Review of My Themes

The first theme that I chose for my blog was the theme of police in Rome. I chose this theme because this was one of the first things I noticed in Rome. I noticed that there were more police in this city then I had ever seen in any city in America. It gave me a feeling of security and also enticed me to learn more about the police force.

My second theme was the method of transportation of choice for many Romans: mopeds. I chose this theme because this was also something that I noticed immediately after arriving in Rome. Mopeds are everywhere and seem to be one of the most (if not THE most) efficient ways of getting around the city.

My third theme was one that was very simple for me to travel to every day: my apartment! Living in Santa Maria in Cappella turned out to be, at times, a trying experience. However, the rich history and interesting characters of the place really made it worth it.

Riot Police in Zurich

While I was in Switzerland this past weekend, there was a large festival in celebration of Euro Cup 2008. The night we were there, Czech Republic and Turkey had their playoff game. Because of this, there were crazy Europeans everywhere at the festival. Although a lot of them were intoxicated and REALLY dedicated to their teams, I still felt like nothing bad would happen like a riot or serious brawls. The reason? There were riot police EVERYWHERE. They were on nearly every corner and also patrolling up and down the road that the festival was on. They had full riot gear which consisted of large shin guards, loaded weapons and an array of other tools/weapons on their belts. The only thing that was missing that I've seen American riot police use are the giant shields to protect themselves. I guess they don't whip these out until it gets really out of hand!

Police in Angels and Demons

While I was at the filming of Angels and Demons, the particular scene that was being shot was Tom Hanks' character rushing towards the fountain in the center of Piazza Navona. The reason that I enjoyed this shot so much is because the character was being escorted by two Carabiniere. Although they were fake, I thought that it was cool that I'm going to see and understand the police that are being used in the movie. The only difference was that these policemen were not armed with the semi-automatic weapons like most of the real Carabiniere around Rome are! I've included a picture, but it's a little dark and blurry. It's a picture of Tom Hanks standing with the two "policemen." Enjoy : )

Police in Barcelona

On my trip to Barcelona this past week, I noticed that they have a great deal of police officers constantly patrolling the streets. Although they don't have posted guard points like in Rome, there is a constant patrol on the streets of Barcelona. Although there are a lot of police officers patrolling, things like prostitution and drug dealing are a very large epidemic plaguing this beautiful city. I happened to be able to get a picture of two police officers right before they started yelling at me in Spanish to stop taking their picture. The police officers in this picture are the Mossos d'Esquadra which according to wikipedia.com is "the police force of Catalonia" and is "one of the oldest civil police forces in Europe. Some of their duties are "to handle terrorism, identity documents, immigration and other limited matters which the central government retains competences on."

More Kinds of Police!

While I was at the parade for the Festival of the Republic (see previous blog for information on what that is) I noticed an entirely new branch of police. The name on the cars of these police officers was Guardia di Finanza. After doing some research on sorrentotourism.com, I found at that the finance police "specializes in the battle against tax fraud, financial crimes and drug trafficking." The finance police don't fall under armed forces like the Carabinieri. They are a part of the police force and help with the State Police with enforcing border control. Unlike some of the other police officers that wear navy blue or white uniforms, these officers where light gray uniforms. I could only snap a picture of one of their cars though!

Festival of the Republic

Today is the anniversary of the day that Italy decided to abolish the monarchy and become a republic. Nearly everything in the city was closed today because of the holiday (we still had class though.) There was so much activity going on around Rome! There was a parade on Via del Imperiali which runs from the Colosseum up past the Capital. I walked around on my lunch break and actually got to see tons of people and police officers and firefighters dressed in full uniform. Unfortunately, I miss the parade! I still got a cool picture of an Italian fire truck. OK.. I got a picture of what I THINK is an Italian firetruck because it's red. It might not be. I need to do more research before I can say what it is for sure!

Policia Booth

I know that I mentioned in an earlier post that there are police officers all over the city. Some of them (the Carabiniere) are posted in various locations around the city. All they do is sit in a car and watch people while there is some sort of semi-automatic weapon (very scary) around their chest. However, there are some Carabiniere that are posted in little booths around the city. I'm not sure exactly what their official duties are, but from observing a booth for about five minutes, I saw the officer receive a phone call. Not sure if it was official police business, but at least he was doing something. Also, I saw some people stop by and talk to him. He opened the door to the booth and talked to them so I think they were friends, not looking for help. I've posted a picture of the officer in the booth. Enjoy : )

Carabiniere Band

After seeing the huge police celebration last week, I was interested in learning more about it. Was it a band that just happened to be made up of police officers? Was is a long running tradition? Turns out the band has been around since 1820! According to the official Carabiniere site, the band became popular in 1916 when they began traveling around and playing for injured allied soldiers. Today, the band performs anything from military to classical to contemporary music. The website also states that the Carabiniere Band has 103 members. They are truly amazing to experience! I've posted a shot of the band from the celebration after they were done marching.

Pope Cops

In my recent trip to the Vatican, I noticed that although the Vatican has normal security guards and police patrolling around Vatican City, they also have something called the Papal Swiss Guards. Wikipedia.com says that "Swiss Guards is the name that has been given Swiss mercenary soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards, and palace guards at foreign European courts from the late 15th century to present day." I actually got to experience these guards first hand because while I was there, I wanted to exchange cash for Euros and mail out some postcards. Unfortunately, all of these types of buildings were closed in Vatican City. I asked one of the Swiss Guards why. Thankfully he spoke decent English and was able to tell me that it was because of a festival, which I'm thinking he meant that it was a feast day so everything was closed. I'm posting a picture because I feel like everyone needs to see these uniforms. Don't they look like the Joker from a deck of cards? In a totally kind and respectful way though!!

Pantheon

Today, we took a field trip to the Pantheon today which is actually about a block or two away from our classroom in the Piazza Della Rotonda. Although I had already been to the Pantheon when we first got to Rome, I was exited to check out some of the things that I hadn't known about before. For instance, the artist Raphael is buried at the Pantheon. There is an entire shrine to him on one part of the wall. I also noticed something pertaining to my theme of police at the Pantheon too. I noticed today (but not the first time I was there) that there were posted gaurds at some of the shrines around the Pantheon. I don't know if they were actually police or just hired security, but I found it interesting that there was a need for some type of policing at this historical site. I didn't get a picture of the gaurds, but I did get a picture of Raphael's tomb.

Policia Helping Citizens

I had to walk to the Capitoline Museums on Saturday morning for a field trip. On the way there, we went a different way than we normally go to class. This way included crossing about three or four VERY busy roads. While we were risking our lives, I noticed that there was a police officer (Municipal I think) in one of those booths along the road. As soon as he saw that there was a large group of girls trying to cross the road, he quickly rushed out of his booth. He had on a blue uniform and a white helmet that looked like a construction worker's hard hat. As soon as he came out, we were able to cross the road so he didn't need to help us, but it was really nice to see that the municipal police are ready and willing to help you get across a busy and dangerous road. After we crossed, I turned around to try and take a picture, but some people had stopped him and were showing him a map so I figured it wasn't the best time!!

Three Types of Cops

I looked up some information on the police in my "Eyewitness Travel Guide for Rome." Apparently Rome has three different types of police. The first type is the vigili urbani, or the municipal police. Their most common job is to direct traffic. I also think these might be the cops that sit in the booths that I was talking about before. The next type is the carabinieri, who are the military police that "do everything from dealing with fine-art thefts and traffic violations". The third type is la polizia, who are the state police. The book doesn't say exactly what their job is, but all three types are willing to help you when you visit Rome : ) I'm going to post a picture of one of the police cars that I saw at the police celebration yesterday.

Police Celebration

After the Marble Faun walk,we headed over to the Piazza Borghese. Here, we actually saw a huge police celebration. They were celebrating the 156th anniversary of the police force (I think). I got a lot of good shots of the police officers in full uniform. When they were off duty, they were actually really nice about getting their picture taken.


I also got a video of the police band marching away from the celebration. I'm not sure exactly why there is a police band. It might just be officers who play. Regardless, they were good!

Welcome to my Blog : )

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my official Rome blog! Just to let you know what this blog is, it's a class assignment and a personal documentation of my trip all rolled into one. A few times a week, I will be posting on this blog about the different things I am experiencing around Rome. If I go to a specific historic site, if I eat at an interesting restaurant, if I get lost in the city.. all of it will show up here!

Also, there will be classroom-oriented postings. The actual assignment is to pick three different ideas (places, themes, etc..) and post about each idea twice a week. This means that some of my postings may seem a little obsessive about a certain idea. That's only because I'm trying to fulfill the assignment.

With that in mind, I've already decided on at least one theme that I want to cover: the police. When I first got to Rome, one of the first things that I noticed was that there were police EVERYWHERE. Not like sirens blaring chasing bad guys.. just like hanging out on the street directing traffic. Also, there are booths set up all around the city that have posted police officers in them. I'm not exactly sure what these are for, but I think they are there to give out information or just to help people when they need it. I'm going to try and get some pictures of the booths as soon as possible. Also, I need to learn how to ask "May I take your picture" in Italian.. don't want to get arrested!