Heat

It was blistering, the heat, not from any source, permeated the entire airspace. The air was thick, like inside an oven, a sauna. Each breath, a suffocating intake of fire-hot miasma, accompanied by clawing desperation to grasp air. Air unladen with the crushing heat. Air cool like flowing water, not freshly spewed magma. Air with oxygen, not saturated with boiling steam. 

The heat seeped in every pore, ran along every surface. Sweat and the moist air forming a laminar layer, bounding in the intruding heat. Inside and out, each surface burned and blistered, the fire slowly disintegrating the body into ashes.

Six Feet Under

The third day in Rome was rainy and gray, and as a result there's pretty much no pictures in this post.

In the morning we went to see "Bocca della Verità", or the "mouth of truth". Apparently this worn down piece of stone is famous for having been featured in the movie "Roman Holiday".

After that we took a bus, past the city walls of old Rome, to one of the many catacombs scattered around the outskirts of Rome. Burials were not allowed within the city walls of ancient Rome. Le Catacombe di San Callisto is known for having up to 16 popes buried there, among other martyrs and other figures in early Christianity. The Catacombs are managed by a monastic order that offers guided tours in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.

Since it was an "indoor day", our next stop was Basilica di San Clemente. This church is extremely interesting structurally due to the present church being built on an earlier converted church built in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and below that are foundations from a building during the Roman Republic. It's quite amazing and the stairs go down several levels to reach the lower levels. It was used for a period as a "safe house" of sorts and there is a trench where a fresh water spring was directed to run.

I thought I took pictures but it turns out I didn't.

In keeping with the "dead people" theme of the day, next stop was "The Protestant Cemetery" or "Cimitero Acattolico" (non-Catholic cemetery). It is located near the Pyramid of Cestius. The cemetery contains the tombs of non-Catholic foreigners, in particular, the graves of famous English poets Keats and Shelley.

Then it was off to one of the many famous plazas of Rome. The Piazza del Popolo ("People's Square") is famous for its symmetrical layout featuring a relocated Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the plaza, and flanked visually by twin churches (Santa Maria del Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto) at the entrance.

It can be extremely difficult to get a good shot here due to the high number of tourists milling about. The road does slope up a  bit facing the churches, so I recommend standing back more, almost to the archway.

To tie it into our theme of the day, Piazza del Popolo used to be one of the chosen executions sites of the Papal state during the 18th and 19th centuries. The public executions consisted of everything from simple beheading to hanging and quartering. 

It was here that I had the most expensive cup of cappuccino I have ever had in my entire life. I was feeling a bit unwell due to the cold and dampness, and desperately needed to sit down somewhere warm and have a hot drink. Unfortunately I chose Rosati, a famous cafe open since 1923. I suppose it was nice to see the atmosphere but I don't fancy paying 8 euros for a small cup of coffee. The cappuccino was indeed very good, but I don't see any particular reason to patronize this cafe unless either you have money to burn or really like fancy atmospheres.

After that it was to the famous "Spanish Steps" at Piazza di Spagna. Story goes that it used to be a famous spot for pretty girls to linger in hopes of catching the eyes of a painter. Later on, supposedly it was to try and catch the interests of famous movie directors.

There is of course also the famous scene from Roman Holiday of Audrey Hepburn on the steps.

The famous fountain, Fontana della Barcaccia, by Bernini was unfortunately undergoing restoration work, and so had was covered by rather ugly scaffolding.

The streets leading up to the Spanish Steps are all occupied by couture and luxury brands. Peddlers just steps away were hawking counterfeit goods. I wasn't there to shop, but had to stop to take a picture of the Dior store front.

A little ways away, there was a cart selling roasted chestnuts! A warm and welcome reprieve from the seeping coldness. I also finally manage to get a nice clear picture of one of the many Fiats roaming the streets of Italy.

Dinner that night was pizza! One seafood pizza and one with zucchini and prosciutto. The next day was to be the last in Rome and Italy.

Airplane Food

A quick post of the food on the airplanes to and from Italy. We traveled there on KLM, which had some of the best service ever. I actually had to turn away water since they kept hydrating us so much. The entertainment system was also quite nice and the staff were super friendly. They even gave us a (delicious) sandwich and two drink services on the short hop to Italy from our transfer in Amsterdam.

Also European airlines are awesome because they had small size cans of pop and beer.

The short flight back to Amsterdam from Rome was through Altalia and was probably the worst experience I've ever had on a plane ever. The air attendants and ground staff were rude and unfriendly. They forced us to check our luggage even though we arrived in Italy through a similarly sized KLM plane, and messed up the final destination of our baggage. If not for being overly cautious and checking the baggage carrousel at Amsterdam, I would have probably lost my suitcase. Thankfully it was soon back to KLM for the flight back home.

SPQR

The second day in Rome started off with the Coliseum! Click on the photo above for a larger size.

The sheer scale and mass of the coliseum is imposing in person, a massive edifice of stone and masonry, with walls several feet in thickness.

It was amazing to realize that the stones underneath my feet and the bricks I leaned against were from almost two millennia ago. 

Next stop was Palatine Hill, a site saturated with ruins from the Bronze ages to the Roman Empire. During the Roman Republic, the affluent and noble families of Rome located their estates on the hills.

It's a huge complex and the ticket is only one-time entrance. Bring a bottle of water and you can refill with spring water at fountain locations. Fountains with clean drinking water are scattered throughout the city of Rome. Also bring along a light snack as there are no food vendors inside.

I didn't take pictures of all the ruins but there is an impressive variety of left-over structures in layers from underneath the ground to the very top of the hill. It was like a mini adventure ducking and weaving through the arched passage ways below.

Rome can be very hot during the daytime under the sun. Palatine Hills are best visited either first thing in the morning or a little later in the afternoon. Also for those people who like taking pictures, Rome doesn't start to develop nice looking clouds until the afternoon.

You can see the remains of Circus Maximus and on-going excavation work from the ruins of the bath built by Septimius Severus.

You can get a great view of the the coliseum and other landmarks from the top of Palatine Hill.  You'll find yourself in the Roman Forum once you've passed the arch of Septimius Severus.

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The photo above ranks among my favourites for this trip.

The Altare della Patria is just a few steps away from the exit near the Forum. We had a quick pasta  lunch at a small cafe nearby. No pictures as we were all starving by that point, having entered Palatine Hill in the morning and not leaving until well past noon.

I bought a treat from a refreshment cart near Trajan's Column.

Found some tourists taking an interesting mode of transportation to see the sights of Rome. Also I took a picture of a horse's butt. Not sure why... And two old policemen, one tiny and one larger.

As it was Good Friday, many of the tourist sites were closing early to prepare for the night's ceremonies. Roads were blocked off and armored vehicles with paramilitary police and emergency vehicles could be seen everywhere.

Eating in Rome consisted of lots of pasta and pizza. A short ways away from Palatine Hills, we found a nice little place with outdoor tables that served super thin and crispy pizzas. And since I was in the land of cured meats: prosciutto appetizer and more prosciutto on the pizza! The one in the background had anchovies.

After dinner we went back to the coliseum to check out the festivities, but didn't stay long. There was a humongous crowd of people there and more walking towards the coliseum every minute. We caught the live broadcast of the Stations of the Cross later that night at the hotel.

Dior F/W 2014

Dior presented the fall-winter collection for 2014 on the seventh of July in Paris. Raf Simons once again presents a collection that is elegant, fanciful, and manages to look extremely wearable while maintaining the artistry and theatrics associated with couture collections. 

The opening dresses are gorgeous in glowing white, shaped like tulips, the waistline reminiscent of the famous Bar Jacket. The skirts and embroidery echo the flower motif of classic Dior. This collection is a very sleek with a modern twist on some Dior house staples.

The two-piece jacket and pencil skirt combos are among my favourites. The subtle differences in hemlines, patterned after flower petals, brings a bit of playfulness to the clean look.

I'm not too sure how I feel about the long coats. In certain angles I love the way they look, yet I can't shake the feeling of the Queen's coat dress mixed with a Russian winter coat. In my opinion, the coats are better styled open than buttoned up. I'm also not a fan of the exaggerated neckline, especially the large annular bibs and that bat-wing monstrosity in electric blue.  

I love this red jacket with the angled twist on a classic cuff.

The collection also featured airy slim dresses, perhaps to give actresses and patrons a chance to wear the new collection without dying from heat stroke in a fur coat at an August event.

Overall I think it's a decent collection, more exciting than last year's winter collection but I still prefer the spring couture from earlier this year. My all-time favourite (since I've started following Dior) would be the 2012 Fall-Winter Ready to Wear collection.

High res pictures of the entire collection can be found at DiorMag.