This is a photo slideshow Kelly and I did for Stanley "The Manly's" photography workshop. We shot over a period of 3 days and edited for about 16 hours.  The first movement is a sort of spatial analysis, while the second is more of an experiential one.

"Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; for I am alone and poor.

The troubles of my heart are multiplied: deliver me from my necessities.

See my abjection and my labour; and forgive me all my sins.

Consider my enemies for they are multiplied, and have hated me with an unjust hatred.

Keep thou my soul, and deliver me: I shall not be ashamed, for I have hoped in thee."

Psalm 24: 16-20

I went to 5 pm mass at the Pantheon today.  I observed several things there.  When I arrived, the scene was a typical one: hundreds of tourists (mostly American) milling around, looking up.  It was loud, everyone was talking - I could make out several different languages as I made my way towards the few rows of pews.  I found a spot in the pews amongst the tourists resting there.  As I sat with Billy waiting for mass to begin, I looked at the bank of pews to my right.  There I saw a young girl (maybe 16 years old) and her friend.  She was brushing her hair.  At first I took it as just another strange occurrence (of which I have had many here in Rome).  After she finished brushing her hair, she knelt down on the kneeler and had her friend take a picture of her "praying" in the Pantheon.  Good picture, right?

A lot of people forget that the Pantheon is a church.  It was a temple to all the Roman Gods before it became a church, and it is a feat of structural engineering.  These things often overshadow the fact that it is considered holy ground.  But today, I saw it transformed from landmark to holy space.  A few minutes after the girl had taken her picture (received her false token), several women came through the crowd and started clearing the tourists out for mass.  They asked us three times if we were here for mass.  I was amazed at how quickly everyone was herded out and made to stand behind barriers directly outside the entrance.  I could hear the immense mob outside in the piazza, but it had become significantly more quiet inside.  It was then that I noticed two things: there were only 25 people or so there for mass, and the space is much more impressive when it is empty.  It was depressing to see that out of the 400 or so people packed into the Pantheon earlier, only a handful had stayed to celebrate mass.  But at the same time, I got to see one of the most dynamic spatial transitions in the world.  During the mass the Pantheon felt completely different.  The smell of incense gave me mystic feel while every once in a while I would look up to see the sky slowly darkening through the oculus.  The cantor didn't even need a microphone for his voice to be heard throughout the entire space.  And all the time the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world loomed above, glorious.  The mass ended and I walked past the swarm of yelling tourists, a smirk on my face.      

"But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying,
He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts."

Psalm 22: 6-9

It rained all day today.  It was the first time I've seen it do that here.  We went to the Tempietto.  "The Jewel of the Renaissance."  Let me describe it.  We had hiked up a huge hill, over ancient, slick steps - rain drizzling down on us the whole time.  I had no idea where we were going.  We turned a corner at the top and then we were in a courtyard and there it was: Bramante's masterpiece.  The rain had let up a little.  It stood there looking just like it did in all those slides, pictures, and drawings I have seen.  It occurred to me that I should be happy to be lucky enough to be there.  And I was.  Even with the rain and the walk.

We can only learn through experience.  The only way I would have known how the granite columns encircling the drum of the Tempietto felt was to feel them.  There was a grated hole in the middle of the first floor that looked down into the martyrium of Saint Peter.  I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't of stood on it.

I think I'm finally understanding the worth of studying here.  Sure, it's nice to see the Tempietto, but there is more going on.  In every building we visit, there are years of study, knowledge, and work manifested.  While I will never design another Tempietto, I take the experience and lessons it gives me home.  The ideas behind the material things.  I learned today the true meaning of precedence.  

I realized something at mass today: it’s Lent.  Sure, I got my ashes on Wednesday, but I didn’t really think about it that much.  But this is a holy season. 

I managed to make out this phrase during the gospel: quaranta giorni e quaranta notti.  Forty days and forty nights.  Jesus in the desert.  Is there a reason that I am in Rome for Lent this year?  Is it coincidence?

AMSTERDAM:

Atop Renzo Piano's Nemo Museum

Biking toward the IJ Tower in the East Harbor

All of the lights

ROTTERDAM:

The Erasmus Bridge

Museumpark

Blom's Cube House

PRAGUE:

Sunset on top of Gehry's Dancing House

Stained glass in the St. Vitus Cathedral

The Lennon Wall