The Pantheon

It's hard to choose what the most impressive building in Roma is, but there is no doubt that the Pantheon w0uld be on the short list of favorites. Nestled in the center of Rome, accessible by numerous tiny streets is this architectural wonder, built over 2000 years ago!

How exactly were they able to pull off such a feat? No one knows. The monolithic columns in the front of local Travertine stone are so impressive. (Monolithic means they are one piece.) The bricks around the building were stamped by the company that made them, even with the date the bricks were made, showing how advanced the Romans were, even as merchants.

The doors are supposed to be the originals in bronze and are enormous, however the ceiling in the entrance is gone.

Inside, the hole in the top pulls your attention up, up, up to the sunlight that streams through. And yes it does rain in, however there is a minimal amount of rain that comes through that hole and one inside it falls straight down into the center of the building where there are 22 of these holes for drainage.

The Pantheon was once a temple and then became a church. It now is the resting place of King Victor Emanuel, King of Italy and some other dignitaries.

And, for those of you who followed the Angels & Demons trail - this is where they thought the first altar of the Illuminati was before heading over the Piazza del Popolo....

Soo cool!

Wow, we returned to Rome but it seems more like Hollywood as they are shooting a film in our hotel! There are actors and extras all over - police, hotel staff, the people filming, make-up and costume artists. Our lobby is full of cables, lights and so many people.

Unfortunately I haven't recognized anyone in particular, but we'll keep looking!

Firenze, Toscana

Solemnly, we left Roma for a trip to Florence and Tuscany on Sunday. We drove through many storms/showers, but arrived in a sunny Florence Sunday evening. After dinner, we all walked along the Arno River to the main squares to see the incredible Cathedral and Bell Tower.

Here is Giotto's Bell Tower!!

Monday we were off on another adventure to Chiusi and Citta' della Pieve, nearby towns, where we visited a museum of Etruscan artifacts and then had a personal guided tour of two Etruscan tombs located in the nearby hills. WOW!

Here we also stopped for a very leisurely "lunch"

 

with pasta typical of the region: PICI

plenty of wine, turkey, potatoes, cheese (for the vegetarians), grilled vegetables, and an incredible dessert, with limoncello!

Then our local guide made us walk 5 kilometers to visit an woman's home/laboratory where she paints and "cooks" ceramics. Fortunately our faithful bus driver, Silvia came to rescue us and take us back to Florence.

We spent the last two days visiting the most incredible works of art - the Gallery of the Academia, home to David and Michelangelo's Prigioni - his unfinished scuptures, which seem more like people escaping from a block of marble! We also spent quite some time at the Uffizzi Gallery looking at Botticelli's masterpieces.

Then we also visited the Brancaccio Chapel to see the frescos on the wall.

We broke for another amazing lunch at this unbelievable restaurant and then headed for the Pitti Palace where we had tickets to the 6 museums!!

 We visited one, and tried to see the gardens, but gave up, our feet rebelling!

Il cibo italiano (food)

Our hotel in Rome served us breakfast and "lunch" - il pranzo italiano. We made quite a meal out of breakfast too!!

Typically I would get a plate of fresh fruit and a glass of pineapple juice. 

 I would go back to the buffet for my cornetto con la marmelata - even though they had many types, my favorite is with apricot jelly.

Sometimes, I would also get a small round sausage and scrambled eggs, but usually the cornetto and cappuccino were enough!!

A pranzo, they would serve us a primo piatto of pasta or rice, and then a secondo piatto of meat or fish. Some days we became "vegetarians" so that we could have a salad or caprese for second.

 

 And finally we would have a delicious dessert!!

A couple of times we went out for una bella pizza, but mostly we had prosciutto and mozzarella for a quick dinner!

The Second Week - lunedi' e martedi'

What a busy week so far! On lunedi' we took a field trip to Perugia, a hill town, where we visited the Universita' degli Stranieri - the University for Foreigners. After taking several escalators up and climbing several sets of stairs we arrived at the University, where "il Rettore" (the President) greeted us with a small reception, including champagne. 

They offer many courses, including those for teachers who want to brush up on their Italian. Maybe in the future I will take a course there with some of my studenti...

Unfortunately, we did not have time to spend in Perugia and had to run back through the city, past the chocolate shop to make it to the publisher on time. As we drove through the industrial part of the town we did go by the Perugina, now Nestle factory. 

Now those of you who know me well, realize how dangerous it is to take ME to a publisher, but fortunately for me and the baggage handlers at the airport, they cannot sell books from the warehouse, but gave us each one of our own choice. We were also fortunate to see some old printing presses - with individual tiles for each letter.

We left around 6:00, planning to be back at our hotel by 8:00 for dinner, but we did not consider that it was a holiday in Rome - Saint Peter and Paul Day - who are the Patron Saints of Rome and everyone had taken a long weekend and they were also returning home. So we were stuck in enormous traffic jams; the worst being where 12 tolls booths fed into 2 lanes of traffic!!

Needless to say, when we got back to the hotel after 21:00 we were famished and tired. 

On martedi' however we continued our studies in the morning and then headed out again in the afternoon to Piazza Barberini. We walked all around the area visiting churches and works of art by Bernini and Borromini. We also were at the intersection of the Quattro Fontane (4 fountains) that represent 4 rivers.

Josie and I stayed in the city in order to go to Feltrinelli to find a book we need and ended up doing some shopping! I hit some good sales at Benetton and even found my dishes at a shop (but held back).

domenica, 28 giugno, 2009 - Roma

Buon Giorno a tutti!

I did the things I would typically do on a Sunday, but they are just so different here in Rome!!

First, I got my wake up call, then decided to just roll over and stay in bed a little longer. An hour or so later, Josie woke me up and told me she would wait for me at breakfast. I took my quick shower ( btw we have an awesome bathroom: tub, adjustable shower, large sink, toilet and bidet) then headed down to breakfast. Fortunately they were just bringing out more cocomero (watermelon) and melone (cantaloupe). I had my usual cornetto e capuccino and then headed off to church. 

Well, being in Rome, we have many choices as far as churches go, but we decided that we needed to go to the Vatican! 

We had to pass through security, then we could visit Saint Peter's Basilica. 

Once we entered the church, immediately to our right was La Pieta`. How beautiful! As we walked down the nave toward the rear of the church, the statues of the Popes are just breathtaking!

 Mass was said behind Bernini's main altar and each part of the mass was in a different language: Latin, Italian, Spanish, French... There were also so many people there. It was incredible to just listen to the mass, while looking up at Michelangelo's cuppola. I still wonder how they were able to build such a huge and beautiful building - 500 years ago.

After mass we parted our ways, as Josie and her fratello were going to visit the Tombs of the Popes and I was headed home for our daily dinner. Yes, I now call our hotel "home." The crowd was so thick trying to exit that we were not able to move too fast, then a murmur rose from the crowd - the Pope had appeared in his window!! Everyone fell silent and stopped moving. He gave a short sermon and blessing and then in each language welcomed the different groups of people who were present - many with flags and messages.

Luckily I wasn't too far from the colonnade where I was able to make a quick exit - only to find that my bus was at least a 15 minute wait, so I decided to walk home. It was a nice walk - except the last 10 minutes uphill... but that's okay - I'm in Rome!!

I arrived just in time for dinner - and there were only 13 of us!! We have pasta with fish for our primo - delicious little mussels and clams as well as calamari and sword fish. For our second dish there was sword fish and fagiolini. And for dessert....crostata con frutta fresca!! I ate it before I could get a picture!!

Now I am just relaxing in the shade of the terrace overlooking the pool and Rome. 

Che bella giornata!!

Sabato, il 27 giugno, 2009 - Roma

Buona Sera a tutti!!

Today we had a veeery leisurely breakfast with many fruits and our usual cappuccino e cornetto, then we had a "light" lunch of Penne Carbonara e una insalata con una mozzarella fresca!

Around 2:00 we caught the bus and headed into the center of the city to the Colosseum to visit and see an exhibit dedicated to the Emperor who built the Colosseum. The Colosseum got its name from the Colossus (large) statues that were there. The statues no longer exist in their entirety, but we did see parts of them. I also learned a new word for the entrances into the stadiums where people come from below to find their seats - the Romans called these areas "Vomitarium" - literally vomit people!

We then headed to the Palantine Hill and Roman Forum for a leisurely walk on the Via Sacra. It seems that the archeological digs keep growing and growing, especially now that they are building a new subway line - linea "C". Since our feet were killing all of us, we headed toward the Campidoglio and Piazza Venezia to get our bus home. 

Once we figured out how the automatic ticket machines work, we waited about 5 minutes for our bus to come. When it arrived the driver parked it and took a break....and 10 minutes later we were off! It always amazes me when we go over the Tiber River and see the Castel San Angelo, the Vatican and the surrounding area.  It is soo beautiful!

When we got to our stop I said goodbye to my friends and headed towards the shoe store! OMG I found so many shoes that I wanted to try on, but my feet were killing me so I decided to wait until Tuesday when Josie can come with me for advice.  I then passed a Cartoleria where I bought some games/puzzles but did not find pencils with names on - yet!! I crossed the street and went to the fruttivendolo to get some fruit for dinner. I bought 5 large white figs and 2 huge Roman peaches for 2.04 Euros! Oh how good they are!!

And here I am - 8:20 in the evening, thinking about my kids, my friends and my family and trying to breathe in as much of Wonderful Rome as I can. 

Here is the promised picture of Piazza San Pietro, where we plan to attend mass tomorrow.

The First Week

WOW! I can't believe that it has been a week already! We've done a lot but there is so much to see and do.

We have already corrupted the waiter; instead of us getting coffee out of the machine they have, he makes it for us on the professional machine reserved for the Italiani! Today our breakfast was out of this world; besides the "usual" plums, pears, apricots, sliced cantaloupe, and peeled kiwis, there was also watermelon (the real kind with seeds) and FIGS!! OMG How wonderful!

We also have an assortment of cornetti - or croissants everyday. They are light and flaky, filled with jam or chocolate or cream....

Today's plans include a visit to an exhibit at the Colosseum - it's only a 15 minute bus ride away! What a feeling when the bus goes over the bridge and we can see the Castel San Angelo and the bridge with all the statues!! I found out that the secret passage and rooms from the movie "Angels and Demons" are open at night  - so I hope to make it there soon. I think that next week we will have visited all the churches and sights included in the movie! Here is the obelisk in front of the Vatican (San Pietro) where the "Air" was found.

After a visit to the Farmacia I am feeling better. We also went to my favorite clothes store - Max Mara on Via Condotti and I bought a skirt and t-shirt! I have also not forgotten my kids or students and have found some awesome books and magazines to share (and some Kinder eggs too!)

Since this is my first blog... I hope it works! Let me know what you want to see and hopefully I can come through!

A piu' tardi!