After reading the blog by a local artist, I realized that I never really properly sketched Rome, or maybe none at all?? Technically I've been to Rome twice, but both trips were very rushed and packed with itineries. (And did I mentioned the unbearable heat??) Anyway, so I booked Rome for the upcoming Labour Day long weekend, with absolutely no plan to step into any monument or stand in line. Just, sketch, eat, and sleep.
Day 1
So yeah, I was not prepared for the heat. By the time I arrived in Rome proper, it was nearly 1PM and 27C. I really regretted not changing into my linen pants in the morning.
I was just going to pick the closest church from Termini to warm up (the irony of that on a burning hot day) and headed to Santa Maria Maggiore. This church totally slipped under my radar even though I always stayed near Termini. Only when I noticed the huge queue in the plaza did I recall hearing this name in the news lately: the late Pope Francis was only recently buried here. There was a good patch of shadows across the street and a good landing spot for my bag and supplies, so I "warmed up" while panting and constantly wiping sweat away.
I then walked to the Colosseum and found a tiny patch of shadow casted by a restoration/construction access gate, which was also conveniently located at the end of the walkway when it turns right. The angle was of course not perfect (the diagonal cut of the colosseum is not very prominent), but I was already lucky to find this spot! And...I'm still rubbish with arches. So that was Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, Colosseum all checked off right?
After dinner, I was taking a stroll around the hotel and stumbled upon this wonderful view of the same church again. I don't do the same subject twice, but this calls for an exception (for some reason it really felt like that the 2 domes are unequal in dimension...maybe I'm going crazy) There was a guy asking if that in the front is indeed Santa Maria Maggiore. This time I was confident in my answer!
Day 2
I did a crash course of Rome travel tips on Youtube and decided to head out early the next day and take siesta during the hottest hours. And so I headed out at 8:30 (which is already uncharacteristically early for me on vacation) to Castel Sant'Angelo. The view from the bridge itself was also very nice, but there was a growing crowd of tourists throughout the bridge. So I ended up taking the stairs to the water level (somehow I never noticed these lower river banks earlier). The shadow was on my side so it was actually a bit chilly while I worked. Very people came through despite the nice view, down here which was understandable because I also missed it the previous time I was here. I had to rework the last/closest arch several times ooops
Deciding that my arch-drawing skills need more practise, I immediately stopped at the next bridge downstream, Ponte Vittorio Emmanuelle II. This time I sat on top of the stone railings along the river, which put me out of foot traffic and also above passer-by eye level. This was where I got asked once if they can take picture of my drawing, and another time of me drawing (?). I really loved how green and full-bodies the Tiber looked. (Oh and even though I never planned to include St. Peter's in this trip, it somehow popped up in both of these sketches! Very sneaky)
Afterwards I had incredible good luck in finding a decent spot to sketch the Fountain of Four Rivers at Piazza Navona. The restaurant next door had some flower pots to delineate their outdoor seating area, so I put my water jar down on them. The crowd in front of the fountain was too dense for me to see the bottom structure, but the main statues were visible! I dunno if there were still people who knew this place from Angels and Demons, like me.
I was originally planning to do the next one at Pantheon, but it was impossible, totally impossible. There was barely any standing room left. So I gave up and started heading back to the hotel when I saw this when walking through the heavy construction area at Piazza Venezia. Pedestrian traffic was dense and chaotic, but there was shadow and scaffolding on the buildings, which provided some space for people to rest and take a break from walking. The left side of the Vittoriano was slightly obscured, but I can't ask for too much. During this time, a lady actually asked me where Teatro Marcello was, with a hand written itinerary. I had absolutely no idea what that was. I looked it up on my phone, but I'm pretty I gave her the wrong direction because the whole Piazza Venezia looked nothing like the map. While I was putting in the finishing touches, a guy (the dad of a family of 3) stopped a bit longer to take a look, and eventually said "Congratulations" to me before leaving. I had no idea what he meant, but still said "Thank you and have a nice day" to them (??) After this, lunch, then siesta from 2-6pm heck yeah.
Day 3
The next day I headed to Spanish Steps (another place I never really visited before) first thing in the morning, getting there at 8:30AM. There were people, but no crowd. So I settled comfortably in front a (still closed) luxury shop window and had full view of the scene. Unfortunately I did accidentally put the two towers a bit too close to each other, so I decided not to add the obelisk in the end...
At Piazza del Popolo was when I really felt I'm getting some sketching fatigue. There were some strange flat metal bars that were just wide enough for people to sit, but as I discovered, only intended for a short stay because they make your legs go numb. I didn't plan for this, but this time the Obelisk was big enough in the frame that I needed to put in details for the hieroglyphs. This was the first time I sketched in a script I know nothing about! Super exciting!
I did the last 2 at River Tiber/Ponte Fabricio, the oldest bridge in Rome. I kind of messed up the first one, but the second one at river level was much better. Despite the chaos on the street level, here at the water level everything was extremely peaceful. And because of the sound of the rushing water, I could concentrate a lot more. So much so that a handfull of passer-bys really gave me a surprise when they walked behind me (because I didn't hear them approaching at all) and eventually a maintenance truck driver had to gently tap his car to make me notice them (he didn't honk, which was very considerate, because I could have had a heart attack). I didn't expect cars to come through at all, so I parked myself in the middle of the road ooops.
