In the morning tour there was an Indian guy in the group. He was smiling at me in a friendly manner and said hi two three times. I for some reason was not interested in interacting with any Indian right now. I did not want to answer all kinds of personal questions like where you are from, what do you do etc. I would prefer to interact with the locals. Throughout the tour I tried to avoid him and when I was dropped by the bus at Spanish steps, he got down too following me. I walked ahead without acknowledging this but after half an hour at the end of the steps found him again and decided to talk to him.
He was originally from Kerala but working in Philly. He had started his own company now with an office in Chennai and Singapore and was planning to move back to India next year to live with parents. He had been traveling for the last one month starting from Amsterdam, Paris, London, Venice, Florence and Rome spending 3-5 days in each place. This was the last leg of his tour as it was my first. He gave me some tips and I gave him some about Rome. I invited him to see the museum Borghese with me. It was a good half an hour walk through the Villa Borghese. It was a huge park and we were walking from the top of Spanish steps to the museum.
The galleria was according to me the most amazing collection of sculptures and paintings in Rome. There was so much life in each piece of art and it filled me with so much joy that I almost cried.The first sculpture I saw was Bernini's rape of Persephone. The musular Hades' wicked laughter and his strong hands pressing into the soft flesh of maiden's body seemed so real. I could feel the softness of the body as if it were flesh and not marble with fingers pressing it. The emotions of cry and laughter were so clear in both faces and every muscle of the face.
Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and David were also notable. The paintings of Caravaggio were the best I have ever seen in my entire life. The theme was always black background and play of light and shadow on the on the face and bright clothes. His ' Madonna of the Serpent' and self – portrait were masterpieces. Another piece where a woman serves wine in a to a man and woman was eye catching. The emotions and expressions were so clear even clearer than what a best camera with highest megapixels would catch.
After walking around the museum, we exchanged email addresses and I took the rail to goto the scenic point 'Pinchio' from where I could go down to the Piazza Popolo. So I got down at Pichio and took a breath at the beautiful view of the city. I saw someone painting the view. Noticed a few Bangladeshi vendors again and so moved on to the Piazza. There I decided to relax for sometime as I had an hour before the tour would begin. I noticed that the guys were teasing young girls and calling out names. There was lot of naughtiness in the square. Once again a Bangladeshi vendor cam and asked me where I was from. I changed my seat and avoided sitting at one place for a long time and waited for my tour guide.
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