the first thing we noticed about rome was that it was hot and humid. and i looked up to the heavens and whispered a tiny 'thank you' whereas my friend gailbaxter looked up and cursed in a tiny voice 'swody'. and thus the fun began.
we got there late in the day but late enough to head to zio ciro to have our first pizzas and salads of the trip. i was sad to see that our old friend mimo was not working there anymore. after years of seeing the same guy over and over again (and him being in love with my sister gina), it was like the end of an era. we went there because mimo was there and he wanted to marry gina. i've gone there without her and he remembers me and says 'hey, how's gina?' sigh. i only went there once. but right after we head over to della palma for the beloved gelato. my first cup...banana (of course), coco (again, of course) and sesame and honey. i couldn't find the almond and honey so had to settle for its second best. and as we ate our ice cream i took gail to the piazza navonna where the main fountain was uncovered after a couple of years of restoration. it was good to see the fountains in their entirety once again. we then made our way to the pantheon (of which gail liked to refer to it as the parthenon) and wound our way to trevi fountain.
but here's the thing...between those two landmarks is another...hadrian's temple. now in the past 10 years, every time i went to rome, the temple was covered as it was restored. and for the first time in my last 10 years of visiting this city, the facade of the temple was uncovered and i finally saw the temple of hadrian. it was GORGEOUS to say the least. we stared at it in awe for a very long time.
our first night was a quick one. we were tired and we knew we had lots of fun to explore the city the next day. we then head over to the coliseum where we met up with a gal offering tours. this woman knew everything about the coliseum (considering her schooling credentials, i wasn't surprised) and she took us through pointing out some very interesting facts (like where to look for some of the original marble flooring) and then after our tour, they gave us a complimentary tour (if we wanted it) of palatine hill. i'm so glad we took them up on the offer. the theory behind the hill is this:
According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. According to this legend, the shepherd Faustulus found the infants, and with his wife Acca Larentia raised the children. When they were older, the boys killed their great-uncle (who seized the throne from their father), and they both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. Suddenly, they had a violent argument with each other and in the end Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. This is how "Rome" got its name - from Romulus.
what the historians actually believe is that the infants were found by a lupa for certain (a term back then used for 'prostitute') and she helped raise these boys who both decided to colonize - romolo on palatine hill, and his brother on a near by peak (can't remember the name). anyhoo, they decided the old fashioned way asking the gods to choose which hill should be the basis for their city, and they used the number of birds (again, maybe eagles or hawks, can't remember) to be their sign from the gods. romolo won. but they do think he killed his brother in an arguement, so in the end, rome would have been built on palatine hill anyway.
the view is stunning and the history mind blowing. if you want to ever do the same tour...head over to the coliseum and look for colin. he's a history major (working on his PhD) and has been doing these tours for years. he's also kinda cute, but i digress.
the next day we head over to spanish steps (after having had a shopping accident at missoni) and then bought a few nibbles for a picnic in villa borghese. i love that park! you can easily spend the whole day there but as we had a picnic we were fast running out of time. i had to go meet my cousin at the coliseum and we only had about 90 minutes. luckily, on a run to the loo, we saw a couple of interesting things. we could either rent bikes and check out the park, rent segueys, or....rent a golf cart. oh you know what we did, don't you?????
needless to say we saw everything in one hour. sweet.
we then met up with my cousin guiseppe and his fiance anna maria (well, that's when he told me they were getting married next august) and lots of happiness and hugs and kisses abounded. it was lovely. we had a great 2 hours together,drinking coffee, getting caught up (as much as i could with my limited italian) and going for a walk. it was time well spent!
our last day in italy was spent at vatican city where we again jumped the queue by booking a tour to the vatican museums so we can see the sistine chapel. i honestly don't think i've ever seen the place so busy. it was CRAZY. but we got to spend 20 minutes time in the chapel marveling at the wonder that is michelangelo. again, our guide was extremely knowledgeable and shared great tidbits with us. afterward we went through the crypts of posts gone by, and of course, the one that was the most busy was that of JPII. i have to say, i even got a touch emotional. i found it amazing as well that his tomb was so busy, and that of saint peter (you know, jesus' disciple of whom the church alter is built above) was not as busy. but you know, this is modern times so of course, we pay more hommage to that which we have known in our lifetime.
aside from all the touring around, we did get a lot of eating done...of which the highlights include:
- pizza diavola (mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)
- fiore di zucca
- pasta con aglio e oglio
- insalata caprese
- panini
- capuccino
- fanta (a whopping 4.50 euro at the coliseum)
- gelato (limone, melone, fragola, nocciola, banana, sesame e miele, mandorle e miele, pistacchio, coco, tiramasu, blah blah blah)
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