Christmas in Gloucestershire

I spent Christmas with my friend Alex's family in a town called Stroud, which is a small town to the west of London in an area called Gloucestershire. I had trouble understanding some of the local accents, which Alex described as farmer/ pirate, I'll just let your imaginations do the work there. In the summertime this area is said to be quite picturesque will rolling green hills and small English cottages but in the wintertime it happens to be bloody cold and SNOWY! But despite the wintery weather it was still pretty beautiful. I did have a little culture shock on a bus ride into town though, a few I'm certainly not in Italy anymore moments.

A walk on Christmas Day

I talked Alex, his youngest brother, and his mom into a few games of scrabble while we were mostly snowed in and we ended the weekend with a game of Extreme UNO. Other highlights from the week included a trip to the beautiful city of Bath; a highly entertaining guided tour of the city of Glouchester by two clever and charming Englishmen, Alex and his adorable friend Mark; finally watching the movie Inception all the way through; and trying Mince pie for the first time, which a traditional British Christmas pie made with dried fruit, sugar, spices, and brandy and served in a pool of cream (not really a low calorie treat.)

Alex and Mark in front of a very impressive Cathedral

We left Stroud on Tuesday afternoon to take several trains, a tube, and another train to get back to London, all of which were delayed in some capacity. After you have finished reading your book, taken a short and uncomfortable nap, eaten the two clementine oranges you packed, emptied out your purse, organized and analyzed the contents, and exhausted your Ipod battery here are some suggestions for keeping yourself occupied while on a three hour train from Stroud to London. (These are all things I either did myself or saw other bored people do in the seats around me.)

1. Read the safety information packet in the pocket in front of your seat
2. Every few minutes check the GPS on your smart phone to track the location of your train
3. Scrutinize the ingredients listed on your pack of gum and wonder what exactly it is that things called Mannitol, Soybean Lecithin, and Humectant Glycerine (non-animal) actually are
4. Dream up ways to torture the man who though he'd safe a few pounds by installing horrible florescent lights on the train
5. Imagine you are in a horror film and of the people sitting around try to decide who would be the first killed off and who would make it to the end of the movie
6. Ponder how often- if ever- train seats are cleaned
7. Contemplate how many starving children could have been fed off the food the ridiculously fat man next to you must have consumed to obtain a stomach of that size
8. Give yourself a manicure

We have now made it back into London and spent yesterday exploring some new parts of the city. A trip to The Tate Britain and a stroll around the impressive Tower Bridge, followed by my surprise Christmas present, Alex got us tickets to see comedian Bill Bailey, who I had never heard of before yesterday but was absoutely, hysterically funny. Worth every penny; A wonderful Christmas Present!!

Fighter plane installation in the Tate Britian, I really hope my dad doesn't land his planes this way.
(that is me in the black just over the nose of the plane)

I now seem to have come down with some particularly nasty UK version of the cold, no doubt from one of the hundreds of tube and train passengers who sounded like they were coughing up their lungs this past week.  Unfortunately this means that I am loading myself up with expectorant and nasal decongestants, eating some chicken noodle soup, and tucking myself back into bed instead of exploring some other museums in London. Tomorrow morning we leave for New Years in Belgium, I just hope I'm better by then.

The one and only. Venice.

Venezia, Italia: Winter 2010 (December)

“If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you’ve imagined. Venice is- Venice is better” –Fran Lebowitz

SOUNDS LIKE: the intimate and soulful swagger of John Legend, The romanticism of Frank Sinatra, and the classical sophistication of Antonio Vivaldi

SMELLS LIKE: hope blended with a brisk and mysterious breeze over the ocean

TASTES LIKE: freedom, magic, and ecstasy swirled into a cappuccino.

First of all, let me say, attempting to write about Venice is like trying to compose a love letter, you know how you feel but any words you choose to write somehow seem insufficient.

There is nothing that can prepare you for the feeling of being in Venice. No amount of history studying, book devouring, poetry reading, music listening, picture glimpsing, or map memorizing will suffice. I’m not naïve, I know I’m not the first to fall in love with this city nor do I assume I’ll be the last. Venice is Italian after all; It is the hometown of Casanova, one of the most famous romantics and charmers in history. Fall in love, but just don’t expect exclusivity with Venice. There are hundreds of writers, artists, and poets who have been seduced to their very core by this magical city built on water, a place so unlike anywhere else in the world that you don’t know if you are actually walking on the maze of cobblestone streets or only lost somewhere deep in a dream.

I’ll try to start my story from the beginning and hope that my meager ramblings will suffice. With a map in hand and my heart transformed into a sponge that began to suck up all the magic of the city it could hold, I walked out of the train station and I wandered through the maze of Venetian streets almost directly to my hotel. I was prepared to be continuously lost in Venice, as I kept reading that its streets are more comparable to ant trails than to roads, but surprisingly I never felt lost. Maybe I was and I just didn’t care. I’d wander through a few passageways in the direction that intuitively felt right and twenty photographs and thirty heart-stopping moments later I’d magically find myself wherever it was I was trying to go. There is no real sense of time in Venice; It vanishes along with the rest of myths of the real world. Venice time is measured in glimpses of the canal, in the number of exquisite handmade Venetian masks you pass by, and the number of times you hear “Gondola” whispered into your ears by seductive Gondoliers who are hungry for your money.

First stop on my trip was to visit the Piazza Grassi and the Punta della Dogana, which are both extraordinary contemporary/ modern art spaces showing the collection of Francois Pinault. Both the Piazza Grassi and the Punta della Dogana were just commissioned to be renovated by none other than Tadao Ando, one of my absolute favorite architects, and also the architect who designed my favorite museum of all time, the Fort Worth Modern. Definitely worth the price of admission. By evening, I found myself in a nice warm bar drinking a few glasses of wine, which the generous Italian bartender refused to let me pay for. He told me I was too beautiful to pay for drinks and then he invited me to meet him after he closed the bar at 1:00am. Perhaps once a tempting offer in my life, but this time I decided to pass and to keep my sordid bartender affairs confined to my past. Could it be that I passed up a chance with an Italian?! But bartenders are trouble everywhere and don’t let anyone tell you different. Besides, I had a violin concert of Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons to attend and the loving embrace of Venice to keep me company. Really, who needs anything else?

San Vidal's Chiesa: Site of the Concert

I did meet a couchsurfer that night after the symphony because he had offered to show me around and, as I believe in the goodness of the CSP, I couldn’t refuse his generosity. I’m sure he was a perfectly nice guy and we had a few interesting things to say to one another but for the most part, for the two hours we spent together, I just kept wishing I was alone. He was hogging my time and I really just wanted to be with alone with this city I was falling in love with. Plus, somewhere in the first thirty minutes he mentioned something about being bored with Venice and I decided after that point that I didn’t really want to get to know someone who could possibly think Venice is boring. We clearly couldn’t have anything in common. I was thankful to be back to my hotel around midnight, bundled in layers of clothes and tucked under the covers, dreaming about my plans for the next day.

Me wandering the streets

Sunday I was up and out on the streets wandering by 8:30. Having seen no sign of the promised complimentary breakfast, or any other guests at the B&B for that matter, I fell into a nearby bar and had a quick cappuccino and a croissant before I proceeded to spend nearly all of the money I had brought with me on Christmas presents on my walk from the B&B to the Peggy Guggenheim! I have no idea how I’m going to get it all home. I may have to wear two coats on the airplane and leave all my clothes in Italy.  My plan to only bring back maps, drawings, photographs, and memories was going great until I discovered Venice. Ah well, small price to pay I suppose.

This actually might be a portrait of Guynell Whetstone

Next stop on my trip was The Peggy Guggenheim. This amazing collection of Modern Art is one of the main reasons I came to Italy and in my wildest dreams I couldn’t have imagined just how remarkable it would actually be. Who can’t love a museum that used to be the private residence of a woman nearly as famous for her collection of men as she was for her collection of Modern Art? She was a character, she was headstrong, and she was independent. My kinda lady. Here is a picture of her next to some of her many dogs.

I stood in the courtyard sculpture garden for the longest time, surrounded by the works of Henry Moore, Jenny Holzer, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Anish Kapoor, and Mario Mertz. I stood in the sun, the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life. I stood still just absorbing the moment and storing the memory deep inside of me so I’d never forget just how happy I can actually be. I wandered through the rest of the exhibition, high on the fumes of modern art, and finally out onto the famous terrace that faces the Grand Canal. I sat on that terrace for a long time with my sketchbook, drawing beautiful contour line drawings of the canal, of the bridge of Academia, of the Gondolas, of the buildings. They just kept coming. I actually think it is cheating for artists to produce work in Venice though. Making a bad drawing or taking a bad photograph in Venice is like trying to make homemade apple pie right out of the oven with vanilla ice-cream taste bad, it just isn’t possible.

A view of Yoko Ono's Wish Tree, appropriately an olive tree -one of my favorite pieces of the collection

After the museum I took a boat ride to the opposite side of the Island in order to catch a ferry to the Island of Murano. I don’t know if it was just me having sea legs but while I was winding along the dimly lit and desolate back alleys, I swear the ground beneath my feet was rocking. I kept stopping every few minutes because I was sure I was going crazy. Venice does odd things to your mind. Even though it was freezing outside and the breeze on the boat was cold I refused to sit in the warm, glass-enclosed area of the boat where you couldn’t see anything. I wanted to feel the air of Venice on my face and I didn’t want to miss seeing a single thing. As it turns out the Island of Murano is mostly closed down by 6pm and there wasn’t much going on so I only stayed long enough for a nice Italian man to give me a private tour of his wonderful glass galleries. He spoke perfect English and seemed very impressed that I had come alone to Italy. He told me that I needed to come back in the morning to see the artists blow glass in the glass factories so I promised that I would and he sent me on my way. I spent the rest of the evening drinking wine and then wandering through dimly lit streets of the city before I returned to my hotel. Anywhere else in the world I might have felt scared wandering alone down dark alleys at night, but somehow I felt nothing but invincible in this city. I never got lost once, I felt like I knew Venice like I’d lived there my whole life. Perhaps in a past life I used to be a Venetian…it would actually explain quite a lot.

Venice, as seen from the boat by night

So Monday morning I checked out of my b&b, made a few more drawings, and then headed back to Murano to see them some artists make glass! The origins of glass making in Venice date back to the 8^th Century! It was around 1290 that out of fear of fires, the glass making factories were ordered to the Island of Murano. I read somewhere that around the 16^th century there were no fewer than 3,000 glass blowers working on this tiny island. To this day, if you want to know about the art of glass blowing, you go to Venice. They made it look so easy, chatting mindlessly, cracking jokes, all the while this molten hot glass glowing as they heated it, molded it, pushed different colors together and blew in into beautiful forms. Incredible.

In the afternoon, just after lunch and one last cappucinno, I left Venice. As the train gently rolled out of the Station away from Venice and in the direction of Milan I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. I cried on and off for nearly an hour, the poor girl behind me probably thought I was leaving an actual lover behind. Leaving Venice is like leaving Heaven. As I left on that train, I cried because I knew I was leaving my soul in that city; I left it in the garden of the Peggy Guggenheim, buried beneath Yoko Ono’s olive tree of wishes; I left it on the tip of the Punta della Dogana, right in front of the “Boy with Frog” sculpture by Charles Ray; I left it in the Chiesa di San Vidal while I was listening to the violins serenade me; and I left it somewhere floating on the water between Venice and the enchanted Island of Murano. One thing is for certain, Venice will call for me to return to it for the rest of my life. My heart and soul will remain there, in that most magical place on earth, waiting for me to learn Italian and come home.

where my heart lies...

Ten things I've done since my last post

10 things:

1. I purchased stamps and mailed postcards, entirely in Italian, I might add.

2. I purchased train tickets to and from Torino, Milan, and Venice. Which doesn't seem like such a feat now that I've written it but believe me, it took far longer than it should have due to slow and fickle internet connections and glitches with the Trenitalia website. Cursing isn't bad if it is in a foreign language right?

3. I discovered that the newest way to trick the girls into learning English is to put them in competition with one another. Margerita can't stand for her little sister to be better than her in something and with the help of a few props, dry erase boards, an IKEA catalog, and a little creativity on my part I put together several pretty cut-throat english grammar competitions.

4. I made oatmeal cookies with Giuly. The first batch was a complete failure as I used baking soda instead of power and they just ran together in the oven into a flat mess, oops. The second batch was better but they still aren't as incredible as the ones I make at home because there is no shortening in Italy so I had to use butter and I can't figure out where to get molasses for brown sugar.

5. Kate and I have discovered that synonmyns only work for adjectives and verbs and that there are no synonmyns for a noun like bicycle that we can think of. Can you think of a synonmyn for bicycle?

6. I traveled to Torino with Kate who introduced me to her amazing friends Eva and Fabiana. We spent the weekend walking around Torino, drinking wine, eating lots of food, laughing, and impressing people we met with the cultural diversity of our little group. Torino was COLD. There was snow. I had to buy a new coat for fear that my arms and legs were going to freeze and fall off if I didn't. We saw some amazing things in Torino, including the Gran Madre, the famous church from the Divinci Code and Monte dei Cappuccini, which has nothing to do with cappuccino if you were curious, because I was. If you ever go to this city I recommend wandering around at night because the lights are what make it special. On my day of solo adventuring, thanks to my terrible since of direction, I managed to wander directly out of the train station and into the absolute worst part of town. Ooops. Everything turned out okay, after a few scary looks from some pretty shady looking characters I discovered my error and quickly made a B line for the opposite side of town.

7. The girls and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art: Castello di Rivoli which is just outside the city. WOW. A MUST SEE!!

8. I made it to Milan, which has a really amazing train station and thanks to the help of surfer I successfully navigated the underground metro system to the Duomo. I walked around the city for 6 hours with my mouth open. Everyone says Milan is grey, industrial, and somewhat disappointing but I thought it was incredible! It is a European version of New York City!! While in Milan I stumbled unto a festa per natale and ate one delicious waffle covered in Nutella. Where has Nutella been all my life, it is now a staple in my diet right up there with coffee, olive oil, and bread.

9. I wandered around the fashion district and discovered that walking by the Christmas window displays of Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino while you are wearing dirty jeans and carrying a giant green REI packback makes you feel about as out of place as a homeless man would at the Acadamy Awards. I didn't dare try to go inside anywhere, I felt like I didn't even have enough money to be looking in the windows.

10. I saw three of the most beautiful men I think exist in this world. Having given up the notion that I might have a shot with one of these beautiful Italian men long ago, I now just stand frozen with infatuation and hope I'm not drooling or about to be hit by a car or something. Whoever says fantasy love affairs aren't dangerous hasn't seen the way Italians drive.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Winter weather has offically arrived in Northern Italy and it is beginning to feel like Christmas is just around the corner. There is a serious chill in the air, temperatures are in the 30's, and we've even seen a few snow flurries this weekend. Even Cayo doesn't want to spend much time outside and on our outings he quickly does his business and then starts pulling in the direction of home. All the small dogs I see out on walks have coats on. One rainy day last week, I felt particularly bad for a small, miserable looking dachshund whose once warm winter sweater had been soaked in a sudden downpour! Some dogs have rain coats on which I think is probably a much better idea than sweaters due to the unpredictable weather. I have learned, sometimes the hard way, that I should always bring an umbrella with me even it it doesn't appear like it is going to rain.

　

Despite the cold temperatures the streets of this city are pretty magical right now; signs of Natale (Christmas) surround me. Shops windows have changed in the past few weeks and now showcase tasteful Christmas displays with beautiful white lights, garland, and many with full fledged Christmas trees. Children swaddled in winter coats with hoods, stare bright-eyed and with cherry cheeks up at the lights of the displays. The girls and I have been singing Christmas songs on our walks home. Their favorites are White Christmas and Winter Wonderland.

I left the house Saturday night to happily find the city has finally lit the rows upon rows of Christmas lights that they have been lining the main streets with for weeks now. It seems that stings of christmas lights have a way of neutralizing the cold weather or at least distracting you from it.

This past Sunday afternoon I went with Grazia and the children to a winter agricultural festival that was happening in the center of town. There were booths after booth of winter fruits and vegetables for sale, pasteries, olive oil, honey, jam, wine, lemoncello and grappa (very strong and delicious hard liquors), and items hand-made out of sheep wool. There were also farm animals in a sort of petting zoo type arrangement for the children-Llamas, sheep, buffalo, ponies, rabbits, and many different types of chickens and roosters.

so sweet, these sheep

There was a folk band playing songs that really added to the atmosphere. I wanted to buy olive oil and wine for everyone back home but I know I won't be able to get them home without them breaking on the airplane. Last time I came to Italy I brought home several bottles of wine and olive oil, but I also had a large, hard suitcase last time and this time I have a soft and vulnerable backpack.

Italian Folk Band!

I'm now snuggled up in sweatpants and several layers of sweaters sipping tea and trying to plan out my last three weeks in Italy. I know I posted that voting poll for advice on where I should visit and I'm still mulling over my plans. Kate has invited me with her to Torino this coming weekend which means I have a free place to stay with her friend who lives there and also company who know their way around! I have also discovered that there is a quite amazing looking Contemporary Art Museum in Torino, Castello di Rivoli: Museo d'Arte Contemporanea. It is an art museum inside of a three story Castle and that pretty much sealed the deal for me!

Torino, Italy (city in the far North West)

The children have Monday and Tuesday off school so the Debellini family is heading to the mountains to ski for the four day weekend. It is hard for me to pass up going with them, but I know that I will ski with my parents when I get home in New Mexico and Colorado, whereas I will not have the opportunity to visit Italian cities at home. Since no one will be here on Monday and Tuesday and Milan is very close to Torino I might head that direction while I'm in the North. Hopefully I'll figure out everything soon so I can go buy my train tickets.

I'm also working on my plans for Venice...

I think I will go the second weekend in December. It is going to be really pricey- my train tickets come to around 100Euro- which is about double what I've spent on my other city explorations. I'm also not looking forward to the long trips on the train; It will take five hours to get to Venice and on the way home it will take nearly seven! I have no idea WHY there are fast trains TO Venice but no fast trains back to La Spezia. Note to self: bring a good book! Accommodation will also be more expensive and I'll be staying alone which will be more pricey than if I had a travel partner. I'm a little nervous about going alone but if I want to see Venice before I leave it seems I have no other choice. I'll mostly just be visiting Art Museums and wandering around the city so I'm sure it will be ok. My mom has emailed me a beautiful article from the NY Times about how wonderful Venice is in the winter which is encouraging. I'm crossing my fingers that Venetians are nice to English speakers! I am also secretly hoping to have my own Before Sunrise type experience- you know meet a dashingly handsome and charming stranger on the train who will wander around Venice with me for a day. The odds are not likely, but a girl can always dream; And if I just end up alone in the end with a bottle of wine...well that would be just fine too.

The Feast

I'm starting to think the title of my blog should have been: I used to be thin, and then I came to Italy...God, these people know how to make good food and I swear if Grazia makes any more cakes or homemade gelato I'm not going to fit into my jeans anymore. Once I get home in January I'm going to have to start cycling with my Dad and give up sweets for about 3 months!
　　
　

Tonight we had a big wonderful Italian dinner; A meal Tipico di Genova with many of Grazia's father's closest friends. Grazia started preparing the home-made pasta and focaccia con la salvia (focaccia with sage) from scratch today at around 3pm and about that same time her father showed up with the most beautiful and wonderful bright green olive oil I've ever seen or tasted that he harvested himself from the olives at their country home! I wanted to stick around the kitchen all afternoon and learn how to prepare all these wonderful dishes for the future but I had to pick up the girls from school and then their mother wanted Cayo and the girls out of the house so she could prepare the meal without children and dogs underfoot. Understandable. So we went for a gelato and I sat with Cayo reading a book while the children played in the Piazza with their friends.

In some ways tonight was almost like Thanksgiving, a big meal with the family, far too much food, wine, and as usual, due to the number of people in attendance, I ended up at the kid's table! I'm fairly certain I'll be stuck at the kid's table until I start having children of my own... (so basically for a very long time to come). Oh well, at least they served wine at the kid's table tonight and my company mostly speaks English, so no real complaints.

Here are some pictures of the food:

The homemade pasta noodles before they were boiled

Giuly and Grandmother with the finished pesto pasta! This picture does not do it justice.

  The Focaccia con salvia next to the extra herbs

Pan fritto, Patate al Rosmarino (Pan fried, Rosemary Potatoes)

Arrosto di Manzo (Roast Beef), this is the first I've mentioned it but I'm learning now to eat meat cooked very rare in Italy! Italians prefer their meat almost straight from the cow and only slightly browned on the edges. Also in picture is the dessert Vino a Vin Santo del Chianti from the region of Tuscany that we had with dessert. I'm not usually a big fan of sweet wine, but this bottle changed my mind tonight.

I grabbed my camera a little late for dessert picture as we had aleady eaten nearly all of the home-made caffe gelato and the torta con ciliegie (cherry cake) but here is a picture of the table. At least our Chianti made it in the shot!

After dinner I took Cayo for a very quick and cold walk. It has been in the 30's and 40's here for the past week....brr...but it does make it feel like a true winter! I've been watching all the shops in town put up their lovely Christmas window displays and they have been streaming lights up and down the streets that Marcello says they will light in the first week of December! I miss my family, but it sure is a beautiful and exciting change to spend the winter holidays in Europe.

I was happy to get the chance to talk to my mom, brother, and grandparents on Skype after the party was over. They had just finished one turkey feast with my relatives on my dad's side of the family and were about to head on celebrate with my relatives on my mom's side- marathon eating on Thanksgiving is the American way!! I've also been informed that some of my very favorite people in Fort Worth, Texas toasted a glass of wine to me for Thanksgiving dinner, which makes me very happy indeed.
　

Missing Thanksgiving...

If you are somewhere eating a wonderful feast this Thanksgiving holiday can I ask of you one favor? Eat a little extra for me please. There might be plenty of Americans out there who would happily trade Thanksgiving for a day in Italy, but not me; Even the year and a half I spent as a vegetarian I made an exception for Thanksgiving turkey!! And the one year my grandmother innocently decided to prepare ham instead, and my aunt an Apple Pie instead of pumpkin, well, it didn’t go over very well. I come from a family of mothers and grandmothers who happen to be very good at cooking so I have pretty high standards for my Thanksgiving feast- fresh vegetables only, homemade yeast rolls preferred, baked sweet potatoes with orange marmalade on top- not marshmallows, and Cranberry relish.  And not the kind out of a can or the kind my ex-boyfriend Darac made one year with Jalapenos in it, which was absolutely inedible by the way, lord only knows what he was thinking. For dessert, home-made pumpkin pie with whipped cream...mmm.....but I should really stop thinking about it.

In my opinion, Thanksgiving is what Christmas should be, and probably used to be, before it became a huge consumer driven event run by corporations hell bent on guilting people into spending as much money as possible to show their loved ones they care about them. (Yuck) Unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving also doesn't typically turn ordinary people into savage beasts nearly fist-fighting over the last pair of size 7 UGG boots, or new Iphone, or in my case the last bar of Verbena Shea soap from L'Occitane or demanding that I somehow figure out how to spontaneously make more Almond Shower Oil magically appear!  (Side Note: This will be the first year in five years I won't be working a retail job at L’Occitane during Christmas time and as you can see those years may have left me a little bitter.) Thanksgiving is perfect. Families get together with the sole purpose of eating a fabulous meal and sharing each other's company, watching a little football, and if you happen to come from the Deese side of my family, playing the family card game known as, "HELL.”

In short, I'm missing my favorite holiday and my family this year and our usual game of “Hell” and I'm sad about it. I briefly tossed around the idea of preparing Thanksgiving for my Italian family but due to the picky appetites in this house, I decided I would not spend hours of labor in the kitchen to prepare a meal that only Grazia and I would probably eat. So alas, enjoy this beautiful day with your friends and family, eating a wonderful meal, and taking part in what I think is America's greatest holiday! And remember there is a jealous American girl in Italy dreaming about turkey and pumpkin pie and her happy family and friends at home! I love and miss you all!

Il Arcobaleno (rainbow)

oh and because I cannot post a blog entry with out a few pictures, even if they are entirely unrelated to the post, I give you the results of all the rain we've had lately: A rainbow and then last night a beautiful sunset!

Un Tramonto (sunset) molto bello (very beautiful)

All Roads Lead To Rome

All roads lead to Rome; When in Rome, do as the Romans do; Rome wasn't built in a day; Everyone knows the popular Idioms that surround the grand and remarkable Italian city. Rome has been cultivating it's rich history for nearly 3,000 years, it is home to nearly 3 million people, there are over 900 churches, it is the 11th most visited city in the world, and it houses one of the seven wonders of the world, The Colluseum. There are books upon books written about this famous city so I'll leave it up to you to do your own research as you see fit; Suffice it to say, one could very easily spend six months in Rome and not see everything it has to offer. But I guess the same can probably be said for any city with so much history, culture, and breath-taking beauty.

I've been to Rome once before in 2007 and seen all the most important landmarks (Vatican City, The Colluseum, The Pantheon, The ancient Roman ruins, The Trevi Fountain and other incredibly beautiful fountains by the famous artist and architech, Gian Lorenzo Bernini); I was very thankful to be shown around by locals this time around so I could glean a new and perhaps less touristy perspective of the place. I think I could spend a week just wandering down the the cobble-stone streets gawking at the beauty of this magical city, one week exploring only the gardens and landscaping, and another week just eating different types of pasta. Overwhelming does not even begin to descibe it.

I was greeted by my friends David and Nicola in the train station upon my arrival and since it was a beautiful sunny day we opted to take a stroll through Villa Borghese, one of the biggest and most well known park/gardens in Rome, on the way to David's brother's place rather than hop on a bus. I think I have mentioned that the guys work for an Italian Defense Engineering Company called Finmecahnico and on this day they had come straight from an important business event, so while I was wandering around town in jeans with my large green backpack they were strolling by my side in their fine Italian suits; I felt a little under dressed.

Adam, David's older brother, kindly opened up his apartment to us for the weekend. He is living in Rome while he works on his second Master's Degree in European Political Policy, his first is in English Literature; It is so curious that these two brother's from Austin have both found themselves working and studying in Italy! Once we climbed up the many, many stairs to his apartment (Adam lives on the 7th floor of a building with no elevator), the four of us opened a bottle of vino and did a little pre-dinner drinking to start the weekend off on the right foot. 

Representing Texas well in Italy!

For dinner at around 9:30pm, everyone eats really late in Italy, Adam took us to a wonderful restaurant called Pommodora Rosso where we had another delicious bottle of wine, some tasty Italian appetizers and Mozzarella di buffalo-Margherita Pizza...mmm. I meant to get a picture of our quaint table at this fine establishment but by the end of the meal we were too immersed in lively conversation and I was in too much of a wine and food induced coma to remember. We then took a bus to a different part of town to join some of David and Nicola's friends for a few beers, which was quite entertaining but also very cold since we wre mostly standing outside of a bar.

I learned this weekend that only the foolish actually pay for bus tickets in Rome. Tickets for the bus cost a Euro each time you ride somewhere but the guys tell me that the transportation system in Rome is terribly ineffecient and that inspectors NEVER ride the buses, so buying tickets is pretty pointless. If you get caught without one, which Adam has only had happen once in the six months now that he has been riding the buses for free on a daily basis, the fine is 50 Euro. It seems like a reasonable gamble to me, and obviously the buses make more than enough money off all the tourists who don't know this little secret or they would hire more ticket inspectors.

Every morning there is a beautiful open market on the street directly below Adam's apartment. On Saturday morning, Nicola was shocked to discover me perched, with one leg inside the house and the rest of my body on the two foot ledge outside the window, taking pictures of the market below. I assured him I was fine and that sometimes slightly dangerous ledges must be climbed on for the sake of Art. He seemed concerned but let me carry on with my photography session in peace.

After breakfast we set out to explore the city, and as fate would have it, we got lost and stumbled upon The Galleria Nationale D'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea! As I had explored the quite extensive classical art scene last time I was in Rome, this was the only Art museum I really wanted to see in this city this time around! I had forgotten to write down the address, so when we stumbled upon it by accident, well... the longer I stay in this country the more I start to believe in fate.

So I pursuaded the guys to leave me for a few hours to explore the museum alone, which still wasn't nearly enough time but left to my own devices I could probably spend entire days in Modern Art Museums. Not only did I see work by familiar artists I know and love from my days at The Fort Worth Modern, like Michaelangelo Pistelleto and Alberto Burri, but I also discovered a few new artists that I'm extremely intrigued by. Top of the list includes Mario Schifano, whose references to pop culture, use of stenciled words and phrases, and general artistic language reminded me an awful lot of some sort of fusion between Robert Rachenburg, Jasper Johns (my all time favorite artist) and Andy Warhol. I know I'm a complete nerd, but can hardly wait to get home to a good school library so I can read up on this guy and find out what, if any, actual connections he had with these well known American artists. There is only so much a google search can tell you about these things. I was also facinated by the poignant video and photography work of Luca Patella.

Gustav Klimt "The Kiss"

Before I tore myself away from the Museum, I stood in front of a painting by the extremely famous artist, Gustav Klimt, Le tre Eta, that gave me goosebumbs. There is just something about seeing a truely powerful piece of art in the flesh that you have seen 100x on paper that can move a person to tears, goosebumbs, and other extreme emotions. God, I love art.

So I left the Museum in my euphoric state and met the guys. The rest of Saturday was kind of a blur until dinner, I told you, Rome is really over whelming. I know we looked over the Piazza del Popolo and the very crowded Spanish Steps and then met up with a friend of Nicola's to tour a history museum about the history of Rome. I know I enjoyed myself but I think at this point I was pretty exhausted and ready to go home and relax before dinner. We also made a stop at an international store to purchase Canadian Maple Syrup for the pancakes I had promised I would make on Sunday morning. The syrup's name was Vernmont (not a typo) and it was made in Canada...curious and a little shifty marketing indeed.

Saturday evening dinner was incredible! La Carbonera was the place...if you ever make to Rome, DO NOT MISS IT! And make a reservation as it is a small family owned and operated establishment! Adam was informing me that Jewish influence can be seen in much of the traditional Roman dishes, since Jews have lived in Rome for as long as Christians have, although we tend think of Rome as entirely Catholic (more later on Jewish culture within Rome).

This shot pretty much sums up their personalities

So we started off our meal with a really typical Roman Jewish appetizer, Carciofi alla Giudia (artichokes fried in olive oil). I opted for Pistacchio creme fettucini with tomatoes for my entree  (I can't remember the Italian name), which was good, but after trying Nicola's Spaghetti alla carbonara...well If I ever go back, I'll be sure to get that! We laughed, we talked, we ate and ate, we finished off several bottles of wine, and then ordered dessert and a nice white dessert wine to go with it. Hands down, best tiraimisu I've ever eaten in my life. I know I keep saying that about everything I eat here but damn these Italians know how to prepare a good meal!
We then proceeded to go to San Lorenzo, the college area of town, to a bar called Beba do Samba where an Italian Jazz band was playing. We finished the night drinking yet another bottle of wine while listening to the passionate and sultry sounds of Italian Jazz music...perfection. Well except I would have REALLY liked a swing dance partner for a few of the songs. I haven't managed to find any dancing in Italy yet and I'm missing swing. It was last year at this time that I was attending the 1940's themed Big Band dance in an airplane hanger in Fort Worth. Wow, was that really a year ago? So after an uneventful bus ride home we merrily stumpled up those steps to Adam's apartment at around 3am.

Our full and happy group

Sunday morning we all woke up late and had a brunch of pancakes and eggs together while David and Katrina, one of Adam's housemates from California and now Norway (it's a long story), took turns playing songs on the guitar. "Pancakes," for me, is a tradition that started back in my early college days at OSU. Five of my closest friends and I would get together on game-day Saturdays to take turns making and consuming pancakes while we pieced together, in laughter, the happenings of the Ultimate Frisbee party of the night before. Whenever one pancake was ready we would eat it community style- pile it with various toppings and everyone would grab a fork while someone else started cooking the next pancake on the skillet. This tradition continued in Denton with my friends there, although sometimes vegan ingredients were subsituted and it was usually less of a community pancake eating arrangement. I'm thrilled that I was able to bring this happy tradition among friends to Italy with me.

Sunday we wandered the streets of some other exquisite part of Rome, that now I don't recall and I took lots of pictures. The weather was absolutely perfect for both walking and picture taking.  My favorite part was wandering down Via del Portico D'Ottavia, the main road that leads down the historical Jewish Ghetto of Rome and right by the biggest Synagogue in Italy.  This area of Rome was originally walled off until the walls were torn down in 1888. Although Jews are no longer required to reside in this area of town, as they once were, it has remained a strongly Jewish area of town and is now one of Rome's most charming neighborhoods. We stopped into an unmarked Jewish Bakery on the corner that looked pretty unimpressive from the outside, but once inside smelled better than I can possibly describe with words. We ate really delicious Jewish sweet bread with what appeared to have dried fruit trail mix style inside of it. It sounds weird but I assure you it was good.

For lunch, before we caught out train back to La Spezia, we had large servings of Gelato from the most famous Gelateria in Rome, Giolitti. My recommendations are Nocciola and Pistaccio. I don't typically eat gelato for lunch, but when in Rome....well you all know the rest!

Best Gelato in Rome!