The rest of Rome

So... we stayed at Hotel Giada and it had everything required... beds, a shower, multi-use soap that was at least 75% water, but most importantly free breakfast (croissants, bread, cereal, milk, nutella, jam, toast, orange juice, espresso etc).

First stop: the Colliseum. We took the metro. When we stepped out of the station, the Colliseum was standing right across the street! There were gladiators walking around as if they were completely normal. We saw one getting on his Vespa. I whipped out my camera and called out Ciao when he was backing out. He laughed at me and said that I owed him tre cento euro (300 euro) for the picture before driving off. Anyways, the Colliseum was awesome! We payed some street hustlers to take us on a tour instead of standing in line. It worked out very well! The guide told us all about the different areas etc.

Next, we took a cab (to ensure that we arrived before the market closed) to Campo de Fiori. It was a little square with different stands of fruits, vegetables, sauces etc. Lots of fun to look around. We walked through this square to the Piazza Navona. It is a gorgeous square with a fountain in the middle. There are shops and restaurants all around it. Street performers (like in SF) waited for tourists to come by and interact and artists set out their work' mostly paintings.

On the walk to the Trevi Fountain, we got a little lost. We walked past the Pantheon (going to see that on the next trip to Rome) and up to a mansion. We finally found it. It was beautiful. I did not know it would be so big, or attached to a building. At this point it was about 2, and clearly time for lunch. I had a margherita pizza with dough that kindof tasted like naan (great idea for a restaurant- Indian/ethnic pizzeria). We then travelled over to the Spanish steps, with the help of directions from our waiter. They were so crowded that we could barely see them.

Our final stop was the Borghese gardens. They were absolutely gorgeous! I could hardly believe that we were still in Rome. Everything was very green and there were trees everywhere. It was like a little wonderland. Roller-skaters did tricks around tiny cones laid out on the street (the whole thing is blocked off to cars). People rented surreys and mini-bikes for kids. We explored and found a fountain, lots of couples canoodling on big grassy hills, and a lake. The lake was gorgeous. A Grecian temple sat on the edge of it. People rented row boats to float around and bask in the sun (it was a decent size, but not big enough for intense rowing).

We walked back to the metro and went to the hotel. We walked around town that night and had a so-so dinner. But incredible gelato. I got half rasberry, half strawberry and it was absolutely divine. Yum!

Ti amo, Roma!

My weekend in Rome was absolutely spectacular. We went as a group on Friday. My group toured the Vatican museum. I did not see the Pope. Everything was very beautiful though. I enjoyed the different sculptures. The famous paintings were mostly frescoes. Raphaelàs Scuola di Atene and the Sistine chapel. The Sistine chapel is amazing! It is a giant room full of painting. Not just the ceilings, but the walls too. They have an announcement that asks everyone to be quiet and not take pictures. Guards walk around asking people to put away their cameras and saying SHHHhhhhhhhhh! We joked about if they have to audition for the job interview.. who can Shh the loudest. We went out the wrong door and got kicked out of the museum. Oops! But we had finished the tour anyway. We went to see Basilica St Pietro. It was also incredible. The ceilings were so tall and everything was immaculately decorated with lots of mosaics. There was a deceased pope or cardinal of some sort on display. I didn't look too long, but snapped a picture and read a sign, referring to the "remains." We also marched up to the top and walked around a dome with more mosaics. It was too high for me, and my heart skipped a beat every time I looked down, with only a hand rail and little fence. Yikes! When we went to look for lunch, it was cold and rainy. Vendors tried to sell us umbrellas. However, the slight rain did not faze us and we proceeded to get gelato anyways. I had Pinochio.. hazelnut and nutella with lots of little hazelnuts in it. They absolutely love hazelnut here.. nocciola everything! So delicious.

We met up with the group to get our stuff off the bus and begin our journey to the hotel all the way across town. Moira and I headed off to the metro. We first thought maybe it was an above-ground metro and tried to get on the bus. After this momentary mishap, we continued on. Turns out the tickets are the same. 1 euro gets you anywhere in Rome. We were nervous to go in, because everyone warned us several times to watch out in Rome.. pickpockets everywhere. But it was not like everyone had said. We felt safe. The metro dropped us off at the Termini (train station) and we walked a few blocks to the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Giada, no known relation to the food network star. Our friends, who had cabbed it over, were there waiting for us. We followed the reccomendation of the man at the front desk for dinner and I had Minestrone soup. Compared to the soup that I"m used to, this soup had less flavour but was very fresh.

That"s all for now. More Rome to come. I will try to upload some pictures before class in half an hour. Ciao!

Mercoledi 5-26

My classes seem like they are going to be great. I had my classics class first. We had a lecture about the Urnfields, the Villanovans and the Etruscans. My professor is Dr. Soren. I had him before, and he is very nice and funny (lots of jokes). He is also the director of the program. We are going to take some fieldtrips to local museums for this class. I did the introduction reading for this course, about Roman art. My second class is creative writing- travel narratives. We will read relevant books and write about our experiences. I started reading Traveleràs Tales Italy. It is very enjoyable. My professoràs name is DR. She is a nice little lady who is very passionate about Europe and culture. We are going to have readings of our journals in this class, which should be fun to hear other peopleàs stories.

Moira and I accidentally went on a hike on Lunedi. We were exploring different areas of Orvieto and found many public parks. We ventured down a spiral staircase and found a path that apperently goes all the way around Orvieto. Very beautiful!

Today we took another, more formal tour of Orvieto. First, I visited the Duomo. I had seen it before, but this time I actually got to go inside. The main part is ok, it is definately impressive with its size. But the Signorelli chapel is absolutely stunning. The entire room is covered in frescoes, mostly about the apocalypse. Our tour guide, Claudioàs mom, knew a lot about the paintings, architecture and mostly everything about the church.

Second, we toured the Orvieto Teatro Manicinelli. It is average size. The curtain has a painting of a battle that occured in Orvieto- they showed us the hi-tech way they roll it up to protect the painting. There is also a magnificent room upstairs where weddings and other events are held. It is beautiful. With this guide, we also climbed the town clock tower. We were there at 1230, when the bell rings 12 times, then 2 more to indicate 30 minutes. (The 2nd highest amount of rings it makes- only to 1245). I got some great pictures and the view was absolutely incredible!

Third, we toured the Orvieto underground. I was excited to see this, because Katia and I had seen a documentary on the History Channel about underground cities. It was fascinating. There were perfectly rectangular wells, pigeon holes (raised pigeons for high-class people, esp for times of need), creepy little passageways, equipment for making Olive Oil (I learned that evoo made in freddo is the best). The caves network throughout the entire city, but many are private now.

Overall, still having a wonderful time. I had some delicious chocolates today- hazelnuts, orange flavoring and cappucino (my fave of the three yumm!).

...Tomorrow I have classes. I need to study for a quiz and write a journal. Friday, we tour Rome. There are two groups- one tourgroups the Vatican museums and the other takes a walking tour. A few weeks later, we will switch tours. I might miss the walking tour, because Dr. Soren is taking his students on a special tour of ruins and archaelogy stuff, related to class. Not sure which tour I go on first. A few of us (Myself, Moira, Nallely and Julia- who was in my Italian class) are staying for the rest of the weekend. I will likely be leading the group, because of the research I did talking with Mimi. Thanks again! Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

"Puo prendere un photo?"

The title of this blog is how I ask to take pictures. Usually effective, and I hold up the camera. I had to post the pictures above, because below was very difficult. They have descriptions, but no indication of which post they're related to. Sorry! But please enjoy them. I do! :)

Pictures!

We double-dipped on a really delicious lunch for today. They have the best bread- little rolls almost ciabatta like, but very soft. I had chicken sausages with some vegetable that I think were radishes? Uncertain but I have a picture. Then Moira and I accidentally took a hike. We were walking around a neighborhood behind the Duomo (big gorgeous Cathedral) and found one of many Giardinio Communale- public parks that they put on the edge of the cliff because it has a beautiful view (Orvieto is built on the top of a mountain and held up by big rocks/walls). Then we found a spiral staircase and a little trail that goes around the base of the city. We had a guided tour by Claudio- an Italian guy who works with the program. For an idea of what he's like, he was described as "having killed someone in Torino just to see him die." Not really, but a scare tactic to make us behave. Then Nallely and I crisped some leftover pizza in the oven and made a salad for dinner. I had to take a siesta this evening. Here are some pictures:
This is a tart that our land-lady left for us. It is pretty common to have the cookie type crust with fruit on top and a lattice on top. Very good. This tasted like blackberry- maybe currant.





























This is Adriana. She brought me to her house, around the corner from ours, to see her window garden.

Italia! Giorno Quattro

Hi everyone! I made it safely and it is SO beautiful here. I have mostly been walking around with my roomates checking out everything there is to see. Here is a brief summary>

Day 1 We settled into our appartment which is a walkup with two floors of rooms. I met one of the neighbors, Adriana, and she showed me her flower pots. I got to use my Italian yay. I had some cherry gelato, but it tasted like vanilla. I learned that I need to "gusto" before I decide which one to try. We had pizza for dinner at a restaurant in a cave. The wait staff was very moody and did not appreciate our attempts at Italian, but we sure had a great time trying.

Day 2 More exploration of Orvieto. I like to try menu options even if I don't know what they are. I ordered "Insalata tonno e pomodoro" Pomodoro means tomato and I found out tonno means tuna fish. It was good and served with bread. I had Umbrichelli all'Orvietanna for dinner- spice thich spaghetti type pasta yum! I bought lotion, but it is actually soap.

Day 3 There was a festival- Palombella. A dove descends a zipline in a little tube and lots of firecrackers go off. Then two men carry the dove to the priest who presents it. The dove represents the holy spirit. I found a delicious patiseria near our appartment. Tried for breakfast.. very delicious! Also went to the supermercato down the hill. We took a tram and got very lost but eventually found it. More gelato- best ever Hazelnut with nutella mixed in.

Day 4 Today we had a meeting to get our class schedules etc. I have Classics from 12 to 1 and English from 430 to 530. Very excited! Haven't started any of my novels. Oh well, there are more important things to do.

PS( excuse the punctuations, the computer is Italian and very difficult.

I can't figure out how to upload pictures???? Hopefully soon

Italy Countdown: 3 days!!!

I am heading off to Italy this Thursday! I will be in Orvieto for 5 weeks taking classes (Rome and Roman Architecture, Intro to Creative Writing- travel narratives), then doing some sight-seeing around Venice. From Venice, I will fly to visit a friend in London. I am so excited!