9/9 Da Vinci; Popolo; Spanish Steps

9/9

• Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition: well we (GG) stumbled upon a Leonard Da Vinci Exhibition of his various creations and ideas. Getting in cost 6 euros but it was pretty awesome because they have on display his original drawings and plans for lots and lots of inventions.
  
• Da Vinci was an absolute genius: he drew early designs of airplanes, found a way to eliminate friction in machines, and there was just a bunch of things- clock mechanisms, portable piano, etc.
  
• this picture is to pay homage to "ever after"- for those who remember the plot, drew barrymore is floating in the water when Da Vinci is walking on water. well the thing in the film wasn't quite accurate since this is what his actual drawing looked like and this is the model of the plan. it looks like a dude on floatable skis.
  
• Piazza Del Popolo: this is a famous piazza. it's pretty huge and there's about 3 churches here. there's an Obelisk of Rameses II in the middle. it's on the edge of the park and really near the spanish steps. there's supposed to be works of art here...but i failed to find it :(
  
• Spanish Steps: i finally made it to one of the most famous places in rome! there's a church on the top of the steps. but i was sad that i wasn't here in spring when the steps would be covered in flowers. but it was still an impressive site.
• i thought it would be a lot longer too.
  
• well down the street from the spanish steps is a road famous for very very expensive brands like Gucci, Versace, Ferragamo, etc.
• All the stores have these guards right in front so i was waaay too afraid to even go into one since i looked poor and touristy
  
• on that note, i want to mention that on 9/10 i went to an Indian restaurant- ordered an entree and naan. as did gloria. and was then told that we were ordering too little and that the server could not bring our order back. the indian girl said that takeaway was downstairs and that it was much cheaper. that's what sucks about eating here- they expect you to order an appetizer, first course, second course, AND dessert. and they look down on people who can't afford to eat that much or just simply can't eat that much. yeah...made me feel real inferior but went to a really good pizza place instead and got a BEER! yum peroni...