Roma, Bella!

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Well, this was our first weekend off since we got here last week. Last week was more just trying to get over jet lag. This week was more about fun! So, here's what I did. Friday night was the first concert of our festival season. The Ainos trio did a superb job with a Mozart and Mendelssohn program and finished with a beautiful Piazzola collection - two from the Seasons (autumn and spring, I believe) and Oblivion. That was incredible music! They played at the Sala Pegasus to an overflowing house of about 50-60 people. It's a very small church that was converted into a music space but the group was fabulous. After the concert, a group of us went out for dinner at one of the restaurants on Via Arco del Druso. This happens to be the Piazza where we spend most of our time because it's convenient to the hotel and the library and the bartenders in the area know who we are! I got the pizza amore and was very happy! Next we had the all-time favorite gelato and then met up with a few more people before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday was quite uneventful. We did a little shopping near Piazza Garibaldi. It's the farthest piazza from our hotel, but there's a few cheaper clothing stores there. I bought a pink shirt, a tank top and a pair of parachute pants (remember the 80's when parachute pants were in style? They're back!) and it cost about 20 Euro. That's about 35 USD, but that's cheap here. Oy! We then found the actual grocery store, Tigre, which is outside of the city walls but walkable. It is far from just about everything, but I'm going to talk to our wig/makeup person about busses. Apparently, she rode all the busses one day to find out where they go and is now the expert on helping us out on that. Trust me, I like knowing that I'm walking an average of 3 miles a day here, but every now and then a bus would be great.

Sunday was by far the best day. We went to Rome! It's a two hour train ride but worth the 16 euro it takes to get there. A group of us, along with the official photographer for the program, went to visit the Colosseum, the Forum, a bunch of fountains, and then got lost going to the Trevi Fountain. The great thing was that on the way to getting lost, we had Chinese food and McDonald's and saw the Vatican from afar. Italian food is great, but sometimes a little different anything is a treat! We've also figured out the train system but I bought a train ticket I don't need so at some point I'll have to go back and get a refund. By the way, when you get a train from Rome to Spoleto, it leaves off Platform 2PE, which is a walk down from the main station. We almost missed our train, but luckily we were still awake enough to look for it. We're planning another trip to the Vatican and maybe a trip to the beach if we have time, but I have a feeling things are about to get crazy here with rehearsals!

My feet hurt a lot and are swollen but I had a great time. I'm eating a soft salami called ciaiuscolo and grapes for dinner because I have no desire to leave my room after a cold shower. The heat wasn't too bad in Rome because we also had a breeze. But it's still hot. A temperature reader by the train station (Termini) said it was about 33 celsius. That's hot! The sun is just very intense, but we made it. Now that I have a fan in my room, the world is not as much an inferno, but it still is hot. Oh yes, by the way, when you are near Piazza Garibaldi, which is a fifteen minute walk to the train station, you can generally pass Piazza Garibaldi and go to a system of escalators which takes you to the castle - Spoleto has a castle; it's big and another time I'll go and check it out - and then around the city and close to our hotel. However, that closes at 8:30 and then you have no choice but to climb hills. So we got back to our hotel super sweaty but in one piece and that's all we could ask for!

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