Today we visited San Pietro in Vincoli to see Michelangelo's Tomb for Pope Julius II. I like this tomb because Michelangelo ran a total scam on Julius II. There were supposed to be eleventy billion marble sculptures on the pope's tomb, and Michelangelo got the cash for the marble, but the pope died before the tomb was done, and because the new pope didn't really care about ol' Julius, Michelangelo wound up making only seven figurative sculptures for the tomb. He was kinda busy with other things anyway. One of the sculptures is Moses, and he looks like he has horns (supposedly because of a mistranslation of the Book of Exodus). It's really a beautiful work.
Nate was taking pictures of the American Embassy from the top of the hop on/ hop off bus, and got in trouble. The Italian guard was totally yelling "No photos!" at him. He just shrugged and kept taking pictures. Lovely. He had to get in trouble at least once more, I guess. Hopefully all will go well at the airport! I don't need him getting thrown in an Italian jail. I'm out of Euros and out of energy.
We also *FINALLY* got to Santa Maria del Vittorio to see Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa." First we tried to go, but it was after noon and the church is closed from noon until 3:30. So, we wandered back toward the Piazza della Repubblica and stumbled upon a beautiful little shop run by a French woman. She makes a bunch of terra cotta marble imitations of different sculptural works. They're really cool, and we got to see her co-workers actually working with the clay. We'd never have found this if Santa Maria had been open, so I guess I'll have to light a candle or something. So, we went back to Santa Maria later and I finally got to see that damn Bernini. It is pretty cool.
We did a little wine shopping, a little wandering around, and generally tried to take it easy this last day. We saw a knife sharpener calling out to the residents. We saw a maid walking a dog. We saw the chains that once held St. Peter prisoner. We bought some art from a guy named Roberto.
Total gelato-fest today (flavor report @ end of blog entry). Nate had gelato early in the day, and then we finally managed to find San Crispino (near the Trevi fountain), which is AMAZING. We had gelato from there, bought some wine, then went back for MORE gelato. I'm not ashamed. It was that freakin' good.
We're calling it an early night, as we have to be up and out by 6:45 to get to the airport.
So, for the final gelato report:
Round 1 - Nate: watermelon, banana, mint; Me: opted out
Round 2 @ San Crispino - Nate: banana, honey cream, cinnamon/ginger, pistachio; Me: honey cream & cinnamon/ginger
Round 3 @ San Crispino (30 min. later) - Nate: honey cream, caramel, chocolate; Me: honey cream (It's like crack. Don't judge me.)
Arrivederci, Roma; Hello, Home Sweet Home!
XOXO Steph
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Last Day - Photos
Listen, American! You can't take pictures of this...American building! NO PHOTOS!
Maybe it's Sophia Loren's dog?
Fountain of the Four Rivers - Piazza Navona
Crappy photo of the Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini
Pottery shop
Pottery shop
Me and the artist Roberto. He loves me.
More fountain action.
Creepy tomb in a chapel of a church. I forget which one right now.
Yet another massive organ.(That's what she said!)
Moses with horns at San Pietro in Vincoli
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 8 - The Hottest Day Ever
We got tickets to this 2-day hop on/hop off bus so the next couple of days we could cruise around & take pictures. This morning, we went to Santa Maria in Cosmedin, home of the Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth). Supposedly you stick your hand in the mouth and if you're a big fat liar, you get your hand bitten off. We survived with hands intact! Inside Santa Maria there's a relic - the skull of St. Valentine. WEIRD!
We hopped back on the bus and headed up to Piazza del Popolo, but the church there was closed, and it was hot as hell, even in the shade. So, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. First Nate had gelato. Surprise!
After a nap, we went out for some dinner at Gran Caffe Strega. We had some meat, I drank some beer, and we had pizza. Nate's was sausage, red peppers, and mushrooms. I ordered the Strega, which was tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, olives, artichokes, and a fried egg in the middle. It was AWESOME!
After dinner, gelato for me and more gelato for Nate.
Nothing but tech issues at the hotel. We only get 3 channels on the tv. The front desk says "how you say... we need a new satellite".
We lost our WiFi connection in the room they have like 15 access points that are not plugged into anything... Nate has offered to fix it for them but they said it has something to do with their main server which appears to be an old NT box running some jank hotel access software.
Tomorrow: Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa," some shopping maybe, and most likely more gelato.
Today's gelato report:
Nate Round 1: Pistachio, Mint Chocolate Chip, Nutella; Me: Opted out of Round 1
Nate Round 2: Hazelnut, Tiramisu, Chocolate; Me; Lemon
Ciao for now...
XOXO Steph
We hopped back on the bus and headed up to Piazza del Popolo, but the church there was closed, and it was hot as hell, even in the shade. So, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. First Nate had gelato. Surprise!
After a nap, we went out for some dinner at Gran Caffe Strega. We had some meat, I drank some beer, and we had pizza. Nate's was sausage, red peppers, and mushrooms. I ordered the Strega, which was tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, olives, artichokes, and a fried egg in the middle. It was AWESOME!
After dinner, gelato for me and more gelato for Nate.
Nothing but tech issues at the hotel. We only get 3 channels on the tv. The front desk says "how you say... we need a new satellite".
We lost our WiFi connection in the room they have like 15 access points that are not plugged into anything... Nate has offered to fix it for them but they said it has something to do with their main server which appears to be an old NT box running some jank hotel access software.
Tomorrow: Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Teresa," some shopping maybe, and most likely more gelato.
Today's gelato report:
Nate Round 1: Pistachio, Mint Chocolate Chip, Nutella; Me: Opted out of Round 1
Nate Round 2: Hazelnut, Tiramisu, Chocolate; Me; Lemon
Ciao for now...
XOXO Steph
View of St. Peter's Square from the top of the bus
Big ass meat plate.
Pizza and beer --- just like home?
My awesome Strega pizza
Nate's pizza
In that little oval box on the alter is the skull of St. Valentine. Nothing says romance like a dead guy's skull.
Steph @ the Mouth of Truth
Nate putting his hand in the mouth of truth. He looks nervous.
Some lady buying a hat from the top of the bus!
Castel St. Angelo and the Tiber river
Castel St. Angelo and the Tiber river
The Colosseum from the bus
These guys look busy!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Day 7 - The Day of the Live Naked Lady
This morning we got up early and headed over to the street market and Central Market in Florence. Central Market is like a big, um...market. They sell everything from wine to limoncello to fresh veggies to pigs' feet. It's pretty cool! I wish we'd discovered it sooner, because we could have eaten pretty well and pretty cheaply just getting lunch from the market. The stalls outside central market are a different story. Most are full of "pashminas" made of "100% cashmere." Fake cashmere pashmina scarves are the tube socks of the Italian flea market. They're EVERYWHERE. There are tons of tacky magnets, leather bags (of which I'm guessing most aren't actual leather), t-shirts, and more. Nate had fun haggling for a couple of souvenirs. We found a 1 Euro store (the Italian version of the 99 cent store)!
After checking out of our hotel, we headed to the train station at Santa Maria Novella. We had about an hour to kill, so we ate sandwiches from a little bar (small takeout restaurant) and watched people. There were some "interesting" characters there. Nate overheard someone talking in a gravelly, very deep voice. He said, "That guy has some voice problems, huh?" I responded, "Yeah...That's a woman." DOH!
On the train, I read "Brunelleschi's Dome" by Ross King, which describes the history behind the creation of the dome of the Duomo. It's really interesting, so read it if you're into history (especially the Renaissance) or architecture. Nate napped. Surprise!
On the walk to our hotel (just a couple of blocks), a woman wearing hospital garments (paper gown & pants) started stripping naked on the street. We are used to seeing sculptures of naked ladies here in Rome, but not so much LIVE naked ladies. We just kept walking, but of course Nate took a picture. His commentary, "Of all the women to get naked in the street, it's gotta be THIS one?" NICE.
We went out for a gelato snack, took a quick nap and then went out for dinner at a really yummy restaurant called La Matriciana. We had brasciole - very thin slices of dried beef w/ rocket & romano for an appetizer. Nate had spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and hot pepper. I had the buccatini al'amatriciana, which is a thick, hollow spaghetti in a tomato sauce with pancetta. So. GOOD. Then, Nate had a pork chop (which came with spinach that I wound up eating) and I had meatballs (veal & eggplant). Oh, and I drank a half bottle of the house wine. MMM! Totally yummy. Finished up with an espresso and limoncello. I wanted tiramisu, but a table with a bunch of bratty kids behind us ate it all. Bastardos! The waiter gave me a postcard and laughed at Nate having to pay the bill. Sweet. (http://www.lamatriciana.it)
Stopped for MORE gelato on the way home.
We had to have the TV technician come fix our TV. We only got snow! I tried to fix it, but we needed a new coax cable. Thankfully, now we get 4 whole channels. Right now were kicked back watching Tila Tequila's Shot at Love with Italian subtitles on MTV Italy.
Gelato flavors today -
Round 1 - Nate: chocolate & pistachio, Me: melon (cantaloupe)
Round 2 - Nate: chocolate & strawberry, Me: chocolate
Tomorrow we're going to go with the flow. It's going to be hot as hell - 35 degrees Celsius, which is like eleventy billion degrees Fahrenheit. So, we'll see what we're up for. Probably going to try to go to the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) at Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the very least. I have to stick my hand in that dirty mouth before I leave Roma.
Ciao for now!
XOXO
Steph
After checking out of our hotel, we headed to the train station at Santa Maria Novella. We had about an hour to kill, so we ate sandwiches from a little bar (small takeout restaurant) and watched people. There were some "interesting" characters there. Nate overheard someone talking in a gravelly, very deep voice. He said, "That guy has some voice problems, huh?" I responded, "Yeah...That's a woman." DOH!
On the train, I read "Brunelleschi's Dome" by Ross King, which describes the history behind the creation of the dome of the Duomo. It's really interesting, so read it if you're into history (especially the Renaissance) or architecture. Nate napped. Surprise!
On the walk to our hotel (just a couple of blocks), a woman wearing hospital garments (paper gown & pants) started stripping naked on the street. We are used to seeing sculptures of naked ladies here in Rome, but not so much LIVE naked ladies. We just kept walking, but of course Nate took a picture. His commentary, "Of all the women to get naked in the street, it's gotta be THIS one?" NICE.
We went out for a gelato snack, took a quick nap and then went out for dinner at a really yummy restaurant called La Matriciana. We had brasciole - very thin slices of dried beef w/ rocket & romano for an appetizer. Nate had spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and hot pepper. I had the buccatini al'amatriciana, which is a thick, hollow spaghetti in a tomato sauce with pancetta. So. GOOD. Then, Nate had a pork chop (which came with spinach that I wound up eating) and I had meatballs (veal & eggplant). Oh, and I drank a half bottle of the house wine. MMM! Totally yummy. Finished up with an espresso and limoncello. I wanted tiramisu, but a table with a bunch of bratty kids behind us ate it all. Bastardos! The waiter gave me a postcard and laughed at Nate having to pay the bill. Sweet. (http://www.lamatriciana.it)
Stopped for MORE gelato on the way home.
We had to have the TV technician come fix our TV. We only got snow! I tried to fix it, but we needed a new coax cable. Thankfully, now we get 4 whole channels. Right now were kicked back watching Tila Tequila's Shot at Love with Italian subtitles on MTV Italy.
Gelato flavors today -
Round 1 - Nate: chocolate & pistachio, Me: melon (cantaloupe)
Round 2 - Nate: chocolate & strawberry, Me: chocolate
Tomorrow we're going to go with the flow. It's going to be hot as hell - 35 degrees Celsius, which is like eleventy billion degrees Fahrenheit. So, we'll see what we're up for. Probably going to try to go to the Bocca della Verita (Mouth of Truth) at Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the very least. I have to stick my hand in that dirty mouth before I leave Roma.
Ciao for now!
XOXO
Steph
Day 7 Photos
1/2 of a 1/2 bottle of wine down. It was good!
MEATBALLS!
The hotel room. Bigger than both of the previous ones!
Lots of graffiti on the way to Rome
Crazy naked lady and disconcerted Asian children
Some of the classy sculpture we saw in the flea market
Hoof? No? Okay, then.
Lots of things I would eat.
Mmmm! There were porcini mushrooms EVERYWHERE!
Italian 1 Euro store! Everything's 1 Euro, Mom!Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Day 6 Photos
Strictly illegal photo of the "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. It's a terrible photo, of course, but Nate likes it because he got away with it.
The Fuzz.
The hole in the wall of the Strozzi Palace. All the wine and good stuff was stored in the cellar. When the rich peeps had a surplus of wine, they'd sell it through this hole in the wall to the plebes like us. Supposedly this is where the term "hole in the wall" comes from when referring to a tiny bar. These holes appear in about 70% of the residential palaces in Florence, and up until a few decades ago, some were still used!
On the patio of the Uffizi
Street vendors pack up and run from the cops. Happens constantly.
Produce stand. You tell the owner what you want and she will choose it for you. You're not supposed to fondle the fruit.
The sign says it's prohibited to "lie down, camp, or behave in a indecent way."
Teeny tiny truck!
Interior of Brunelleschi's Dome
Donatello's statue/niche of St. George (for the armor/weaponry guild)
David + Guy's head
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