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Published: December 27th 2006
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Along the Tiber
Christmas Eve and headed to the Trastevere neighborhood. Auguri...Buon Natale! I hope that your Christmas was full of cheer and joy. My title to the post is a nod to the Italian classic film of the same title. This film stars Alberto Sordi and is about an Italian from Rome that wants to go to America. The movie is hilarious. I highly recommend it although I don't know about availability in the states.
We just got back from our Christmas excursion to Rome last night and so I figured I'd better get this post off while my impressions are still fresh in my mind. My first major impression is that wandering around Rome is much more comfortable in the winter than in the summer. My second strongest impression was that there appeared to be more McDonalds outlets in Rome. As you know, I am a tourist that travels on his stomach and that development was not pleasing at all.
We picked Rome as our Christmas destination for a variety of reasons. The first being that the snow year has started off rather dismally in the Alps so a ski trip (which would have been our first choice) was out. Second, the holiday season is very family centered among the
St Peter's in the background
I like how the basilica was framed through the tree and blue sky. Italians and so it would be more cheerful to be in a crowd of visitors than left out in the cold. And last but certainly not least, we figured that a change in the food scenery would be more than welcome. I had a violent craving for mexican food (an uncommon experience since I rarely if ever eat at a mexican restaurant in the states) and I had found at least three said restaurants online. So we set off with the goal of not eating any pasta and wanting to sate that desire to eat tortillas. I'd like to say that we were successful but unfortunately we were not.
We headed to Messico 813 (?) on Via Urbana our first night in town. It started off in a hopeful way, the guacamole was a bit creamy but the chips were good. Next came two tamales for each of us then it went downhill from there. They were more of a facsimile of tamales rather than actual tamales. They were not made with masa harina but rather with the corn flour they use for polenta. So in essence we had "polenta-males" rather than actual ta-males! Next I had turkey with mole'
Piazza Santa Maria
in Trastevere. It was a wonderful day for strolling about. Temperatures were cool without being cold. and the mole' was vinegarish tasting - I couldn't finish it. We had a chocolate empanada (for the first time in my life!) for dessert and then for the final capper the waiter came by and suggested a tequila as a digestive!!! The only upside was that the music was Billie Holliday, Cole Porter, Sinatra etc. although I failed to see the connection to the food theme.
The next day we headed out to the 'burbs to the Museo della Civilita. Mussolini had this section of town built for an exposition that never happened because of WWII. The museum has two main sections and I wanted to see the historical collection of ancient Rome. I particularly wanted to see the dioramas depicting Rome at different stages. The museum is at the end of the blue line (metro) so it is a ways out. We did get to see one wing of the section I wanted to see, but inexplicably the other wing was closed. But, we were told we could come back the next day and then it would be open. Huh?
We then headed back into the centre and changed lines at the Termini and headed toward St Peter's.
Fountains Galore
Each has its own personality and history. I had an address to another mexican restaurant that is located close to the Vatican. We found it easily enough, unfortunately it was closed. Doh! The food gods were smiling that day because right next door was a sushi place. So we dined happily enough. We returned to our hotel for a catnap and then headed out for some shopping. We walked to Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) and Beth found the Aveda shop she was looking for. I chatted with the owner and I mentioned to him that we were headed to the ballet that night and might he recommend a nice restuarant in that area. He told us about an Indian restaurant on Via Cavour named Sitar.
So we headed off later that evening to opening night of The Nutcracker at the Teatro dell Opera di Roma. Ummm well, I don't want to come off as some visiting Visigoth, but quite frankly we were underwhelmed. But before I go all Ming the Merciless on my review, I must state beforehand that I have come away with a better appreciation of the Idaho Ballet and the Morrison Center in Boise. First of all, I was unimpressed with the opera
Piazza della Repubblica
The first piazza I set eyes on when I first came to Rome...still my favorite for people watching... house. It was as Beth commented "Built for looks, rather than the audience." It is tubular in structure and quite a bit of seating is poor to bad. I thought the music was very good but the dancing somewhat uninspired. It was somewhat passionless. The lead ballerina had this nervous tic in her left hand that at first I thought was an artistic affectation, but then I was unable to see anything else save that. I began to think she had some neurological symptom. The costumes were quite grand, but the scenery was somewhat disconnected to a winter story. The backdrop was palm trees and there was snow and sledding! Furthermore, it appeared that the grandmother and the toymaker were the focus of the story and not Clara and the Nutcracker. I don't recall the character of the grandmother in previous Nutcrackers we have seen so we were a bit baffled by that. Furthermore, the nutcracker Clara received at the beginning was a doll; it wasn't even a nutcracker! It also seemed that the intermission was entirely too long and afterward the second half just dragged on interminably. It appeared as if though they had realized that quite a bit
Bad architecture
from the Mussolini era...strove for the past grandeur that was the Roman Empire... of the score was still left to go through and so they had to fill in with some dancing.
As I said, I have come away with a better appreciation of Ballet Idaho and the Morrison Center. Of the two companies, quite frankly I would choose Ballet Idaho. Perhaps my expectations were too great, but Beth was of the same opinion so...well...there you have it. Fortunately we did make it to the Indian restaurant and the evening was rescued by a fabulous meal. We ate there again as well as another Indian place, Maharajah on via dei Serpenti. Both are very good and I highly recommend both. The two restaurants had quite a few Indian customers and so we noted that. In fact, the Maharajah had photos of famous Indian personalities taken at the restaurant with the owners. I spotted the actress that is in the movie "Bend it like Beckham" in one of the photos.
For the next couple of days we wandered about Rome and had a highly enjoyable time. This experience in Rome was not like previous visits. Before, our visits were spent scurrying from one site to another. This time we just wandered about and tried
Bad architecture pt II
from the Mussolini era...strove for the past grandeur that was the Roman Empire...As Maxwell Smart said, "Missed it by that much" to see Rome from a different perspective. And so I tried to take photos that are shot from a different view. I hope that you like them. We also went into some different neighborhoods that we hadn't had an opportunity to visit. Having a better command of Italian also made everything much more enjoyable. Knowing what to expect and being able to chat with the locals made this visit so much more pleasureable. I very much took to heart the old adage of "When in Rome..." :-)
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Dave
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Viva Roma
I recall our first day in Rome during our trip together and thus understand your allusion to greater comfort in cool weather! Glad you had the time to explore at a more leisurely pace. Our best during the holidays!