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Published: March 21st 2011
Welcome!
Asian Delight.It's Meg~After about a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Cortona to Rome, we arrived to our B&B to find a note from Giacomo (our host) to Aaron saying he would be there at 6. We got there at 5:30, so I guess it wasn't going to be too bad of a wait, could have been worse. And I suppose that is what to expect when you aren't staying at hotel, but whatever. We just sat on the step of his building looking like a couple of gypsies drinking the rest of our vino. Around 6:15, Giacomo and his girlfriend pulled up on their scooter and let us in. I have to say, this place was pretty sweet. Nothing like a hostel or hotel, but rather like staying at your friend's apartment. The bed was the most comfortable one on the trip, there was a gigantic mac computer and a 50 inch flat screen tv, neither of which we took advantage of. The bathroom was the weirdest part of the room, it was like a module bathroom that you had to step up into, not too much privacy at all. We got situated and planned to meet Chiara outside our 'apartment'
gypsies
Waiting for Giacomo. for dinner. For those who don't know, Chiara is a distant family member of my Uncle Bob's. We met her when she visited my Aunt and Uncle 2 summers ago. Also, my cousin Carly visited her and her family outside of Rome back in '08. She studies in Rome, but her and her family are from L'Aquila, just east of Rome. We went and sat on a cute patio and had dinner, and then walked around and made it to the Colosseum just to look at it (amazing) and then headed back to our place and went to bed. Next day it was time to begin our 3 days of exploration. The weather was not on our side, it pretty much rained all day and night of our first 2 days, but we had a ton of things to see, so it didn't stop us, just got in our way. First we headed on the train to Vatican City to see the Basilica of San Pietro, and walked to the top of the Dom, and walked around the Piazza. Then headed to the Vatican museum and made our way through to see the Sistine Chapel. That same day was the
Dinner
with Chiara! 150th anniversary of Italy's national unity, so there were celebrations all around the city and fireworks at night. Once we got off the train after our tour of the Vatican, we came up the stairs to find a celebration right in front of us. We had heard drums and such, but that was accompanied by a row of flag throwers making their way slowly down the portico. After dinner at this wine bar, we headed to try and meet up again with Chiara in front of this main building where they had a choir and speakers including Berlusconi, who got booed! We saw some red, white, and green fireworks but never found Chiara in the mayhem of people. So we headed to see the Trevi fountain, which is one of the most famous fountains in the world. The legend holds that if visitors toss a coin into the fountain, it is guaranteed that they will return to Rome. We sat and people watched while finishing our bottle of wine, tossed in our coins, and headed home. The next day was the longest. I think we were out seeing everything for over 12 hours! we headed to see the spanish steps,
Piazza del Popolo, the Pantheon, Tempio Adriano, Piazza Navona, where we met up with Chiara and got coffee. It was St. Patty's Day that day, so we hopped into an american style bar that was advertising car bombs and took one down to celebrate ole St. Pats. After walking around even more, we headed to Piazza della Repubblica, which is very nice and lit up at night. We then headed to the University area where Chiara studies because Giacomo suggested a restaurant for us Vegetarians, but we couldn't find it. We said goodnight to Chiara and found another one of Giacomo's suggestions: a wine bar called Ai Tre Scalini. It was packed so we knew it was going to be good. There was a wait but a couple got up and we snagged their seats at the bar. We were so famished! They gave us a few bar snacks when we sat down, and then we ordered a bowl of olives and ricotta bufula with arugula and truffle honey. Yummo! The next day we woke up and the rain had FINALLY passed..It was perfect out and we needed that after 2 days of rain. The things we had planned for
San Pietro
top of the dome our last day were meant for nice weather, so we were glad it worked out! We first went to the Colosseum, which was truly amazing! That same ticket allows you to walk through the neighboring forum, which is one of the most ancient parts of Rome. We didn't have time to see it in its entirety, the whole area is massive and we had to meet up with Chiara by noon. She took us to the Jewish Ghetto but we didn't go into the museum there, just walked around and ordered their famous artichokes at a nearby restaurant. Then headed up to a park that had a wonderful view surrounded by orange trees, walked through a church and headed down to see Circo Massimo, which is an ancient Rome chariot racing stadium. It is also where my cousin Carly celebrated the world cup in Italy back in '06. Lucky girl! We then headed across the river to Giancolo, a big park and then to Trastevere, which is an area we had heard about before our trip. It's a cute little village with a lot of character, but became 'discovered' and is nowadays full of tourists. We made our way into
Viva Italia!
150th Anniversary a pub we had first heard about in Germany. The guy who gave us a tour of the Braustelle brewery in Cologne was wearing this t-shirt that said Ma Che Siete Venuti a Fà, which roughly translates to 'why the fuck are you here'. It's a tiny place, but they had a great selection of brews. I had a coffee porter, Aaron had a double IPA, and Chiara went with a sour ale. Apparently they topped the list of the ten best beer bars in the world in 2010 according to Rate Beer. Also on the list were brew pubs in Seattle, Atlanta, Orlando, and Indiana...the rest were across the pond. Pretty crazy. Chiara then headed home while we stayed in Trastevere for dinner and more vino. The next morning we had to meet Chiara at the bus station to head out to L'Aquila to visit her family. As we were on the escalator going to find the bus station she was walking on the stairs next to us! Perfecto! Not sure we would have found where we were going if we didn't see her. The bus took a little over an hour and her Dad met us at our
Trevi Fountain
Throwing coins! stop and drove us back to their house. Hadn't been in a car for almost 3 weeks, so that was different! For those who don't know, L'Aquila was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in '09 and there has been little done to get the city back to normal. Chiara's family's home is unsafe to live in, so they built a frame home (temporary home) in front of their house. Across the street, her Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle live in frame homes as well. When we arrived, Chiara's mama was preparing what was about to be the best lunch of our trip! For our first course, she made homemade linquini with mushrooms and a creamy truffle sauce. I mean, what a wonderful beginning, right?! Then next course was homemade ravioli with spinach and ricotta, and a pomodoro sauce. Then, eggplant and zucchini which had been grilled and marinated in olive oil, s&p, and parsley. So simple and so delicious! Also tempura battered zucchini, artichokes, and zucchini flowers! Obviously Chiara told them we are Vegetarians! I am so mad I forgot to pull out my camera to document this beautiful meal! I apologize to all! especially you, Zeph! Then we
had gelato with fresh strawberries for dessert, and a traditional dessert called zeppole which they make once a year on St. Joseph's Day (their Father's Day). It is a lemon flavored 'doughnut' sprinkled with sugar. Holy moly we were stuffed! We then visited Chiara's Aunt and Uncle and Grandparents for an espresso and apertif before going to the city center to walk around and see the damage from the earthquake. Streets are pretty lonely, there is obvious outside damage to buildings, but it is mostly structural damage, so most of the businesses have been evacuated. You can read more and see pictures online. It's very sad. Changing the subject, once we were back home, we had a date to video call my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin Carly on skype. It was fun to see there faces and for them to see Chiara's family who they only see in pictures. I have never video chatted with anyone before so it was pretty cool! For dinner, Mama made bruschetta, quiche, and a egg battered cheese sandwich which i forgot the name of. We also had more of the eggplant and zucchini from lunch and some salad with fennel. So so good! Chiara
had some friends in town to visit so we headed to a bar called The Corner that had a double decker bus inside! We had a great time with her friends, so fun! Chiara turned 21 at midnight so we celebrated for a bit and then went home to get about 3 hours of shut-eye before heading to the airport. It was truly the best way to end our time in Italy. After all the hustle and bustle of the city and everything we had done and seen, it was nice to get that true Italian family time in. It was bittersweet to get back home to Chicago but all good things must come to an end. But this is not the end of traveling for Aaron and Meg, that is for sure! Till next time....Bye bye! Auf Wiedersehen! Ciao!
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