Our friends Leah and John were married yesterday. Kristin was the wedding photographer. A rare shot of us together.
sabato 30 giugno 2007
mercoledì 27 giugno 2007
Why am I sitting in front of the computer...
...on a gorgeous day in Rome?
My website is live: Kristin Burns Photo
I obviously need to update the photo section considerably and cut down the "About" section so it doesn't resemble David Copperfield so much. But so far, it's a good start.
If you want to recommend any photo I've taken to add to it, let me know. I'll also be adding screen shots of my work from ww.com, which you know is exciting!
My website is live: Kristin Burns Photo
I obviously need to update the photo section considerably and cut down the "About" section so it doesn't resemble David Copperfield so much. But so far, it's a good start.
If you want to recommend any photo I've taken to add to it, let me know. I'll also be adding screen shots of my work from ww.com, which you know is exciting!
martedì 26 giugno 2007
Culture, we've got culture
OK - Pat posted the favorite of my photos already (Augustus), so here are some others, interesting to only some of you. But do click through and take a look at the ones I took at the museums too if you need a break from work or a quick shot of culture.
To Danielle:
To Mom - I think she looks just like you:
To the Burns's, doesn't Patrick look happy?:
A rare photo of me, accidentally:
So after avoiding all forms of indoor/paid-admission tourism, this week has been museum-crazy. Sunday we ended up skipping the Vatican museums and walking down through the Circus Maximus and Forum to get some lunch. Only tourist spots near there, but the grilled vegetables were good. The "cover charge," not so much.
We met Pat's class in Piazza della Reppublica, ate some watermelon & bought tickets for the Museo Nationale - which has 4 locations around the city. Yes, the tickets were $$$ but they were good for 3 days, ideally. Except they were all closed on Monday - so 2 days. There's a tip for you saavy travelers.
We made it through both the Baths of Diocletian and the Palazzo Massimo on Sunday with the group. Reginaldus was in great form through the former, but museum-ed out by the latter. The baths were in name only - it was a museum housed in the former bath house but contained Latin engravings and statues mainly. The palazzo was much more enjoyable to me. Gorgeous palace full of stunning art, coins dating back to the emperors and even a mummified girl.
After all the marble stairccases, my feet were about to fall off. But we managed to walk cross-town to the Abbey pub for Mets, cheeseburgers and beer. Good times. Then an even longer walk for gelato and the bus home.
Monday we got up early and went to buy a portable hard-drive for this laptop. It has been straining a bit and we wanted to back-up everything, especially the photos. Pat found a place online and called them up. Sure enough they were both open and spoke English - an amazing mix in Rome. We got directions but either she was quite the optimist or had robot legs because her "5 minutes north of piazza di Popolo" was our "15 minutes walking then hopping on the tram for a couple of stops." But they were really nice and the hard-drive as the same price as home. After getting a celebratory sandwich at a surprisingly good bakery, we took a direct bus to Trastevere. Trip there: 2 hours. Trip home: 25 minutes.
Pat went to class and I hung out with our house-guests until it was time for them to leave for the train station. G. (Patrick's friend/classmate from Columbia) was catching a train to Geneva to visit his girlfriend and his brother was flying home to NYC. But his flight wasn't leaving for another day - despite us inviting him to stay another night, he wanted to sleep at the airport so he wouldn't miss the flight. OK.
I met Pat after class and we went out for salads with some of his classmates at L'Insalata Ricca, a mini-chain in Rome. Very refreshing to skip the pasta for once. Of course we did stop for gelato on the way home. I really should have kept a better list of the flavors we've tried - I'm sure between us we'd have 60 by now (2 flavors per little cup, then sharing). Regardless, this was a brand new place with 2 girls making the gelato from scratch - I had pignoli and "Indispensible" which had pistachio and cherry in it. Very good.
Today we were up bright and early again for the museums. We were supposed to meet 3 other people from dinner but only 1 showed up. We walked all over and finally stopped into a book store to find the address of the Crypto Balbi. I was underwhelmed. But after that we went to the Palazzo Altemps and that was lovely - a beautiful courtyard in the middle and huge sculptures on all the floors.
We ran into another friend there and all went out to grab lunch. Ended up running into another girl from class and she joined us too. Finally tried the cacio e pepe pasta everyone's been raving about and loved it. Somehow tagliatelle, cracked black pepper and grated cheese is amazing together. More gelato followed - raspberry and toffee this time. I think that's it for the week for me though, I can't do the daily gelato like when we first got here.
We took the bus home and relaxed a bit then Pat went to class and I vacuumed the whole apartment and straightened up for our new houseguests, who are arriving Friday for the wedding this weekend. Tonight I made eggplant stuffed with sauteed spinach and garlic for dinner. I think tomorrow we're going to veg out in the park in the morning and have everyone over for Greek club at night.
Thanks for all the suggestions of things to see - we missed the church with the Moses statue on Sunday by one block, but now we know and will see it soon. And Annie - we are going to Florence in a couple of weeks so I'd love to know your suggestions for there too.
To Danielle:
To Mom - I think she looks just like you:
To the Burns's, doesn't Patrick look happy?:
A rare photo of me, accidentally:
So after avoiding all forms of indoor/paid-admission tourism, this week has been museum-crazy. Sunday we ended up skipping the Vatican museums and walking down through the Circus Maximus and Forum to get some lunch. Only tourist spots near there, but the grilled vegetables were good. The "cover charge," not so much.
We met Pat's class in Piazza della Reppublica, ate some watermelon & bought tickets for the Museo Nationale - which has 4 locations around the city. Yes, the tickets were $$$ but they were good for 3 days, ideally. Except they were all closed on Monday - so 2 days. There's a tip for you saavy travelers.
We made it through both the Baths of Diocletian and the Palazzo Massimo on Sunday with the group. Reginaldus was in great form through the former, but museum-ed out by the latter. The baths were in name only - it was a museum housed in the former bath house but contained Latin engravings and statues mainly. The palazzo was much more enjoyable to me. Gorgeous palace full of stunning art, coins dating back to the emperors and even a mummified girl.
After all the marble stairccases, my feet were about to fall off. But we managed to walk cross-town to the Abbey pub for Mets, cheeseburgers and beer. Good times. Then an even longer walk for gelato and the bus home.
Monday we got up early and went to buy a portable hard-drive for this laptop. It has been straining a bit and we wanted to back-up everything, especially the photos. Pat found a place online and called them up. Sure enough they were both open and spoke English - an amazing mix in Rome. We got directions but either she was quite the optimist or had robot legs because her "5 minutes north of piazza di Popolo" was our "15 minutes walking then hopping on the tram for a couple of stops." But they were really nice and the hard-drive as the same price as home. After getting a celebratory sandwich at a surprisingly good bakery, we took a direct bus to Trastevere. Trip there: 2 hours. Trip home: 25 minutes.
Pat went to class and I hung out with our house-guests until it was time for them to leave for the train station. G. (Patrick's friend/classmate from Columbia) was catching a train to Geneva to visit his girlfriend and his brother was flying home to NYC. But his flight wasn't leaving for another day - despite us inviting him to stay another night, he wanted to sleep at the airport so he wouldn't miss the flight. OK.
I met Pat after class and we went out for salads with some of his classmates at L'Insalata Ricca, a mini-chain in Rome. Very refreshing to skip the pasta for once. Of course we did stop for gelato on the way home. I really should have kept a better list of the flavors we've tried - I'm sure between us we'd have 60 by now (2 flavors per little cup, then sharing). Regardless, this was a brand new place with 2 girls making the gelato from scratch - I had pignoli and "Indispensible" which had pistachio and cherry in it. Very good.
Today we were up bright and early again for the museums. We were supposed to meet 3 other people from dinner but only 1 showed up. We walked all over and finally stopped into a book store to find the address of the Crypto Balbi. I was underwhelmed. But after that we went to the Palazzo Altemps and that was lovely - a beautiful courtyard in the middle and huge sculptures on all the floors.
We ran into another friend there and all went out to grab lunch. Ended up running into another girl from class and she joined us too. Finally tried the cacio e pepe pasta everyone's been raving about and loved it. Somehow tagliatelle, cracked black pepper and grated cheese is amazing together. More gelato followed - raspberry and toffee this time. I think that's it for the week for me though, I can't do the daily gelato like when we first got here.
We took the bus home and relaxed a bit then Pat went to class and I vacuumed the whole apartment and straightened up for our new houseguests, who are arriving Friday for the wedding this weekend. Tonight I made eggplant stuffed with sauteed spinach and garlic for dinner. I think tomorrow we're going to veg out in the park in the morning and have everyone over for Greek club at night.
Thanks for all the suggestions of things to see - we missed the church with the Moses statue on Sunday by one block, but now we know and will see it soon. And Annie - we are going to Florence in a couple of weeks so I'd love to know your suggestions for there too.
Our Time with Augustus
Fully exhausted from our trip to the Baths of Diocletian, we crossed the street, went to the Palazzo Massimo, and relaxed in an air-conditioned room with a cushioned bench in front of this statue of Augustus. Compared to the rushing around we've been doing most of the time, it was nice to spend some time with something. It reminded me of afternoons in high school wasting time with the Greek statues at the Met.
sabato 23 giugno 2007
Cold, clothes & Clooney
I've been fighting a bad cold all week. I did make dinner for 17 people Wednesday night (homemade red sauce with sausages, ziti, salad and sliced watermelon), but otherwise laid low. Mainly napping, eating, more napping. By yesterday I was feeling cabin fever, so I decided to go exploring. Since I didn't want to overdo it, I gave myself a couple of ground rules: take breaks, hop on a bus if I need it, make sure to eat.
I walked up to class with Patrick, then headed into the Janiculum park, walking first past the Villa Pamphilj, which seems to be closed for renovations, but still gorgeous.
I planned on going north and coming out near the Vatican: instead I wandered a bit west and ended up completely lost. Well, as lost as you can get with plenty of people around you during the day.
When I got directions I'd been walking for 2 hours so instead of backtracking I just walked out of the park and took a bus instead. It drove through a new neighborhood for me just south of the Vatican. I hopped off once it crossed the Tiber then spotted this calendar at a tourist kiosk.
I think I know what some people will be getting for Christmas this year!
I looked at my guidebook for where to go next, seeing as I still had an hour before the movie started. They listed a good place for granita di limone nearby, so I went to that bar and got a big cup. Yum - very refreshing.
I walked by the theater but it wasn't open yet so I walked down via Babuino for some shopping. Loved Gente - clothing store full of top designers - for window shopping but the weak dollar & lack of job has made me surprisingly frugal. Well, maybe not so surprisingly.
Another shop (sorry, "experience") called TAD was a riot. Picture the love child of the MoMA design store, Barney's CO-OP and Bloomingdale's beauty level. A Chloe dress hung next to a book on hip Tokyo hotels, down the hall from a stylish floral design shop and downstairs from furniture salons with patchwork silk throws costing 100's of euros.
But there were shops I'll definitely go back to for some real shopping one day - Subdued and Ethic had great clothes. More important matters cut shopping short. My first English language movie in Rome.
I walked back to toward the piazza del Popolo and saw Ocean's 13, in versione originale (original language) with Italian subtitles. Great movie; better chance to learn Italian. My favorite translation was when someone said "Abbot and Costello" and the subtitle read "Laurel and Hardy." Bizarre. Also, if you were disappointed with Ocean's 12, go to this one anyway. It's fast and funny and looks beautiful.
After the movie I walked down to Largo Argentina to meet Pat, John and Leah. We went to Leah's parents' place for dinner. They've rented an apartment right on the square with an amazing view of the city from a huge terrace. Everyone was so excited about their wedding next weekend so I think it will be a lot of fun.
After dinner, Pat and I walked over to Trastevere and ran into a few people from his class celebrating one girl's 29th birthday. We spent the next few hours sitting around a fountain drinking wine and singing along to Pat on guitar. Plus, I got to try out some of my camera's low-light features.
We trudged up the big hill home, called our parents for the weekly check-in and slept late today. So far I've walked Pat up to class, run a load of laundry, done the food shopping and cleaned up the kitchen. Oh, and uploaded all my photos for this blog!
Tonight I'm making veal parmagiana with fresh tagliatelle and spinach. Not sure when our houseguests are returning from Pompeii so we will have to stay in. I could use it after yesterday, especially if the plan to go to the Vatican museums tomorrow at 6AM ends up happening. It's free one Sunday a month and I'm sure it will be a mad-house. Then there's the weekly Latin trip - but this time it's local, the baths of Diocletian.
I walked up to class with Patrick, then headed into the Janiculum park, walking first past the Villa Pamphilj, which seems to be closed for renovations, but still gorgeous.
I planned on going north and coming out near the Vatican: instead I wandered a bit west and ended up completely lost. Well, as lost as you can get with plenty of people around you during the day.
When I got directions I'd been walking for 2 hours so instead of backtracking I just walked out of the park and took a bus instead. It drove through a new neighborhood for me just south of the Vatican. I hopped off once it crossed the Tiber then spotted this calendar at a tourist kiosk.
I think I know what some people will be getting for Christmas this year!
I looked at my guidebook for where to go next, seeing as I still had an hour before the movie started. They listed a good place for granita di limone nearby, so I went to that bar and got a big cup. Yum - very refreshing.
I walked by the theater but it wasn't open yet so I walked down via Babuino for some shopping. Loved Gente - clothing store full of top designers - for window shopping but the weak dollar & lack of job has made me surprisingly frugal. Well, maybe not so surprisingly.
Another shop (sorry, "experience") called TAD was a riot. Picture the love child of the MoMA design store, Barney's CO-OP and Bloomingdale's beauty level. A Chloe dress hung next to a book on hip Tokyo hotels, down the hall from a stylish floral design shop and downstairs from furniture salons with patchwork silk throws costing 100's of euros.
But there were shops I'll definitely go back to for some real shopping one day - Subdued and Ethic had great clothes. More important matters cut shopping short. My first English language movie in Rome.
I walked back to toward the piazza del Popolo and saw Ocean's 13, in versione originale (original language) with Italian subtitles. Great movie; better chance to learn Italian. My favorite translation was when someone said "Abbot and Costello" and the subtitle read "Laurel and Hardy." Bizarre. Also, if you were disappointed with Ocean's 12, go to this one anyway. It's fast and funny and looks beautiful.
After the movie I walked down to Largo Argentina to meet Pat, John and Leah. We went to Leah's parents' place for dinner. They've rented an apartment right on the square with an amazing view of the city from a huge terrace. Everyone was so excited about their wedding next weekend so I think it will be a lot of fun.
After dinner, Pat and I walked over to Trastevere and ran into a few people from his class celebrating one girl's 29th birthday. We spent the next few hours sitting around a fountain drinking wine and singing along to Pat on guitar. Plus, I got to try out some of my camera's low-light features.
We trudged up the big hill home, called our parents for the weekly check-in and slept late today. So far I've walked Pat up to class, run a load of laundry, done the food shopping and cleaned up the kitchen. Oh, and uploaded all my photos for this blog!
Tonight I'm making veal parmagiana with fresh tagliatelle and spinach. Not sure when our houseguests are returning from Pompeii so we will have to stay in. I could use it after yesterday, especially if the plan to go to the Vatican museums tomorrow at 6AM ends up happening. It's free one Sunday a month and I'm sure it will be a mad-house. Then there's the weekly Latin trip - but this time it's local, the baths of Diocletian.
mercoledì 20 giugno 2007
Our busy week
I can't believe I haven't written a full update since last Tuesday. Pazzo!
Let's see, what's happened? We had Pat's Greek group over for the first meeting. That was fun - I made a make-your-own Greek salad bar and we drank wine and ate dates for dessert. Then we all walked down the hill into old Trastevere and to celebrate a classmate's birthday at the fountain in piazza Santa Maria di Trastevere. Drinking cheap wine and talking long into the night, then a steep uphill walk home.
Thursday was another walk all over the city for me, only to have random tourists from New Zealand show up to our house at 11 PM. They had apparently rented our place online too - a personal fear of mine in our digital world. Aside from calling the landlord for them and pointing them to the pay phones and cabs nearby, there wasn't much we could do. We felt really bad for them but it's not like we could have them stay with us.
Friday I relaxed at home after a worried, sleepless night. We went out to Piramide for a party at some of Pat's classmates' place. On the way we stopped into Perilli for Roman food. I had pasta and Pat ate meat and artichokes but we needed more food so I ordered some stuffed zucchini. Glad we got them - they were the best thing all night. The party was fun but a little frantic when someone's friend showed up so wasted even the cabbie we called wouldn't take him home. Eventually they got him out of there and we stayed until 4AM.
Saturday was relaxing and cleaning up the apartment. We went out to a local place for dinner nearby - caffe Quatro Venti. Minor blackout at the restaurant. Shades of things to come.
Sunday we were up bright and early to meet everyone at the train to Ostia. Very early... But the train was fine and it was a nice sunny day. Walking around Ostia Antica with P's class was interesting, but of course I took off on my own often enough (as exidenced by the 876794 photos from that day) whenever the Latin overwhelmed me.
After the tour we took the train out to the seaside with some of the class. Apparently the old Ostia used to be the port, but sediment has built up over the years and now it's miles inland. The coastal area of Ostia is gorgeous. We brazenly walked onto a private beach and swam for about and hour in the Mediterranean until sunset. Amazing. Especially after a hot day wandering the dusty ruins.
We all took the train back into Rome and went out for Chinese food together. Honestly, even if it wasn't the best meal of our trip, I'd been craving something different than the ever-present Italian and Roman fare. Plus, giant cheap Chinese beers. We grabbed the bus home and slept well in our sun-sand-Tsingtao exhaustion.
Monday began much more relaxing. I grocery shopped, cleaned up the apartment and did laundry in preparation for our first houseguests. But around 7:30PM the lights went out. Hmm, another blackout, I figured. But around 9 when the lights hadn't come back on and my upstairs neighbors had power, I knew something was up. I'd already tried flipping the circuit breakers and nothing had happened.
Patrick was at class and then picking up his friend Graham and his brother at the train station. So I found all the candles I could, made dinner (bucatini all'Amatriciana) and hoped they could figure it out. Of course our landlord wasn't home and hadn't returned my increasingly concerned phone messages. Eventually (their train had been delayed), P and the guys got home and we ate out on the deck by candle-light. Really funny eating messy pasta and salad when you can't see - they were great sports.
I called the landlord again and finally got ahold of her. She came over with conciliatory limoncello and showed us the main switch to reset the circuit breakers. Outside out gate on the street - which is of course crazy since now I know I can just walk down the street and flip anyone's power off. Oh well, now I know to turn everything off when using the dishwasher.
Tuesday we all got up early and took the bus to the Vatican. There's an English language free tour every Tuesday morning. We met some clasmates on time because a nun on our bus took us on a Vatican shortcut through a parking garage. She was so cute - from Poland and so happy to help us. Next time we go to the Vatican we're going to try to find her in the gift shop she works in to thank her again. We went through security and into St. Peter's for the tour. Our guide was nice but a little quiet so it was hard to hear her over the bellowing cruiseline tour groups. St. Peter's is huge, but she was right that the architects tried to keep the scale of everything large so the church itself would feel smaller.
After the tour, we, with our houseguests, came back to our neighborhood for lunch at a beloved little wine bar. Turns out their lunch special includes a glass of wine which means my tasty pasta was only 2.50 - crazy. We'll be going back.
We walked back to the house & Patrick left for class. The rest of us napped and got gelato nearby before they headed out to sight see. I relaxed, made dinner reservations and when Pat got home we walked down to take the bus to meet them at Piazza Navona. The bus took forever to come but we ran into a friend from class and his girlfriend, who's visiting for 2 weeks. Finally the bus came, we met them and walked over to Ristorante Antonio. It was really good and very generous of them to take us out. I had tagliatelle with wild boar sauce and Pat and I split lamb chops. The waitress brought us free prosciutto too - a very meaty meal. We walked back through Trastevere, but no one we knew was at the fountain so we trekked uphill home. We ran into another friend but it sounded like nothing was going on. Thank god - we were all exhausted.
Today we're having the Greek group over again for dinner. Pat and I went shopping this morning - 3 kilos of sausage, 4 kilos of penne, 4 bags of salad greens, 6 cans of tomatoes for the gallon of sauce. I'm feeding an army tonight (well, 17) so I made sure we'd have enough food. If not, the 3 kilos of wine or 10 kilo watermelon should help.
Let's see, what's happened? We had Pat's Greek group over for the first meeting. That was fun - I made a make-your-own Greek salad bar and we drank wine and ate dates for dessert. Then we all walked down the hill into old Trastevere and to celebrate a classmate's birthday at the fountain in piazza Santa Maria di Trastevere. Drinking cheap wine and talking long into the night, then a steep uphill walk home.
Thursday was another walk all over the city for me, only to have random tourists from New Zealand show up to our house at 11 PM. They had apparently rented our place online too - a personal fear of mine in our digital world. Aside from calling the landlord for them and pointing them to the pay phones and cabs nearby, there wasn't much we could do. We felt really bad for them but it's not like we could have them stay with us.
Friday I relaxed at home after a worried, sleepless night. We went out to Piramide for a party at some of Pat's classmates' place. On the way we stopped into Perilli for Roman food. I had pasta and Pat ate meat and artichokes but we needed more food so I ordered some stuffed zucchini. Glad we got them - they were the best thing all night. The party was fun but a little frantic when someone's friend showed up so wasted even the cabbie we called wouldn't take him home. Eventually they got him out of there and we stayed until 4AM.
Saturday was relaxing and cleaning up the apartment. We went out to a local place for dinner nearby - caffe Quatro Venti. Minor blackout at the restaurant. Shades of things to come.
Sunday we were up bright and early to meet everyone at the train to Ostia. Very early... But the train was fine and it was a nice sunny day. Walking around Ostia Antica with P's class was interesting, but of course I took off on my own often enough (as exidenced by the 876794 photos from that day) whenever the Latin overwhelmed me.
After the tour we took the train out to the seaside with some of the class. Apparently the old Ostia used to be the port, but sediment has built up over the years and now it's miles inland. The coastal area of Ostia is gorgeous. We brazenly walked onto a private beach and swam for about and hour in the Mediterranean until sunset. Amazing. Especially after a hot day wandering the dusty ruins.
We all took the train back into Rome and went out for Chinese food together. Honestly, even if it wasn't the best meal of our trip, I'd been craving something different than the ever-present Italian and Roman fare. Plus, giant cheap Chinese beers. We grabbed the bus home and slept well in our sun-sand-Tsingtao exhaustion.
Monday began much more relaxing. I grocery shopped, cleaned up the apartment and did laundry in preparation for our first houseguests. But around 7:30PM the lights went out. Hmm, another blackout, I figured. But around 9 when the lights hadn't come back on and my upstairs neighbors had power, I knew something was up. I'd already tried flipping the circuit breakers and nothing had happened.
Patrick was at class and then picking up his friend Graham and his brother at the train station. So I found all the candles I could, made dinner (bucatini all'Amatriciana) and hoped they could figure it out. Of course our landlord wasn't home and hadn't returned my increasingly concerned phone messages. Eventually (their train had been delayed), P and the guys got home and we ate out on the deck by candle-light. Really funny eating messy pasta and salad when you can't see - they were great sports.
I called the landlord again and finally got ahold of her. She came over with conciliatory limoncello and showed us the main switch to reset the circuit breakers. Outside out gate on the street - which is of course crazy since now I know I can just walk down the street and flip anyone's power off. Oh well, now I know to turn everything off when using the dishwasher.
Tuesday we all got up early and took the bus to the Vatican. There's an English language free tour every Tuesday morning. We met some clasmates on time because a nun on our bus took us on a Vatican shortcut through a parking garage. She was so cute - from Poland and so happy to help us. Next time we go to the Vatican we're going to try to find her in the gift shop she works in to thank her again. We went through security and into St. Peter's for the tour. Our guide was nice but a little quiet so it was hard to hear her over the bellowing cruiseline tour groups. St. Peter's is huge, but she was right that the architects tried to keep the scale of everything large so the church itself would feel smaller.
After the tour, we, with our houseguests, came back to our neighborhood for lunch at a beloved little wine bar. Turns out their lunch special includes a glass of wine which means my tasty pasta was only 2.50 - crazy. We'll be going back.
We walked back to the house & Patrick left for class. The rest of us napped and got gelato nearby before they headed out to sight see. I relaxed, made dinner reservations and when Pat got home we walked down to take the bus to meet them at Piazza Navona. The bus took forever to come but we ran into a friend from class and his girlfriend, who's visiting for 2 weeks. Finally the bus came, we met them and walked over to Ristorante Antonio. It was really good and very generous of them to take us out. I had tagliatelle with wild boar sauce and Pat and I split lamb chops. The waitress brought us free prosciutto too - a very meaty meal. We walked back through Trastevere, but no one we knew was at the fountain so we trekked uphill home. We ran into another friend but it sounded like nothing was going on. Thank god - we were all exhausted.
Today we're having the Greek group over again for dinner. Pat and I went shopping this morning - 3 kilos of sausage, 4 kilos of penne, 4 bags of salad greens, 6 cans of tomatoes for the gallon of sauce. I'm feeding an army tonight (well, 17) so I made sure we'd have enough food. If not, the 3 kilos of wine or 10 kilo watermelon should help.
Swimming in the Mediterranean
Our trip to Ostia was exhausting... nine hours among the ruins in the sun. Around six o'clock, we decided to take the train out to the beach--we were already halfway there--and cool down in the sea. It was a good choice: black sand beaches and warm water while the sun went down.
martedì 19 giugno 2007
Top of the Ostia Amphitheater
We spent Sunday in Ostia Antica, the ruins of a Roman port city west of Rome, where we read some Plautus, Cicero, Augustine, etc. A highlight was a quick scene from Terrence's Phormio, performed on the stage of the Amphitheather by three of my classmates, as the rest of us watched from the stone seats.
sabato 16 giugno 2007
Granita di caffè con panna
Walking all over the city on Thursday, I was hot and tired. So I stopped into a little gelateria for something refreshing, thinking sorbetto. But I'd seen people on the street with what looked like frozen espresso and this place had a big tub of it. Turns out it's a simple granita.
Once the owner was done bringing out a new batch of coconut gelato (not my thing), I asked him about the granita. It's actually just espresso mixed with sugar and water and frozen. He made me up a cup - first a dollop of fresh whipped cream (panna), then lots of granita topped by even more cream. After quickly photographing it outside, I dug in. Mixing a bit of whipped cream with the granita was better than any coffee drink I'd ordered before. It was really strong espresso and made the rest of my walk fly by.
Be our tour guides, please.
So, Patrick and I have been living here for 2 weeks. And Rome is huge so obviously we haven't been everywhere yet. Still, we've wandered around plenty, eaten all over & hit the highlights everyone talks about here. Trevi fountain, Pantheon, Trastevere, Ponte Sisto. Plus we're going on a tour of the Vatican Tuesday morning.
See - here's the Ponte Sisto:
But whenever I travel, I love to try out little restaurants, head down tiny streets, shop (which I've done very little yet!) in cute stores. Plus, since Pat's class doesn't start until 2 PM, we could technically head further afield in the mornings together if something was worth getting up early to see.
So I'm putting forth a challenge: comment to this post with the places you loved when you visited Rome.
I'm a pretty good internet sleuth, so if all you remember is that it was a pizza place that roasted their own peppers, I can help figure out what it's called.
I don't know if you realize this, but blogs are interactive. We post; you comment. That way you can add your thoughts and we can look back on this years from now and remember that it was Martha or Lulu who told us about that amazing shoe store along the via Cavour.
Thanks guys - I'm looking forward to seeing what you write!
See - here's the Ponte Sisto:
But whenever I travel, I love to try out little restaurants, head down tiny streets, shop (which I've done very little yet!) in cute stores. Plus, since Pat's class doesn't start until 2 PM, we could technically head further afield in the mornings together if something was worth getting up early to see.
So I'm putting forth a challenge: comment to this post with the places you loved when you visited Rome.
I'm a pretty good internet sleuth, so if all you remember is that it was a pizza place that roasted their own peppers, I can help figure out what it's called.
I don't know if you realize this, but blogs are interactive. We post; you comment. That way you can add your thoughts and we can look back on this years from now and remember that it was Martha or Lulu who told us about that amazing shoe store along the via Cavour.
Thanks guys - I'm looking forward to seeing what you write!
venerdì 15 giugno 2007
Sub Arboribus
Last night we had our first Sub Arboribus, or "under the trees", meeting. A few nights a week, we gather after our last class outside the building where Reginaldus lives for Latin discussion, storytelling and reading until the sun sets. Here is a view of the garden with sundown approaching.
In Schola
It's been hard to explain what it's like being in Aestiva Romae Latinitas--which we all call Summer School. I think the pictures and anecdotes, especially of the trips, such as last Sunday's Caesar Walk, will do a much better job of capturing this completely strange mixture of craziness and seriousness in linguam latinam.
But it still might help, if you knew a little about how our days and weeks are divided.
Monday-Saturday
2:00-3:30, Juniores. This is the larger of the two groups, composed of the supposedly less experienced Latin students, even though everyone is brilliant. We read selections, usually only a sentence or two a day, slowly and carefully. We compose our own Latin sentences ex tempore, often asking our questions in Latin as well. We read aloud, we recite, some days we sing. We are treated to daily anecdotes, usually told entirely in Latin, about Reginaldus's life at "the office," which is, of course, The Vatican. Great stuff.
Class takes place in the basement of a grammar school, and we sit at children's desks in children's chairs. It completely fitting. On our first day, Reginaldus greeted us by saying, "I love this, each year seeing a line of 30-year-olds look like first-graders." His style can be a little rough, but it's thorough and so clearly informed, that it is impossible to argue with.
3:30-4:00, Break. Either run across the street to the bar for an espresso or stay in the courtyard for some sunshine. An occasional gelato. After the intensity of the first class, usually some caffeine or sugar is in order.
4:00-5:30, Juniors & Seniors. This is a combined class of the whole first group and a second group of the more experienced students. Not so different than the first, just different readings. There tend to be more anecdotes.
5:30-6:00, Break. Who has the energy to go anywhere? Lie down in the courtyard and get a little more sun, or stay inside and chat up Reginaldus for a couple mlre good stories.
6:00-7:30, Seniors. The advanced group, in theory, though I seems to be the same as the others with a little quicker pace. The smaller group means you're even more likely to be called on, which is good and band. The pressure of being on the spot with Reginaldus ready to pounce can be overwhelming, but it also forces you to concentrate that much more and think clearly about your passage. If nothing else, it's good for your humility in the short run and confidence in the long run.
7:30-8:00, Break. A quick dinner is in order.
8:00-sunset: Sub Arboribus. We gather at the end of long day of Latin for a chance to spend even more time with the language. We will be meeting Monday and Friday evenings for Latin conversation, Tuesdays and Thursdays for leisure reading and storytelling.
The pace would be more brutal if it didn't go by so quickly.
Sunday would be our day off, if we didn't have field trips. They're optional, but who would turn them down. We have trips coming up to Ostia, Tivoli, Formia, and all sorts of day trips through Rome, like our Caesar Walk. The people in the class are great, so the trips should be as fun any day off, and if Reginaldus is involved, there's sure to be some wine for everyone at the end of day to celebrate.
Vale, PB
ps. I'll be placing some of my more Latin posts on a different blog. If anyone is interested, it's in the links on the top-left of the page and can be found at erroetdisco.blogspot.com. PB
But it still might help, if you knew a little about how our days and weeks are divided.
Monday-Saturday
2:00-3:30, Juniores. This is the larger of the two groups, composed of the supposedly less experienced Latin students, even though everyone is brilliant. We read selections, usually only a sentence or two a day, slowly and carefully. We compose our own Latin sentences ex tempore, often asking our questions in Latin as well. We read aloud, we recite, some days we sing. We are treated to daily anecdotes, usually told entirely in Latin, about Reginaldus's life at "the office," which is, of course, The Vatican. Great stuff.
Class takes place in the basement of a grammar school, and we sit at children's desks in children's chairs. It completely fitting. On our first day, Reginaldus greeted us by saying, "I love this, each year seeing a line of 30-year-olds look like first-graders." His style can be a little rough, but it's thorough and so clearly informed, that it is impossible to argue with.
3:30-4:00, Break. Either run across the street to the bar for an espresso or stay in the courtyard for some sunshine. An occasional gelato. After the intensity of the first class, usually some caffeine or sugar is in order.
4:00-5:30, Juniors & Seniors. This is a combined class of the whole first group and a second group of the more experienced students. Not so different than the first, just different readings. There tend to be more anecdotes.
5:30-6:00, Break. Who has the energy to go anywhere? Lie down in the courtyard and get a little more sun, or stay inside and chat up Reginaldus for a couple mlre good stories.
6:00-7:30, Seniors. The advanced group, in theory, though I seems to be the same as the others with a little quicker pace. The smaller group means you're even more likely to be called on, which is good and band. The pressure of being on the spot with Reginaldus ready to pounce can be overwhelming, but it also forces you to concentrate that much more and think clearly about your passage. If nothing else, it's good for your humility in the short run and confidence in the long run.
7:30-8:00, Break. A quick dinner is in order.
8:00-sunset: Sub Arboribus. We gather at the end of long day of Latin for a chance to spend even more time with the language. We will be meeting Monday and Friday evenings for Latin conversation, Tuesdays and Thursdays for leisure reading and storytelling.
The pace would be more brutal if it didn't go by so quickly.
Sunday would be our day off, if we didn't have field trips. They're optional, but who would turn them down. We have trips coming up to Ostia, Tivoli, Formia, and all sorts of day trips through Rome, like our Caesar Walk. The people in the class are great, so the trips should be as fun any day off, and if Reginaldus is involved, there's sure to be some wine for everyone at the end of day to celebrate.
Vale, PB
ps. I'll be placing some of my more Latin posts on a different blog. If anyone is interested, it's in the links on the top-left of the page and can be found at erroetdisco.blogspot.com. PB
giovedì 14 giugno 2007
Scooter Cat
Cats, cats, cats. They are everywhere in Rome. I caught this one on a scooter at the end of the block on the way home from class.
martedì 12 giugno 2007
Molto Food & Photos
I have been enjoying cooking here. You go to the outdoor market first, then the local shops, and finally to the supermarket for whatever else you might need. I made pizza last night with zucchini & sausage from the market, mozzarella, raw dough and ricotta from the supermarket. Tasty & easy. Plus, the fruit is amazing right now. Check out these cherries.
Today I slept in (again) then we made egg sandwiches - eggs from the supermarket, bread from the pasticceria. We walked up to P's class and I went down into Trastevere's historic section to take some photos and wander around.
Found the Santa Maria in Trastevere church - gorgeous mosaics inside.
Stopped into a little shop to pick up some balsamic vinegar de Modena. Then took the bus up the hill and stopped at the butcher's on the walk home. He cut me a couple of steaks & humored my bad Italian.
Pat came home to dinner of arugula salad topped with shaved parmesan, grilled steak, balsamic & olive oil. Plus some pesto gnocchi on the side. I'm loving the way they shop here - it makes it so easy to cook delicious fresh dinners every night cheaply & easily.
Tomorrow night we're having 10-15 people from P's class over for a Greek party. I'm planning on making a big greek salad and serving mezze (probably hummus, pita, olives, cheese) and jugs of wine.
Salads are in order - we're going to the beach this weekend in Ostia. I think the running gelato tally (I added 2 more Monday, lemon & red grapefruit sorbetto) will have to stay on hold for a little while.
Today I slept in (again) then we made egg sandwiches - eggs from the supermarket, bread from the pasticceria. We walked up to P's class and I went down into Trastevere's historic section to take some photos and wander around.
Found the Santa Maria in Trastevere church - gorgeous mosaics inside.
Stopped into a little shop to pick up some balsamic vinegar de Modena. Then took the bus up the hill and stopped at the butcher's on the walk home. He cut me a couple of steaks & humored my bad Italian.
Pat came home to dinner of arugula salad topped with shaved parmesan, grilled steak, balsamic & olive oil. Plus some pesto gnocchi on the side. I'm loving the way they shop here - it makes it so easy to cook delicious fresh dinners every night cheaply & easily.
Tomorrow night we're having 10-15 people from P's class over for a Greek party. I'm planning on making a big greek salad and serving mezze (probably hummus, pita, olives, cheese) and jugs of wine.
Salads are in order - we're going to the beach this weekend in Ostia. I think the running gelato tally (I added 2 more Monday, lemon & red grapefruit sorbetto) will have to stay on hold for a little while.
Pinocchio and the Whale
Our class is in the basement of a grammar school and I think that there is either a kindergarten or nursery school in the room during the morning. So we have all sorts of kid's stuff all around us, like this gigantic wall hanging of Pinocchio and the whale.
lunedì 11 giugno 2007
Photo K
K bought a camera just for this trip and I am so impressed every day with her pictures.
This is the statue of Marcus Aurelius at the top of Capitoline Hill, and the picture perfectly captures the magnificence of the statue and the magnificence of Marcus Aurelius, not to mention, the magnificence of the Roman sun.
Weekend update
Well, it was a weekend for me anyway - P. had class Saturday & a class-trip Sunday. Saturday I did a little shopping & relaxing thne met P. after class. We dropped off his stuff at home and walked down to the Tiber to meet some friends for dinner. We walked over to Testaccio (a new neighborhood for us) and one of the guys asked a chubby man where he liked to eat in the area. He gave us an excellent recommendation of da Bucatino - great pasta.
Then we walked all over the darn place looking for this party a couple of Irish girls from P.'s class were hosting. We finally found it ( up a hill of course) and had fun there for a couple of hours. One of them got a text message about the protests turning into riots downtown, so we we glad to be in the boonies. We thought we could catch the last bus home but must have just missed it. So we hailed a cab instead - an adorable old man who whistled the entire ride home. It wasn't annoying, somehow.
Sunday we relaxed all morning, went to Mass at our local church & walked into Largo Argentina to meet P's class for the first Sunday field-trip. This week's theme - Julius Caesar. He's posted about it separately, but I will say I had fun. The group is pretty nice & I had my camera to keep me busy. Plus most of the stories Reginaldus told were in English, so that was cool. After the walk was over (with all the wine drunk & our legs aching) 4 hours later, we took the bus home & had a simple dinner in of ravioli in a butter lemon sauce.
Today we had our land-lady & her technician come over at 10AM and set up the internet service. Turned out it was a driver issue, not a line issue & we were able to set it up without involving the irritating internet provider. Yay!
I walked Pat to class, cleaned up the apartment & now I'm catching up on emails & general internet time-suckage. Paris Hilton sure got into a lot of trouble while we weren't online. Tonight - I make us pizza.
Magister et discipuli
Teacher and students read a few of Cicero and Caesar's letters at the top of Capitoline Hill during our Caesar Day walk.
Singing the Caesar Song
Imagine you were on vacation, or your honeymoon, or simply out for a day trip to the Roman Forum and you saw fifty people gathered around a statue of Julius Caesar drinking wine and singing (to the tune of My Darling Clementine):
Gaius Iulius Caesar noster, imperator, pontifex,
Primum praetor, deinde consul, nunc dictator, moxque rex,
etc.
Yesterday, we had Caesar Day... a four-hour reading tour of the assassination of Julius Caesar: Plutarch, Seutonius, Cicero, Caesar himself.
Among the highlights... we saw the apartment building that was built over Pompey's theater, the tram tracks which have been laid over the site of the assassination, the cats which now live in the senate house, and so on.
Internet access!
We now are the proud owners of functional internet service at home. Thanks to Michelangelo, our land-lady's technician. No thanks to the service provider. Anyway - expect many more blog posts and photos ahead.
sabato 9 giugno 2007
Getting settled in & meeting the neighbors
Despite the internet company annoying me by costing me countless hours on the phone with them, Pat and I managed to have a nice night out last night.
We went to a little gelateria right near our place - best gelato I've had so far and it's run by an adorable old man. I had a small with a half caffe & half orange & P. tried zabaglione. Yum. We made reservations for dinner at 10 at Antica Romana & relaxed at home for a bit. We ran into a boy from P's school at the restaurant. He's some sort of child genius - I think he's a high school senior. He was with his sister who was visiting him. I can't imagine living here on my own at his age, but he seemed fine with it.
Dinner was great. I had my first risotto here - shrimp. We split an antipasti vegetable plate & P. got saltimboca so we shared our meals.
On the way home we heard our neighbors having a party so we stopped by. They were really nice & we met a lot of fun people, drank and danced. I'm paying for it a bit today, but it was worth it.
Today Bush is in town so there are protests everywhere. We're planning on keeping a low profile & maybe eating at home tonight. Tomorrow is our first trip with P's class - it's a Julius Caesar trip. I'll just hang back and take photos while they all Latin-geek out together. It doesn't start until 3PM so we may walk up to the Vatican first in the morning.
We went to a little gelateria right near our place - best gelato I've had so far and it's run by an adorable old man. I had a small with a half caffe & half orange & P. tried zabaglione. Yum. We made reservations for dinner at 10 at Antica Romana & relaxed at home for a bit. We ran into a boy from P's school at the restaurant. He's some sort of child genius - I think he's a high school senior. He was with his sister who was visiting him. I can't imagine living here on my own at his age, but he seemed fine with it.
Dinner was great. I had my first risotto here - shrimp. We split an antipasti vegetable plate & P. got saltimboca so we shared our meals.
On the way home we heard our neighbors having a party so we stopped by. They were really nice & we met a lot of fun people, drank and danced. I'm paying for it a bit today, but it was worth it.
Today Bush is in town so there are protests everywhere. We're planning on keeping a low profile & maybe eating at home tonight. Tomorrow is our first trip with P's class - it's a Julius Caesar trip. I'll just hang back and take photos while they all Latin-geek out together. It doesn't start until 3PM so we may walk up to the Vatican first in the morning.
Wine cookies
These things are addictive. I walked Pat to class the other day and after some shopping, wanted a little something to take home. I saw these little rings in the window of a pasticceria and had to investigate. Turns out they are ciambelle, or Italian wine cookies. I bought a mix of vino russo and vino bianco. Must find a recipe.
giovedì 7 giugno 2007
We're Romans now
Long time, no update. Patrick hasn't written about his class yet, so I'll leave that to him. I know this though - he loves it and his teacher sounds like a perfect combination of brilliant & crazy.
On Monday, when P. came back to the B&B from class we went downstairs and had a delicious cheap dinner at the little restaurant there. Wine is ridiculously cheap in Rome; cheaper than soda. We had a liter bottle of house wine for 5 euro. Even so, I spent our last night in the B&B awake worrying about the apartment.
Tuesday morning we had our last breakfast (that morning's addition? nutella!) & I packed us up while Pat emailed the rental agency about our place. They'd thankfully let us go drop off our bags early in the day if we could get there while the cleaners were still working. So after checking out and bidding a fond farewell to the old man and his dog, we took a scenic taxi route over.
The apartment is lovely! Yes, the bulding is the ugly stepchild of the block, but our place is perfect. The owner showed us around and we left to get some banking done before lunch-break. Banca di Roma lives up to the stereotypes of European burocracy, but everyone was very nice to us. And hooray for having a bank check instead of $$$$ in euros!
P. & I got a quick lunch near his school & I wandered around the neighborhood until it was time for me to meet our agent at the apartment. She was very nice and together with the owner, showed me all the features of the apartment & garden. So now I know what to do if the hot water fails or I need to pull the shade over the patio. After they left, I went to work inspecting the place & unpacking. The owner seems to love motorcross magazines & naked comics. But there's a fully stocked kitchen, bathroom & bedroom with all the linens we'll ever need. Plus, 2 futons in addition to our bed so guests are welcome.
P. came home from class and we walked around the neighborhood. Turns out all the shops close by 8 so we got a pizza & salad take-away instead. Watched "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" DVD in Italian, listened to a couple CD's from the owner's extensive Queen collection & called it an early night.
Yesterday I slept in while P. went to a cafe with internet access to do some work. Our modem isn't operating yet since the owner hasn't received the username from the company. When he got back we got ready and did some shopping. There's a large farmer's market a couple of blocks away every morning, so we went there to stock up. Eggplant, sausages, cherries, toilet paper, nectarines & blood oranges - all from the vendors. Then we went to the super-mercado for the rest. Canned tomatoes, dry pasta, vino, milk, cereal, nutella, shampoo, beer. They charge for plastic bags so next time I'll bring my cloth bag. We trudged everything home & had a quick meal before P. left for class.
I cleaned the apartment, washed all of our laundry & made dinner. I made a tomato sauce and sauteed some eggplant with the sausages. We ate it all mixed together with pasta. Ah, the life of an Italian housewife.
When Pat came home we took a long walk (aka the gelato quest) after dinner and ended up bringing back some profiteroles from the patisseria instead. Yum - we had dessert & vino out in the garden.
Today we're out at the cafe using the free internet - hopefully we'll be set up at home soon.
On Monday, when P. came back to the B&B from class we went downstairs and had a delicious cheap dinner at the little restaurant there. Wine is ridiculously cheap in Rome; cheaper than soda. We had a liter bottle of house wine for 5 euro. Even so, I spent our last night in the B&B awake worrying about the apartment.
Tuesday morning we had our last breakfast (that morning's addition? nutella!) & I packed us up while Pat emailed the rental agency about our place. They'd thankfully let us go drop off our bags early in the day if we could get there while the cleaners were still working. So after checking out and bidding a fond farewell to the old man and his dog, we took a scenic taxi route over.
The apartment is lovely! Yes, the bulding is the ugly stepchild of the block, but our place is perfect. The owner showed us around and we left to get some banking done before lunch-break. Banca di Roma lives up to the stereotypes of European burocracy, but everyone was very nice to us. And hooray for having a bank check instead of $$$$ in euros!
P. & I got a quick lunch near his school & I wandered around the neighborhood until it was time for me to meet our agent at the apartment. She was very nice and together with the owner, showed me all the features of the apartment & garden. So now I know what to do if the hot water fails or I need to pull the shade over the patio. After they left, I went to work inspecting the place & unpacking. The owner seems to love motorcross magazines & naked comics. But there's a fully stocked kitchen, bathroom & bedroom with all the linens we'll ever need. Plus, 2 futons in addition to our bed so guests are welcome.
P. came home from class and we walked around the neighborhood. Turns out all the shops close by 8 so we got a pizza & salad take-away instead. Watched "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" DVD in Italian, listened to a couple CD's from the owner's extensive Queen collection & called it an early night.
Yesterday I slept in while P. went to a cafe with internet access to do some work. Our modem isn't operating yet since the owner hasn't received the username from the company. When he got back we got ready and did some shopping. There's a large farmer's market a couple of blocks away every morning, so we went there to stock up. Eggplant, sausages, cherries, toilet paper, nectarines & blood oranges - all from the vendors. Then we went to the super-mercado for the rest. Canned tomatoes, dry pasta, vino, milk, cereal, nutella, shampoo, beer. They charge for plastic bags so next time I'll bring my cloth bag. We trudged everything home & had a quick meal before P. left for class.
I cleaned the apartment, washed all of our laundry & made dinner. I made a tomato sauce and sauteed some eggplant with the sausages. We ate it all mixed together with pasta. Ah, the life of an Italian housewife.
When Pat came home we took a long walk (aka the gelato quest) after dinner and ended up bringing back some profiteroles from the patisseria instead. Yum - we had dessert & vino out in the garden.
Today we're out at the cafe using the free internet - hopefully we'll be set up at home soon.
lunedì 4 giugno 2007
First day as a Latin class widow
Pat hasn't returned from class yet, so you'll be treated to 2 updates from me in one day. Che meraviglioso! Before I forget, Steph & Joe - this is for you:
We did start the day off together. After another startlingly early 8AM breakfast, we got ready and walked all.the.way to Trastevere. I stress the distance since according to google maps it's 7.6 km (around 3 miles) the most direct way. We did not take the most direct way. At all. Still it was a nice day and we got plenty of exercise. Man, that's a steep hill.
Pat and I figured out where his class was meeting & we parted ways. I headed in the general direction of our apartment (which we move into tomorrow) to check out the neighborhood. I should have stuck to the main streets. After one lady gave me bad directions (turned out I was so close to our street at that point) and I'd gone another 10 minutes, I broke down and bought a city map from a news-vendor. Luckily I also practiced my pigeon Italian on her and she told me about a shortcut up a staircase.
I walked down the street toward #17 and momentarily freaked out when it went from #18 to #16. Looking across the street to the odd (if completely not similarly spaced) numbered houses, I felt stupid and trudged on. Our house is not the prettiest one on the block. I'm going to leave it at that until we get in there tomorrow. Here's hoping!
But the neighborhood is cute. Lots of beautiful old villas, very green & high up on the hill so we can see far out over Rome and enjoy a nice breeze. I stopped into a wine bar to rest and met 4 women who teach at the American University and live in the neighborhood. They seemed to think we'd like living there too. I broke out my camera and took photos of the neighborhood before heading back.
Stopped into the Villa Sciarra and wandered around its pathways looking at the statues. Lots of students from AU there too. Gorgeous place - I'm happy it'll be so near our apartment. Also saw the street that went straight to where Pat's class met - the walk shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes from our apartment on a fairly flat route. S he won't have to spend the 45 minutes up-and-downhill it took me today. Anyway, I'm not bitter, just look at the park:
Walked down into Trastevere's commercial area but didn't explore much since my legs felt like they were on fire at this point. I did manage to make it to the B&B via a much more direct route than we took in the morning. I even took some photos of the outside of our B&B for the owners to use on their website. I think I'll email them once we leave - we've really enjoyed our stay here and honestly, their website had us guessing when we booked. It's much nicer than their online photos give it credit.
Hopefully Patrick will be home soon so we can get ready for tomorrow - moving day.
We did start the day off together. After another startlingly early 8AM breakfast, we got ready and walked all.the.way to Trastevere. I stress the distance since according to google maps it's 7.6 km (around 3 miles) the most direct way. We did not take the most direct way. At all. Still it was a nice day and we got plenty of exercise. Man, that's a steep hill.
Pat and I figured out where his class was meeting & we parted ways. I headed in the general direction of our apartment (which we move into tomorrow) to check out the neighborhood. I should have stuck to the main streets. After one lady gave me bad directions (turned out I was so close to our street at that point) and I'd gone another 10 minutes, I broke down and bought a city map from a news-vendor. Luckily I also practiced my pigeon Italian on her and she told me about a shortcut up a staircase.
I walked down the street toward #17 and momentarily freaked out when it went from #18 to #16. Looking across the street to the odd (if completely not similarly spaced) numbered houses, I felt stupid and trudged on. Our house is not the prettiest one on the block. I'm going to leave it at that until we get in there tomorrow. Here's hoping!
But the neighborhood is cute. Lots of beautiful old villas, very green & high up on the hill so we can see far out over Rome and enjoy a nice breeze. I stopped into a wine bar to rest and met 4 women who teach at the American University and live in the neighborhood. They seemed to think we'd like living there too. I broke out my camera and took photos of the neighborhood before heading back.
Stopped into the Villa Sciarra and wandered around its pathways looking at the statues. Lots of students from AU there too. Gorgeous place - I'm happy it'll be so near our apartment. Also saw the street that went straight to where Pat's class met - the walk shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes from our apartment on a fairly flat route. S he won't have to spend the 45 minutes up-and-downhill it took me today. Anyway, I'm not bitter, just look at the park:
Walked down into Trastevere's commercial area but didn't explore much since my legs felt like they were on fire at this point. I did manage to make it to the B&B via a much more direct route than we took in the morning. I even took some photos of the outside of our B&B for the owners to use on their website. I think I'll email them once we leave - we've really enjoyed our stay here and honestly, their website had us guessing when we booked. It's much nicer than their online photos give it credit.
Hopefully Patrick will be home soon so we can get ready for tomorrow - moving day.
Beh! Rain won't stop our tourist-train
Yesterday we awoke to 2 things - loud knocking from the maid bringing us breakfast & pouring rain on the window. 8AM came early. We hurried through breakfast - which daily has become a larger, more elaborate spread of breads & strange things (cheese, butter, jams, liverwurst) to top them. Along with cereal, yogurt, cappucino & juice. Lucky for us we're walking at least 6 miles per day.
Rushed to Mass at the Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore - one of the 4 main churches of Rome (along with St. Peter's in the Vatican). It's right down the street from the B&B but it took a bit longer in the rain. Still we made it in time. The Mass was wild - beautiful Latin singing, at least 10 priests who moved around the church during Communion going where they were needed, gorgeous paintings on the walls and altar to distract you. Pat made a separate post on the Basilica, so I'll leave it at that.
After grabbing a quick cappucino at the bar, we left the caffe and returned to the hotel. With our plans of going to Tivoli rain-delayed, we decided to check out the Forum. Despite my fears of ruining my new camera, I was pursuaded to take it out and grab a few (um, more like 50) shots.
One place we didn't photograph was the Church of St. Bonaventure at the top of the Palatine Hill. Lovely little church with what I suspected was a large El Greco painting but I can't find out any info online about it. Plus, our first monk sighting!
Wandered around the Forum, into the supposed cell of St. Paul & St. Peter (basically a hole in the floor) & dodged large German tour groups. Exhausted, we stumbled home to rest.
The rain let up a bit so Patrick conviced me to walk out for dinner at Due Colonne. We stopped by and made a late reservation then wandered through the streets outside the piazza Navona searching for Jonathen's Angels. I was accidentally burned with a cigarette, harrassed by icky boys & almost hit by an impossibly large van on a tiny street, but eventually we found it. Was it worth it? Well, I've never seen a sarcophagus in a bathroom before, so that was cool. Plus if you were to translate the aesthetic of New Orleans into Italian, this place would be it. Kitschy angels were plastered all over the walls along with some questionable erotic "art" and wax-dripped Chianti bottles. They served my wine with corn nuts.
We easily found our way back to Due Colonne for dinner. After splitting fish & pasta, we tried our first tiramisu. Awesome. But no gelati to report for today. Che ingiustizia!
Rushed to Mass at the Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore - one of the 4 main churches of Rome (along with St. Peter's in the Vatican). It's right down the street from the B&B but it took a bit longer in the rain. Still we made it in time. The Mass was wild - beautiful Latin singing, at least 10 priests who moved around the church during Communion going where they were needed, gorgeous paintings on the walls and altar to distract you. Pat made a separate post on the Basilica, so I'll leave it at that.
After grabbing a quick cappucino at the bar, we left the caffe and returned to the hotel. With our plans of going to Tivoli rain-delayed, we decided to check out the Forum. Despite my fears of ruining my new camera, I was pursuaded to take it out and grab a few (um, more like 50) shots.
One place we didn't photograph was the Church of St. Bonaventure at the top of the Palatine Hill. Lovely little church with what I suspected was a large El Greco painting but I can't find out any info online about it. Plus, our first monk sighting!
Wandered around the Forum, into the supposed cell of St. Paul & St. Peter (basically a hole in the floor) & dodged large German tour groups. Exhausted, we stumbled home to rest.
The rain let up a bit so Patrick conviced me to walk out for dinner at Due Colonne. We stopped by and made a late reservation then wandered through the streets outside the piazza Navona searching for Jonathen's Angels. I was accidentally burned with a cigarette, harrassed by icky boys & almost hit by an impossibly large van on a tiny street, but eventually we found it. Was it worth it? Well, I've never seen a sarcophagus in a bathroom before, so that was cool. Plus if you were to translate the aesthetic of New Orleans into Italian, this place would be it. Kitschy angels were plastered all over the walls along with some questionable erotic "art" and wax-dripped Chianti bottles. They served my wine with corn nuts.
We easily found our way back to Due Colonne for dinner. After splitting fish & pasta, we tried our first tiramisu. Awesome. But no gelati to report for today. Che ingiustizia!
The Forum, Aedes Saturni
With downpours threatening all afternoon, but never quite becoming more than a sprinkle, K & I toured the Roman Forum. We spent hours walking through the ruins from the Colosseum, up Palatine Hill, and back into the city.
We saw the Temple of Saturn toward the end of our walk. The inscription wasn't too difficult, but it felt good to see some of the other tourists eavesdropping as I translated it for K:
SENATUS POPULUSQUE ROMANUS
INCENDIO COMSUMPTUM RESTIVIT
[SPQR has restored what has been consumed by fire.]
I feel like we've been saying this a lot, but we'll probably have to go back to the Forum, maybe on a sunnier day.
domenica 3 giugno 2007
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
I told K last weekend while sitting in Queen of Angels that a week later we'd be celebrating mass at St. Peter's. The rain kept us closer to the hotel, but our first Sunday morning in Rome was no less impressive: a sung High Latin Mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. Cappucinos followed.
Camera day
We really out-touristed ourselves yesterday. Cameras in each hand hitting all the sites.
We started down via XX Settembre past many government buildings. People were lining the street (including 3 that made an accidental Italian flag) and cabinieri were everywhere. Fighter jets spewed red, white & green smoke behind themselves over the city. Turns out we were in the best place to see the presidential motorcade pass. We made our way through the throngs to the piazza Venetia and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II aka The White Typewriter. Honestly, it felt like every Roman was there along with half of Italy.Walking along with everyone else, we went to the Trevi fountain - turns out it is in a bit of an alley. We had such gorgeous weather that everyone was taking advantage & we soon left. Snapping photos the whole way we walked to Piazza Navona, across the Tiber and back, Ara Pacis Augustae & the Spanish Steps. We stopped for a late lunch at La Fiammetta - the best eggplant parmigiana and tagliatelle with pistachio & lemon sauce. At the top of the Spanish Steps I took a photo for 3 British tourists & actually let them pry the new camera from my reflexively tight grip to take one of us.
Such an incredible view of the city from up there but we didn't feel up to exploring the giant park yet. Instead we walked back down and got our daily gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino - more pistachio, crema, their signature flavor (crema with wild honey) & grapefruit sorbetto. Since we can't count pistachio twice & I'm iffy on the sorbetto rules, that only bring us to 5 flavors in 2 days. Best gelato so far - all natural and it showed.
We came back to the hotel to rest, upload our 87549769 photos & make dinner reservations for Goffredo di Roberto Pepe. First dressed-up event in Rome. Delicious 4-course dinners - we shared the fish & meat ones. Highlights - good cheap wine, tiny clams in the shell, baby lamb chops & lemon sorbetto inside a lemon peel. Plus, defending our national honor when the table next to us assumed the rowdy teens tramping down the street were Americans. They were Aussies! We had seen a cool-looking bar on the walk over & tried it. Too crowded. We'll go back I think.
All in all a fun way to celebrate Festa della Repubblica with most of Italy touristing it up with us.
Pantheon
We can't tell you how lucky we were to see this at all yesterday. Fighting back the crowds upon crowds--the normal mass of tourists upon all the Italians celebrating the holiday--we moved slowly wherever we went: Quirinale, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, the Trevi Fountain, etc. We navigated the alleys and smaller streets like pros as we tried to make our way to The Pantheon by noon. This would not happen. Still we were thrilled to make it there a little before one, with the sun still nearly directly overhead in the sky.
Our timing couldn't have been better. The Pantheon closed about three minutes after we walked in.
Nevertheless, we spent three amazing minutes under the dome bathed in the narrowly diffused sunlight with our necks craned toward the ceiling. It was the most time we spent indoors all day.
sabato 2 giugno 2007
Ciao ciao!
We just had our first day in Rome. Our flight on Thursday night was pleasantly uneventful (if late taking off). In-seat TVs meant I watched too many movies (Bobby & The Pursuit of Happyness) and Patrick played several games of chess. Arrived in Rome around 1PM local time (our old 7AM) fairly sleepy but happy. Figured out the metro-rail into the city & one stop later, we were walking to our hotel. Hustling 7 bags down a cobblestone street in light rain = fun!
About the hotel - in typical European bed & breakfast style our hotel is one floor of an old building. Somehow fitting our luggage into the tiny elevator and shutting all its doors, Patrick & I went up several floors surrounded by marble staircases. Met our hosts, an old man with an even older pitbull, and checked in. Love our room - high ceilings, big bed, new bathroom, wild yellow and orange bedspread. And the view!
Headed out and wandered the neighborhood a bit, checking out a wine bar for delicious snacks & vino. Then we walked down via Cavour to the Colosseum. Then back up to our hotel and out for a late dinner of pizza & salad nearby. Not to fall down on the job of 60 flavors in 60 days, we walked down the block for gelato - pistachio, bacio (hazelnut/chocolate) & stracciatello (chocolate chip) between us. 3 down...
OK - today we've had a lovely breakfast (including cappucino) in our B&B and we're off to walk to the Pantheon for the noontime light Patrick's obsessed with. Arrividerci!
About the hotel - in typical European bed & breakfast style our hotel is one floor of an old building. Somehow fitting our luggage into the tiny elevator and shutting all its doors, Patrick & I went up several floors surrounded by marble staircases. Met our hosts, an old man with an even older pitbull, and checked in. Love our room - high ceilings, big bed, new bathroom, wild yellow and orange bedspread. And the view!
Headed out and wandered the neighborhood a bit, checking out a wine bar for delicious snacks & vino. Then we walked down via Cavour to the Colosseum. Then back up to our hotel and out for a late dinner of pizza & salad nearby. Not to fall down on the job of 60 flavors in 60 days, we walked down the block for gelato - pistachio, bacio (hazelnut/chocolate) & stracciatello (chocolate chip) between us. 3 down...
OK - today we've had a lovely breakfast (including cappucino) in our B&B and we're off to walk to the Pantheon for the noontime light Patrick's obsessed with. Arrividerci!
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