I started off the morning right - a made to order croissant (cornetto in Italian) injected with Nutella. Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do when I no longer have Italian breakfast. Maybe have chocolate withdrawal problems. Anyway, I walked with Anna to a little bench spot about a block away from the pastry shop and we sat to eat our breakfast. I don't care that we freaked out multiple people with our aggressive chocolate eating. It was more than worth it.
Then we walked to the Castel, awkwardly making our way in from the side, and went to the ticket office. I felt really terrible since I didn't have change, so I had to use the .50 euro that Anna had gotten as change so that the woman behind the counter wouldn't be so angry. After we were sufficiently ticketed, we made our way inside the Castel. The outer ring was relatively boring - you're flanked on either side by exits so you can only go up and there really isn't much to see on the ground floor.
After we ascended the first staircase we got a little lost in time. I loved looking through all the ramparts and seeing the path the Pope takes from the Vatican to the Castel. We stopped for a photo at one point and ended up leaning against the rampart looking out for at least twenty minutes. I got really distracted by the dogs - there's a little park on the one side of the Castel and multiple owners came to play with their pets. Anna and I were naming the dogs and talking about which kinds we like the best and how many we'll have later in life. I got so wrapped up in the conversation I didn't notice how much time had passed until Mariana, Sarah D. and Mark interrupted my stream of thought.
Anna and I gladly joined them in a self-tour of the rest of the Castel, and it was probably faster with our big group rather than just Anna and myself. We wandered around the entire second ring and then decided to go further inside, taking the metal bridge to another section of the Castel. We walked through the Courtyard of Angels and into some of the Papal Apartments, which were particularly interesting. Obviously since the Castel was originally the Mausoleum of Hadrian it has pagan roots, but the Papal Apartments we got to see were purely decorated by pagan influences. The walls and decorations were all linked to pagan myths according to the information stands in each room and what I could glean from the sections closer to my line of sight - which is a fascinating example of Christian layering on top of paganism, just as the building itself is the epitome of building atop history.
My favorite part of the Castel was the top. We had to walk up these extremely narrow steps to get there but it's worth it when you finally see the view and the statue of Michael. The view looks directly over the Bridge of Angels and the Tiber and you can see a beautiful horizon of the rest of the city. I particularly loved having the statue of Michael directly behind me. I apologize in advance, Dr. Spinner, because I know you hate it, but all I could think about was Angels and Demons (mostly the movie). Anna and I both love the scores in that movie and as we looked out across the Tiber we played some of the music for ourselves on her phone. The music combined with the view, the waves of the river, and the light breeze made the moment pure magic. The music, whatever you think about the movie, made everything that much more vibrant and ethereal.
(Castel S'Angelo, May 26)
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