Italia: Day 3 - Roma, May 6, 2011

We packed up this morning ready to transfer to our next B&B (since the one we were at accidentally double booked booting us over to the next B&B available)
I just had peaches for breakfast.

The owner of the next B&B drove us over to his place to drop off our bags for the day before heading to the Borghese Gallery. A little odd. But okay.

The city of Rome was on strike so government buildings were all closing early. Like, 11am. Needless to say, we had to book it.

The man, Daniel, gave us bad directions (due to the language barrier) which left us in a running stressed out frenzy trying to make it in time.
We barely made it before they stopped letting people in.

We saw Bernini's masterpieces, such as David and the Rape of Proserpine. <<< This was my favorite. The detail was incredible!! The most beautiful sculpture I had ever seen. No doubt, Bernini was the master.

We took a taxi (after a detour to the Ferrari dealership) to the Roman Forum (which ended up being closed due to the city strike) but it wasn't too bad because we basically got to see all the ruins anyways from the outside gates.
The nice thing about the forum being closed - no tourists in our pictures! :D
Way to look on the bright side ya?

We walked up the steps to the Titus arch and Capitol Hill. Once again, incredible architecture.
Carved marble = Biene!!

We took a 14 euro elevator trip to the top of the Victor Emmanuel Monument Building. The heaviest building in the world. It had marble colomns and an incredible statue on top of the building of a guard on a horse. The horses foot alone was almost as big as me! I wonder how they got that up there before machinery. Amazing.

We met a family from New Jersey (which was exciting because its super rare to meet someone who speaks American haha. Most tourists are Europeans!) and their son who has been studying in Italy since February.
He was very helpful giving tipson how to book trains (via trenitalia.com) and what kind of wine to get in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre. (Sciacchetra)

We took the lift back down and began our trek to our next stop - the Pantheon. We walked in with a huge crowd of tourists to the huge (again) perfectly round dome cathedral. This is where many were buried including Rafael.
The Oculos (sp?) let in a bright beam of light that lit up the entire building. Incredible.

By the time we left here I realized that I had been running on airplane food, peaches and salad for the last 4 days so we looked for an Italian McDonalds. Turns out they weren't very popular because all the locations were out of business.
So we split a fettuchini alfredo outside the Pantheon. Mushroomy, but super delish!

An accordion player, who was actually quite talented, serenaded us with classic romantic Italian music, so we gave him our spare change in appreciation. It was a perfect Italian lunch.

Next we found an internet cafe to book our train tickets (thanks to Jersey kid's advice) to Cinque Terre & Pisa tomorrow. A little stressful & confusing, but once again we conquered.
We kept walking until we arrived at the beautiful Treve fountain. As the Romans do, once again, it was gynormous. the sound of water echoed through the square where a huge crowd was gathered. We could see why. The fountain was amazing.

Next, we decided to get some gelato. :) Vanilla in a waffle cone. Mmm! While we ate we met an older couple from England, who now live in Spain & pretty much any other country they feel like driving their VW camper van to. They were so pleasant to talk to. We exchanged tips & talked about our Italy experiences so far. They say when we get old like them Angelo should wear a John Wayne hat like the man, and we should travel everywhere.
I'm down.

We decided to start walking back towards the Pantheon to where our dinner place would be.
Dinner was ravilois (again) at a cute back door family owned restaurant called "Osteria di Mario". It was delicious, but the service was lousy. It took 5 tries and 20 min to get the check!

After that was done we walked to the main street to find a taxi back to the bed and breakfast to meet the man who had our bags and to get keys to our room.
We waited outside when we got there for his sister who had the keys. So we talked for a few minutes. it went something like this:

Daniel: Ah! Villa Borghese! The most beautiful museum in di world!
Angelo: Better than the Luve???
Daniel: Ah, I've never been. Italians don't got to Frnace. We're not friends. But the Villa Borghese is the best in the world!

When his sister got there he introduced Angelo and I "Angelo Parisi from Sacramento!" Hemust had said it 5 times. He loved that Angelo was an American with an Italian name. LOVED IT.

Once we got to our room we went straight to sleep, exhausted from the day.

And thats all for now!

Italia: Day 2 - Roma, May 5, 2011

We woke up to the smell of fresh baked croissants. Breakfast was a beautiful spread of fruit, yogurt, pastries, and cereal. We ate as much as we wanted on the terrace of our apartment building. The air was crisp and cool at this time of morning but we were hoping it would get warmer by the time we would head out.

It did.

We walked to the Vatican today. To cross the streets, you don't really wait for the lights, just when it's clear, you walk in between the cars.

We arrived at St. Peters Square and found a 2 hr. line to get into the Basilica Chapel.

The Pope had a Beatificazione (beautification) on May 1st, so tons of Catholics swarmed to be where the Pope was. This made it slightly difficult to plan our time.

We decided to try back later and started walking toward the Vatican Museum.

We stopped for lunch at an Italian insalade (salad) place for luch and Angelo got his first Pizza, and I got plain salad (since the ham (which was actually prosciutto) and cheese sandwich I had last night had made me feel super nauseous all morning. No more Italian meat for me)
They didn't have dressing, so I mixed olive oil and balsamic to give it some flavor. It kinda helped.

We walked to the Vatican museum and saw tons of famous paintings. We saved the Sistine Chapel for last.It was beautiful, but surprisingly not my favorite. There was a ceiling in with the frescos that was so stunning. I loved it.


After this we walked back to St. Peters Basilica, stopping for gelato (gelateria) and a roman scarf (bought for me by my love) on the way.

We waited in line for the entrance and when we got inside, we were blown away.
It was the biggest cathedral we had ever seen let alone imagined could exist.

There were pillars and paintings and sculptures and the most beautiful architecture.

Simply Stunning.

It was all very catholic, though. The glorified Pope, Mary,.... eh.

I wished so badly that all of this beauty wasn't for them but just for God. It was a little bit sad how misguided the masters of art were.
After walking around, listening to Rick Steve's audio tour and down to the crypt, we decided to climb the 550 stairs to the top of the massive dome.

But, we took the elevator half way after we realized how tired we really were.

It was intense. Very high and very claustrophobic. But way fun!!!
The view from the top was a panoramic Roma sight. You could see everything from up there.

We took a bunch of photos, then made our way back down the slanted (yes, slanted) spiraling staircase.
After a few last stops inside the chapel, we walked to the metro headed to the "shopping triangle" near the Villa Borghese to see if we might find a leather jacket for me and an "Italia" jacket for Angelo.
We found a few places that had nice jackets for us but nothing perfect until we found one local lady's shop and her leather inventory. And Angelo bought me my perfect leather jacket for 100 euros! :D
I couldn't find his perfect Italia jacket yet, but we will.

Dinner was raviolis and lemone esta the (lemon iced tea) which was awesome and the tea tasted so good! I cant even describe it.

We walked back to the metro which was closed,(because the workers were on strike) so we took a taxi back to our hotel.

After a long day, it's time for sleep. Ciao Ciao!

Italia: Day 1 - Roma, May 4, 2011

After 14.5 hours on a plane its so nice to finally be here. We took a train to Colesseo, Roma. The trains are difficult to understand but we're getting it.
We asked a man to point to the direction of the Colosseum, and he laughed and led us to the door of the station and said "Di Colesseo!"

It was MASSIVE.

What a sight for our first step into Rome.

Our first stop was definitly the Colosseum. We walked inside the lower level first, then the top. It was such an amazing piece of ancient architecture. Each stone was placed by the hands of people who lived centuries ago. Wow. The amount of attention to detail was amazing.


After this, we decided to start looking for some real dinner. Airplane food just wasn't cutting it.

Dinner places open at 19:00 here, which is 7pm - later than Americans eat. We arrived at our planned dinner spot slightly disappointed because was 16:00 and they weren't open yet.

So we got Gelato instead :)

It was the best ice cream I had ever had. Chocolate and tiramasu. Mmmm....

We decided to get a taxi back to our bed and breakfast. Roma dirvers are crazy here! They squeeze in wherever they can fit at high speeds which also makes for some intense braking. So fun!

We arrived at St. Peters Vacancy B&B around 19:30 and were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome of a young husband and wife and their newborn son. The room was similar to a room in a house; down the hall from the kitchen and living room and across from our private bathroom.
Oh! And almost all of the furniture was from IKEA! :D

We decided to try to get our bearings and lay on the bed reading Rick Steve's guidebook. This turned into a two hour nap.
We woke up groggy, jet lagged and starving.
So we walked down the street to the Guinness Pub to grab something to eat.

Angelo got salmon pasta in red sauce and I got grilled ham and cheese. Mmm. We both got our first glasses of Italian wine. Red for him, white for me. So good!

After we finished, we decided to hit the hay and headed back to our room for the night.

So ciao for today! More tomorrow!

Cat Allergy Experiment: Day 1

So sad story of the week goes like this. As many of you all know, I have been hacking up a lung coughing for the last... well who knows how long. After a lot of worrying that something more serious was going on in my lungs than just a post-cold infection, I prayed (once again) that God would miraculously heal this sickness and relieve this stubborn cough.
Long story short, after searching once again for an explanation, we have come to discover that my two cats, Milo and Otis, may be the culprits of this one. The solution, Jenn must treat cats like lepers. At least for a few weeks just to see if our speculation is correct.

Emerald Bay In My Living Room

After months of musing I have finally decided it is time to tackle my gynormous 4.5' x 4.5' "magnum opus" painting of Sunset Over Emerald Bay at Lake Tahoe. The lines are sketched, the blue, orange, pink, and green paint is out, and I am on my way to recreating the artwork of my hero, God.

For the past week my living room floor has been covered with newspaper, paint tubes and brushes and Angelo has been super excited to watch me spend hours upon hours painting what will hopefully soon be the main piece of art work that adorns our walls.

The sky is a brilliant blue with a vibrant stretch of pinkish-orange clouds. The lake is glassy and reflects the sunset in the water. The bay is framed by the silhouette of the pine covered mountains and Fannette Island.
The sight is breathtaking.

Psalm 19:1 - "The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."





Just a hint...................

Thought of the day

One of my best friends just got engaged Sunday (WOOHOO!!!!!) :D

and

Toms new wedge shoes are wonderful.....



Thats all :)

Sick of Being Sick

So this year I think has got to be the sickest year yet. It's not so much the super sick kind of sick, but the super annoying, dragging out, super long kind of sick. Basically, I've had this cough for a year now, and even though it has given me some nice washboard abs due to the jarring muscle spasms that some with each cough, I'm over it.

Last February I had a cold and cough. That turned into March-June spring alleriges. That turned into July-September Hay fever. That turned into October-Now chest congestion. Ugh.

Now being sick does have some benefits, as long as no major pain is involved. Due to my lack of energy I have spent a lot of time with my butt on the couch knitting and crocheting a bazillion projects. I made a ton of Christmas gifts, a few sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves, cowls, etc. Kind of cool. Okay but I lied. Not as cool as getting over this sickness. That would be way cooler.