Gravity and Obama

I was with my aunt in a domed white building. Apparently we were in Rome, and the building was Catholic (at some point I had a little a-ha! moment when I realized it was Roman Catholic, though I'm not sure whether the Roman or the Catholic was the revelation). The interior was completely white, and benches of some sort wrapped the entire perimeter of the building, essentially floor to ceiling. Other people were also touring the building, and when I looked up I saw that people appeared to be walking, in some sort of gravity-defying illusion, on the ceiling. This was somehow explained, in bizarre dream-logic, by the fact that although we generally think of gravity as merely "down," it of course refers to the pull of a smaller object toward a much more massive one.

I totally wanted to climb on the ceiling, so my aunt and I went out to a narrow passageway where there was a staircase with a red wooden banister. At first it was easy to climb the stairs, but then I felt a strong pull back down the stairs, like I was losing my balance and the stairs were being pulled out from under me. It was a very unpleasant, vertiginous feeling, and I realized I just didn't have the fortitude to climb on the ceiling.

So we sort of slid back down the stairs, holding on to the banister, and then went outside to continue our tour of Rome.

Later I dreamed that there was a cute little boy in a highchair, who was rocking back and forth so that if I hadn't stepped in and caught him, he would have fallen over backward. He pointed down and said "Floor!" so I undid his little safety belt so that he could play on the floor. Then I noticed that Barack Obama was giving some sort of speech in the other corner of the room. He left, and I knew that he was going to come back in the entrance right beside us. He did, and I said to the little boy, "There he is!" and he waved at us.

Ocean

I was alone in a strange coastal city and I was looking for a place to spend the night. At some point it occurred to me that I should head for the beach, as maybe I could camp there. When I would catch glimpses of the ocean, though, it was through chain fences, so I kept walking.

When I encountered an elementary school, I entered to see if there was anything promising there (and maybe the beach on the other side?). As I crossed a glassed-in skyway of sorts that bridged a channel, I noticed that it was raining and that the waves were right up against the bottom of the skyway, making it actually sway or at least feel like it was swaying. I got to the end of the school and turned around, only to discover that now the bridge that crossed the channel was composed of wooden slats and was partially submerged. Kids were walking across it, but it looked like they were walking on water. I was very nervous about crossing, because I felt like I would lose my balance, the way it was pitching and swaying. Finally I decided to try, even though I was wearing leather shoes and didn't really want them in the saltwater. Some other faculty were going to cross, so I decided to go with them. Almost immediately as we started to cross, I dropped to my knees and held the sides of the bridge because I couldn't balance. And then, whether because there were too many heavy adults or because the moorings just broke, we started to sink and had to swim the rest of the way.

And that part was actually okay. The water was warm and felt fine, and I realized that the clouds had gone away and that it was beautifully sunny. I climbed up on the other side and realized that my clothes were folded neatly on the side I had just come from--although I was still, apparently, wearing my black fleece with my digital camera in the right pocket. (Also, I didn't have any sensation of being naked, so I was wearing something else, although I'm not sure what.)

By this time someone had a little kayak/canoe and was using that to ferry across the gap. A nice young man helped me get my clothes back from the other side, and that was that.