November 11, 2010: Old Meets New

This morning (in the pouring rain) I walked Aviva to school, stopped by the bar to drink a cappuccino, and was finally able to pick up the Lazio soccer tickets for Sunday's game versus Napoli. From what I can tell, we will be sitting in the middle of the Lazio fanatics section at one end of the stadium, and it should be a great experience. Checking the soccer standings, Lazio is in 2nd place while Napoli is in 3rd, just one point behind, so it should be a top-notch match.

By the time we met up for some falafel (mine was very spicy) the weather had cleared up significantly (very sunny and quite warm) so we decided to walk up Aventine Hill where we went to look for a keyhole that was recommended by a couple of Aviva's friends. Supposedly when you look through it you get a great view of a tree lined lane leading up to St Peters. We found a great view of St. Peters along a tree-lined path, a garden full of orange trees and two churches, but no keyhole. We're not really sure where it is, so we will do a bit more research and then try again.

We walked down from the hill to the Testaccio neighborhood we visited last week to check out the Montemartini Museum. The museum houses over 400 ancient marble statues, which is cool on it's own. What sets it apart is that the museum building was a 1932 electric power plant and still has a lot of the generators and machinery in place. It was a very cool experience to look at marble statues from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries next to machines from the 20th century.

By the time we left the museum it was already late afternoon, so we decided to walk back home, and stop for a gelato on the way. We went out to a highly recommended pizza place for dinner (known as the Morgue) and had some delicious desserts (ricotta cheese tart for me, and a cup made of almond brittle filled with whipped cream for Aviva) and called it a day.

Gelato Gusto per il Giorno:

Mike - Mandorla e Pistaccio

Aviva - Cioccolato Picante e Stracciatella

To see pictures from today, click here.

November 10: It's The Oldest One?!

Just like I've done the rest of this week, I walked Aviva to school and then went to the bar (which makes me sound like an alcoholic, but in fact the Italians word for cafe is "bar"). After another delicious cappuccino I finally went to buy soccer tickets, which was harder than I expected. The first thing I had to do was find a ticket outlet for the team whose game we want to see. There are two teams in Rome: AS Roma and Lazio. We want to go to the Lazio vs Naples game on Sunday so I had to find the Lazio Ticket Store which required visits to multiple tourist booths since they can't seem to agree where these ticket outlets are located.

At the Lazio Ticket Store I had to provide our passport info before I could purchase tickets. Luckily I was carrying both of our passports because I needed two of them in order to purchase two tickets. Then the ticket agent asked which team I am a fan of - Lazio or Napoli. He used this information to determine where I should sit in the stadium. I of course said, "Lazio!" with pride. With all the details worked out, he took down a reservation for me, I paid him, and then he told me that I have to return tomorrow to actually get the tickets. I assume the ticket agent takes reservations he makes each day, turns them in to the appropriate ticket "center" (for Lazio or Napoli), and receives the appropriate number tickets to distribute back at his store the following day. Not sure if it is the most efficient system (or maybe since I don't speak Italian I have no idea what the hell happens) but as long as I get the tickets tomorrow I will be happy. Tomorrow I will also pick up some Lazio merchandise so Aviva and I will fit in with the fans.

After meeting up for lunch we decided to visit the Catacombs of Priscilla north of Rome. The sun was shining as we walked to the bus, then things got crazy. Out of nowhere clouds rolled in, there was a bolt of lightning, a loud clap of thunder, and then there was a 5 minute hail storm followed by heavy rain. We finally made it to the catacombs (a little wet) but ready to explore.

The Catacombs of Priscilla (built and used between the second and fifth centuries) was named after the family that donated land to have the catacombs built. Having land donated made it possible for the poor to bury their loved ones when they couldn't afford a plot in a cemetery. With about 40,000 tombs and 7 miles of hallways, these catacombs were just as impressive as others we have seen so far. A couple differences we noticed between the Catacombs of Priscilla (CP) and the San Castillo Catacombs (CC) we visited on the Appian Way last week:

1. CP is smaller than CC and is located on the other end of Rome which is less touristy, making for a more intimate tour. The tour guides are able to show tourists more delicate areas of the catacombs because they endure less traffic. We saw some amazing frescoes that were nearly intact.
2. There are still sealed graves (which we saw) with bodies in them in CP, while all the bones from CC have been removed.
3. CP seemed to have a more "raw" feel about it. The hallways have different widths and heights while at CC everything seemed more uniform and organized. This is because at least on the first level of the catacombs, the CP started out as a quarry which meant that there were much wider aisles, shorter walls, and a more haphazard layout. The CC was built primarily to be a catacomb and therefore made a better use of the space from the get-go.

The most impressive feature was a very well preserved fresco of the Mary holding Baby Jesus. Considering we've seen about a million of these paintings you might ask "What's impressive about that?" Well, archeologists believe this is the earliest painting of Mary holding Jesus (which astounded us). After all the places we have been, after all the art and paintings we have seen, this was the oldest painting of Mary holding Jesus? Our tour guide said that they base this theory on the the location of the painting (near one of the tombs closest to the street level, which means it is one of the oldest tombs) and the year the tombs started being built (second century).

After leaving the catacombs the weather had finally turned for the better, so we decided to walk back into town through the Villa Borghese Gardens to watch the sunset, stopping a couple times for some delicious treats to keep us going. We climbed down a set of steps from the gardens to the Piazza del Popolo, a huge oval-shaped piazza with an obelisk brought to Rome by Augustus after he conquered Egypt. At night the piazza is buzzing with people walking around and vendors trying to push cheap light-up toys. We visited the Santa Maria del Popolo church next to the piazza (famous for a the Chigi chapel designed by Raphael and paintings of Peter and Paul by Caravaggio) then strolled down Via del Corso (a mostly pedestrian only street with lots of upscale shops).

We went out for a delicious dinner (lasagna for me, a baked polenta dish with Mozzarella and tomato sauce for Aviva), bought some much needed gelato, and called it a day.

Gelato Gusto per il Giorno:

Mike - Stracciatella e Banane

Aviva - Caffe e Liquirizia

To view our pictures from today, click here.

November 9, 2010: When is a tomb not a tomb?

When it's a castle! More on that shortly. We started the day with our morning routine: school for Aviva, cappuccino (down to four sugar packs) for me. We met up for a delicious lunch and then set off for a quick afternoon of site seeing.

Our first stop was the Castel Sant'Angelo. Built in 139 A.D., this massive brick building was originally a tomb built by the emperor Hadrian (like all Romans, he couldn't be buried within the city walls, so he picked a spot right across the Tiber River - it's all about real estate). He even had a bridge (Ponte Sant'Angelo) built for easy access between the tomb and the city of Rome. Jump 4oo years later, Rome is falling apart with corruption and disease, the popes are gaining power, and above the tomb the archangel Michael appears in front of Pope Gregory the Great and sheaths his sword signaling the plague is over. YEAH!!

The tomb becomes Castel Sant'Angelo (holy angel) and is used by the popes as a fortress and prison. Since the popes needed to hide from the from the constant invasions an elevated corridor (which is still standing) was built that connects the Castel to the Vatican. Today the Castel offers great views and a look at some of the rooms the popes lived in when they were residing at the fort.

Next we decided to visit a couple churches near the Pantheon that are highlighted in our tourbook:

• San Luigi dei Francesi - this French national church located in Rome houses three amazing paintings (they could almost pass for a photos they look so realistic) of St Matthew. One is the Call of St Matthew, where Jesus points to him and tells him to be to spread the love, one is the Inspiration of St Matthew, where an angel is helping St Matthew write Jesus' life story, and finally the Martydom of St Matthew, where St Matthew gives up his life instead of his religion.
• San Ignazio - what stands out in this church are the great illusions created by the frescoes in the ceiling, the best being the fake dome. Running out of money, they decided to paint a 3-D dome instead of building a real one. When you enter the church and look at the dome by the alter it looks real, so real that even though I knew it was fake I still wasn't convinced it was a painting. Only when you walk to the front of the church and stand directly underneath the dome painting that it becomes apparent it is an illusion. Hard to describe, but amazing to look at.
• Gesu -Built in 1568 A.D., this church honors the founder of Jesuits, St Ignatius. Inside the church is quite dark, making it hard to see the frescoes and the tomb of St Ignatius. Until 5:30 PM. When things go bananas. Choir music is piped in over the loudspeakers and parts of St Ignatius tomb are individually lit up, leading up to a huge musical crescendo in which not just the tomb but the whole church is lit up beautifully. While this is happening the painting above the tomb is lowered to reveal a large silver statue of St Ignatius covered in jewels. The guy knows how to make an entrance!

With the rain looming, we made a stop at the supermarket, went home to have a home cooked meal, and called it a day.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike -KitKat e Stracciatella/Pistaccio combo and Amarena e Cioccolato (had to make up for not having any yesterday)

Aviva - no gelato, but a bag of candy

To view pictures of our day, click here.

November 8, 2010: First Day of School!!

Note: Today was Aviva's first day of school, so for the next week Mike will be taking over writing duties to allow Aviva to do some homework and studying.

We started the day with Aviva going to school to take her written and oral placement tests (which she did pretty well on. She got the advanced level 4 book - those past two years at the Italingua Institute served her well!). This was followed by her first conversation class and befriending a classmate from Brooklyn, go figure! At the end of the week Aviva will give a re-cap of her classes and her thoughts.

With Aviva in school, I needed a morning routine to keep me out of trouble, so I decided it was time for my first cappuccino - only took me two and half months. I found a cozy looking cafe (not too big nor too small to feel intimidated) and walked in. I ponied up to the bar and in my best Italian accent said, "un cappuccino per favore" which I know nailed because the bartender went to work. I took my first sip (sans sugar) and as expected, it was a little bitter (which I am sure my face didn't hide). Not wanting to insult the bartender I grabbed my cappuccino, five packets of sugar, and sat down at the farthest table. I dumped all the sugar the cup, took out my book, and continued drinking and slowly came around to enjoying the drink. I ended up liking the cappuccino quite a bit (I guess anything with 5 packs of sugar would taste good) and look forward to getting another cup tomorrow. My goal is to have the bartender recognize me and start a cup as soon as I walk in by Friday.

Aviva and I met up for lunch, caught up on our mornings, and went to go site seeing (this will be the theme for this week. School for Aviva, cappuccino for Mike, site seeing). It was raining pretty hard this morning and it was Monday, so our options were limited.

Our first stop was the Baths of Diocletian (built around 300 A.D.), a site so big it encompasses several modern-day city blocks. The steam baths alone are now the Piazza Della Republica - a gigantic roundabout at a major intersection including a large fountain and two semi-circular buildings. This place was huge! The Baths of Diocletian was one of the biggest Roman bath houses, covering an area of almost 10 acres and capable of accommodating up to 3,000 Roman at once. It was more of a lifestyle gym then a typical bathhouse as it housed washrooms, gyms, pools, libraries, and shops. In 1561, with the Baths no longer in use, the Christians decided it was time to renovate the place and called upon their good friend Michelangelo (probably just twiddling his thumbs waiting for a project) to get to work. The Bath's central hall was converted into the Church of Santa Maria Degli Angeli. Inside the church there is a meridian line then that uses a sun beam coming through a tiny hole to tell the date, time, and position of the stars. There was also a small exhibition about Galileo and his scientific discoveries (which is kind of ironic considering how he died with the Church disagreeing with one of his most famous discoveries...)

From there we went on what can best be described as a Pilgrims Tour, visiting some of the most famous churches/basilicas in Rome (except St Peter's (which we will see another day) and St. Paul's (which we saw a couple days ago)). As the Roman Empire was collapsing, Popes took the opportunity to step in as leaders. They began building churches to celebrate Christianity since it was finally safe to practice (and diss the Pagan followers). Below is a list churches/basilicas we visited with a quick highlight or two:

• Santa Maria Maggiore - (Built in 432 A.D.) The church celebrates Holy Mary. Along with gorgeous mosaics the church also has a glass urn with wood pieces claimed to be from Jesus' crib. I just hope my mom kept parts from my crib for when I make it big.
• St. Peter-in-Chains - (Built in 440 A.D.) While not the most extravagant church, it is the home of the chains that held St. Peter in prison (St. Peter's Chains), as well as Michelangelo's greatest unfinished work, the enormous Tomb of Pope Julius II. If not for funding issues and other bothersome assignments, like the painting of the Sistine Chapel, he may have finished it. Flash fact time: The Moses statue of the tomb has horns on its head. This is due to Hebrew words for "ray of light" (halo) being mistranslated in medieval times as "horns". Whoops!
• Santa Prassede - (Built in 822 A.D.) This church has some of the best Byzantine mosaics in Rome.
• San Giovanni in Laterano - (Built in 318 A.D.) WOW. This was the first Christian Church in Rome and those guys came out with a bang. An enormous and beautiful structure that was the seat of the Popes until St Peter's renovation (and even today for the Pope to become official he must sit in the Bishop's chair located here to be "crowned"). Gossip time: it is said that the canopy over the alter contains the remains of St Peter's head. However, the gossip among some archeologists is that the Vatican tested DNA from the head with that from St Peter's body (located at St Peter's Basilica) and it didn't match!! Uh-oh, party foul!
• Holy Stairs - (Built in 326 A.D.) The building has marble steps brought from Jerusalum that Jesus supposedly climbed on the day he was sentenced to death. The steps are now covered with wood with tiny glass covered holes showing stains from Jesus blood. But you can't just walk up these steps, if you want to climb them you MUST do so on your knees. We didn't, but saw others doing it (apparently hundreds of people come here to pray an climb these steps every day).
• San Clemente - We will come back to visit this church again when there isn't a mass taking place, but the 12th church was built on top of a 4th century church, which was built on top of a second-century Mithraic Temple, which was built on-top of some earlier Roman building which I believe ate the fly. When we make our next visit we'll go and check out the lower levels to see all the remains of the older churches.

After that we made the walk back to Trastevere, went out for a delicious dinner (an appetizer of fried artichoke, bruschetta, and wild boar salami, tortellini for Aviva, fettucini with boar meat for Mike, a tartufo for dessert, and a mildly amusing conversation with the couple next to us), and called it a day.

No gelato today, Tartufo instead. STILL GOOD!

To view pictures of our day, click here.

November 7, 2010: Calzones for Dessert?

After what we've done over the last two days, we eased off the extreme tourism kick. We're pretty exhausted so we limited ourselves to only two sites today.

Our first stop was the Capitoline Hill Museum, which claims to be the world's oldest museum. It opened in 1471 when the Pope gave ancient statues to the Roman people and placed them in two former palaces located up on Capitoline Hill. The palaces are separated at ground level by a piazza that Michelangelo designed and are connected underground by a tunnel. The museum is primarily filled with statues, busts of famous philosphers and emperors, and paintings. The highlights for us were:

1. The giant pieces of the statue of Constatine (its hard to imagine how big this statue must have been when it was in one piece).
2. The ruins of the foundation of the ancient Temple of Jupiter. The temple actually stood on Capitoline Hill on the same site as the museum, and it is possible to see part of the foundation (all that remains). Again, its impossible to imagine what the temple looked like when it was inact - although there were hundreds of blocks on display, they only account for a fraction of the blocks used to make up the foundation. And then of course, there was the temple on top of that.

After visiting the museum, we walked down the grand staircase from the Capitoline Hill piazza down to the Victor Emmanuel monument. The last time we were here it was covered with scaffolding, so its great to actually be able to see it now. We made our way to look at Trajan's Column. Trajan was emperor around 100 AD and had this 140' tall column built to show off all that he'd done in the world - the Roman Empire expanded to its furthest extents during his rule - think every country that surrounds the Mediterranean and more. Not only that, he built up new areas of Rome to accomodate the growing population. The Roman Forum that we saw yesterday was clearly not big enough for everyone, so he tore down an entire hill (which was as tall as his column stands today), and built another huge forum and an adjacent market.

We went into the Imperial Forum Museum, which gave us access to Trajan's Market. From the street it looks like it might be part of another amphitheater, but it was actually a multi-story semi-circular market. Vendors had their own stores in each of the arches on the first two levels that you can see in the pictures, and more stores likely existed on the level above that as well. With the Roman Empire stretching so far into the European, African, and Asian continents, one can only imagine what kinds of things you could by at this market. We walked around the ruins and then finished up in the museum where they had a special exhibit of photographs of iconic celebrities from the 1950's.

When we finished with the museum we made our way home, emptied our bags, and went out to grab a drink before dinner. Of course, we forgot that there was a huge soccer game this afternoon - the two Rome teams were playing each other and there was no way we were getting into a bar. At least it was easy to locate the bars - at the doorway to each bar, there were about 20 guys stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of the game on TV. We spent enough time walking around looking for a place to sit down that by the time we were about to give up, the game ended and most of the bars cleared out. We found a spot with a Happy Hour from 10 AM to 10 PM and relaxed before going out to dinner.

For dinner we went to a small pizzeria and ate way too much food. And then decided to get dessert of top of that: a nutella and ricotta calzone. We made it home and Mike literally collapsed on the couch and went into food coma.

Tomorrow is my first day of school. Even though we've been in Italy for a while, its been a long time since I had to think about grammar and 5 out of the 7 verb tenses I know. All I know is that the first thing that will happen tomorrow is a two hour exam (both written and oral) to determine my placement. We've already decided that Mike is going to take over the blog for the next week since I anticipate a five-day headache.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Aprite Sesame (Open Sesame) e Cooky

Aviva - Aprite Sesame

To view pictures from today, click here.

November 6, 2010: Colossal Day

We spent much of today at probably the two most iconic monuments in Rome: the Colosseum and the Roman Forum/Palatine Hill. And we had the unique opportunity to visit the lowest and highest levels of the Colosseum - areas that have only recently been opened to the public and will only be open for tours until the end of the month. Mike was so excited about today that he barely needed the alarm clock this morning.

We arrived at the Colosseum just as it was opening so we could avoid the crowds and get a look around before our tour started later in the morning. Its a remarkable structure and to think that it was built in 80 AD and still stands just makes it that much more amazing. After about an hour, our tour started and it was worth every cent. I know its probably boring to just read facts that you can find on the internet, but I'm going to list some interesting things we learned anyway:

• The Colosseum isn't actually named "The Colosseum". The real name is "The Flavian Amphitheater". Its called the Colosseum as a nickname after the giant statue (you could say 'colossal') of the Emperor Nero that was located just outside of the theater. The statue was 37 meters (over 100 feet) tall.
• This Nero guy was something else. Supposedly he set fire to the city when he was emperor and decided to make much of the area that was destroyed his own. At the end of the day, he owned more than a quarter of the city land. After he died, the government that followed took back some of the land, such as the area where the Colosseum is now located, and made it a public space. All the shows (and food, for some time) at the Colosseum were free to the public.
• There was a wooden platform on which all the gladiator contests and other spectacles were performed. There was sand on it to make it easier to clean up the bloody mess that was often left behind. In Latin the word for sand is "arena", which is why we call it an arena. Also, the floor was full of trap doors. The gladiators never knew which animal (or person) they would be fighting, or which door they would come out of.
• A gladiator only fought three or four times a year (the rest of the year they were training). And they only found out the afternoon before that they were "on" for the next day. The night before their fight they were thrown a "last supper" for them and their friends (in case it might actually be their last). Most times, they would enter the arena through an underground tunnel that connected the Colosseum to a smaller arena next door where they would train.
• When the Colosseum was opened, there was a 100-day celebration. During which 2,000 men and 9,000 animals were killed. During the time the Colosseum was used, some shows lasted longer than that (some up to 250 days long) - my question: didn't people have to go to work back then??
• When we were in the underground portion of the Colosseum, we got to see where water was brought into the arena for nautical shows. The slaves that worked there would flood the area overnight, and ships that were stored in the underground area would slowly float out of their "dry docks" into the arena for the show.
• After the Christians took over the Roman Empire, they put the cabash on the inhumane gladiator spectacles. The last spectacle was some time around 550 AD and historians have pretty good proof of this based on the remnants of food that they found in the arena (they also figured out what times of year the Colosseum was used based on the food that people ate). After the Colosseum wasn't in use anymore, people sort of forgot about it. It was considered somewhat of a quarry for materials that were used to build other things in town (like St. Peters Basilica). The area where the Colosseum is located was no longer in the city center and became a rural area where cows grazed. It wasn't completely uncovered until the 1930's.

Ok. Enough data. After we finished our tour, we made our way to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill. I won't go into a lot of detail about these sites except for three small items:

• The Roman Emperors built their palaces on Palatine Hill and ruled the empire from this area for 300 years. The English word "palace" comes from Palatine Hill.
• Archeologists recently made a new discovery. They unearthed what looks like a huge winch on Palatine Hill and they believe that this winch was used to rotate Emperor Nero's rotating dining room. Yes, you read that correctly. I said rotating dining room.
• I am totally impressed by the power of oral history, even when it sounds crazy. There is a story about two brothers (Romulus and Remus) that were abandoned after their mom was executed and were suckled by a she-wolf until they were found by a shephard who cared for them. Romulus ended up killing his brother and built some huts within a square wall up on what is now Palatine Hill, creating Rome (Romulus, Rome, get it?). Anway, this happened oh, about 850 BC. The first emperor to build a palace on Palatine Hill did so explicitly because he believed (without any proof) that this was where Romulus had created the city. Low and behold - in 1940 archeologists discovered remains of huts underground that continue to confirm the legend.

We spent about six hours at these site and finally went to get some lunch before going to our last stop for the day - the National Museum where we saw a lot of statues, frescoes, mosaics, coins, and jewelery. After another long day on our feet we made it home, cooked dinner, and put our feet up.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Creme Caramel e Stracciatella

Aviva - Cioccolato e Amarena (what gelateria doesn't have menta???)

To view pictures from our colossal day, click here.

November 5, 2010: (Feels Like) We Walked 500 Miles

Heavy rain is on the horizon for next week so we decided to take this beautiful, warm, sunny day and visit Via Appia Antica. The Appian Way was built in 312 BC and was the widest and fastest road of its time - and it stretched almost all the way to Naples. Sections of the road are still paved with the original basalt stones which look like they will destroy the shocks of any car that drives down it. You'd better bring a pillow cushion if you plan on taking a bike down this road.

Along the road there are some interesting things to see - our first stop was the Catacombs of San Callisto. The Appian Way was a popular place for Christians to bury their dead during ancient Roman times when they weren't allowed to do so within the city walls. In fact, there are 60 catacombs in Rome, all underneath the city. The Catacombs of San Callisto are famous because 16 popes were buried here. For those interested, here are some of the facts we found interesting:

• Rich land owners donated the land to be used for the catacombs, so those who were digging the catacombs out of the lava rock dug deeper over time in order to fit more people in the space that was provided. This means that the oldest tombs are nearest to the top, since they were dug out first. The Catacombs of San Callisto go four levels deep, 75' underground.
• The catacombs were built from the second to fourth centuries. Until the eighth century, they were considered sanctuaries. Then the barbarians came and ransacked the tombs (its always the barbarians, isn't it)- this is why the Christians moved the bones (relics) of the saints and martyrs to the churches. Until the 1850's, the catacombs were completely forgotten about.
• The catacombs are a huge maze of pathways underground. After a 30-minute tour, we had seen only two percent of just the San Callisto Catacombs - that works out to seeing about 400 meters of a total 20 kilometers (almost 12.5 miles of tombs undergound).

After our tour, we walked over to the adjacent Catacombs of San Sebastiano. We didn't go in for another tour, but instead stopped in the basicila of San Sebastian where they have one of the arrows the saint was shot with. We walked further down the road stopping to see some of the other ruins - primarily towers and other monumental tombs. Then we grabbed a sandwich to fuel up for our long walk.

We deviated away from the Via Appia Antica, down to a parallel street -Via Appia Nuova (they're a creative bunch, here). Via Appia Nuova must be like what the Via Appia Antica was in its heyday. Basically, we were walking along the highway. After 2.5 miles, we reached a large park full of remnants of the ancient aqueduct, which was great to see up close. We walked all the way back to the Appian Way and then for the hell of it, walked all the way home.

Along the way we saw a church with a stone marked with Jesus' footprints and then the ruins of a ridiculously large Roman bath-house - it could accomodate 1,600 visitors. The Baths of Caracalla are not much more than the shell of the former building, but its still quite a sight to see. We saw most of it from the road, so we'll see if we decide to go back to actually tour the site from the inside.

Based on the handy Gmaps Pedometer tool I estimate we walked almost 15 miles today. Which might explain why our feet feel broken and we can't walk anymore. We relaxed at home for a little bit then went out for beer and pizza before calling it a night.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Creme Caramel e Cioccolato

Aviva - none

To view pictures from today, click here.

November 4, 2010: Vegetables Ain't Healthy Anymore...

This morning we started off where we finished yesterday. Back in the Jewish Ghetto, we took a tour of the synagogue (which actually houses two synagoges - Sephardic and the "Great" synagogue. Our visit also included the Jewish Museum (in the same building). Having a guided tour is always better for two reasons: we learn a lot more about the area than a tourbook can provide, and other people on the tour who do not listen and ask questions about the exact information they were told not 60 seconds earlier always provides for some good entertainment.

For example, we learned that the ghetto was located on the banks of the river before there were embankment walls, so the inhabitants were often found literally living "in" the river. We also learned that the Jews were told they could only build a synagogue on one site within the ghetto, but to accomodate all the Roman and Spanish Jews (from the Diaspora), they built five sanctuaries in one building (which is why there are two located in the same building today). Today there are about 14,000 Jews in Rome and 1,000 of the children attend the only Day School in Rome (how many schools are there?). The school provides education from pre-school to high school (so the students go to the same school the whole time?). Lastly, the current synagogue, built in 1904, managed to survive WWII without any damage because it had been listed as a National Monument before the war and any National Monument was left untouched in the "Holy City" of Rome - unbelievably Hilter agreed to these terms (wait, how many children attend the school?)

After the museum, we were already hungry and found a small award-winning restaurant just two blocks away. I thought the tartufo was good. Well, I am willing to say that the cooks in this restaurant are welcome at our house anytime. Mike had some amazing gnocchi with pesto, I had fresh fettuccini with pepper, parmesean and ricotta cheese, and then there was the artichoke. Apparently "Jewish Artichokes" mean that you take an artichoke and deep fry it. And God said, "Let Aviva eat it." All this time I thought the best part of an artichoke was the heart. When you deep fry an artichoke, you can eat the whole thing (except the choke). The leaves (all of them), the stem, and the heart. And its out of this world. If your arteries can handle it, I highly recommend it (can you tell?).

After lunch we were so stuffed, neither of us even wanted gelato. What we needed was a long walk. And we got it. We walked to the Testaccio neighborhood, where we saw the famous pyramid which became part of the Ancient City wall. Just next to the pyramid was the Porta Ostiense - where there is a tower and an access point in/out of the city. Today its a small free museum that had some great maps and models of Rome during various times in history, and some good views from the roof of the tower.

Next, we walked south down a major street, eventually reaching the San Paolo Fuori le Mura. This was the largest (Christian) basilica until St. Peters was built - so you'd be right if we were impressed. The space inside is just huge - its a long building, really wide (five aisles), and really tall. Some interesting facts (beyond geometry):

• Even though its not within the Vatican City walls it is still part of the Vatican (apparently it isn't the only church outside the city walls that is part of the Vatican).
• Christians always thought that St. Paul was buried in this area, which is why they built the basilica here in the first place. In 2006, archeologists found a tomb beneath the alter, and then in 2009 they found bone samples which they have traced back and confirm are those of St. Paul.

We made the long walk back to our neck of the woods, stopping for gelato on the way. Back near the Circus Maximus we saw more of the military expo that now seems open to the public. Crossing over to our side of the bridge, we ended the touristy part of our day with a short walking tour of Trastevere. Along the walk we found remnants of an old Jewish synagogue (now a restaurant), and an old medieval Roman church. Apparently, many couples who marry here prefer these smaller churches than the intense Baroque ones like those we've seen on the trip. So many couples, in fact, that the wait for a weekend ceremony can be up to two years. Which may explain why during our time in Italy, we've seen wedding ceremonies on all days of the week, at random times of the day. It was certainly a more intimate church, and we even got to hear a group of tourists put on an impromptu choral performance.

After stopping for some vegetables (not for frying), we made it home and cooked dinner. We went out afterwards for some dessert and are getting a better appreciation for the Trastevere neighborhood. Specifically that there are about 15,000 restaurants here. We have a lot of eating to do.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Mandorla e Cioccolato Bianco and Cream Caramel e Pistacchio

Aviva - Sesame Nero (Black Sesame) and Cannella e Cioccolate Fondente

To view pictures from today, click here.

November 3, 2010: A Walk Through the (Jewish) Ghetto

We resumed our running routine this morning after a few days off and it was suprisingly warm out - tee-shirt weather for most of the day, which made it a great day to walk around.

After breakfast we set out to do some more planning (a continuation from yesterday) before officially starting to be tourists. First, we walked over to the Colosseum to figure out the deal with the new section open for tourists. With hundreds of people waiting in line to get into the Colosseum, we realized it would be easier just to ask someone at the tourist information booth (which is oddly hidden from the view of any tourist in the area). The woman there gave us some suspicious-sounding information so we called the main number instead and made reservations. The Saturday Night Blog will hopefully blow your minds with exciting footage from the never-seen-before dungeons of the Colosseum (Mike is literally losing his mind).

Our next task was to buy some tickets to a soccer game while we're in town. The two Rome teams are playing each other on Sunday but we don't know who we should root for, so instead we are planning to go to the Lazio (a Rome team) vs. Naples game on Sunday the 14th. We took what was probably the most circuitous route (read: we were not lost) to get to the tabacco shop/bar/sandwich shop/casino where one can buy tickets. Where we were promptly told that the tickets were not for sale yet. Which is confusing to us - the game is in less than two weeks! So, we decided Mike would go back next week to get the tickets while I'm in school.

While the day so far wasn't totally successful, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the neighborhood where the tabacco shop/bar/sandwich shop/casino was located was probably the least touristy area we've encountered so far. We found a place where we got great sandwiches for lunch and then found an even better gelateria for dessert. I tried my first tartufo - which quickly moved high on the list. Chocolate gelato with black cherries inside, covered by a hard dark chocolate "crust" with whipped cream on top. Hello! Why haven't we tried this before??

After lunch we made our way back through town to take a walking tour of the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood. On the way, we stopped for a quick peak of the Trevi Fountain, the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (the only Gothic church in Rome), and the Pantheon. The Pantheon is just cool - the best preserved monument in Rome and gets an A+ for engineering: the dome was the inspriration for the domes in the Florence duomo and St. Peters Basilica

• the dome is as high as it is wide (think of it as half a sphere)
• the walls at the bottom of the dome are 23' thick, but at the top are less than 5' thick (to reduce weight)
• the inside of the dome has the concentric square design also to reduce weight, but maintains structural support
• the floor is slightly curved - highest point in the middle - so when it rains through the 30' wide hole in the ceiling (this is part of the design), all the water drains to the corners where there are small holes in the floor.

And on top of that, the woman for whom the Margherita Pizza is named is buried here (Mike said, "imagine if her name was Helga" - I'd like a Helga pizza, please...). Between her, Rafael, and Italy's first two kings (Victor Emanuel II and his son, Umberto I), there are some pretty influencial people in the Pantheon.

Finally, we reached the former Jewish Ghetto. We took the walking tour outlined in our tourbook. We'll have to return to actually visit the synagogue and eat at one of the local restaurants, but the most interesting part was seeing the buildings that remained from the time of the ghetto next to buildings that were built in the early 1900's: an old six-story building was the same height as a new three-story building (with many people to house and height restrictions to consider, lower ceilings were a pretty good idea).

We walked back to our neighborhood across the river, picked up some vegetables, and stopped at home to cook dinner. We went out for dessert, looking for a new gelateria to try, and found a place that had some amazing gelato - it tasted like they were using fresh ingredients, which is great for fruit-flavored gelato.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Oreo e Gelatone (vanilla with nutella swirls) and Cannella (cinnammom) e Amarena

Aviva - Tartufo and Pera e Banane

To see pictures from today, click here.

November 2, 2010: It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...no wait...it's birds!

Back by "popular demand", guest writer Mike is here to give Aviva a blog break.

Today was mostly about running errands and getting everything set up for the next four weeks that we'll be living in Rome. First up was heading to our local supermarket to pick up supplies for the house. It took a little while to find the supermarket as it is in the basement of a clothing store (imagine going to Shop-Rite but having to go the basement of the GAP). Normally this would be shocking but it isn't the first time in Italy we have seen the supermarket/clothes store super-combo. I guess people who eat need clothes and people who wear clothes need to eat, so why not combine them? Following the supermarket we did some vegetable/fruit shopping at the daily open-air market and walked back home to drop off the goods.

With food shopping taken care of we left to find a language school for Aviva and the tourist information center to get a couple questions answered (events in November, where to buy Roma and Lazio football tickets, bus maps, etc). The apartment manager recommended the Scuola Leonarda Da Vinci which offers classes by the week with varying intensities. Aviva decided on a one-week program, three hours of classes each day full of grammar lessons and Italian conversation. I opted out of classes but will find something to do while Aviva is in class. When in Rome do as the Romans do - I just need to figure out what that is. On Monday Aviva will take a placement test and get assigned to a class, so we'll have to do some back-to-school shopping.

We decided to take the long way home to get re-acquainted with Rome and do some quick walk-bys of some of our favorite sights: Piazza Navona (not covered by scaffolding any more), Victor Emmanuel Monument (also not covered by scaffolding), Trajan's Column, the forum, Colosseum, and Circus Maximus (which was gated off for military exposition of tanks, helicopters, boats, and other military gear). Besides the army expo everything still looks great and we are looking forward to spending more time at these sites (especially taking a tour of the now-open third tier and the open-for-the-first-time ever lower dungeons of the Colosseum).

Our next stop was Isola Tiberina (a somewhat small island in the Tiber River) to get some much needed gelato and went down to the river to relax, eat, and read our books. Right by where we were sitting there was a man-made dip in the river, creating a tiny waterfall and some mini-rapids. Just like the Arno River in Florence, the Tiber River in Rome is amazingly clean. However, all the garbage (not much of it), seems to get caught in the mini-rapids and it was fun to watch the 10-20 "lost" soccer balls jumping around in the rapids like they were in a popcorn machine.

About 20 minutes into reading my book I looked up and spotted some birds performing some crazy aerial feats. Once I focused more, I realized I was looking at thousands and thousands of birds (wouldn't be surprised if there were 40-50 THOUSAND birds). It was incredible. The sky was full of starlings flying in every which way. Some in what looked like chaotic patterns and some in very organized groups. Everyone was just watching and taking pictures of thousands of birds flying all over the place. The video doesn't capture it but it was worth a shot:

After 45 minutes of bird-watching we walked back to the apartment. On the way we came across a man dressed in a white hazmat suit and dust mask armed with a megaphone playing bird calls. His job is to scare away the starlings so people can sleep at night in peace and quiet and to reduce the bird droppings in the area. (Click here for a short article about the white-suited bird man).

We ended up having dinner at a local restuarant (one we actually went to a couple years ago), ate some more gelato, and made it back home to call it a day. Rome is definitely a bigger, grottier city than Florence, but we think it is going to be a great place to temporarily call "home".

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Cioccolato e Amerana and Creme Caramel e Straccietella

Aviva - Stracciatella and Cioccomenta con Panne

To view our pictures from today, click here.

November 1, 2010: Rain and Travel = Short Blog

We woke up in a tower this morning. That is just fun to say.

After packing up and having breakfast, we set out to see a few more things in Perugia before our train to Rome later in the afternoon. Yesterday we saw the sights in the north of the city, and today we walked to see things in the southern part. Mostly this included visiting churches - the biggest church in Umbria (the region where Perugia is located), an over-the-top ornately decorated church, a church that was made up of four oratoriums stacked on top of one another, and the church with the nicest cloisters in Perugia.

Walking to see all the churches left us at a much lower elevation than the city center, so we explored the series of escalators that were constructed during the late 80's. For obvious reasons, the escalators are very popular. We made it to the top, and exited into an old fortress called the Rocca Paolina, which was built by the Pope in the 1500's. Its essentially a "city within a city" - it used to be five stories tall, but now its mostly just the basement level that is left. And its still amazing. There are street names on some of the walls and while the museum was closed, almost all of the fortress seems to still be open for the public to walk through so we checked it out and it felt like we were in a giant maze.

We walked through town checking out the street fair vendors (my favorite was the "Schmuck" stand - it didn't matter what they sold, it was still my favorite booth). Besides the crafts it seems that the northern Italians are really excited about things from Sicily (and we were happy to give our tastebuds a walk down memory lane). We had an Arancini (fried rice ball with peas, cheese, and ragu), and from another vendor got some olives from the assorted heaping piles on the table. Everyone was shopping like crazy even though it was a little drizzly.

We made it to the National Gallery which was another museum on our list. There was a special exhibit called "Chagall to Fellini", which was pretty interesting. There were paintings, photographs, and sketches by various artists including Chagall, Picasso, Dali, Warhol, Man Ray, etc. They also had some clips from some of Fellini's movies. The rest of the museum was less of a thrill. Over 40 rooms full of paintings of our favorite duo - Mary and JC. We did a quick walk through, mostly amazed with the size of the palace where the museum is located.

After the museum, we walked around a bit more and stumbled upon a mushroom exhibit. Two huge tents full of mushroom varieties labeled toxic, edible, or good. I confirmed that "edible" doesn't mean they taste good, just means you can eat them without dying.

We only had about an hour left before we wanted to start heading down to the train station. At this point, it started to rain a lot harder so we decided to just get a pizza to take back to our hotel where we had a mini pizza-party, and then had a slow, wet walk to the train. Three hours later we arrived in Rome. After a short bus ride, we arrived at our apartment where we'll be staying for the last month of our trip. I'm not allowed to complain, but it leaves a lot to be desired (especially after the place in Perugia). On the plus side, we're in the Trastevere neighborhood which is full of restaurants, bars, and is close to a lot of things we want to see here. Pictures of Rome will come with the next blog.

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Pistacchio e Stracciatella

Aviva - n/a

To view our pictures from today, click here.

October 31, 2010: Halloween in the Chocolate City - A Good Idea

This morning we woke up early (luckily the clocks changed here on Saturday night so we got an extra hour of sleep) to catch our train to Perugia. We took the bus over to save us from schlepping our bags all through town, and it also gave us a chance to see some other parts of the city we didn't see while we were here. We got on the train, and I promptly fell asleep for another two hours (the extra hour wasn't enough, clearly) so I can't tell you much of what we saw except I was awake when we went by a lake so large it could have been the sea - Lake Trasimeno.

When we arrived in Perugia we had to take the "Mini-Metro" from the train station to the historical city center, which is almost 500 meters above sea level (I can't tell for sure but I think the train station is about 250 meters above sea level). The technical description of the Mini-Metro is "adorable". Its consists of one-car trains that carries about 12 people up the hill on what seems like a rollercoaster (without the big drop). The ride only takes about five minutes and the cars arrive at each stop every two minutes. Passengers get a pretty good view of the city along the ride, and then the train goes through some pretty cool tunnels. When the train gets to the end of the line there is a small turntable for the cars to turn around and go back the other way. It seems like it would have been a fun project to design and then see through construction. We'll get some pictures on the way back to the train tomorrow.

Once in the town center we walked over to our hotel. Which is amazing. We're staying in one of the oldest towers in Perugia - an old stone tower. They've done a great job maintaining the "old-stone tower" feel, but with modern amenities. The best thing is to recommend you look at the pictures, at the very least, of the living room/kitchen. Its a shame we'll only be here for one night.

After dropping off our bags we went out to see the town. Since today is Halloween (not really celebrated here) and tomorrow is All Saint's Day (a Federal holiday), there was a big on-street market being set up all throughout the town as part of the celebration (the funny thing is that some of the merchants are the same that we saw at the market in Genoa AND Firenze). Since we don't have a tour book about Perugia we went to the tourist info center to find out what's open and what is going on in town. We found out about a good deal - for a reasonable price we could visit five of twelve museums including two special exhibitions. The odd thing is: the tourist map of the city doesn't show where any of the museums are...so we had to go back to the tourist center to find out where the places are that we wanted to visit.

We started out at the Museum of the City Walls and Gates, stopping along the way to see an Etruscan Arch and the oldest church in Perugia. At the museum we climbed some ridiculously steep steps and found ourselves at the top of a tower, with great views of the city. The museum was all in Italian so we didn't get much from it, but we did see how the city grew over time and how the walls were expanded to surround the growing city.

From there we took a great windy road back towards town. The road that really captured the essence of fall (and Halloween), which we seemed to have forgotten how much we liked - the cool weather, gray skies, leaves changing color and falling off the trees - it was great. Some of the trees here are crazy (I've started calling them tennis-ball trees). They have these huge (bigger than tennis balls) green balls that grow on them and then drop to the ground. At close inspection they seem to look a little like brains. We also saw them in Volterra, but after seeing them twice I've decided they're worth mentioning. We even stopped along the way to help two people push their car into the street so they could get it started on the downhill (not the only time we saw this "Little Miss Sunshine" operation today).

Near the end of the road, we found the old aqueduct which is now a pedestrian path. On either side of the aqueduct there were some amazing stairways (from the pictures you might realize there are stairs all over this really hilly city). At the top of the stairs we were back in the town center.

Next, we went to visit the oldest well in Perugia. For looking into a hole in the ground, it was a pretty neat site to see. The well is 37 meters deep and still has natural springs that flow into it - they have to constantly pump the water out to maintain the water levels. There is so much water flowing in that its hard to believe. The walls are soaking wet, and it sounds like its raining when you walk in to see the well.

We also saw the San Lorenzo cathedral which is unexpectedly beautiful on the inside considering that they still haven't finished the facade (no pictures inside, sorry). Our last museum stop for the day was the Baldeschi Palace which turned out to be special exhibit on Climate Change (from the New York Natural History Museum, no less). We're pretty well aware of the climate change issues and alternative fuel concepts so we didn't learn much and were a little disappointed in how little of the palace we actually got to see.

We stopped at home to do a quick internet search to find out where to go for dinner - turns out the New York Time and Frommers recommended the restaurant that is literally out our door. The place was cozy and the food was good (the eggplant parmigian appitizer was AMAZING).

So far, we are two satisfied customers in Perugia. Its a great place to walk around, there are lots of people out and about, and the food is good. The only thing that is lacking is in the sweets department: the gelato options are negligible, and the chocolate, which this place is famous for, is even more expensive than if we got it in some other town. This requires an explanation.

Happy Halloween, if you've made it this far!

No gelato today...but we got some treats to get us through the day.

And a quick note, we are trying to figure out the internet situation in Rome, so might be a day or two before the next post.

To see pictures from today. click here.

October 30, 2010: Final Day in Florence

Today was our last full day here, and we started out with a morning run. Then we set out to do two final things on our list.

For our first stop, we walked over to the Pitti Palace (Mike says he "Pitti's the Fool"). We toured the palace the last time we were here, so instead today we went to check out the vast gardens behind the palace - both the Boboli and Bardini Gardens. It was a little chilly out, but we walked around looking at all fountains, statues, and paths lined with trees. I'm sure it is more fun to walk around when its warmer out, but we did get some good views of the city.

After the gardens we stopped for some gelato and then went to visit the Braccini Chapel. There is something about this chapel that makes it a serious destination. Reservations are required, and you can only visit the chapel accompanied by a guard. We do understand that the artists who painted the frescoes on the chapel walls were some of the few who started painting in perspective, influencing many Renaissance painters. Besides that, we're pretty sure we missed something - for the following reasons:

1. As a preview to the tour, we watched a 40-minute video about the chapel. First of all, the chapel is only 30'x20'. How are there 40-minutes worth of things to say about these frescoes? Not surprisingly, we both napped a little. Mike took a look around to see if anyone else was snoozing - far from it. Everyone watching the video was totally engaged.
2. Finally we were allowed in to see the chapel. After watching the video we weren't really sure we needed to see it in person - we were practically experts on the subject at that point- but of course we went in. What we didn't do was whip out our tour book for more information. For some reason, we were the only ones that didn't feel that the video provided enough detail. Every single other person had out their tour book, took a copy of the handout provided by the chapel, and some even had tour guides with them. They were all comparing the notes in their books with each fresco, taking pictures from every angle - it was hysterical.

At the end of the day, we will say that the frescoes were beautiful, well restored, and clearly the brightest spot of the church. But if anyone can explain why it seemed to blow everyone else's mind, we'd appreciate it.

Instead, the highlight of our day was dinner at our favorite restaurant. We had some more amazing food (see the pictures for evidence of Plate Cleaner Mike) and then had two funny interactions with the wait staff. First, one of the waitresses started talking to us in English (either we stand out at Americans, or she just heard us talking). Her English was so perfect - no Italian accent - that I had to ask her where she learned. Turns out, she is American herself, from San Francisco. We chatted with her for a while learning about how she ended up in Italy.

Secondly, we've been wondering if the waiters here recognize us - we've been here four times in the last two weeks and its the same wait staff working every night. Turns out, they do. Tonight one of the asked if we wanted dessert and if we even needed to see the menu - clearly we know what is on it. I'm not sure if its a good thing that we know the dessert menu by heart, or not...

Tomorrow morning we're off to Perugia!

Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:

Mike - Cookies e Creme Caramel

Aviva - After Eight e whipped cream

To see pictures from today, click here.