There's no place like Rome

Yes, I know that title is a predictable pun, but I did find this guy who looked like he was waiting for Dorothy:

Sorry it's not quite in focus. Temperamental camera and impatient photographer.

 But first, dinner at a Sardinian trattoria:

Fresh pasta with artichokes, calimari, potatoes and probably other stuff
in a creamy tomato sauce. Delicious.

Lemon ricotta torta with chunks of chocolate. Yes, it was amazing. 

 Then after dinner, to Teatro Vascello for a performance art/modern dance piece inspired by Don Quixote, or Don Chisciotte as it's spelled here.

Very cool Art Deco theater. Might have been a moviehouse to start.

The performance was, well, different. Some great moments.

Next day, off to Palazzo Barberini and its huge collection of paintings. That's where Dorothy's friend was.

The modest little former residence of the Barberini family, which included one pope.

Doesn't he look so excited to be spreading the good news?
My guess is stomach trouble, hence the gesture.

My favorite one is the guy in the red hat,
reading the magazine while his cat tries to get him to feed her.

Escher-esque.

This one is huge. At least life-sized. I thought about trying to get my foot in the picture by holding it up
to show something in comparison but my Italian isn't good enough yet to explain that one to the guards. 

(Okay, brace yourselves for this one:)
"Hey, buddy, I know that's gotta sting, but it could be worse.
At least no one had invented the chainsaw yet."
(What? Too much?)

This is the coolest thing. It's an Italian high school class on a field trip.
Each one of them had been pre-assigned one of the paintings that they would be seeing.
When the class got to that painting, the instructor would say a little bit,
then the assigned student would take over, talking about the painting.
This guy happened to be assigned this famous portrait by Raphael and
here he is doing his spiel.

Mary's thoughts:
"We're still living in a freakin' barn and you bring us myrrh?
Look how big this kid is. We're talking at least six months.
How about a gift card for the La Quinta?
Oh, wait. There's gold? Never mind. That'll work." 

Is Jesus doing "air quotes"?

Hey, this could go with that set from yesterday.
But at least it's Caravaggio, so it looks gorgeous.
(The old lady clearly never liked this guy.)

Bad hair day.

Bernini's cool spiral staircase.

Next stop, Santa Maria degli Angeli e Martiri - Our Lady of the Angels and Martyrs.

This church was formed out of part of the Baths of Diocletian, seen to the right.
The facade of the church was torn down in the early 20th c. (I think)
to expose the original Roman facade.

The scale of this place is huge and gives you an idea of what
the public baths might have looked like,
except the people here aren't naked.

This is just the start of some amazing modern pieces inside.
This is supposed to be the resurrected Christ.

Yes, more beheadings.
This one is John the Baptist, and was donated recently by a Polish sculptor.

It's odd to say this about a severed head, but this was gorgeous.

There was an opening in the dome, just like at the Pantheon,
but they did something differently with this one. I'll zoom in on the center...

This is what they did. A modern stained glass piece that includes prisms
 that cast rainbows on the floor and walls. Jaw-dropping.

This is a statue/sculpture of Galileo inside this Catholic church. Someone's trying to make amends. 

I really liked this guy's work ethic. He's polishing the floor with his right hand,
while eating a sandwich with his left.

That's it for now.