Homeward bound

We're about to go to the airport and fly home. I'll do a big last-week-in-Rome post once we're back in NYC.

But here's a photo of Sperlonga - a wonderful place to spend our last full day in Italy yesterday.

Latin Soul King

Latin Soul King, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

This bit of graffiti is on the wall right outside the front gate of our school. Rumor has it that it's about Reginaldus himself.

Thursday - paintings, a pinecone and a party

Monday night, post-laundry, Pat brought home Amanda and we had gnocchi for dinner at home. A nice relaxing night in for once.

Tuesday we slept in then went to the Vatican museums around 1PM. This is the perfect time to go - the line took less than 15 minutes to get in, moving the whole time.



The museum itself is really interesting in design. When you enter, it feels like an airport - security, ticket booths that resemble customs booths, escalators.



But then on the main floor you can start to see how beautiful it really is. Pat persuaded me to go to the less crowded wing with the Classical Antiquities and Pinacoteca first. So amazing - cool Christian sarcophagi blatantly copying the earlier Roman style. And the paintings of Fra Angelico, Raphael, Caravaggio, di Vinci were breathtaking.



Bolstered by the calm of the relatively empty wing, we walked across the courtyard toward the main event. Loved the courtyard - full of huge sculptures including a giant pinecone.



There were also photos of the Michaelangelo's and Raphael's ahead. I'm not sure why - is it in case it's so crowded you can't see them?

We entered the second wing and first we saw huge halls full of Roman statues, the Egyptian collection, animal sculptures, the inner courtyard with the Laocoon sculpture, gorgeous mosaic floors.




Then we entered the fray - huge groups of tourists on the hunt for the biggest checklist check in all of Rome, the Sistine Chapel.



They really send you on a serpentine route. Past the modern collection (mostly OK paintings by faithful artists, with a couple good Dali's and a Ben Shaun mixed in), hustled through the Raphael Stanze, on to the Chapel. Since the Vatican now has a deal with some Japanese company giving them full rights to photograph the chapel, there are supposed to be no photos but lots of people were still snapping away.

The Chapel itself is beautiful - I hadn't seen it since 1999, soon after its restoration. I remember how shockingly bright the colors seemed compared to the photos in books pre-restoration. But even after only 8 years, the colors have faded a bit again. The paintings on the ceiling are just wonderful. Despite the guards pleas of "Silenzio" it was really loud since every sound was reflected off the walls. We finally sat along the back wall and took it all in.

After the Sistine Chapel, the Borgia apartments were nice, but we were museumed out. They did have some cool maps of what navigators once thought the world looked like. We took the circular staircase down and outside just as the museums were closing around 4:30.



After we left the museums, we were hungry and tired. Luckily we spotted Old Bridge gelateria - possibly the best gelato of the trip. I had creme brulee, amaretto and fragola. Pat had a coffee frappe. Still hungry but not interested in the tourist menus at the restaurants nearby, we found a sandwich shop with NYC style options, like hot sauce. I cannot tell you how good spicy food tastes after months of very little heat.

We wound our way back towards St. Peter's and took the bus home. Pat went to his last class then called me up and I met him and some friends for sandwiches at the kebab place. We hung out in the piazza late drinking white wine together. Afterwards, Pat and I had more gelato (bacio and vanilla for me) on the walk home, bringing our day's total of sandwiches to 3 and gelato to 2 each. I tell you, it's a good thing we walk all the time!

Yesterday we shopped for food for our last Greek club party. My menu: prosciutto con melone, Greek salad, bread, homemade tsitsiki, pastitsio (one vegetarian, one meat), grilled shrimp, Greek-diner lemon potatoes, red wine and grilled plums for dessert.

We went to the fruit/veggie market first, then the supermarket and about 4 butchers before giving up on the strangely absent-from-Rome lamb and buying beef to be ground instead.



We went back to the outdoor market and made the fishmonger's day by buying over a kilo of his sweet shrimp. Pat had been documenting the whole day, taking a photo every 15 minutes. So you can see our everyday life in excruciating detail. Ha!

I started cooking and cleaning once Pat went to class. Luckily I started with the potatoes as they unexpectedly needed to marinate in the lemon, oil and broth for 2 hours. I quickly moved on to the pastitsios, making the red sauce in 2 pans, one with meat, one with just eggplant. Thank God the bechamel was vegetarian and I only had to make one - I was running out of pots in our ill-equipped kitchen. I boiled the penne and assembled the pastitsio's in the only pans we had that would fit them (an oversized frying pan for one, another in a soup pot) and finally baked the potatoes. While those were cooking, I made the tsisiki, chopped veggies for the salad, vacuumed and straightened up, took in the laundry from the yard and actually found a minute to shower.

Right before Pat and the rest of Greek club arrived, I sliced up the melon (saving some for the vegetarians) and dressed it with the prosciutto. One girl helped me slice the bread and assemble the shrimp kebobs while everyone else carried out the chairs and plates to the backyard.

Eating starters and wine, they read a paragraph of Greek. Break for dinner. And finally, once they'd read the death of Alexander (and I'd finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics, that freaky, creepy, fun book), we had dessert.

After dinner, we soon headed inside and some people left. The rest of us hung out chatting until pretty late. Now today we're being lazy and cleaning up after the party. I think we might head up to the Janiculum park and read outside for a while before Pat's class.

Our broker called this morning and made our exit appointment for next Tuesday. She and the landlord will come here to check out the place and pick up our keys. I can't believe how soon this is happening! Tonight we're going over to a friend's place for dinner, the last class trip is Saturday and there's possibly a beach trip Monday. But things are winding down; already many people have left and it really feels like the end.

A Day in Rome, 12:15

A Day in Rome, 12:15, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Yesterday Pat documented his day in 15 minute increments. Now you can see our normal Roman lives - not every day is a trip to the Vatican or the mountains.

Map of New York

Vatican Museums, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

In the Borgia Apartments at the Vatican Museums is this amazing map depicting a Europe crowded with detail and information and another giant continent to the left with almost nothing but a list of city names along the coast. I'm standing more or less in front of New York, although I couldn't pick out a name. This could be because the writing was tiny, the writing was upside-down (in fact, the whole map, at least from a navigator's perspective, appears to have been upside-down), or because I have no idea what the old Latin name for New York might have been.

Monday - friends, flea markets, films & fish

Remember what I wrote about Saturday needing to be an early night? Um, no. I met Pat and friends up at his class and we picked up pizzas at Al Pau and wine to bring over to Joe & Juliet's place. We ended up hanging out on their deck for hours, then moving inside for Pat and Joe to play guitar.





So much fun but we didn't leave until after 4AM.

Sunday morning came early but we still walked down the hill for the Porta Porteuse flea market a little after 10. After going to another giant flea market (we assumed they were connected) which looked like everyone had just emptied their junk drawers onto tables, we found the Porta Porteuse. This thing was HUGE. No idea how many stands, stretched out over several blocks along the river. Look at Pat's horrified reaction:



We ran into our friends from the night before (nice to see we weren't the only slackers who missed the 6AM opening) and did lots of souvenir shopping.

After we'd exhausted our feet and wallets, we all took the bus for lunch and a movie. We ended up eating in an Irish pub (delicious fries, scary-looking pizza) then gorging on pick-a-mix candy that our lovely Roman concession dude gave us girls at a reduced rate. The theater was a tad warm though since we'd been craving A/C during the heat of the flea market. We saw Harry Potter in English - much darker than the early movies, but in a good way.

After, we parted ways and Pat and I relaxed at home a bit before heading back into Trastevere for sushi dinner at Take. Yummy sushi, including some things we hadn't seen before like raw scallops and seared salmon. Annoying American students nearby meant we looked great by comparison and we got our orders before them and with a smile.

Today was laundry day and therefore a day of relaxing at home. Pat was working all morning on the computer, so I read and tanned between loads. I've read so many books this summer, the current being Calamity Physics. So far it's pretty gripping.

We come back a week from tomorrow and I'm getting more and more excited. Tomorrow we're going to the Vatican museums and after that I don't feel like there's any one thing we still need to see. I'm sure we'll continue walking around every day and going out at night, but I'm realizing this is our first trip to Rome together. Whether we come back as visitors or to live here again, we don't need to fit every church, museum and landmark in right now.

Saturday update - food, falls, fossils

Wednesday night we ended up canceling Greek Club and instead 9 of us went out to dinner for Justine's last night in town. She had heard of this restaurant just north of the Theatre of Marcellus. It was really good - I should find out the name. I had a zucchini blossom, a mixed salad and grilled turbot. We all split some tiramisu for dessert.

Thursday we got up early (which has continued all week and probably will until we leave...) to go on the class trip on St. Thomas Aquinas. First we met everyone at Termini Station - Kristin R. you know it well! We took the train to catch a charter bus to Roccasecca, site of the castle where Thomas was born (see above) - nice country down there.



The locals come to fill up at the mountain spring. We found the road up to the castle closed for construction so we hung out by the bend in the road until a local man filling bottles told us his wife had keys. He drove of to get her while Reginaldus went through the life of Thomas.



He came back with his wife and she led us through the construction out to a small church which turned out to be the first church dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas. It was lovely, so was the view. R. said that church had always been closed on his visits up there. So no castle, but a nice substitute. She then led us down into the medieval town into a more ornate church before we found the bus and left town.

Our next stop, after the bus dropped us off at the station for a brief train ride, was a tacky little town for lunch. We wandered all over and never found any place nicer to eat than this pizza shop. Their specialty? A fried roll stuffed with french fries and a hot dog. Ew! But Tim loved it - crazy Brit.



I stuck with the mini calzone.

After lunch we took an hour-long bus ride to Formia. I slept the whole way. The beach was as lovely as last time and we swam as long as we could. Despite some gross kids taking pictures while we got our clothes back on over our suits (and their stupid mothers who didn't believe us), the beach trip was relaxing and fun. But when walking quickly back to the station to make the train, I tripped and flew through the air. I somehow ducked my head, avoiding smashing it into the bench I ended up under. My leg wasn't so lucky.



Between our friend's superior Italian and Pat's awesome triage skills, we were able to get everything we needed from the swarm of helpful Italians that came to my aid. Water, ice, disinfectant, bandages - even a ride to the station.

The driver (a dude, or ragazzi, if I ever met one) wanted to take me to the hospital, but I knew it was only a surface scrape and nothing worth that. He got us to the station VERY fast, where the local cab drivers had already heard about the girl who fell. Ha! They swarmed around me and brought more disinfectant, wincing/cheering when Pat used it to clean the cut more.

We met our group and took the train to Fossa Nova, to the monastery where Thomas died.




We walked along the highway to Antonio's for a delicious dinner. Wine, local buffalo mozzarella, olives, pasta, fresh fruit. Love this place. It made me forget my leg (please ignore the salt-water hair and sunscreen face) and have a great night.



After dinner Antonio himself drove Reginaldus, Pat and I to the train station while the group walked. Train, home, bed.

Friday we somehow woke up time for our appointment at the Galleria Borghese. Lovely museum with some beautiful Bernini sculptures and Caravaggio paintings. We declined a walk through the park (my leg was still sore) and a 16 euro drink at Harry's Bar and instead viewed the Cappucine monk bones. Eh. We did duck into St. Andrew's (2nd largest dome in Rome) before having delicious salads at l'Insalata Ricca near the Largo Argentina.



I took a nap when Pat went to class and then we had a nice relaxing dinner at home. Gnocchi with pesto, frozen strawberry cake from the bakery and champagne.

This morning we went on the Scavi tour beneath St. Peter's. Despite their no camera policy and our fellow tourists' inability to realize it's a small space, the tour was fantastic. We walked under the Basilica, seeing tombs of pre-Christian Romans, then Christians and then finally St. Peter's tomb. Even if the validity of the bones is in question, it does seem like the tomb itself is Peter's. Sort of amazing that despite the hill being leveled and 4 churches being built over it in 2000 years, the tomb is still directly below the center of Michelangelo's dome in St. Peter's Basilica.

Speaking of dome, after the tour we decided to skip the Vatican museums again (I know, I know, but the long lines and 4 hours needed to view everything keep putting us off) and instead go to the top of the dome. Giving in a bit to my leg, we paid for the elevator for the first part. But then we had to climb the 320 stairs to the top.



Gah! If you are at all nervous of small spaces, avoid this! The walls slant in at one point when you are rounding the dome and I almost lost it - and I have no fear of heights or small spaces. Still, once at the top, there is a great view of the city.



We went down and looked for our friend the nun in the gift shop at the base of the dome. No luck. We did a bit of book shopping on the street before taking the bus back to our neighborhood. We stopped at a middle eastern place and had what they called kebob panini - actually gyro sandwich. Hooray for non-Italian food! But we did stop for gelato also - this time I tried 3 flavors, coffee, nut brittle and fig. Hooray for Italian food.

Since lunch, we came home, napped and Pat went to class. Tonight I'm meeting him and some classmates for dinner out. But we can't stay out too late - tomorrow morning we're braving the giant flea market at Porta Portese bright and early.

Wednesday - more shopping, spaghetti and saints

After last night's mosquito attack, we woke up drained (in more than one way) but managed to meet friends for a second shopping trip. Pat came this time, but bought nothing. Not for lack of trying - his big American feet are not accommodated by the dainty Italian men's shoes. I managed to buy a comfy pair of Gola ballet flats and some gifts for family.

We tried to continue shopping by traveling to the Lateran district and wandered a bit, finding a delicious fresh pasta lunch in a dumpy-looking trattoria instead. Something Abruzzi...

After lunch, Pat and I walked over to St. John Lateran, the 3rd of Rome's 4 Basilicas we've seen. It was really pretty, well, more stately, outside.



But inside it was beautiful. The floors were inlaid with cosmati mosaics and the walls & ceiling were covered in paintings, gold leaf and statues.




We'd heard that the baptistry was must-see but it was closed for a few more hours so we came home.

Tonight Greek club dinner here. Everyone's bringing pizza so I don't have to cook. A good thing since it's HOT here today. Afterward I think we're going out to send off one of Pat's classmates who is leaving tomorrow. I tihnk now is the begining of saying goodbye here until it's our turn in 13 days.

Tuesday fun: shopping, sightseeing and cinema

This morning after a whirlwind pre-landlord cleaning, Pat walked me up to the bus stop where we got coffees and waited for my friends Amanda and Juliet to meet me to go shopping. Pat stayed home to work & deal with the dishwasher repair guy. What a guy! The rest of us shopped briefly around Trastevere before crossing the bridge to the superior sales along the Campo di Fiori and via del Corso. My bargains - a shirt at Zara and a dress (Kristin R. - that cute black and white print one, 30% off!) and shoes at Ethic.

Forced to rush, we cut shopping short to tour the Domus Aurea - Nero's Golden House. It was a letdown since most of the rooms are under renovation. Wait a few years to go. Still, we wore hardhats.



Fun fact: after Nero's death, Trajan filled in the rooms of the golden house with dirt and built public baths above it. In this room they found the only statue not removed to decorate the baths, probably left behind since it was broken and faceless already.



After that, some of us went back to my neighborhood to share a bottle of white wine before their class. I came home and chatted online with Nihad and Melissa for a long time. I'm strangely torn between excitement about going home and knowing I'll miss Rome. But either way I miss my friends and can't wait to see you all in August.

I met Pat up at his class and we went with Martin to check out the Villa Medici's outdoor cinema series. The theme is Dark Side of Hollywood this week and tonight's movie was David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. We took a roundabout route to get there, including our first walk down the via Veneto. George - we'll be going to Harry's Bar some time soon I hope.

We entered the Villa Borghese park and tried to cut through to the French Academy but ended up having to go through the subway station which let us out at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. Bizarre. Anyway, it worked out since we got delicious pizza.

We ran up the steps and into the Villa then up more stairs out to the gorgeous courtyard/roof-terrace in the back where they were screening the movie.



The film looked amazing on projected film (not video) and there was a packed house. And hooray for a non-dubbed movie! Plus we had an amazing view of the park at sunset.



After the movie (creepy, confusing and cool as when I first saw it), we admired the view of the city before heading home on the always exciting night bus.

Our Morning with the Caravaggios

IMG_3816.JPG, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Our friend Tim recommended a Saturday morning sprint to see all the Caravaggios tucked away in the churches of Rome. Needless to say, it was a morning filled with highlights, including the Inspiration of St. Matthew at S. Luigi dei Francesi.

Follow you, follow me

Yes, we went to the free Genesis concert along with 500,000 of our closest Roman friends. But first...

After a late night with the Greek group Wednesday night, we got up fairly early and went up to the Vatican bookstore. We walked around the Borgo (neighborhood of Vatican City) and had a lovely lunch at Borgo Antico. It's Slow Food certified and the eggplant terrine is delicious. Any hungry Vatican-goers who want to avoid the overpriced trattorias should look for it on Borgo Pio.



Stayed in Thursday night and relaxed Friday. Friday night we had friends over for dinner again - grilled squid, fresh pasta and salad. Plus a new drink - coke and bitters. Then poker. Yikes, a late night.

Despite that we got up early Saturday morning and met Lukas and Tim in Campo di Fiori to see the Caravaggio's at all the churches Tim had researched. They were amazing!



We also saw some Raphael frescos - I love how the best stuff is sometimes in churches and free to the public here instead of locked in a museum (I'm looking at you, Vatican) where you'd have to pay to see it. Well, you have to pay the 10 cents to turn the lights on in the churches... Plus it was great to go along with someone else's plan for once.

After we met up with Amanda at one of the last churches, we went out to lunch of pasta and saw all the SALDI signs on the stores. That's right, it's the month-long summer shopping sale in Rome. All the shops observe and I think we're going out Tuesday to check them out. Weak dollar be damned!

We walked over to the Ara Pacis Augustae (Altar of Augustan Peace) Museum on the Tiber after lunch. We had planned to check it out eventually, but the opening of the "45 years of Valentino" exhibit sealed it for me. It was so cool! I loved all the Valentino gown-decked mannequins surrounding the beautiful altar like Vestal Virgins.



The exhibit itself downstairs included all the famous gowns worn to the Oscars, more clothes and accessories though the years and, my favorite, his sketches from the 50's through next season.



This is me with the Oscar gowns (Cate Blanchett's to my right) smiling before I saw the 07-08 sketches. Hint - small bows are going to be everywhere. Hmm...maybe 45 years is long enough. The Ara itself was beautiful, surrounded with relief of Romans enjoying the years of peace Augustus brought to them. Very serene in the modern setting of the museum.

After the museum, Pat and I went to a grattachecca stand along the Tiber. Yum - shaved ice with fresh fruit syrups. Lemon-citron for me, orange for Pat.



We crossed the river and wound our way through Prati before busing home. Quick nap for Pat before class. I met him and some of his classmates after class for dinner at this LAME American-style steak place. The food sounded gross so we just ordered beers (draft, good!) and ended up getting a slice of pizza afterward instead. Good choice, since the nachos looked like they were drowned in canned cheese. But they were showing "Endless Summer" on the TVs, so that was kinda cool.

Speaking of kinda cool, we then walked through Trastevere, across the Tiber Island and went to the Circus Maximus for the Genesis concert. It was crowded, dusty, silly and awesome. Phil Collins is both a cheeseball and a great performer. We all rocked out (as much as that is possible) to the surpisingly good sound system and sang along to the hits.

This kid did not enjoy Genesis, but Pat and Dave (seen here as only a cheering arm) shared the crowd's excitement.





I couldn't believe how many people showed up - the news estimated 500,000 - based on the scooters parked nearby it seems like a low-ball figure.



Sunday we slept in a bit, skipping the weekly class trip (the Forum this week, which we've seen many times) and opting to meet friends to go out to Tivoli instead. We saw parts of Rome new to us, full of pushier suburbanites and more annoying public transportation. But we also saw this:



First we went to Hadrian's Villa and wandered the ruins before checking out the museum and the huge Egyptian-style pool.



We had fun but I had thought I'd read about fountains. Turns out I was thinking of another estate in Tivoli, so Pat and I parted ways with the group when they were heading back to Rome (a decision helped by their bus being packed with belligerent & drunken teens) and instead took the other bus into Tivoli proper.

After a bit of confusion about the location, we wandered down Medieval streets to the Villa d'Este. The admission was high and we only had an hour, but we soon forgot that once we went inside.



Huge views of the countryside, gorgeous fountains and lush (in an area where we'd witnessed 3 hill-side fires that day) gardens. Every turn made me gasp. We heard the Fountain of the Organs but sadly didn't see it in time - apparently the water pressure makes the different notes.

The gardens were filled with water and modern art, my new view of heaven. Long pools and a huge variety of fountains. Seriously, my favorite place of the trip so far.





After that we walked out into the town square again and saw the view from the Garibaldi Walk but wanted to get back to Rome before nightfall. The bus-subway-bus trip home wasn't so bad and we ended up observing our Sunday tradition of non-Italian food for dinner. This week - Indian at Jaipur in Trastevere.

We'd forgotten to eat all day so we ended up getting the Sunday dinner for 2 - samosas, tandoori chicken, lamb masala, eggplant puree, chana dal, chicken korma, beer, pistachio ice cream and milk pudding. A little of everything and man, was it tasty. Better dal than NYC, but honestly, it was just nice to taste some different spices. Plus our waiter was adorable, greeted us with champagne and gave us magazines when we left.

Despite dropping a shelf on my foot getting to bed and almost giving Pat a heart attack, our night was relaxing. And so is today. This week, tours with friends, shopping the sales, the beach and the Scavi under St. Peter's.