Training, Part II

If yesterday's training session was a recap of the Ancient City Forum Fieldtrips, today was the Art History version. I met Dara and Arianna, another of the guides, at St. Peter's, and proceeded to practice the Vatican tour. Actually, Dara gave us the tour, which he completed in a trim 2.5 hours, having rushed through everything. Dara speaks very quickly, which he says is a side effect of being Irish, so I can only imagine how long I could make this tour last... Still, I will mainly be giving the Colosseum/Forum tour (six days a week) and the Pantheon tour (five days a week), so few people will have to suffer through my Tegmeyer-trained tours.

Being back in the Vatican Museums was breathtaking. I remember spending relatively large amounts of time there last year, but even though the impression of all the grandeur never really fades, seeing it again brought back all the wonder and awe. It made me smile to think how much I remembered from Tegmeyer's lectures and tour, and how much I had forgotten... I found myself unable to forget things like the tomb of Pope Alexander VII Chigi, sculpted by Bernini and in the left transept of the basilica.

I walked down to St. Peter's again today, because it is such a beautiful walk, and really one of my favorite places to go. Though it was overcast when I left, it was sunny by the time I arrived in the Piazza. It seems good weather is unavoidable here. Luckily, today I remembered sunscreen, and wore a collared shirt. Dara says I look like an American tourist, which I think is very astute of him. I did pop in to Zara yesterday, and they have some really beautiful clothes, but that will have to wait until I actually start making money... Perhaps it is my iPod which gives me away most, however (that is, if you aren't tipped off by the red hair), since those devices don't seem to be as popular in Italy as they are in the States. I like walking music, however, and I am particularly enamored of the new Coldplay song, Viva La Vida, which references both Roman cavalry and St. Peter. It seems particularly apt for walking to the Vatican.

Tomorrow is my day off, so I will probably go downtown, to the other centro, and get a phone, and find the English-speaking bookstore and bulletin board near the Piazza di Spagna. It feels so normal to be back here, like Rome is a family member I haven't seen in a while. I love the city, both the good and the bad parts of it (like the graffiti and the strange beaurocratic rules), and the city seems to love me back, staying thankfully unchanged since the last time I was here.