di cinque giorni... Day 5!!

Day 5 ROMA with Auntie Chris and Uncle David!!

halfway through our trip, and you're lucky I know that much! I love not knowing what time or day it is!!! Anyways...today we ventured out rather late...after I got yelled at a few times for sleeping in and taking my time, I guess the lack of sleep finally caught up with me this morning!! haha. oh well...we had a sit down breakfast at the house first, then I showered and got ready to leave...we left probably around 1 or so, and were still out until about 7!! :) We drove with Auntie and Uncle David to Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Roma...

Ostia Antica is a large archeological site, close to the modern suburb of Ostia (Rome), that was the location of the harbour city of ancient Rome, which is approximately 30 km to the northeast. "Ostia" in Latin means "mouth". At the mouth of the River Tiber, Ostia was Rome's seaport, but due to silting the site now lies 3 km from the sea. The site is noted for the excellent preservation of its ancient buildings, magnificent frescoes and impressive mosaics.

It was a beautiful day for it...not too hot, not too cold! I don't think I've been cold since I've been here!! :) Did I mention how incredible it is that all of these buildings and statues and whatnot have been so well preserved since time before christ?!? It is just CRAZY to THINK ABOUT?!?

 There were two ground levels...one was the street level how it used to be in BC times (the lower levels) and then AD and present times...restoration...

 this was a town....there were houses, the cemetery (before you entered the gate) and bars, and public baths (hot and cold) and colleges....insane!!

the cemetery behind me...

 amphitheater....no big deal, UMF had one of these...hahaa.

this was a bar...

 outside the bar...look at the floor. .. amazing condition! (the view from what would have been my apartment if I lived back then)

 school!

After the hike up and down, in and out of Ostia,  we drove through Rome and ended up making a few stops along the way home, one to the infamous keyhole, where you peek through the keyhole of what appears to be someones house, or used to be anyways, and look through their keyhole to the gate, through the gardens and a perfect view to the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral!! Amazing Amazing!!!

took a few more shots, and headed home, where we ate ribs that fell off the bone, some pesto pasta dish with potatoes and green beans in it as well, and zucchini, followed by creme brulee and an apple tarte for dessert that my Aunt didn't have time to make on mom's birthday, the 12th.
HEAVENLY creme brulee. A few glasses of wine and some water, and some journal writing, and day five is behind us. What a day. What a five days it has been!!

We booked hotels for Venice and Florence for tuesday and wednesday nights. Tomorrow it's off to try and buy tickets for the tomorrow night soccer game Lazio vs. Juventus, and then just walk around town, taking our time, eating some more gelato and maybe a panini, and doing some shopping. Sounds great to me!!!!!

Ciao!! 

 
 we found an elementary school!!

 Now where is the Albanian? haha ;)

wedding cake building... officially known as Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II

quattro giorni

Another AMAZING day in ROMA!!!!! I still can't believe I am here!!!! Happy Saturday!!! This morning was the earliest morning because we went to my cousin Rachel's soccer game. They kicked butt 5-0 and she had two goals! Then we went back home, had a quick bite to eat, put our sneakers on (thank goodness) and headed to the colossium!!!!

The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, following the reign of Nero.  This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. We joined a tour (in English of course) and headed into the theater as Roman citizens he said, because only then will we truly appreciate the theater!! It's where all the entertainment was way back in the day!! It was just amazing that it was only built in 8 years, but it was also built by four different people, and about some 50,000 slaves or so....craziness!!!

Severe damage was inflicted on the Colosseum by the great earthquake in 1349, causing the outer south side, lying on a less stable alluvional terrain, to collapse. Much of the tumbled stone was reused to build palaces, churches, hospitals and other buildings elsewhere in Rome. A religious order moved into the northern third of the Colosseum in the mid-14th century and continued to inhabit it until as late as the early 19th century. The interior of the amphitheatre was extensively stripped of stone, which was reused elsewhere, or (in the case of the marble façade) was burned to make quicklime.  The bronze clamps which held the stonework together were pried or hacked out of the walls, leaving numerous pockmarks which still scar the building today.

My mom stayed outside and read her book, having been here before, so she read and made a few friends with cute babies and an old italian man that she thought was either trying to rob her or hit on her. haha.

I don't even know how long we were in the Colosseum for, but who cares what time it is...I'm in Italy!!! And it's beautiful!! After the Colosseum, we walked out just in time for part two of the tour with a different tour guide, (not bad for not having a watch and no concept whatsoever of the time) Nick, a mexican born english speaking roman. hahaa :) loved him! The tour was about an hour and  half long walking through the Roman forum.

The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum plaza surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

It was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archeological excavations attracting numerous sightseers.

Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins,  all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.

Other archaic shrines to the northwest, such as the Umbilicus Urbis and the Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), developed into the Republic's formal Comitium (assembly area). This is where the Senate and Republican government itself—began. The Senate House, government offices, tribunals, temples, memorials and statues gradually cluttered the area.

AMAZING TIME!!!! We still didn't buy tickets for the soccer game, but there is always tomorrow or monday morning... We were afraid we were going to get home too late, because we had dinner reservations for 8 for a nice dinner out celebrating Uncle David and Mom's birthdays!! We went to D'Tio... D' is like chez in french...meaning house of. But of course before catching the bus number 52, after taking the Metro from the Colosseum to Barberini Square, we stopped and had gelato!! I tried cherry this time....deliciousness!!! 

 The bus driver wasn't so bad looking either..just saying. So we made it back with just enough time to freshen up and get in the car to head to dinner!!! FANTASTIC!!! and the waiter wasn't so bad either, just ask mom. haha. We tried a bunch of antipasti dishes (appetizers) including artichokes fried and in olive oil, some fish thing fried, and shrimp tempura! It was all great. For my pasta dish, I ordered pasta in an oil and sage sauce with clams and mussels, and am not afraid to admit that I finished the entire thing! It was great!!!! for the second dish (the meat) my mom and I split the grilled lamb. yumm yummmm! with of course lots of house white wine and we shared two desserts (that they brought out with candles in them) for my mother and my uncle's birthdays!!!

 

Tre Giorni....day three, Holy Roman Style!

Ciao! buono sera to you back in the states!!  

Another amazing day...this time without my Aunt however, and we stayed in Roma. We were out and about to catch the number 19 Tram heading to Vatican City and St. Peter's Cathedral to see the Pope!!! I'll just kill the suspense now and let you know that we did not see the Pope in person, just via postcards, rosary beads, magnets, pens, candles...you name it; although, we were unlucky in finding a Papa Francis bobble head, just the old pope. aw well.

Stanley was up to no good in a few of the stores, but he really took the risk of being kicked out when he was messing around with the pope outfits for sale and whatnot... oh boy!! 

But before this happened, we visited the Vatican where he posed with some statues and acted a bit inappropriate as well as appropriate, if that's at all possible, to act a little of both?! Sure, whynot!!

The Vatican.... The Vatican Museums originated as a group of sculptures collected by Pope Julius II (1503-1513) and placed in what today is the “Cortile Ottagono” within the museum complex. The popes were among the first sovereigns who opened the art collections of their palaces to the public thus promoting knowledge of art history and culture. As seen today, the Vatican Museums are a complex of different pontifical museums and galleries that began under the patronage of the popes Clement XIV (1769-1774) and Pius VI (1775-1799).

We walked through the Etruscan museum, the Egyptian museum, Gallery of Tapestries, a collection of various 15th and 17th century tapestries; the Gallery of Maps, and a bunch others...just breathtaking, amazing, and definitely will never see anything like it, nor that like St. Peters Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel!! 

 Head shot!

 Selfie!

 I work out!

He said not to put it on facebook.... hahahah :)

 playing dress up?

The Sistine Chapel...is the best-known chapel of the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decoration that was frescoed throughout by Renaissance artists including Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio and others. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted 1,100 m² (12,000 sq ft) of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling, and especially The Last Judfment (1535–1541), is widely believed to be Michelangelo's crowning achievement in painting.

"Without having seen the Sistine Chapel one can form no appreciable idea of what one man is capable of achieving."

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 23 August 1787

 

 We just had a great Holy Day for my mother's birthday in Vatican City!! At first, the line was outrageously long for St. Peters, after we went through the Vatican...and we were almost going to just skip it, well thank gooooodness we did not!!!! We ended up getting right in around 6 or so, after we were done some shopping, people watching, and eating gelato finally for the first time since we have been here!!! amazing....I had two flavors, coconut and chocolate...it was my own little mounds bar disguised as gelato!! YUM! The Vatican was great and I sure did feel a sense of some surreal holiness in the Sistine Chapel. It was just indescribable!! 

 

street performers...illegal vendors (either indian or african american...interesting) and legal vendors....mimes....people posing as statues for money....beggars/gypsies....people watching...tons of NUNS (and priests) everywhere, some on the run, some in groups, some black, some white, some asian, some indian (dot, not feather)...fantastic!! 

 

 

Sister Act? 

Anyways... it was another great day!!! We ate out just the four of us for lunch at a cute little place on the street, we sat outside and ate. I had a white pizza, mozzarella cheese, parm cheese and artichoke spread...thin thin crust, it was soo very good!! Pizza will never be the same back home again!! We got back around 7 I think..hung around...sat down for a bit, and then had dinner at 9:30 or so... amazing fish, spinach like vegetable, pear walnut salad, and pumpkin cheese shrimp risotto. AMAZING! Have I said AMAZING enough yet??? I DON'T THINK SO!!!! :) :) :) 

 Tanti Auguri (happy birthday) MOM!

 YUM!

 a little piece of Lebanon in Roma!

 leaving St.Peters Cathedral...

Just posing with it...not riding in it Stanley!

Buononotte!

giorno due (day two)

So day two via Roma...I woke up around 10:30, much needed sleep after the traveling and day one and your body thinking it's a different time and all that jazz. Anyways.. no shower, ha who cares, I'm in Europe! toast with raspberry jam for breakfast, just one slice... ok ok, I'll quit with the boring details of getting ready to go out for another amazing time in Italy!!!

We headed out and about with Auntie Chris as our personal chauffeur and tour guide once again! We are very lucky! Since she is busy tomorrow we decided to take the car and head out with her for the day... outside of Roma. We went to a lovely town called...

Viterbo

Viterbo, ancient seat of the papacy, retains the charm of the classic medieval town with beautiful old churches and wonderful papal center. The city of Viterbo lies up to a 350 metres high altitude, where the northern slope of Mounts Cimini descends gradually to a large plain and westwards to the sea, then goes up to the Mounts Volsinii and eastwards to the Mounts of Sabina, just over the Tiber Valley.

 It is just simply amazing how they tear nothing down around here, just build around it, on top of it, or whatnot...and how can buildings be preserved like that..from the medieval time period. amazing!

I'm not one for church pictures...but I stopped along the way for a brief prayer while Flat Stanley was in confession, I decided to let him go since we didn't have all day for mine. hah. 

 

The views and buildings and all the surroundings...there is just something in the air here that makes the littlest things so beautiful. maybe it's the earth tone color buildings...not sure, but whatever it is, it's just beautiful. Don't get me wrong, there are still cities here, including Rome, which includes your theft, crime, trash along the sidewalks, crazy drivers, and graffiti...but all that excluded, just breathtaking....

Hearing the people surrounding me speak italian, call out for little Matteo who was dribbling a soccer ball with a friend in the afternoon (they get out of school before lunch, eat lunch at home and then don't return until the next day) was awesome. just so cute. haha. We talked about Matteo for a bit thereafter as if we had known him. :) He had a cute little dog too that sat up along a ledge of their property. Luckily for Stanley, his confession only consisted of a few our fathers and hail mary's so I let him hop on a moped for a little bit...

We finished up there after a bit, taking pictures, nun sightings...etc... then we were off to a ride in the country... even more country ride then to Viterbo... and when I say country I mean country, but beautiful countryside Italy....with farms and vineyards and old italian men on their tractors, with sheep....lots of sheep and horses and cows...and sheeep! (I know I'm in Italy, but at one point, I was waiting for Gerard Butler to just be around the road side bend after seeing all the sheep :) ...ps.i love you reference)

Then we came to the town of...

 Civita di Bagnoregio

It was founded by Etruscans over twenty-five hundred years ago but has seen its population dwindle to just fifteen residents over the course of the 20th century. Cività was the birthplace of Saint Bonaventure, who died in 1274. The location of his boyhood house has long since fallen off the edge of the cliff. By the 16th century, Civita was beginning to decline, becoming eclipsed by its former suburb Bagnoregio.

At the end of the 17th century, the bishop and the municipal government were forced to move to Bagnoregio due to a major earthquake, accelerating the old town's decline.... In the 19th century, Civita's location was turning into an island and the pace of the erosion quickened as the layer of clay below the stone was reached in the area where today's bridge is located. Bagnoregio continues as a small but prosperous town, while Civita became known as il paese che muore (in Italian: "the dying town"). Civita has only recently been experiencing a tourist revival.....overlooking the Tiber river valley, in constant danger of destruction as its edges fall off, leaving the buildings built on the plateau to crumble. As of 2004, there are plans to reinforce the plateau with steel rods to prevent further geological damage. The city is also much admired for its architecture, some spanning several hundred years. Civita di Bagnoregio owes much of its unaltered condition to its relative isolation: the town was able to withstand most intrusions of modernity as well as the destruction brought by two world wars. The population today varies from about 12 people in winter to over 100 in the summer.

AAHHHMAZING!!!

YES... we walked across that!!! it's about a quarter of a mile in length, and scary as hell if you are afraid of heights, just ask me and my mother, but she made it and so did I!!! Going back was way easier; however, I still couldn't stop moving once I started walking or look anywhere but down! haha.

When we made it back to main land, we saw the donkey that we had heard before heading over there... and my mom and him had a full on conversation, with her honk laugh honking she does...his ears were twitching like crazy. hahaha :) and back to the car we went....for about an hour ride or so back to Roma and my aunt and uncle's apartment.

Had another great dinner around 9pm, some chicken marinated amazingly, potatoes, green beans and a hot chopped eggplant and tomato dish of some sort, with a few glasses of white wine tonight, since I finished off the crappy Merlot last night for my uncle!! :) Did the dishes and cleaned up from dinner again, it's the least I could do... and off to fb to post a picture of the day and do some blogging.

Great day, great sights, great conversations, great dinner, great time with family... and it is officially my mom's birthday (in Italy)... off to bed I go, again, the last one to get to bed. haha.

Buona notte!!