Today I took a break and stayed home. My skin needed a break from the sun, my legs needed a break from walking and I needed to catch up on this blog. I found out that if you click on a photo in the blog, you will be able to see a slide show of that posts pictures, so you can see them full screen.
The B&B is a very welcome place, but the only place to really sit is in the kitchen on small kitchen chairs. Which is not a bad thing, but I must admit right now I am missing a big ol' comfy sofa. Besides that, I am very happy here in Luca's house and Nicole and I have become fast friends. The fact that neither of us speaks anywhere near fluent Italian brings up together even more. Nicole's English is very good and she is a lovely, warm person. The past few days, she has invited me to join her on the roof to share a beer while she hangs laundry on the line to dry. Luca's English is also very good and he is eager to improve upon it so he asks that I correct him if his grammar is wrong. I've also asked him to do the same for my Italian, or rather the few words I can remember at this point.
New guests have arrived from Cincinnati, Ohio so now the house is full of English. I must admit, this is a comfort. I have a TV in my room, that has over 200 stations, all of which are in Italian. But I watch them anyway, trying to pick up something - anything. I did find one show in English - Jersey Shore. Lord help me....
Which makes me ponder the question - why did I choose to come to a country where I don't speak the language??? I am not intimidated by Italian, I actually find the sound of it to be very soothing, almost musical. I am very hopeful that my brain will be able to absorb more so it will, one day, easily flow from my lips. The only part I don't enjoy right now is being unable to read it. I'd like to know what the writing on a building says, or what a plaque on a wall says... But, alas, I cannot. Not yet...
I have another question - why is it birds don't fly in the windows here? Windows do not have screens. They have wooden shutters on the outside and then windows and darken wooded covers on the inside so you can shut out the street and make the room pitch dark. But yet when the window is wide open, which all are during the day, birds don't fly in. I asked Luca that question, he said he didn't know and had never thought of it before... Leave it to a crazy American to ask such a thing.
I am happy, but I am homesick for friends and family. Yesterday as I was sipping my beer, there was a man sitting in his car parked in front of my table at the cafe. I could see his profile in his side view mirror. His profile looked just like my friend JR in Pennsylvania. I knew it wasn't JR, but I could not stop looking at this man's reflection in the mirror because it was familiar and comforting. He didn't seem to mind and would smile at me from time to time. I sat there, looking, longer than I should, pretending that it was JR and that I was not alone in my journey. Silly American....
Nicole has just called me from the kitchen -it is time for today's lesson, which is how to open a bottle of beer with a Bic lighter. Oh, I know some of you are pros at this, but I'm still trying to get my amatuer status and have a bruise on my index finger to prove it... Ciao for now ~
About Me
- Linda Ws
- Broad - Word for a woman. Less respectable than lady but much more respectable than bitch. (Urban Dictionary)
4/29/2012
Capitoline Museum
4/28 - Saturday
I really wanted to take it easy today, my body is still tired from yesterday's marathon of walking, but I feel guilty staying inside on such a beautiful day. Did I mention that it has been sunny and in the mid 70's since I got here? I have a great farmer tan!
Landlord Luca suggests I go to the Capitoline Museum so I can take my time and not have to walk all over creation. And then I see what I thought was the entrance - - - are you kidding me???
I really wanted to take it easy today, my body is still tired from yesterday's marathon of walking, but I feel guilty staying inside on such a beautiful day. Did I mention that it has been sunny and in the mid 70's since I got here? I have a great farmer tan!
Landlord Luca suggests I go to the Capitoline Museum so I can take my time and not have to walk all over creation. And then I see what I thought was the entrance - - - are you kidding me???
Luckily I was wrong, this is the entrance to a church next door to the museum.
I didn't go into that church...
Here is the entrance to the museum.
Holy mother of my old lady knees - really? REALLY???
Me and my knees took our time and made it to the top, only to find the museum was made up of 4 floors. Elevator? What elevator? Thank goodness for those little blue pills - called Aleve...
Here again there is beauty in every corner of every room - too many photos to post, but here are a few to satisfy your curiosity.
Venus
The Capitoline she-wolf nursing Remus & Romulus
Marcus Aurelius
And a statue that just can't seem to pull himself together...
After another long day of walking and steps, and then some more walking and steps and yet more walking and steps, I decided it was time to head home. So I climbed down all those steps, walked up another hill, then around the corner and I found my landmark. Home isn't to far now, just on the other side of that building with the dome....
Ahhh - made it. And now Pedro and I get our just reward!
Colosseum, Palatine Hill & Roman Forum
Friday 4/27 -
Today I think I walked 10 miles - all of which seemed to be up hill...
Things I learned about the Colosseum:
Things I learned about Palatine Hill:
Today I think I walked 10 miles - all of which seemed to be up hill...
Things I learned about the Colosseum:
- It only took 8 years to build - by 45,000 slaves.
- It could seat 50,000 and had standing room for another 20,000.
- All 70,000 could exit in under 20 minutes due to the 80 exits and the way the Romans organized the crowd.
- Only 2% of the gladiators survived.
- The entire structure used to be covered in white marble, which was then stolen - er, recycled - by the church to construct the Vatican.
Things I learned about Palatine Hill:
- Roman mythology says this is the location of the cave where the infant brothers Remus and Romulus were found nursing from a she-wolf that kept them alive. When Romulus grew up he decided to build a city here.
- Palatine comes from the Greek word "palus", which is where we get the word palace.
- It was the Beverly Hills of Rome.
- Emperor Augustus lived here.
- This is where "binge & purging" originated.
- When you were invited to have dinner with the Emperor, dinner consisted of 50 courses. If you didn't eat all of them, it was considered an insult to the Emperor and you'd probably be put to death. So after 4 or 5 courses, the guest would go to "purging" room to empty their stomach so they could eat more... And if the guest couldn't make themselves throw up, a slave was standing by to help by sticking a feather down the guest throat. Oh my....
Trevi Fountain
Thursday 4/26 -
Today I decided that I really needed to get a handle on the layout of Rome. If the city is build on a grid, I have yet to figure that out. Streets zig-zag and even the straight ones often change names somewhere along the way - perhaps just to frustrate the tourist... So today I pry open my wallet and buy a ticket on a "hop on/hop off" double-decker tour bus. It's a good deal. You can hop off anywhere and then back on, all day long, for under 20 euro. I, however, chose not to hop. I claimed a seat on the top of the bus, plugged in my head phones to hear the guide and proceeded to sit through 3 laps around the city. By the middle of the 3rd lap I really had to find a bagno (bathroom) so I hopped of at the Trevi Fountain stop. I had been there earlier in the week with my Chicago pal Sandy Strauss, who was in Rome on business. (or so she says, but I think it was actually so she could check up on me, which I am so very grateful for)
I sat at the fountain for over 2 hours, moving from spot to spot to keep my butt from falling asleep and to change my point of vision. I also became that person that everyone seemed to ask "would you mind taking our picture" - which I happily did. I then spent another 3+ hours sitting at nearby cafe where Pedro and I enjoyed a quattro formaggi pizza and small bottle of Chianti as we watched the crowd come and go...
Spanish Steps
I've seen these steps in movies and on post cards, but they are always shown with little or no people. I'd like to know when those pictures were taken. Mine were taken around 1:00pm on a Tuesday...
The upper section of the steps - not so crowded...
Looking down from the upper section.
At the very bottom, looking up.
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
This is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the virgin Mary, it is part of the Holy See and is patrolled and protected by Vatican police. If I were a better tourist, or could actually remember what the tour guide said, I'd tell you more - but I cannot. The truth is, the moment I step inside I became deaf to voices because my sense of site was overloaded by the volume of sites set before me. Every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling are covered in art. Here again, the photos cannot fully show the beauty of it all, but here are a few to give you an idea of what I mean.
Walking the streets of Rome...
Walking the streets in Rome is like walking inside of a
painting - there are ruins and statues everywhere you look. My eyes are overwhelmed by the beauty set
before me. I can stand at an
intersection, spin around in a circle and take a dozen photos but still not do
justice to what my eyes see. In the middle of all the historical beauty is
a city alive with modern day chaos.
Every day there are thousands of people walking the streets or zooming
by in tiny cars or on motor scooters. I
have seen intersections that have no stop lights but somehow the cars,
scooters, motorcycles, city busses, tour busses, bike riders, and walkers all
work in concert with one another and the flow of motion somehow works. And, unlike Chicago, you don’t hear the
constant honking of horns. The only time I hear a horn honked is when a
car is parked in by another vehicle.
Then the driver just holds down the horn until someone shows up to move
out of their way.
Some intersections have crosswalks, but most do not. The secret to crossing a very busy street
without one, I have learned, is to just step off the sidewalk and look directly
at the driver as they approach. If you
look directly at them, they will slow down long enough for you to pass in front
of them. If you don’t look, they will
continue on at full speed as if you are invisible. My landlord told me “you must look at the
driver to get their attention and become their friend and then they won’t want
to run over you.” Scooters, on the
other hand, are like arrogant snobs who rule the road. They dart in and out of the traffic flow and
assume the walkers will move for them, which they do for the most part. If the walker does not see the scooter and
forces them to stop, the scooter driver usually has something to say about it. And if both the scooter driver and walker are Italian, hand gestures are also involved.
But overall, the citizens of Rome seem to have great patience for the
tourist that clog their streets and what should be a chaotic scene somehow
becomes a lovely waltz that everyone seems to figure out how to dance to.
4/24/2012
Day 3 - and the jet lag lingers.....
My mind and body has not fully adjusted yet to the time change so I spent yesterday and today taking it slow and easy. Luckily for me, everyone here also takes it slow and easy.
The B&B I am staying at is actually in a person's home. The bed is small and skinny in the padding department (like the majority of the Italian people in Rome) but the room is big and comfortable. The shower stall, however, is not. Lordy me, how am I supposed to shave my legs? I can't even reach down to lather them up without banging my head on the wall. How do these women do it? This "becoming Italian" goal is going to be harder than I thought...
My landlord is Luca, it is his house that he shares with his German girlfriend Nicole. Both are in their early 30's. He is a "typical" northern Italian man that believes women are to be pampered, should stay at home and do everything the man says without question. Nicole is an independent German girl who doesn't speak a word of Italian and thinks Luca's way of thinking is crazy. They make a fun pair. They are extremely helpful and gracious. Last night we drank wine together, had some dinner and then drank more wine. I gave them a copy of my CD, in my attempt to become an international singing sensation. Nicole is now on the hunt for a Karaoke bar for us to go to next week. (ah, the plan is in motion!)
I fried my curling iron... Apparently it wasn't made to work in Europe. It stunk a little and Luca reminded me that I am not allowed to set fires in my room...
I bought a cell phone so I have it in case of emergency or when I need to hear a friendly voice in my ear. You know how in America, all the directions for phones and stuff are in English, German, French, Chinese, etc... Well in Italy, their just in Italian. Fancy that... Luca will help me figure that out later tonight - - before we open the bottle of wine I picked up to have with dinner.
My B&B is close to the train station and I've be doing a lot of walking to get to know my area and have seen some sites but haven't done any official tours yet because of the jet lag thing. Jet lag is a wacky thing that messes with both your mind and body. I hope to be more of 'normal' self by tomorrow.
Signing off for now, all the guest are home and the socialize has begun. Ciao ~
The B&B I am staying at is actually in a person's home. The bed is small and skinny in the padding department (like the majority of the Italian people in Rome) but the room is big and comfortable. The shower stall, however, is not. Lordy me, how am I supposed to shave my legs? I can't even reach down to lather them up without banging my head on the wall. How do these women do it? This "becoming Italian" goal is going to be harder than I thought...
My landlord is Luca, it is his house that he shares with his German girlfriend Nicole. Both are in their early 30's. He is a "typical" northern Italian man that believes women are to be pampered, should stay at home and do everything the man says without question. Nicole is an independent German girl who doesn't speak a word of Italian and thinks Luca's way of thinking is crazy. They make a fun pair. They are extremely helpful and gracious. Last night we drank wine together, had some dinner and then drank more wine. I gave them a copy of my CD, in my attempt to become an international singing sensation. Nicole is now on the hunt for a Karaoke bar for us to go to next week. (ah, the plan is in motion!)
I fried my curling iron... Apparently it wasn't made to work in Europe. It stunk a little and Luca reminded me that I am not allowed to set fires in my room...
I bought a cell phone so I have it in case of emergency or when I need to hear a friendly voice in my ear. You know how in America, all the directions for phones and stuff are in English, German, French, Chinese, etc... Well in Italy, their just in Italian. Fancy that... Luca will help me figure that out later tonight - - before we open the bottle of wine I picked up to have with dinner.
My B&B is close to the train station and I've be doing a lot of walking to get to know my area and have seen some sites but haven't done any official tours yet because of the jet lag thing. Jet lag is a wacky thing that messes with both your mind and body. I hope to be more of 'normal' self by tomorrow.
Signing off for now, all the guest are home and the socialize has begun. Ciao ~
4/22/2012
4/20/2012
One more day on American soil, then a hop skip and a jump across the great pond to Italy. Holy Roma!! Baring any unforeseen technical difficulties, my next post will come from Italy next week. See you all on the flip side! Be good, eat your veggies, save a few bucks, and stay out of jail... Ciao Ciao ~
4/11/2012
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