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Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Day 17 - Made it alive
It has been a great trip, but I am so ready to go home :)
When we arrived in Rome we purchased 7 day metro passes, thinking we would use them enough in 4 days that it would be worth it. It wasn't really, but it was handy to have. And when we left the metro station to take the train to the airport, we passed the tickets on to three people about to buy tickets and left the last two on the machine for someone to find. Good deed for the day.
When we arrived in Rome we purchased 7 day metro passes, thinking we would use them enough in 4 days that it would be worth it. It wasn't really, but it was handy to have. And when we left the metro station to take the train to the airport, we passed the tickets on to three people about to buy tickets and left the last two on the machine for someone to find. Good deed for the day.
The train to the airport was fast and convenient and most importantly, immune to strikes should one occur. We managed to check our bags and get through security very quickly (Delta had their own area complete with their own security check), then Myra, Mia, and Terra went off to the lounge to enjoy one last cappuccino and snack on pastries and little sandwiches. Finally, it was time to go. On our way to the gate, we stoped at this reproduction of the Mouth of Truth (you stick your hand in and if you are a lier, then it gets chopped off). We also stopped at the public piano so Myra could play a song :)
Then we got on the plane, had some confusion switching seats so we could sit together (the girl we swapped with, didn’t actually have the seat in our row because she apparently can’t read row numbers), and finally got all comfy for our 8.5 hour long flight in which no one slept.
We went into another airport long, this time with Chen and Maria because Terra wasn’t feeling well. I forgot to take pictures of any of the lounge. Darn.
Our last flight was supposed to leave early and probably could have, if the luggage guy didn’t take an extra 1.5 hours to load the bags. We arrived in SLC an hour late. It was so exhausting. But finally we are home!!
Day 16 - Vist to the tiniest and richest country in the world
Today we made the final pilgrimage of the trip - we went to the Vatican. Myra had purchased tickets beforehand, which was the right thing to do, as the lines nearly made me cry, even though we didn't have to stand in them.
We started out in some museum dedicated to stone carvings, which were pretty amazing and they allowed you to get really close to them (we could reach out and touch them if we wanted).
Then we decided to see the Sistine Chapel on our way to the basilica. It took about a 1.5 hours just to reach the chapel, since they force you down a particular path that involved lots of paintings. One hall was particularly cool, the Gallery of Maps.
Finally arriving at the chapel, we were surprised at how large and how small it was. It is quite huge, but with the hordes of people, it seemed smaller. Plus the famous painting was not as big as I had thought. They didn't allow pictures in the chapel, but I only found this out after snapping one.
After this we finally made our way outside, where we found ourselves in another line, where we waited for about 10 min before we found out it was the line for the dome and not the basilica. So we left that and finally found our way into St. Peter's Basilica, which is amazing and probably my favorite church of the entire trip.
We explored for much longer than any other church. But finally, exhaustion and hunger drove us to leave the Vatican and find food. I used google maps to find a place, which was a little Italian fast food place that was ok. It again tested my belief that Italian food is good. I am losing faith in this conviction.
Next up was the Spanish steps and gelato and tiramisu. Then back to the apartment to rest until dinner. Everyone's feet hurt.
For our last meal in Italy we chose Chinese food. It was good while we were hungry and fairly cheap, but once full we bequeathed it 3 stars. Then we returned for the last time to our apartment to pack and sleep.
We started out in some museum dedicated to stone carvings, which were pretty amazing and they allowed you to get really close to them (we could reach out and touch them if we wanted).
Then we decided to see the Sistine Chapel on our way to the basilica. It took about a 1.5 hours just to reach the chapel, since they force you down a particular path that involved lots of paintings. One hall was particularly cool, the Gallery of Maps.
Finally arriving at the chapel, we were surprised at how large and how small it was. It is quite huge, but with the hordes of people, it seemed smaller. Plus the famous painting was not as big as I had thought. They didn't allow pictures in the chapel, but I only found this out after snapping one.
After this we finally made our way outside, where we found ourselves in another line, where we waited for about 10 min before we found out it was the line for the dome and not the basilica. So we left that and finally found our way into St. Peter's Basilica, which is amazing and probably my favorite church of the entire trip.
We explored for much longer than any other church. But finally, exhaustion and hunger drove us to leave the Vatican and find food. I used google maps to find a place, which was a little Italian fast food place that was ok. It again tested my belief that Italian food is good. I am losing faith in this conviction.
Next up was the Spanish steps and gelato and tiramisu. Then back to the apartment to rest until dinner. Everyone's feet hurt.
For our last meal in Italy we chose Chinese food. It was good while we were hungry and fairly cheap, but once full we bequeathed it 3 stars. Then we returned for the last time to our apartment to pack and sleep.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Day 15 - Does it work?
Mia and Myra's favorite day in Rome—the cooking class! The others went to Pompeii and will have to tell of their adventures separately.
We met Cesare in a square near a market, and along with 5 other tourists (two from New Jersey, two from Seattle, one from Copenhagen) were taken through a market stand as Cesare showed us the vegetables we would be using in the cooking class. He also had us try some sort of bean in a thick squishy stalk, olives that were as fresh as anyone wants to eat them (soaked in salt water for a couple months), and some strawberries. Then we walked to an apartment to learn real Italian and Jewish-Italian cooking!
The dishes we made (or, learned to make, we pretend nothing) were
1. Artichoke the Italian way, most of the leaves cut/peeled off, with the stem on, stuffed with garlic, salt, pepper, and mint, lightly fried in oil, then steamed.
2. Zucchini flowers, stuffed with mozzarella cheese mixed with anchovy paste (for the saltiness), then deep-fried. He also deep-fried sage leaves, which needed no preparation (these were delicious!).
3. Handmade pasta variety 1 I can't remember the name, dough rolled, cut, then molded on a 'riga gnocchi' (and he presented each of us with one of the tools at the end of the class, yay!). This was in a Roman broccoli + goat cheese sauce.
4. Handmade pasta variety 2 can't remember either, this was made with egg, and all our piles of dough combined and put through a blender attachment to flatten it out. Then we cut, folded, and cut to end up with thin flappy noodles. The sauce for this was oil + garlic touch + lots of tomatoes sweated in a pot then put through a strainer to take out all the skin and seeds. Served with some caramelized cherry tomatoes. Yum.
5. Tiramisu. This means literally 'bring me up' (or 'pick me up'), and we have learned a magical recipe we will need to recreate as soon as possible so we do not forget. Delicioso.
Once everything was made (or, mostly) we sat down to a like 4 course meal with nice wine and plenty of water (LUXERY!) in good company.
A rather diverse set we had plenty to talk about, and when Cesare joined us after dessert at some point we talked about business and taxes and this was very interesting. On the walk over we had talked about the mafia, having passed one of many sets of military-looking men you can see all over the city, whom Cesare referred to as anti-mafia. He explained how the mafia work here in Italy and they are certainly prevalent. They are a big business, controlling drugs etc. and in many parts of Rome (he said 'in the south') you have to pay fees so they don't come destroy your shop, and here in Rome if he saw someone peddling drugs on the corner he could not call the police because the mafia have of course paid them first. Etc.
He told us about the 58% tax here that he does not want to pay because who would (and that's why so much is done in cash!), and about how once he lost his passport, went to the passport office, and was told it would be a month to get a new one... when he was upset, the person behind him said 'psst, 200 euro...' and he gave the passport person 200 euro and got his passport the next day. What a life. Cesare is married to a Texas woman and has spent a lot of time in Texas, so he has the perspective of a Roman Jew born and raised here who has also experienced the niceties of the USA.
He talked a little of the Jewish quarter, and one of us asked if his family was caught up in what happened around WWll, and he didn't want to talk of it much because it's depressing, but he said about 70% were; his grandparents were wealthy so they had someone change their last name on their passports, they moved to a different area, and some were able to keep out of it. This is not the usual story of course. He said one of the reasons wealthier Jews might have survived is they had radios and heard that the Jews were being taken from Rome—but most didn't believe it because it was that ridiculous. Anything can happen.
Obviously Rome is not like that now. ...But it would still be a difficult place to live!
Last note, on the blog title. Today there was a strike, for the metro and buses and trams. From something like 8:20 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening the union workers were making life difficult for everyone else. So while we were able to take a bus in the morning, for whatever providence granted us, trying to get home we waited with groceries 20 min. for a bus that never came and eventually decided to walk. After some time walking we were passing by a busy bus stop and decided to wait and catch the next bus to almost-wherever. One arrived, we hopped aboard, and soon were squished into the center of a hot bus for about 15 uncomfortable minutes. We assume it was so full because of the unreliability of the buses today. When we finally decided to just walk we tried to leave the bus and could not. The next stop a woman asked us if we were getting off (in Italian), I said yes, so she yelled at the men blocking the door so they moved aside and off the bus so we could get off. Finally. Grazie. We walked to the metro and rode to our stop.
As we exited the metro, hot and tired and wondering why it took more than an hour to get back, a man about to head down stopped suddenly at the top of the stairs. He turned to us. "Does it work?"
For a moment we didn't understand the question. Then we laughed—"Yes, it works!"
And he continued, and we continued, and we thought that it was a very good question!
You never know when it just might not, in Italy.
We met Cesare in a square near a market, and along with 5 other tourists (two from New Jersey, two from Seattle, one from Copenhagen) were taken through a market stand as Cesare showed us the vegetables we would be using in the cooking class. He also had us try some sort of bean in a thick squishy stalk, olives that were as fresh as anyone wants to eat them (soaked in salt water for a couple months), and some strawberries. Then we walked to an apartment to learn real Italian and Jewish-Italian cooking!
The dishes we made (or, learned to make, we pretend nothing) were
1. Artichoke the Italian way, most of the leaves cut/peeled off, with the stem on, stuffed with garlic, salt, pepper, and mint, lightly fried in oil, then steamed.
2. Zucchini flowers, stuffed with mozzarella cheese mixed with anchovy paste (for the saltiness), then deep-fried. He also deep-fried sage leaves, which needed no preparation (these were delicious!).
3. Handmade pasta variety 1 I can't remember the name, dough rolled, cut, then molded on a 'riga gnocchi' (and he presented each of us with one of the tools at the end of the class, yay!). This was in a Roman broccoli + goat cheese sauce.
4. Handmade pasta variety 2 can't remember either, this was made with egg, and all our piles of dough combined and put through a blender attachment to flatten it out. Then we cut, folded, and cut to end up with thin flappy noodles. The sauce for this was oil + garlic touch + lots of tomatoes sweated in a pot then put through a strainer to take out all the skin and seeds. Served with some caramelized cherry tomatoes. Yum.
5. Tiramisu. This means literally 'bring me up' (or 'pick me up'), and we have learned a magical recipe we will need to recreate as soon as possible so we do not forget. Delicioso.
Once everything was made (or, mostly) we sat down to a like 4 course meal with nice wine and plenty of water (LUXERY!) in good company.
A rather diverse set we had plenty to talk about, and when Cesare joined us after dessert at some point we talked about business and taxes and this was very interesting. On the walk over we had talked about the mafia, having passed one of many sets of military-looking men you can see all over the city, whom Cesare referred to as anti-mafia. He explained how the mafia work here in Italy and they are certainly prevalent. They are a big business, controlling drugs etc. and in many parts of Rome (he said 'in the south') you have to pay fees so they don't come destroy your shop, and here in Rome if he saw someone peddling drugs on the corner he could not call the police because the mafia have of course paid them first. Etc.
He told us about the 58% tax here that he does not want to pay because who would (and that's why so much is done in cash!), and about how once he lost his passport, went to the passport office, and was told it would be a month to get a new one... when he was upset, the person behind him said 'psst, 200 euro...' and he gave the passport person 200 euro and got his passport the next day. What a life. Cesare is married to a Texas woman and has spent a lot of time in Texas, so he has the perspective of a Roman Jew born and raised here who has also experienced the niceties of the USA.
He talked a little of the Jewish quarter, and one of us asked if his family was caught up in what happened around WWll, and he didn't want to talk of it much because it's depressing, but he said about 70% were; his grandparents were wealthy so they had someone change their last name on their passports, they moved to a different area, and some were able to keep out of it. This is not the usual story of course. He said one of the reasons wealthier Jews might have survived is they had radios and heard that the Jews were being taken from Rome—but most didn't believe it because it was that ridiculous. Anything can happen.
Obviously Rome is not like that now. ...But it would still be a difficult place to live!
Last note, on the blog title. Today there was a strike, for the metro and buses and trams. From something like 8:20 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening the union workers were making life difficult for everyone else. So while we were able to take a bus in the morning, for whatever providence granted us, trying to get home we waited with groceries 20 min. for a bus that never came and eventually decided to walk. After some time walking we were passing by a busy bus stop and decided to wait and catch the next bus to almost-wherever. One arrived, we hopped aboard, and soon were squished into the center of a hot bus for about 15 uncomfortable minutes. We assume it was so full because of the unreliability of the buses today. When we finally decided to just walk we tried to leave the bus and could not. The next stop a woman asked us if we were getting off (in Italian), I said yes, so she yelled at the men blocking the door so they moved aside and off the bus so we could get off. Finally. Grazie. We walked to the metro and rode to our stop.
As we exited the metro, hot and tired and wondering why it took more than an hour to get back, a man about to head down stopped suddenly at the top of the stairs. He turned to us. "Does it work?"
For a moment we didn't understand the question. Then we laughed—"Yes, it works!"
And he continued, and we continued, and we thought that it was a very good question!
You never know when it just might not, in Italy.
Day 14 - How about 3.00 euro and a keyring?
Today a split. Chen and Maria did free exploration of the ancient ruins. Mia, Myra, and Terra went on two grand adventures.
We started at the Colosseum for a long tour that would include the basements and top floor and, which we hadn't known, the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.
There isn't a lot I can say about the Colosseum you probably haven't heard. It took 8 years to build, starting in the year 72 A.D. after the emperor Titus conquered Jerusalem (if I got my timeline correct). Until the 'barbarian hordes' conquered Rome in the 400s, (when the people on the west coast fled to the Venice area) it was used for 'games', usually hunts, executions, and the gladiator fights. Then it was used for building materials; pieces of stone taken away, used to build churches and other buildings across the city, holes punched in the concrete to get to the metal staves, those were pulled out and melted down. Later the building was converted into a church, and is still sacred (the Pope visited a couple weeks ago). It was public playing land until about the 1980s, when it became a protected site and tourist attraction. A few interesting things we learned on our tour:
The name is actually the Flavian Amphitheater. Or, it was. But there was a great statue, a 'colossal' statue in front, so both statue and amphitheater took on the name; the statue was later pulled down, but the Colosseum remained.
The games were sponsored by wealthy individuals... probably for promotional purposes, for their military or political campaign, or just to impress the neighbors. When a gladiator was defeated by exhaustion or just unable to fight (i.e. when he was not killed) his 'owner' (the guide called them 'auditors'?) made the end decision whether he was to be killed or spared; same case for a winner, if he should be freed or not. When a gladiator was killed they had to pay for the funeral and pay a pension to the family; plus they lost someone they had been training, so it wasn't really a good move. Letting someone go free was almost as bad. So neither probably happened often.
The 'thumbs up' thing was invented by the French and was probably not the signal used, as from one end of the building you can not see anyone's thumbs, let alone if they are up or down; however, there was some signal involving the thumb, we just don't know what it was.
There is some evidence to suggest that for the first 10 years, before they built the underground network beneath the arena, the Colosseum was also used for mock naval battles (but this is controversial).
While in the basement tour, we were actually guided by a different guide; I guess only official tour guides can give those special tours. But she was better than our other guide so I had no problems with it, except we had to juggle two sets of radios (it was so loud, the guides used a microphone to speak to our radios and we all wore headphones).
Once the tour finished, we were passed back to our original guide, who was an archeologist with a very soft voice and very strong accent, and we walked to the Roman Forums. The Forums are mostly ruins, more so than the Colosseum, so rather than 'this painting means this' and 'this room was that' the tour is 'this used to be' and 'imagine if it looked like this picture' but it was fun to see such an important spot in Roman history. The only buildings that remained were churches (as instead of being destroyed they were converted to.. churches). Later, our Segway tour guide would tell us that 'all roads lead to Rome' referred literally to one specific spot in the Forum that is now just a round platform.
Near the Forum was the old Imperial Palace—or, ruins of, naturally. It must have been massive.
I honestly can't remember much of this part of the tour. I was busy being hot, tired, and sunburnt.
The tour ran late, so when it finished WE ran so we would not be late for our Segway tour. We made it early, and found to our delight it was just the 3 of us and our guide, Dea, a Bulgarian turned Roman. After Terra learned how to control the Segway (this being her first time, bucket list check!) we set off on a 3 tour of Ancient Rome... rather right back where we had been, but with more involved, and of course on Segways which was much more fun than walking the distance.
After riding through the Jewish quarter and seeing the synagogue that looks like a church, we started at the top of Aventine?? Hill, where we peeked through a keyhole to see 3 countries: Italy, on this side of course; Malta, because the knights of Malta for some reason have this land here and it's not counted as part of Italy; and the Vatican, the dome of St Paul, framed by the trees in the Maltese garden, giving the illusion that the dome is much larger than it is. Quite a fun view.
Next was an orange garden, unfortunately no oranges within reach to pick (we hadn't had time to grab lunch so we really would have picked one), but the view was lovely. Next to it was a church from the 1500s that looked dilapidated on the outside but was striking on the inside... partly because of the unkept parts and the lack of tourists... but it really was a lovely church.
Then a rose garden that used to be a Jewish cemetery, with over 1000 varieties of rose, we didn't sniff them all.
Next, the Circus Maximus, where once—for 1000 years—could sit 300,000 people to watch chariot racing. The largest stadium in the world. Now it's use for concerts. (There isn't much of the building left.)
Then we saw the outsides of some lovely museums, a nice view of the Colosseum, an upper view of the Forum, maybe some other things, then it was the end of the tour. Dea recommended a certain area across the river—Trastavere—to eat food and experience the night life. Everyone assumes because we are young we like the night life, but oh well. So we went there for dinner, found a restaurant with a stern waitress we got to smile maybe twice, had good food, then made our way home with sore feet but fond memories.
Oh, the blogpost title, I almost forgot.
On the way back to the metro station we got to enjoy Rome just before dark, when the lights were coming on. Also we encountered more of the street vendors, and this time we had a moment to see what prices they wanted. Early we had been bombarded with 'selfie-stick?' 'Water?' etc. but had no interest. Now, on the way home, things were different.
Myra bought some scarves, and Terra insisted she could have gotten a lower price—so the next vendor she vowed to try 2.50. "8 euro" he said, and she laughed and we walked away. "5 euro. How much? 4?" She turned and said "I have 2.50!" Without a word, he handed her the scarf, she handed him 2.50.
Next, not intending to buy any more scarves but hoping for a little figurine, Myra kept 1 euro in hand, and 2.20 in her back pocket just in case. Well apparently all the figurine guys go home early. But she saw another scarf guy and thought, well, she could try. So she said 'how about 2 euro?' And he objected, said no way we got scarf for 2.5, as that's 'without profit', and she said that was all the cash she had. Then she dug in her pocket for the .20 euro coin and offered that as well. After some convincing he took it, because Terra was also looking and he thought maybe he could get another sale; this time for the more expensive scarf. But she only had 3 euro and she told him so; at last he accepted, she pulled it from her pocket and a glint of silver caught his eye. "Aha, you do have more!" he accused. Terra held up an empty keyring she had found. "Do you want it?" she asked. Never mind. She took the scarf, he took the money, and we left.
These are the stories we must tell so others understand Rome!
We started at the Colosseum for a long tour that would include the basements and top floor and, which we hadn't known, the Roman Forum and Palantine Hill.
There isn't a lot I can say about the Colosseum you probably haven't heard. It took 8 years to build, starting in the year 72 A.D. after the emperor Titus conquered Jerusalem (if I got my timeline correct). Until the 'barbarian hordes' conquered Rome in the 400s, (when the people on the west coast fled to the Venice area) it was used for 'games', usually hunts, executions, and the gladiator fights. Then it was used for building materials; pieces of stone taken away, used to build churches and other buildings across the city, holes punched in the concrete to get to the metal staves, those were pulled out and melted down. Later the building was converted into a church, and is still sacred (the Pope visited a couple weeks ago). It was public playing land until about the 1980s, when it became a protected site and tourist attraction. A few interesting things we learned on our tour:
The name is actually the Flavian Amphitheater. Or, it was. But there was a great statue, a 'colossal' statue in front, so both statue and amphitheater took on the name; the statue was later pulled down, but the Colosseum remained.
The games were sponsored by wealthy individuals... probably for promotional purposes, for their military or political campaign, or just to impress the neighbors. When a gladiator was defeated by exhaustion or just unable to fight (i.e. when he was not killed) his 'owner' (the guide called them 'auditors'?) made the end decision whether he was to be killed or spared; same case for a winner, if he should be freed or not. When a gladiator was killed they had to pay for the funeral and pay a pension to the family; plus they lost someone they had been training, so it wasn't really a good move. Letting someone go free was almost as bad. So neither probably happened often.
The 'thumbs up' thing was invented by the French and was probably not the signal used, as from one end of the building you can not see anyone's thumbs, let alone if they are up or down; however, there was some signal involving the thumb, we just don't know what it was.
There is some evidence to suggest that for the first 10 years, before they built the underground network beneath the arena, the Colosseum was also used for mock naval battles (but this is controversial).
While in the basement tour, we were actually guided by a different guide; I guess only official tour guides can give those special tours. But she was better than our other guide so I had no problems with it, except we had to juggle two sets of radios (it was so loud, the guides used a microphone to speak to our radios and we all wore headphones).
Once the tour finished, we were passed back to our original guide, who was an archeologist with a very soft voice and very strong accent, and we walked to the Roman Forums. The Forums are mostly ruins, more so than the Colosseum, so rather than 'this painting means this' and 'this room was that' the tour is 'this used to be' and 'imagine if it looked like this picture' but it was fun to see such an important spot in Roman history. The only buildings that remained were churches (as instead of being destroyed they were converted to.. churches). Later, our Segway tour guide would tell us that 'all roads lead to Rome' referred literally to one specific spot in the Forum that is now just a round platform.
Near the Forum was the old Imperial Palace—or, ruins of, naturally. It must have been massive.
I honestly can't remember much of this part of the tour. I was busy being hot, tired, and sunburnt.
The tour ran late, so when it finished WE ran so we would not be late for our Segway tour. We made it early, and found to our delight it was just the 3 of us and our guide, Dea, a Bulgarian turned Roman. After Terra learned how to control the Segway (this being her first time, bucket list check!) we set off on a 3 tour of Ancient Rome... rather right back where we had been, but with more involved, and of course on Segways which was much more fun than walking the distance.
After riding through the Jewish quarter and seeing the synagogue that looks like a church, we started at the top of Aventine?? Hill, where we peeked through a keyhole to see 3 countries: Italy, on this side of course; Malta, because the knights of Malta for some reason have this land here and it's not counted as part of Italy; and the Vatican, the dome of St Paul, framed by the trees in the Maltese garden, giving the illusion that the dome is much larger than it is. Quite a fun view.
Next was an orange garden, unfortunately no oranges within reach to pick (we hadn't had time to grab lunch so we really would have picked one), but the view was lovely. Next to it was a church from the 1500s that looked dilapidated on the outside but was striking on the inside... partly because of the unkept parts and the lack of tourists... but it really was a lovely church.
Then a rose garden that used to be a Jewish cemetery, with over 1000 varieties of rose, we didn't sniff them all.
Next, the Circus Maximus, where once—for 1000 years—could sit 300,000 people to watch chariot racing. The largest stadium in the world. Now it's use for concerts. (There isn't much of the building left.)
Then we saw the outsides of some lovely museums, a nice view of the Colosseum, an upper view of the Forum, maybe some other things, then it was the end of the tour. Dea recommended a certain area across the river—Trastavere—to eat food and experience the night life. Everyone assumes because we are young we like the night life, but oh well. So we went there for dinner, found a restaurant with a stern waitress we got to smile maybe twice, had good food, then made our way home with sore feet but fond memories.
Oh, the blogpost title, I almost forgot.
On the way back to the metro station we got to enjoy Rome just before dark, when the lights were coming on. Also we encountered more of the street vendors, and this time we had a moment to see what prices they wanted. Early we had been bombarded with 'selfie-stick?' 'Water?' etc. but had no interest. Now, on the way home, things were different.
Myra bought some scarves, and Terra insisted she could have gotten a lower price—so the next vendor she vowed to try 2.50. "8 euro" he said, and she laughed and we walked away. "5 euro. How much? 4?" She turned and said "I have 2.50!" Without a word, he handed her the scarf, she handed him 2.50.
Next, not intending to buy any more scarves but hoping for a little figurine, Myra kept 1 euro in hand, and 2.20 in her back pocket just in case. Well apparently all the figurine guys go home early. But she saw another scarf guy and thought, well, she could try. So she said 'how about 2 euro?' And he objected, said no way we got scarf for 2.5, as that's 'without profit', and she said that was all the cash she had. Then she dug in her pocket for the .20 euro coin and offered that as well. After some convincing he took it, because Terra was also looking and he thought maybe he could get another sale; this time for the more expensive scarf. But she only had 3 euro and she told him so; at last he accepted, she pulled it from her pocket and a glint of silver caught his eye. "Aha, you do have more!" he accused. Terra held up an empty keyring she had found. "Do you want it?" she asked. Never mind. She took the scarf, he took the money, and we left.
These are the stories we must tell so others understand Rome!
Day 13 - Don't go until its green
Today we said goodbye to Manarola and hello to Rome. After an uneventful train ride and an uneventful metro ride (save the relative excitement of finding a functioning machine to buy tickets), we arrived at our awesomely spacious apartment. Our host showed us around and boy, does she stock the place well. For example, this is the first place to understand that conditioner should be considered an essential.
After exploring our new place with glee, we decided to go explore the city a bit. We decided on the Pantheon as our destination and picked the stop near the Trevi fountain so we could see it on the way. We were perplexed and rather disappointed when exiting the station and seeing a nice, but dinky and unimpressive fountain in the plaza. Google maps saved the day when it named the fountain the Triton fountain and showed us the place we actually wanted to be.
The Trevi fountain is pretty cool (though still falling short of the Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn). The Pantheon was cooler still, especially since no one in the group actually knew what the inside looked like. After failing multiple times to capture its magnificence in digital form, we explored a bit, pulled up the Wikipedia article on it to determine how long it had been a temple and how long it had been a church (about 300 and 1500 years respectively), then went in search of gelato.
After procuring said gelato, we took an impromptu poll to figure out the favorite flavor so far. The answers were the Creamy Venetian from the day we left Venice, the Fig and Walnut from Susu (the only place in Venice we ever went that was actually recommended to us), and the Stracciatella from Susu. Creamy Venetian got three votes. Because it was the best.
Then we got groceries for breakfast and dropped them off at our apartment, found that this short errand cost us dinner at the place we wanted (we think they were closing so they wouldn't seat us or they were busy for the next half hour so wouldn't seat us), so we ate dinner at the place right next door to our apartment building. It was some sort of wrap place. The food was pretty good and quite filling.
After exploring our new place with glee, we decided to go explore the city a bit. We decided on the Pantheon as our destination and picked the stop near the Trevi fountain so we could see it on the way. We were perplexed and rather disappointed when exiting the station and seeing a nice, but dinky and unimpressive fountain in the plaza. Google maps saved the day when it named the fountain the Triton fountain and showed us the place we actually wanted to be.
The Trevi fountain is pretty cool (though still falling short of the Neptune fountain in Schonbrunn). The Pantheon was cooler still, especially since no one in the group actually knew what the inside looked like. After failing multiple times to capture its magnificence in digital form, we explored a bit, pulled up the Wikipedia article on it to determine how long it had been a temple and how long it had been a church (about 300 and 1500 years respectively), then went in search of gelato.
After procuring said gelato, we took an impromptu poll to figure out the favorite flavor so far. The answers were the Creamy Venetian from the day we left Venice, the Fig and Walnut from Susu (the only place in Venice we ever went that was actually recommended to us), and the Stracciatella from Susu. Creamy Venetian got three votes. Because it was the best.
Then we got groceries for breakfast and dropped them off at our apartment, found that this short errand cost us dinner at the place we wanted (we think they were closing so they wouldn't seat us or they were busy for the next half hour so wouldn't seat us), so we ate dinner at the place right next door to our apartment building. It was some sort of wrap place. The food was pretty good and quite filling.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Day 12 - (we thought of many witty titles for this post, but I've forgotten them all)
With 2 sick people on the group (technically 4, but Mia and Chen didn't really count themselves among the fallen anymore), we determined today needed to be relaxing and low on activity. So we spent most of it reading on the patio (or reading inside if you were sick).
Myra and Mia did venture out to swim in the afternoon when the sun briefly poked through the clouds. It was lovely, though the water was cold, but the biggest deterrent was the number of tourists that stopped to take photos of them as the only swimmers around.
After more reading and a brief rainstorm, the sun came out for good. We sort of considered going swimming again, since the water looked beautiful, but decided against it in the end.
Finally around 4, we headed out for some gelato and then dinner, then more gelato and a walk. Then more reading.
Boring blog post, good day :)
Myra and Mia did venture out to swim in the afternoon when the sun briefly poked through the clouds. It was lovely, though the water was cold, but the biggest deterrent was the number of tourists that stopped to take photos of them as the only swimmers around.
After more reading and a brief rainstorm, the sun came out for good. We sort of considered going swimming again, since the water looked beautiful, but decided against it in the end.
Finally around 4, we headed out for some gelato and then dinner, then more gelato and a walk. Then more reading.
Boring blog post, good day :)
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