AAR CSS: T-1 Day

Eight of us went exploring the day before CSS started. First we went to see the American Academy in Rome, the institution that is running our program. (This is not where we're staying, of course - it's reserved for people in the humanities who win year-long fellowships, like our assistant director, Seth Bernard.)

Both the Centro and the American Academy are on the Janiculan Hill, the only one on the other side of the Tiber (Trastevere = Trans Tiberim, "across the Tiber") from the rest of Rome. Vatican City is almost directly north of us. We went to Piazzale Garibaldi, the highest point in Rome, then walked down to the Tiber. Saw this little guy (or gal) on the way down the hill:

Part of the view from Piazzale Garibaldi:

Garibaldi, now a pigeon perch:

Staff hard at work:

From the Janiculan we walked along the Tiber to the Mausoleum of Hadrian (now Castel Sant'Angelo):

Ponte Sant'Angelo:

Part of our group at an intersection:

Statue of Victory at the end of the Ponte Sant'Angelo:

Lamppost along the Tiber decorated with ship prows (rostra):

The Synagogue:

4.4 miles (and a long uphill + stairs we nicknamed "Heartbreak Hill") later, back at the Centro. Then we went back down those stairs and hill to Dar Poeta for dinner. Good pizza, even if they insisted mozzarella di bufala (yes, made from real buffaloes - Campanian water buffaloes, that is) couldn't be cooked with the rest of the pizza in the oven. Silly Italians.