The White Night

Since my obelisk hunt, I’d been hanging around the centro, going to the park, and poking around the immediate neighborhood, and attending classes. We had obelisk presentations Thursday, so we spent most of Wednesday putting all that together. I’ve also accompanied many a group on trips to the nearby market (where for many, being able to buy wine is a novelty) and bank. And there’s a gelato place just across the street..

Italian class is going fairly well. I volunteered to be called “Mily” since there are way too many people with the same name in that class. Our teacher had doled out names, Amelia, Emily, Emi… I got Emily originally, and way more people call me “Emi” than “Mily” but I figured I would go different.

This weekend has been quite a whirlwind! I managed through my classes into Thursday afternoon. Or, Thriday if you will, since that is my last official working day each week. Some other girls were going out to a bar, and I elected to go with them on the why-not whim. It was an evening of ridiculousness, but I am glad I went. The bartender was Irish and spoke English, and we danced with Italians and Germans.

I tried to do homework Friday but was often “too tired” and thought that was a reasonable excuse not to be productive. Naps ensued after lunch in the garden. So I would do a nominal amount while sitting in the entryway to the centro, waiting to see if anyone was going out somewhere. The weather has been phenomenally good to my taste.

It didn’t take long for a small group to be passing through, looking for a place to buy tea. Score! So I went with them and we got lost and found the mausoleum of Hadrian instead, near the river. I didn’t have my camera, I regret to say. But we did find a few tea shops, and gelato too. The Piazza Navona is sadly under construction. But there are still tons of people milling around the area.

After that we had dinner back at the centro again, and that night was something called “waiting for la notte bianca” or waiting for white night. Check out www.lanottebianca.it, because it’s pretty awesome in general. White Night is a yearly festival, a Saturday night in which people stay up very late, some until morning.

We went to see an aerial ballet, which was accomplished with mirrors and a water-covered stage. Dancers slid across it doing flips and turns and also made designs with one another with their bodies. They looked naked, but weren’t actually. It took us forever to find that place, though, where it was being shown. Previous to this we wandered around the ancient areas, as someone had put mirrors and lights in the Forum artistically. We also saw that the Circus Maximus was filled with glowing orbs, but we only passed it by bus.

"You guys! It's the forum! It's still cool!"

For the second night in a row, I went to bed rather late and my legs and feet completely stricken with tiredness! Saturday came bright and clear, and I attempted to accomplish much more work than before.. with some success. I tried very hard to focus on reading for class because I knew that I would be up again Saturday for the actual White Night itself.

I had lunch at a delicious nearby falafel place for like 3.50 euro, which pleases me. When a group formed (a group in which I was interested in being included.. there are some people I’d rather be with than others even by this point) to go to dinner, I wasn’t really hungry yet, but I went anyway. The restaurant wasn’t open because it was too early, though, so we went to the park again instead. It was more full of people than I’ve ever seen it. Families and kids, and still the regular joggers and runners.

We walked through it and someone finally showed me where the pond is, so I finally know. I got to know some people a little better through all of these wandering trips. After the park, we went to dinner and I split a great pizza with Linda, and then we all went back to the centro to get ready. I meant to take a ‘disco nap’ before going out that night, but instead I went to the la notte bianca website which is overwhelming with stuff to see and do.

I had hoped to plan a route or at least a few things to see, but in the end I figured I’d be best served by just wandering around with little expectation or aim to see what there was to see. We amassed a group of about fifteen and got on a bus.

First stop, Circus Maximus. The glowing orb thing was absolutely sweet.

They change colors too! Each orb is roughly the size of a human head.

Circus Maximus is large ("maximus")

We promptly lost three group members in the shuffle and were forced to move on from there.

We wandered toward the Colosseum, and paused by the Arch of Constantine. There was an enormous golden praying mantis on wheels, surrounded and topped with people in intense costumes and facepaint. The people on top had guitars and other instruments.. so I thought it was a strange band show.

Yeah, okay.

They seemed to be preparing for something, so we waited a little while. Then a giant queen strode up (a woman also with elaborate costume and awesome stilts). I decided to wander from the group all the way around the mantis to take photos, and then it happened.

On the hill to the right of us there was a red flare and what looked like monkeys were leaping down the hillside in our direction. The queen was watching them and music had started. They ended up being people with awesome costumes and painted faces on pogo-stick stilts. They bounded toward our golden insect setting off fireworks as they went, holding flares and sparklers, bouncing around like mad. It made me think of my brother, to be honest.

They cleared an area by stalking around and making movements at us the crowd. I was somehow right up front behind some kids. Then the pogo dudes began juggling bars that the queen passed out to them. The band played on top of the insect’s back.

Then the mantis raised its head high and a hoop was hanging from its face, and a little woman all in gold did acrobatics up in the hoop to my utter amazement. I was totally petrified that she would fall and hit the cobblestone below, but she was awesome and really strong, and didn’t.

A bit blurry because it's hard to take night phots. But man. Mad. Skillz.

After her part, for which the expression on my face must have been priceless and even worth being asked “are you fifteen?” at the airport, the pogo men came back and did some more juggling and bouncing. Then they began to clear another path through where I was standing. The small woman was now sitting in the raised face of the mantis, and the golden insect began to move. The pogo men were setting off fireworks and bounding along beside it, and the queen was striding with self assurance. The little woman turned the mantis face side to side to look at the crowd as they moved past.

There's nothing I can say to make this photo NOT creepy as hell.

The whole thing was awesome and cirque-du-soleil ish to me, and was basically the most awesome thing that happened that night. I was completely amazed the whole time. I love random strange happenings like that, especially when they involve wild costumes and even gigantic insects painted gold.

We walked on after that, finding a dead end on the Via Sacra, and moseyed on, stopped briefly to hear a singer perform songs by Paul Simon and James Taylor. I began to sing Journey to myself and we moved slowly across a main square. It was jam packed with people. Amazing. Like Mardi Gras or something. We worked our way up to the Pantheon and sat down on some grass (grass in dirt in boxes, that is..). Grabbed some pastry in a nearby place (since they were all open all night for this event) and pondered what to do next. I wanted to go back to Termini for the naked ballet, but the longer we sat the more I wanted to go home. It was 2:10 anyway, and by the time we managed to maneuver to Termini it would be way too late (last show at 2:30).

Yeah self-taken photos. You can just see the grass below where we're sitting. And everyone looks that manic at 2 am.

Instead we fought our way home, which in itself was a massive undertaking. We had to fight crowds all the way to Argentina and the cat sanctuary. To “save time” and “be more comfortable” I thought we might take the tram, but it was a big mistake as it was the most packed anything has been. I wanted to get a picture of it, but could not really move to get into my backpack. No I did not get pickpocketed. Emily and I had to literally bust through a wall of people to get off the tram at our desired stop. Really we just wanted to get out of there.

From there we did find a relatively uncrowded bus to take us home. 3am. End of weekend nights.

Today I have homework to keep me busy all day. Happily there is a lot of sunshine in the garden and I will do my reading there, I think. Ypa!