friends for some drinks, briscola, and dinner. Tonight there was a special event going on called Musei in Musica, where between 40 and 50 museums all throughout Rome were opening their doors for free, letting people in to visit various musical performances. The idea of visiting the planetarium intrigued the four of us, so after dinner we took the subway to the E.U.R. (an area of Rome full of Fascist architecture built in the 1930's), thinking it will be some cool music with a young crowd. We walked around the eerily desolate E.U.R. and finally found the planetarium (even some Roman locals stopped us to ask for directions). While we were waiting to get into to the midnight show, we noticed a television showing four people dressed up in Renaissance costumes dancing in front of a four-person orchestra. We soon realized that this was a live feed and what we were waiting to see (Epic Fail #3)! While it might have been a good show, none of us were capable of sitting through a midnight performance of Renaissance dances, so we (as well as other Italians who were also coming to the same conclusions) made our way to the nearest exit, headed back to Trastevere for gelato and a walk, and called it a day.
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Banana e Mandorla and Clementina and Cioccolato Bianco e Aranchide
Aviva - Zenzero/Cannella/Pera and Clementina e Cioccolato con Chili
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