Facciamo pettegolezzi!

We're home

2007-08-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

We're back to normal. Pat's working, I've unpacked all those bags, we're seeing friends and settling back in during a huge New York heatwave. But before I forget, here's a brief update on our last week in Rome.

Thursday we vegged at home until Pat went to class. I went for a big walk around Trastevere and saw St. Cecelia and St. Agatha churches and did some window shopping.

I met Pat and some classmates to pick up pizza and go over to Martin's place. Cool apartment somehow housed in the top floor of a school. Lots of pizza, wine and hanging out.

Friday Pat and I met Amanda, Martin and his friend from home at the Palazzo Barberini. Gorgeous gallery, stupid no-photo policy. Here's a shot from outside instead.

After lunch at L'insalata Ricca we disbanded and Pat and I went home. After class, Amanda joined us for a bottle of prosecco at al Grammelot - the local wine bar we went to often during the summer.

Saturday was the last class trip. We had to get to the station really early but made it
on time. We took a train and bus to a really quaint little town. After watching a cowboy bring his horse to water in the piazza fountain and being turned away by the local police. we took a steep walk up to the tiny Horace museum and look out over the valley below.

We went to the ruins of Horace's villa, then up to a little waterfall he mentions in his writings. We had a nice relaxing picnic in front of the waterfall.

Pat made a really sweet toast to Reginaldus and we actually got a photo together with him.

After that, we took the train home, saying goodbye to Reggie one last time (typically, he pulled me in for a hug then pushed me away saying "Get going now"). We came home and John and Leah came over to pick up their stuff they'd stored with us while on their roadtrip honeymoon. We brought them with us for a nice dinner with our friends at Scarpone (ironically where they had their wedding. Such a nice night out - here's me with Juliet and Amanda.

Sunday Pat and I had our last day in Rome so we became super-tourists again. Saw St. Clemente, St. Maria sopra Minerva, the Pantheon, St Peter in Chains. And even went to the Trevi fountain again, cheesily throwing coins in to assure our return.

Exhausted, we met our friends up at the Paola Fountain on the Janiculum for a goodbye picnic.

Monday we join Joe, Juliet and their friend from home and Tim for a trip to the sea. We went to Sperlonga - bus, train, bus, beach! Gorgeous town, clear water, soft sand.

We hiked up the stairs of the cliffside town.

Lovely, but prciey, so back down again for lunch where Martin (ditching the less-than-fun friend) met us.

After another trip down to swim, we went home and packed.

Tuesday our power was out again (4 times this summer) and the broker forgot our security deposit check, but we couldn't care less. We took these as signs it was time to go back to NYC. After the landlord and broker left, we took a cab to the station, train to the airport only to see our flight was delayed 3 hours. They gave us meal vouchers - which we tried to cash in lots of crappy places only to find the cafeteria that took them. Um, that's a hella lot of food for free - thanks Eurofly! We added up our meals from the menu - 47 euros all told. Crazy.

Lots of waiting in the airport - luckily it's stocked with Versace stores and duty-free shops where we loaded up on cheap liquor. And we had plenty of books in carry-on.

We eventually boarded (taking 7 Italian employees to do the job of one ticket checker) and had an eventful flight - watched "In the land of Women" and "Quess Who" and became addicted to video backgammon. Steph met us at the airport and since it was too late for dinner, we just stopped off at Pat's folks' house for a little bit to pick up the car and give them their gifts.

Yesterday morning we went grocery shopping. Then I unpacked and went through all our mail (2 months = a ridiculous amount of mail!) while Pat was at work. We met Pat's folks for dinner. Mexican! So great to eat non-Italian food.

Today I went swimming in our pool for the first time. It's so hot here and the water was fabulous. Now I'm off to do a little shopping before meeting Pat and Pete for dinner. Chinese! Woo!

Homeward bound

2007-07-31T02:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-28T10:15:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-26T00:57:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-25T00:32:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-16T12:28:00.001-07:00

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

2007-07-16T02:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Another week of living, not posting

2007-07-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Around Sunday I realized I hadn't posted here in a week with an update. And then I realize how long it would have to be and went swimming instead. Now 3 days later I'm making time - and the update will be even longer. Feel free to skip to the photos.

Monday & Tuesday last week were spent catching up on some sleep and hosting a couple of Leah's friends here. We went out for dinner at Dar Poeta for the best pizza of my life. Seriously, it was amazing. Oh, I wandered around the Campo di Fiori and saw several art galleries. Otherwise a chill couple of days.

Wednesday Kristin R. arrived and I met her at the train station. We brought back her stuff and went shopping for our BBQ that night. Pat brought home the Greek group and we had a great time. Yes, we had to get the butcher to hand-grind several kilo's of steaks into burgers and yes, the hot dogs were so small it was 2 to a bun, but it was as American as we could manage. There was even an impromptu singing of the Star Spangled Banner by our international crew and a lively debate about global politics. How patriotic was that?

The next day Kristin got us on the tourist track and we all headed out to see the Palazzo Borghese - an art museum in the largest park in Rome. The buses weren't co-operating though and we were going to miss our appointment. So since we were already close, we went to the Capitaline Museum instead. It was like the greatest hits collection of Roman art. Mostly intact statues, famous mosaics, the original bronze of Marcus Aurelius. After that, we walked through the Forum and tried to go to a lunch place I'd read about but it was closed and since it was after 3PM we had to brave a tourist spot. The food was fine but thank goodness we checked the drink prices before ordering - 1 beer was the same as 1 of our lunches.

After that Pat headed to class and Kristin and I shopped, not getting much. We met Pat after class at al Pau for dinner. The food was delicious (especially the "linguine al pao" which had porchinis & clams) but we had to turn down gelato-man on the walk home since we were all stuffed.

Friday was another action-packed day. We again woke up really early and took the train up to Florence. We paid for speed but even the Eurostar took 1.5 hours. It was completely worth it though.

Firenze was incredible. I'm not sure how Katie and I could have hated it in 1999 (although I blame lack of sleep and crappy weather), but I think it's gorgeous now. Our preparation had been a quick read of the NYT's 36 hours in Florence and a brief web surf, but I think we did a surprising amount of fun stuff in one day.

We started by buying a map and wandering the streets, stopping in to a small church, passing the Duomo, seeing the Ponte Vecchio and heading back in to the Uffizi. We decided to eat lunch before dealing with the line. We lunched at the Osteria Belle Donne - delicious non-Roman Italian food despite a brusque waiter - then walked past Dante's house and bought fantastic jewelry nearby. Back at the Uffizi, we waited for 2 hours to get in, taking turns walking around the square. K. bought wonderful gifts at the Market of the Little Pig but I couldn't decide on a purse for myself.

Once we got into the museum, it was worth the wait. The guides said to try to make it through tthe first 12 rooms but we somehow walked through all 45. The first rooms housed gold-leaf altar paintings from the 13th century - amazing even out of context. But it was the Botticelli's that almost made me cry. I can't explain the amazing experience of seeing these paintings in person. We wandered through the rest of the rooms but I had to go back one more time. We wandered downstairs to leave and saw yet another exhibit (so much art!) but just walked through to the gift shop(s!!) and outside.

After that we were a bit dazed but energized so we crossed the river to the bar the NYT's recomended for free food with your cocktail. They weren't kidding - forget dinner, we ate a feast at the bar. On the way to another bar, we spotted a staircase and started climbing. My feet were about to fall off at this point but we made it to the top. The view was incredible.

We didn't have time for a bar after that and so we hobbled to the train station only to find out our train was delayed. Gah! We collapsed on the platform but finally made it home around 1AM. Birthday calls to the folks & bed.

Saturday I turned 30 and celebrated by sleeping in. Kristin and I went to the Colosseum and tried a friend's trick for skipping the line. It worked! You just walk up through the Forum to the entrance of the Palatine Gardens and buy the ticket there. In 10 minutes, we were done. At the Colosseum all we had to do was walk through security and we were in. I found the structure itself interesting, but mostly felt the same way viewing it from outside. After spa pedicures, Kristin's first gelato, naps and primping, we went out to dinner with John, Leah and Amanda at Dar Poeta again. It's that good. After that, drinking in the piazza - what a way to ring in my 30th birthday. By acting 19...

Sunday morning came early but we rushed to the train station Amazing Race-style (aka arguing, running and general chaos) and made the train to Formia with Pat's class. After a nice walk around the town we came to the main draw for me - the beach. I'm slightly horrified that in over a month this is only our second time at the beach. Formia is gorgeous though - clean water, uncrowded beach, soft sand. Despite a hilariously bad service at lunch (I had to wait 2 hours for my food - hahahah!), we persevered, some of us opting to skip Cicero's tomb and returning to the beach instead. Lovely.

Monday was a comedy of errors, but it worked out in the end. Kristin R. went to the Vatican and I was supposed to meet her at a bridge at 1PM. Somehow we got the bridges confused and I waited at a different one than her. I'd been shopping all morning with Amanda & another classmate's wife and we couldn't find the stores we were looking for either. A rough start to the day. Eventually we got lunch and I picking up Pat's keys from class. Luckily Kristin had found her way home and we eventually laughed about it. We bought steaks and veggies for dinner and grilled out for her last night in Rome, beginning it as she started it. We had so much fun just hanging out in the yard talking and drinking wine until very late.

Tuesday we took Kristin to the train station to get her to the airport - sorry to see her go. She's a fabulous houseguest! Pat and I wandered around the booksellers and a church, which we mistakenly thought was the one with the monk's bones, then got sandwiches and walked up to St. Peter in Chains church only to find it closed too. We did get to walk through the stairway where one Borghia killed another (Lucrezia?).

Today we had everyone over for Greek club again so I made lasagnas (one vegetarian with spinach noodles, one with sausage), salad and grilled peaches. Pat and I had attempted a trip to the Vatican this morning but gave up on the buses and went shopping instead.

The most exciting news is that we heard from the Scavi tour people today - we will get to go on one of their tours of the catacombs beneath St. Peter's next week! We'd heard July was booked but maybe there was a cancelation. Should be claustrophobic, gruesome fun.

Sunday in Formia

2007-07-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

Formia, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Formia was kinder to us than it was to Cicero.

We spent a beautiful Italian summer day at the beach. We swam in waters hemmed in by Gaeta on one side and mountains on the other. In a less leisurely moments, we read some Latin at Cicero's villa--now a nondescript condo--and some more at his tomb.

Probably the single nicest day we've spent in Italy... a perfect combination of study and fun.

Firenze

2007-07-07T05:39:00.000-07:00

Loved it! K.R., Pat and I spent the day yesteday. Amazing, tiring, crazy. More to follow, but check out some of the photos for now. I'll upload the rest after a much needed pedicure & nap. A great way to spend my birthday!

From the top of Italy

2007-07-05T01:07:00.001-07:00

Subiacio, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Last Sunday, we visited St. Benedict's first monastery. It was in a town a little bit east of Rome called Subiacio on top of a nearby mountain. It was easy to understand what Benedict saw here.

The timing of the trip was almost literary--something about climbing a mountain on the exact midpoint of our trip to Rome.

We have a little less than a month left. It has been wonderful so far and there's no reason to think the next month won't be even better.

Friends & photos

2007-07-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

It's been an exhausting but fun week since I last updated.

Last Wednesday for Greek club, I took the night off from cooking and everyone brought pizza instead. Thursday I met Amanda bright and early and we spent the day shopping. Bought a cute dress (I ended up wearing it at the wedding Saturday) for 30 euro. Tried on a few pairs of shoes but the only ones I liked were $$$ so I decided to wait. We had lunch at La Fiametta (sadly, no lemon pistachio pasta anymore, but a very good cannelloni), drank some chilled white wine and had so much fun out.

After shopping, I met Pat & we went over to John & Leah's for drinks. Here's the progression from day to night on their roof.

A few of our NYC friends had arrived for the wedding by then. So good to see Mike & Emily especially - they'd had the most stressful trip (lost luggage, $$$ Venice, Italian bureaucracy) and seemed happy to finally be with friends in Rome. Everyone was tired so it was a relatively early night.

Friday was the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul - the biggest holiday in Rome. Translation: everything was closed. So Reginaldus made sure our weekly Latin trip was out of town. We met early at Termini and took the train, then bus to Cicero's birthplace in Sora. Gorgeous day - river, hills, monasteries.

We even enjoyed a subsidized lunch at a restaurant decorated like Egypt but serving Italian food. Then we went to another monastery with a beautiful courtyard and a distillery.

After touring the grounds with an adorable Italian monk and seeing their private library, refectory & church, we ran across the street to their shop. We bought some coffee liquor for home & Heineken's for the bus ride back. Here's Pat with my shopping buddy Amanda.

Returning to Rome around 9PM, some classmates joined us for a late dinner in the Ghetto. Jewish-Italian food = fried goodness. Finally tried the zucchini flowers.

Saturday was the wedding. John & Leah had asked me to take some photos and I quickly became a wedding photographer (aka bossy) but everyone called it professional and seemed relieved.

The day began at the Basilica di St. Pancrazio for the ceremony - a full Latin mass celebrated by none other than Pat's teacher, Fr. Reginald Foster.

He has been such a driving influence in John and Leah's relationship so it was completely fitting - and the reason for holding the wedding in Rome in the first place. He was wonderful - funny, gruff, and moving. Plus some of Leah's friends formed a choir and sang beautifully together.

After the Mass, I assembled the families for some formal shots then we all walked through the park to the reception lunch at Ristorante Scarpone. Amazing food & wine and touching toasts. After the lunch, we all walked down to the fountain on via Garibaldi for more photos. I somehow wrangled everyone together for this shot.

After the wedding Pat and I went home to relax a bit before meeting Mike and Emily for quiet drink. We wandered around and found a cute wine bar near the piazza Navona. Then meet the group for gelato at John & Leah's place. On the way home (meaning we only spent 2 hours), we stopped into a classmate's party at his apartment on Campo di Fiori I can see why the New York Times just wrote about obnoxious tourists in the Campo at night. But the apartment was nice and we ended up having a sing-a-long with Pat on guitar. Still, an exhausting night.

Remind me to thank our wedding photographers again - it was amazing to document their day but something I really think I'd only want to do for friends.

Sunday was another early morning. We met the wedding party for a private bus to Subiacio; the monastery of St. Benedict. Another gorgeous day outside the city. The murals in the church were incredible but the setting was better up in the mountains. We walked all over, picnicked along the path and even took a hike straight up into the woods. Needless to say, most of us were sleeping during the bus ride home.

We parted ways with the group and Emily came home with us for a relaxing dinner at home. Unfortunately every grocery/bakery/butcher's shop was closed for Sunday so we ended up walking down the hill and meeting Mike for dinner in Trastevere instead. After Pat vetoed a wine bar we went to a tourist trap with very good cheap food instead. Surprisingly good choice! M & E were flying back this morning - we're sad to see them go but happy we got to spend so much time with them.

We're hosting one of Leah's cousins for the next couple of days here. But otherwise we're back to normal after a wild week of food, drink, travel and fun. I've even uploaded all the wedding photos to Flickr but still need to do a quick edit. The rest of the week should be fun too - especially since our NYC friend Kristin is arriving Wednesday. Oh, the shopping we'll do! Now that I think about it, I should probably take a nap while I can.

PS: Congratulations to Sue & Dan on the arrival of their beautiful baby Henry! He's adorable and I'm hoping her 6 hour labor is somehow contagious to former roomies. I can't wait to meet him when we return next month.

Wedding in Rome

2007-06-30T23:29:00.001-07:00

Wedding in Rome, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Our friends Leah and John were married yesterday. Kristin was the wedding photographer. A rare shot of us together.

Why am I sitting in front of the computer...

2007-06-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

...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!

Culture, we've got culture

2007-06-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

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.

Our Time with Augustus

2007-06-26T12:11:00.001-07:00

Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Cold, clothes & Clooney

2007-06-23T08:05:00.002-07:00

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.

St. Peter's

2007-06-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

St. Peter's Basilica, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Tuesday morning, looking up into the cupola at St. Peter's Basilica.

Our busy week

2007-06-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

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.

Swimming in the Mediterranean

2007-06-20T00:04:00.001-07:00

Ostia, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Top of the Ostia Amphitheater

2007-06-19T23:59:00.001-07:00

Top of the Ostia Amphitheater, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Granita di caffè con panna

2007-06-16T03:47:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-06-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

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!

Sub Arboribus

2007-06-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

Sub Arboribus, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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

2007-06-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

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

Scooter Cat

2007-06-14T02:42:00.001-07:00

Easy Rider, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Molto Food & Photos

2007-06-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

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.

Pinocchio and the Whale

2007-06-12T12:53:00.001-07:00

Pinocchio and the Whale, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Photo K

2007-06-11T13:19:00.001-07:00

Caesar walk, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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

2007-06-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-11T04:24:00.001-07:00

Magister et discipuli, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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

2007-06-11T03:54:00.001-07:00

Singing the Caesar Song, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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!

2007-06-11T03:17:00.000-07:00

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.

Getting settled in & meeting the neighbors

2007-06-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Wine cookies

2007-06-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

Wine cookies, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

School

2007-06-09T04:47:00.001-07:00

School, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

Here's the grammar school where we study. We finish up our first week today. I'll write all about it soon.

Valete, PB

Chinotto

2007-06-09T04:44:00.001-07:00

Chinotto, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

An acquired taste... that I have yet to acquire.

Lemons from our tree

2007-06-07T03:03:00.001-07:00

Lemons from our tree, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

I've uploaded a bunch of photos of our apartment. We love it!

We're Romans now

2007-06-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

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.

First day as a Latin class widow

2007-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Beh! Rain won't stop our tourist-train

2007-06-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

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!

The Forum, Aedes Saturni

2007-06-04T00:24:00.001-07:00

The Forum, Aedes Saturni, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

2007-06-03T04:35:00.001-07:00

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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

2007-06-03T00:35:00.001-07:00

IMG_5679.JPG, originally uploaded by pbartleby.

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

2007-06-03T00:07:00.001-07:00

Pantheon, originally uploaded by pbartleby. K's shot from below the center.

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.

Ciao ciao!

2007-06-02T01:31:00.000-07:00

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!