There is nothing like a trip to the salon to boost a girls mood.

After a very wet Easter weekend, the sun finally came back out on Tuesday. I celebrated by taking myself out for a day of sightseeing. I kicked things off by visiting the church, San Clemente. I had read about this church many times but never visited. It is a church built upon a church, built upon another building. The building on the bottom level is from the 2nd century, the next level is a church from the 4th century, and the main level is a church from the 12th century. This was one of the best preserved and organized ruin I have been to in Rome. It was really well done and very interesting. I couldn't take pictures though so you have to imagine.
Next I went to another church, San Giovanni in Laterano. This is no ordinary church though. You get major bonus points in the Catholic faith for a stop here. This was once the sight of the original papal headquarters before the move to the Vatican. It is a massive, massive, massive church. My guidebook used the turn "hangar". Maybe that is more appropriate. I did give out a little gasp and "oh, ah" when I came in.


After my stop here I walked across the street to visit Scala Santa (Holy Stairs).
Apparently, these are the steps Jesus climbed in the house of Pontius Pilate. They were brought here by St. Helena in the 4th century. You are supposed to say a prayer as you walk up the 28 steps. I stopped to ponder...do I know 28 prayers? I thought of 3 I could say and then thought in my mind it shouldn't have to be an "official" prayer. However, since this was a catholic holy site I decided I probably did need to know 28 official prayers and opted instead to walk up the side stairs to take a peek at the Sancta Sanctorum (Holy of Holies).
Apparently this is where the heads of Peter, Paul, and Agnes were kept at one time. Why do they keep the heads? yucky.

I also did something totally impromptu and spontaneous. I popped into a salon and had my hair colored. I was walking by this little spot and there were two stylists standing in the doorway talking. I walked past them, stopped, turned around and asked if they could color my hair right now. I was able to barely explain what I wanted and even chatted with my stylist a little, all in Italian. When they started me out by washing my hair (not normal for someone who is having color done - you wash afterwards) I started to worry a little. The whole event took forever too between them washing my hair 3 times and the power going out (hello Beirut!) but when they finished my hair looked great!

Buona Pasqua! Happy Easter!

Today is Easter. I had some deep thoughts about personal Resurrection and what this time of year means but I'm going to save that for another time. I haven't finished my thoughts on the topic and I was too excited to tell everyone what the Easter Bunny brought me!!
For weeks now, I've seen loads of Easter items for sale. I first noticed these special eggs at the shop near my first apartment and every day I passed the store selling this huge Barbie theme egg.

They have them in all sorts of themes - Barbie, Spiderman, Simpsons, etc. Each egg is filled with a surprise of some sort. The stores that sell these eggs also sell loads of other chocolate easter treats. It's wall-to-wall eggs, bunnies, chocolate, and colomba cakes. It's nutty. I'm curious to see these stores after the holiday.




But back to what the Easter bunny brought me!

Field trip!

My school organizes ongoing activities for the students. There's everything from film nights, to walks around neighborhoods, to all day trips out of town. I decided to sign up for the trip on Saturday to Pompeii and Napoli. I've been wanting to see Pompeii for awhile and even tried to get on a tour while my brother was here. I was definitely excited to see it and excited to get out of Rome for the day.
I had to get up super early and go to school to meet the tour bus. On my way there, via the city bus, I had another interesting experience. Now, I think I've possibly mentioned how Italian women stare. It is up there with the way Indian men stare. It's not just a little look or a sideways glance. It is a full on, mouth open, looking straight at you, for as long as you will let them stare at you. Now you are probably wondering, what could I possibly do that would make them stare at me. It doesn't take much but here it is - I filed my nails. Yup. Shocking. I sat down in the bus across from this mother and her teenage daughter. They were going on about something and I think the daughter wanted her mother to give her something and the mother wasn't going to do it. (Hey! I understood some of their conversation!) They were deep into this discussion. I pulled out my nail file and started taking care of a snag on one of my nails. I'm going about my business for a minute or so and I realize that they've stopped talking and I can feel them staring at me. I turn and look and they are both looking directly at me with their mouths open, staring. When I catch them, they sort of look away, pretending to notice the dirt on the floor. I'm sure my look was "what". Is filing your nails offensive in Rome? Is this written somewhere and no one told me? I immediately started to look through the catalog in my brain and see if I had any memory of anyone filing their nails on the bus. No memories, but the bus is usually so crowded that people are crowd surfing over the top to make it to the exits. Was I doing something totally offensive or is this just another thing for Italian women to stare at? I think I'm going to have my camera ready next time and take their picture.
Allora, onto my field trip.
We headed to Pompeii first. I was excited to see it. I had recalled people saying it was interesting because it was a whole village just stuck in this time and this situation. People had also mentioned what was really intense were the people who had tried to run from the volcano explosion and they were frozen in their attempt. A classmate mentioned that when she was little she had seen a dog running with sausages in his mouth.
I didn't have high expectations that this would be some monumental experience. I expected to see a really well preserved, interesting ruin. I wasn't that impressed. The problem is that they take out so many pieces of the ruins here and they put them into museums. There were pieces here that weren't the originals. Those were in a museum. I expected to see these people frozen in time. There were a few but they were in glass boxes in a sort of storage area behind a gate.


I understand that everything needs to be secured and protected from thief, weather, etc. but this is possible to do without turning the actual ruin into a boring maze of old buildings. Even if they had one area set up as a sort of display of what it might have been like for these people, that would have been an interesting scenario to see. I think I prefer to see a little of the "here's how they lived" shadowbox display.
I did see the bordello and the accompanying sign directing people to it - see photo.

They did have some nicely preserved bath areas and that was interesting to see. I also realized after the fact that I didn't see it all. It's huge and we just saw a portion of it. I think that they didn't want to overwhelm us with a tour of the whole place and as it was I think we were there for over two hours. So maybe I won't discount the place completely since I didn't see all of it.
After Pompeii we went to Napoli for just a short visit of about 1 1/2 hours. I had super low expectations of Napoli. For starters, you might have heard that they have a garbage problem. Maybe you haven't but it it's been going on awhile. The garbage collection and disposal is managed by organized crime. So as we were driving through Napoli to Pompeii and then back to visit the city, you see loads of garbage everywhere. It's not just bags of garbage but the piles also include tires, couches, matresses, etc. It's really nasty. It's sad too when you think of why the problem exists.

Anyway, we got into the city and started to wander around and it was actually a really great city - what I saw of it. I was pleasantly surprised at how cute it was and how nice the center of the city looked. A small group of us decided to just hit a grand cafe for warm drinks. It had been pissing rain on and off all day so we were all pretty well cold and wet. We found a great spot with heaters, because of course we're still sitting outside, and had a nice chat.

I got home pretty late and indulged myself with cheese, bread, wine, chocolate, and four episodes of America's Next Top Model (downloaded from itunes).
Such an interesting and nice day.

My flat in Trastevere

A little over a week ago I moved into a flat in Trastevere. This is a neighborhood on the west side of the Tiber river. It is kind of the hot neighborhood these days. It's very hip with lots of restaurants and wine bars. It has such a good feel to it. It is popular with the tourists but not a typical stop for people that are just visiting for a short time.
I had commented in a previous entry that I didn't think I'd end up here. I thought I'd be staying in Campo d'Fiori. I was mistaken. I ended up in a huge apartment in the heart of Trastevere. This place is twice as big and twice as much money as the place I rented, but because the owner made changes, I got a deal. I really wanted to stay in this neighborhood so I'm glad it worked out.
The apartment is huge and on the 3rd floor. It feels like it's bigger than the last place I had in Seattle which was around 620 sq ft but it could also feel that way because it has a ton of windows compared to the two that I had in Seattle and the ceilings are really high.
I am about one "block" off the main street, Viale di Trastevere, but I don't hear any street noise. There is a Baptist(!) church across the street from me, a restaurant and a bar on the first floor of the building, and shops across from my front door, next to the church. Looking out my kitchen window, across the piazza, is another restaurant, Carlomenta, which is always packed. I'll try it soon and see what the fuss is all about. I have a feeling it's just convenient.




I love watching the neighborhood activities from my kitchen window. There are loads of interesting people and situations.
Once a week this little old guy comes and sets up his bike outside of the restaurant below me. He places the rear wheel into a trainer that prevents the bike from moving. He then sits on the seat and uses the bike pedals to turn a sharpening wheel that is attached to the bike. He sharpens the restaurants knives this way.








There is a convent down the street. I love seeing the sisters. It's very comforting to me to see them. It's definitely a pleasant childhood memory for me. I never had the bad nun hitting me with a ruler scenario. I think it was either because I was just really good in school and never caused trouble or I had nice nuns as teachers. I think it's a little bit of both. I was very friendly with the sisters at St. Mary's. I even did impersonations of one of them, Sr. Ermelinda. She even witnessed me doing it and said it was quite good. However, it was strangely similar to my impersonation of Ed Grimly, a character played by Martin Short on SNL.

Skip Day

I took a little vacation yesterday. I decided that I needed a day off of school so I skipped my Italian classes. I didn't feel too bad about it either. I figured I've been a diligent student for over four weeks and I'm pretty much in school 24/7 by just being here. It was a great decision. I slept until 7:50am, which is late for me here. That sun really wakes you up in the morning. It's no wonder I want to sleep until 10am in Seattle. I got up, had a little Italian breakfast (cafe and bread + some nasty strawberry flavored sugar yogurt with whipped sugar cream that my brother had picked out while he was here) and watched a little morning news. After the news I headed out for my first official exercise since I got here. I was feeling a major need to sweat and get moving. I've been wondering if I could count my bus ride as exercise, considering all the pushing, pulling, lunging, and squatting I do just to make sure I don't fall over. I'm pretty certain you don't need to take a driving test to get your bus driver license here. Joe never wanted to take the bus while he was here. Unfortunately I have to take it to school otherwise I'd be walking forever and be sweaty when I arrived. But back to my skip day...
I put on the official exercise clothes and walked to Circo Massimo to run laps. How's that for a race track? I've never been much into running around tracks but the view is pretty good here. (see photo)

It was a GORGEOUS day. Sunny & warm. I had a great run and was actually able to run which is a miracle. Side effect of Palm Sunday mass with the Pope perhaps? Or, it could be that I bought new running shoes before I left the states and took a mini course before I left Seattle on Chi Running. I tried to put some of the philosophies into effect as I ran and I think it may have helped a little. My knee never even began to hurt. It usually hurts immediately.
After my run I decided to visit the Testaccio farmers market. I thought I had read in one of the many guide books that it's the best one. Maybe I misread (highly possible) but it wasn't so great. I also think that I might be spoiled by the Pike Place Market and all the great farmers markets in Seattle and Portland. Anyway, I enjoyed wandering around, trying to speak Italian, and buying a few things. I skipped purchasing the baby pig. (What is with all the baby animals I keep finding in the meat departments here?)

However, I did find some strawberries that look like Oregon strawberries (they are different than the California ones in the store), a Colomba cake for Easter/Pasqua, and another freaking bigne alla crema. These things are turning into my version of crack. If you recall I ordered one of these when I first arrived in Rome. It's the lighter than air cream puff dough, that I think is fried not baked, and then filled with about a cup of egg creme. When Joe was here he went out to buy some sweets for breakfast and came back with these from a local shop. They were insanely good. The one from the farmers market? A waste of calories but it was all in the name of research to find the best one in Rome. I think I will throw the towel in on this research project though. I'll just announce that the neighborhood joint has the best one and stop eating them before my pants split.
The rest of my day was spent reading and doing very little.
In the evening I went for a stroll in my neighborhood to check out some book bars. These are a new concept in Italy. A bookstore where you can also hang out to read and eat something. What an idea! Seriously though, this is a concept counter-culture to the Romans. The book stores were great though and I'm sure I'll go back.
I ended my night with two stops. The first, in a local pub where I noticed all the tables were reserved except for one bar stool at the end. I plopped myself down and then realized that the Roma vs. Lazio football match was that night and they were preparing for it. The last stop of the night and my skip day was to have a pizza for dinner. I know I've been complaining about too much pizza but this place looked so great. No one was in there which is typically a bad sign. That wasn't the case here. I decided on something sort of random for me - anchovies and zucchini flowers. I love that they use zucchini flowers here. They don't really seem to taste like anything but I keep ordering them anyway. I think I just like the idea of eating flowers. I will probably start buying that salad with edible flowers in it at home. I never eat anchovies though and I thought of my mom and brother George who love them. You were in my thoughts while I enjoyed my pizza!

Getting in touch with my catholic side

Today, Joe and I had our sights set on going to church. Joe hasn’t been since…I’m not sure but it’s been a long time. I went at Christmas time as a present to my mom. We had plans to go back to the flagship church of the Jesuits today at 12:30. We had seen on TV that there was something happening at the Vatican. We decided to make our way up there to take a few photos before church. In addition, today is the Rome marathon, which runs along the Tiber and by the Vatican. I was really regretting that I didn’t sign up for the 5k. I thought this could have been such a cool experience. Anyway, I figured I’d watch the runners a bit en route to the Vatican. Maybe this would provide the excitement of the race without actually having to exert myself too much.

As we made it to the Vatican, Joe exclaimed, “Oh, it’s Palm Sunday!” Right. Duh. It’s the Sunday before Easter yo, (as my friend Horace would say).
As we got closer we saw more people selling olive branches. I notice this is the more typical item used on Palm Sunday in Italy vs. palm fronds. In the states, for my non-Catholic friends, you get a palm frond on Palm Sunday. Here, you get an olive branch. It kind of makes sense since there are so many olive trees but it’s not like there are palm-trees-a-plenty in the states. In California and Florida sure but in Oregon there are no palm trees. Maybe we should get some pine needles or a branch of Oregon Grape. That would be a bit unfortunate however because that shrub sends me into an allergic fit. Anyway, I always figured the palm fronds were sent from the Catholic Archdiocese right before Palm Sunday. I assumed it was some sort of specially packaged selection of palm fronds sent directly from the Pope. Sorry to blow the lid off this secret. Those palm fronds are not from the Pope.
As we made our way up the Via della Conciliazione, the main road into the piazza, we saw that festivities were in full swing at Piazza San Pietro. We made our way in and…went to Palm Sunday mass with the Pope. I know. It’s better than mass at the Jesuit flagship church and I’m pretty sure that this gives me a “free pass and go directly to heaven” ticket. Joe kept joking about going to confession but now he’s pretty sure that this wipes his slate clean. I’m not as sure but that’s another story.
(See video from mass.)

Living la dolce vita

The week has been flying by and I'm pleased to report that there hasn't been another sleep walking episode. Whew!
The last few days have been pretty packed and Joe and I have gotten into a comfortable rhythm with the Italian tradition of eating a big lunch followed by a big nap. I haven't been napping as often as he has, possibly because I don't have jet lag or I'm not as drunk. Not sure which. Anyway, it might not be possible for me to nap due to the thunderous, beast-like sound that Joe emits when he sleeps. I'm starting to wonder if it's a family trait to snore. I'm aware that both my sister Peggy and my mom snore. I have been told that I snore a little too although I'm praying it is nothing like the snarling cacophony that comes out of Peggy and Joe. I digress.

Over the last couple of days Joe and I have spent the afternoon grabbing lunch and seeing some sights. On Wednesday we met up and did a little walking around. We started with Portico d'Ottavia which is located behind the Museo d'arte Ebraica - Jewish Museum. The portico was built in the 1st century ad by Emperor Augustus for his sister Octavia.

After that we viewed largo di Torre Argentina ruins. It was getting dark but we could clearly make out the thousands of cats roaming the ruins. Apparently there is a shelter there for them. Not too shabby for a stray. It's possible that they spend more money on maintaining the shelter there than the archaeological sites.
After that we headed to Il Gesu which is the flagship (do you say this in this case) church for the Jesuits. We headed inside and the church was phenomenal. Joe immediately commented that this was probably where his money went. Never fear Mom - I lite a candle for you AND Joe wants to go to church on Sunday. GASP!

On Thursday, we met up for lunch in the neighborhood near Termini where there are a few international restaurants. I thought maybe Joe could get his fix of middle eastern cuisine. Allora, we went to an Italian restaurant. After lunch we headed to Santa Maria Maggiore which is another massive church built on the site where Mary predicted snow to fall the next morning. Who knew Mary had a meteorology background? I covered my bases and went ahead and lite another candle here.
Today is Friday - yeah! We had lunch in a Trastevere neighborhood Sicilian restaurant. Have I mentioned how excited I am for my trip to Sicily in April? I'm so excited and this restaurant made my expectations grow. Who knows how Sicilian it was but it was just such a nice lunch that it made me excited for more lovely lunches on my travels down south.
I arrived at the restaurant to find Joe in the midst of lunch. He had ordered veal saltimbocca, lasagna, insalate caprese, and Sicilian sausage. We also were given some roasted potatoes to go along with the sausage. We finished things off with an AMAZING dessert wine of almonds. YUM! We also had cannoli and panna cotta. No dinner for me.
Tonight we are meeting up with the kids (20 year olds) for a drink or two and send a couple of them back home. Mai is returning to Japan and Nadia is returning to Switzerland.
Tomorrow we hope to go to Pompeii for the day but I still need to arrange the whole thing. We're going the low impact route and joining a tour bus instead of taking the train down.
I've got to nap now.