As promised, I came crawling back... perhaps not as punctually as I may have indicated, but have I given any reason to expect more from me at this point?
I will touch on everything indicated in the title, but first I would just like to make a statement on how crazy Italy is. It's no secret that they love to strike (a huge one is scheduled for tomorrow... all modes of transport from what I understand, though they like to call of strikes almost as much as they like to announce them, so it's really hard to take seriously. Total "Boy Who Called Wolf" situation...), and one of the most effective (or in any case, obnoxious) instances is going on right now. Meghan and Erin came home yesterday from shopping and were like, "Oh my God... taxi strike. They're all parked in Piazza Venezia. It's seriously like a parking lot, and no one can move." Piazza Venezia is a VERY significant plaza in the already confusing and hard to navigate Roman traffic system, so it being turned into a "parking lot" is just asking for disaster.
So this morning Meghan, Erin, and I head out for Italian class at 8 30. Metro's on time, the 60 bus shows up promptly and everything's going well... until at the last minute it veers away from the dreaded Piazza Venezia and thus from the stop that we need. Lazy and not entirely sure what was going on, hoping it would loop back around, we stand (well, sit) our ground. Eventually we were in completely uncharted territory, and I made the realization that it was just continuing its route with no intention of going to our stop. We end up getting off, taking another bus to the absolute end of the Metro line, taking the metro BACK to Colosseo (which is about where the bus started going off course), and walking the 20 minutes from there to school. In the time we were traveling, a train could have gotten us to Florence and a plane could have gotten us to Oktoberfest. Needless to say, we missed Italian, but no one really held it against us. Piazza Venezia is in reality at this point navigable (if a little crowded), but not from the direction we were taking. Swarms of taxis are still parked all along the sides. Order is nonexistent. Ohhhh Italy.
So anyway, Dad's visit. It was really nice. He got in Thursday morning, I met him at the airport, and then it was a mission to keep him up and avoid the dreaded jetlag. Got off the metro at the Colosseum, walked through the Forum and on Capitol Hill, the Pantheon where we grabbed lunch/gelato at a place recommended to him by a friend, to Piazza Navona where we stopped in at school and he got the preliminary rundown of the kids in my program, 
Campo di Fiori where we picked up some parmesan and sausage, Jewish Ghetto, then settled in at a bar in Trastevere for a few hours because we had done considerable walking and it was starting to storm. Definitely a nice few hours catching up with the padre. Came home and picked up some groceries for dinner for our dear Meghan's pre-birthday dinner. Had a relaxing dinner/night in chatting with the roommates and Dad, and a good night's sleep before heading out to Florence. Dad curled up on the couch:).
Friday: Florence
was great, if a little chilly. Sat with Kelly and Dan (and Dad, of course) on the train, grabbed some kebab/falafel with them and a few others, and when (after a few tries) we were able to assemble the whole group, headed out to the Accademia Galleria and Duomo. I was quite excited for both of these, but especially to finally see Michelangelo's acclaimed David in the Accademia (the picture is a copy that is outside the Uffizi museum... no photography allowed on the original). He was beautiful, and massive. The detail, accuracy, and expression were absolutely beyond belief, especially on such a large scale. The class soon split down the middle in an argument over whether the moment Michelangelo portrayed in the statue was directly before or after David slew (haha, I was going to say "slayed," but SpellCheck called me out so... "slew" it is) Goliath, but don't worry, it didn't get too heated... no blood drawn or anything. I personally think it's right before, but there are good arguments for either position.
The Duomo was, clearly, quite impressive as well. Perhaps the most impressive 
part was the 85 year old man who, after apologizing profusely for his lack of command of the English language, proceeded to give us a lengthy description of just about everything we could have wanted to know about in the church, in excellent English. However, we were all getting weary at this point, so when Dad assured our guide that we were in no rush, he could take his time with his explanations, even our dear Maurizio responded aggressively against it haha. Checked out the beautifully gold-adorned Baptistry right in front of the Duomo, headed to the Ponte Vecchio (the only bridge to survive WWII bombing) at twilight, and then chilly and tired decided to grab a drink and a small bite to eat at a little place, since our dinner reservations weren't until 9 30.
Checked out some shopping in the huge leather/other goods market in the San Lorenzo area, hit up the hotel to freshen up, then grabbed a few more drinks at an Irish pub to kill time before dinner. Dinner was phenomenal... Kathleen had been raving about this place "Za-Za" for ages, and so we had a huge group dinner in honor of Meghan's birthday there. Dad and I had some mushroom 
polenta as a starter, I had an awesome ravioli in truffle sauce dish, and I think everyone [else] had the pleasure of indulging in some of Erin and Aunt Meg's steak Florentine. The wine was plentiful, Big Scott surprised Meghan with some birthday champagne, Dan surprised Meghan with some birthday handcuffs, I was too full to indulge in any dessert but it looked fantastic, Dad and Aunt Meg got to talk politics and Nietzsche, and all in all it was just a great evening. A few of us went to go spoil Meghan a little further at a bar called "Spleen" (which I found hilarious), and then it was to the Colonel's Penthouse til we all decided it was bedtime.
In the morning the hotel absolutely reeked, which was unfortunate, and indeed there was a septic truck with a huge hose running up the staircase when it was time to leave. It was quite foul. Big Scott threw up... maybe twice haha. Saturday was dedicated to the Uffizi museum, which was jam-packed with all kinds of art (I was very glad to have seen Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, both of which we've studied in class, as well as some early/unfinished da Vincis), but it had been a long night and early morning for all of us, so after a little while our minds were pretty much just on hot chocolate and lunch. It was falafel/kebabs again for some of us, and then we hit up the market. I was quite pleased with my purchase of a Vespa bag and Fiat tshirt. Met up with Erin, Aunt Meg, Kelly, and Ben Curly, and then we just had to wait for our train. Ended up sitting with Little Scott and Katy on the train, made it home, and then Dad and I went to dinner at a little local place.
This is getting so long haha.... ughhhh that's what I get for never updating. Sunday we got up, on the metro, and walked from the Circus Maximus to Trastevere to catch mass at Santa Maria in Trastevere, the oldest church in Rome, according to Maurizio. 
It happened to be a significant day for that church, so mass was a little long, but there was a cool blessing or something in the middle and it was a neat experience in general. 
Then Dad and I headed to the huge Sunday flea market in Trastevere, which I had been meaning to get to for awhile (and actually went back to with Meghan and Erin this week), and by huge I mean absolutely enormous. And cool to check out, but a little over the top... stands and stands of the same (somewhat junky) stuff interspersed with worthwhile items. Dad also wanted to see the Vatican, so we did that afterwards, then Spanish Steps, then Trevi fountain, then shared a bottle of water at a place we stopped at so I could use the bathroom before we knew it was a huge ripoff for everything. It was still a bit early for dinner at this point, so we went to Trinity College pub for a pint and extended pop culture discussion. Then we wandered down side streets towards Piazza Navona waiting for something to catch our eye. We settled on, well, the first place we saw, which offered Sicilian fare, and had another nice evening. The man of the couple next to us had been coming to Rome "at least once every decade for the past 30 years" and apparently ate at that restaurant every time? Then met an older American woman on the bus who just up and moved to Rome a few months ago because she had always wanted to, and "when you're her age, you have to start doing the things you always wanted to." Sound logic.
Monday I had to go to school, since I skipped for Dad on Thursday haha, so I left him at 8 30, after which he checked out Basilica San Paolo and headed out to the airport quite successfully. Again, a great visit and I'm excited to see everyone else when I go home in twenty-two days... though I still cannot believe how fast this has gone! And again, this post is entirely too long for me to add anything else to, so Thanksgiving, Chianti, and whatever else I will have experienced by the time I update next will just have to wait. Le sigh.
Click here for the rest of the pics. Also, if you click on any of the pics in any entry you can view them larger:).
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento