Perfect Pasta

We ate at a spaghetteria!  I never even knew there was such a thing!  It was our last night in Rome and I asked our hotel host for a pasta recommendation. I wanted my last tastes of Rome to be more wonderful pasta.  So he sent us to a spaghetteria (actually a spaghetteria/pizzeria).  The menu included over 100 types of spaghetti...no other pasta...simply many kinds of awesome spaghetti.

Following our host's advice, we ordered the tris, which is a plate of three kinds of spaghetti.  What fun it was to read the descriptions of all those amazing choices!

Something I'll really miss:

(just a "small" selection of cured meats...yum!)

Arrivedercia!  I've loved Rome!  I've loved Italy!  I've loved France!  I've loved this amazing trip...this dream come true!  But now it's time to revisit my amazing family...another dream come true!  My life is so amazingly blessed.  Thank you, God, for this trip of a lifetime!

Serendipity

Rome is great for serendipitous experiences.  Following our hotel host's suggestion, "You must get lost in Rome!" we became quite adept at it.  And being lost allows for serendipity!

Although I AM a tourist, I prefer not to look like a screaming tourist...I avoid a fanny pack, I only wear my white tennies when needed, and I haven't bought an "I Love Rome" t-shirt.  So, I usually tuck my map of Rome and Italian dictionary in my purse and try to hide the fact that I'm often referring to them...except I've found it's "the look" here.  As we're standing on a street corner, turning our Rome map fifteen times...trying to figure out where we are and in which direction we're headed...I sheepishly look up.  What do I see? Tourists on every street corner, and many in between, doing exactly the same thing!  I have an urge to go up to these fellow sojourners, give them a hug, and say, "Just give up and get lost!" and so we follow my own advice.

What do we find while "being lost"?  The Aurelian Walls, the Circus Maximus, the bascillica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the baths of Caracalla, and many ancient ruins excavation sites.  Good thing we didn't set out to find them...because then we never would have seen them!

The Aurelian Walls are Rome's original city walls built in the 200's to defend against barbarian invasions.  Of course we weren't supposed to be venturing to the exterior of the city so we shouldn't have found them, but they were amazing!

The Circus Maximus is the field used for chariot racing and religious festivals of the first century B.C.  Presently it looks like a large park and it seems it was being used to stage some sort of tax protest while we were there.  Italians seem to love their protests and strikes as much as we do!  Long reign freedom of speech!

(the basilica of Santa Marria Maggiore)

There was a church just a block from our hotel...so why not step in?  We had seen so many churches on our other trip to this amazing country, that we were avoiding churches.  We had become so jaded on that trip that our standard phrase was, "It's just another church!".   Well, what a church this one was!  It was built in the 400's (with additions added in later centuries).  It is huge and amazingly adorned with gold, brass, and marble mosaics.  Truly beautiful!  It's interesting to note how the order of visits to sites affects the way you see things.  Because we had had such an informative tour of the Colosseum prior to this church visit, I couldn't help but wonder how much of the beautiful marble in this church had originally been used at the Colosseum.  Seems the Romans were great examples of recycling!

(It's just another church!?)

(found this staring at us in a side chapel)

And visiting the Baths of Caracalla was a quite a surprising experience.  We were once again "lost" in the outskirts of the city...noticing a pattern here?...and stumbled upon these ruins.  Stumbled?  How can anyone "stumble" upon anything so massive?

(Baths of Caracalla)

(these ruins are massive!)

And, of course, no visit to Rome would be complete without a visit to the Colosseum at night!

Doors, Windows, and Other Details, part 2

More from Provence:

from Cinque Terre:

from Rome:

There's no place like home

Some indicators that it must be time to go home (besides that I miss my family beyond terribly):



We've almost finished off our third box of Band Aids.

My own home cooking sounds better than another delicious four course meal.

I have an urge to cry uncontrollably when I see the four flights of stairs leading to our room at the end of the day.

I've started praying in Italian.

I no longer care that I look like a clueless American tourista if I choose to wear my tennies, shorts, and t-shirt.

I tear up every time I see a Shih Tsu.

I'm getting used to not carrying a cell phone.

My face is sore from smiling for Larry's photos.

Whenever I see a little bambino/bambina I want to hug them and tell them that their grandparents love them very much.

I'm missing t.v. in a language I understand.

I'm craving eggs for breakfast.

When suggesting another site to see, Larry's standard reply is, "I'm done!"

Doors, Windows, & other details, part I

from Paris:

from Provence:

Traveling through Time

Although I'm not much of a "tour person", preferring to explore on my own, today we had a tour beyond compare!  We took the Walks of Italy tour of the Colosseum, Forum, and Palentine Hill.  Three  and a half hours of looking, listening, and learning....and also walking...up and down hills and stairs of course.  But my...so much to learn!  I wish I could have recorded our tour guide...such an amazing man with so much knowledge!


One of his comments that took me aback was that the crucifixion of Christ was "nothing".  He went on to explain that crucifixions in Rome were commonplace.  There were 6,000 crucifixions along the Appian Way at one time!  But then he continued to say...."the resurrection, on the other hand....now that was something!"  So true!!

(the tour took us below ground level where we could see the

tunnels and passageways that led the gladiators,

animals, and sets...yes, they had sets for these

gruesome events...to the arena)

(in its day everything would have been covered in marble;

how it must have glistened!)

(the Arch of Constantine as viewed from the 

third floor of the Colosseum)

(columns of The Forum area, the center of 

ancient Roman government)

(ruins of the Palantine Hill, where Rome originated

and the area where the emperors lived)

(making our mark on history; what a great day!)

Wanted in Rome

Although I LOVE Italian food, sometimes I just can't conquer another four course, three hour dinner!  Last night was one of those times.  I was tired and not particularly hungry (also feeling a bit grouchy), but it was time to eat and we needed a little bite or two.  Following our host's great suggestion, we were led to a nearby trattoria.  We couldn't manage to eat another big meal so we ordered a pasta to share and a main course, and that was all.  The server looks at us a bit confused.  "Contorni? " (side dish?)  he asks.  "No," I reply.  "Legume?  Potatoes?" he continues to inquire.  "No."  "Bruschetta?"  Seeing as he's not going to give up, "Sure," I reply.

We enjoy the bruschetta.  Then the spaghetti carbonara arrives, one order split into two portions.  We both eat a few bites, but try to keep some space for our main course.  The waitress, looking flabbergasted, says, "Finito?".  "Si," I reply.  She talks some rapid Italian to the head waiter and he appears at our table.  "No like the Carbonera?" he asks indignantly.  I try to explain that it was very good, that we're just not very hungry.  He looks at us as though we've arrived from another planet and then he walks away.

Next the main course is served.  Mine is sea bass and it is delicious.  It is wonderful!  But I can only eat less than half of the whole fish.  Soon the waitress is at my side (she speaks English).  "No like?  Want something else?"

"No," I reply, "it was delicious.  I'm just not very hungry and I'm very tired.  And (trying to change to the subject)...what is this fish?" (referring to one of the many fishes on Larry's plate).

"You like?" she asks.  "Yes," I said, "it is very good."  "Want some?" she asks.

"No, I'm not hungry,"  I reply.  She looks completely confused.  She offers to replace my dinner with anything on the menu but I loved the fish;  I just couldn't eat another bite.  I look across the table to find Larry hiding the remnants of his dinner underneath his shells.  (He knows what's good for him!)

I'm expecting to find my face plastered on "wanted" posters throughout Rome.  To not eat a huge meal seems to be a crime here.  I feel horribly about insulting the chefs.  I didn't intend to commit a culinary crime! Yikes!

So today we headed to a "supermarket" (the size of a corner market in San Francisco) and got freshly sliced salami and proscuitto, fresh bread, some amazing olives...and called it dinner!  We're holding out in our hotel room.  We're anxiously awaiting our door to be knocked down and being hauled away somewhere.  I can just picture us trying to explain to some consulate....."We never meant to be criminals!  We just weren't hungry!!!



On another note...you never know what you might discover on a walk in Rome.  Here are a few sights we just ran across while out for a stroll.

(loved the reflection of this bridge crossing the Tiber River)

(such a common experience in Rome....just walking along

and then you run across a block of ruins being excavated.

The tops of these columns are just a few feet above

street level.)

(We just cracked up!  Where else can you find a Chinese,

Japanese, Italian pizzeria?  Well, maybe in Avignon,

where we saw an Irish Pub in a French town

serving Italian pizza and featuring Kareoke.)

Music moves me!

We hear music everywhere!  From the accordian player in the alley, to the orchestra in the park, to the flutist in the tunnel, to the guitarist in the plaza, but today we had a new experience...marching bands in the piazza!

How cool is that?!  I think they heard we were in town and threw a special celebration.  Loved it!

History speaks to me

Wow!  What  an amazing experience we had today!  I had read about a special museum/exhibition entitled Le Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini (quite a mouthful!), and was anxious to see it.  The exhibit has only been open to the public for two years and I'm so glad I found out about it.

You go underground to see the remains of a 4th century palace.  That would be cool enough in itself, but someone had this great idea to make it a multi-media experience.  You walk on a glass floor overlooking the ruins.  Then, by using lighting, holograms, and video they show you what the place would have looked like in its hey-day.  Amazing!

At the end of the exhibition, they also teach you about Trajan's Column and Trajan's Forum.  I had seen Trajan's Column before and thought it was mighty impressive with all the detailed carving work, but after seeing this exhibit I am overwhelmed by it.  Evidently the column was built in 113 AD and is 98 feet tall.  It is comprised of 20 marble drums, each weighing about 32 tons.  A frieze was carved in a diagonal pattern detailing Trajan's victories during the Dacian wars.  It includes about 2500 people in its  carved story.  There is a strong theory that this story was originally told in color.  Wow!

We also visited the Pantheon.  It was built around 25 B.C., destroyed and rebuilt in about 118 A.D.   It was originally dedicated to all the gods of ancient Rome.  It was later turned into a Christian church.

I am so thankful for being so blessed as to see these antiquities.  Another dream come true!