Rome Day 7 and 8

Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Good morning.
We decided to buy lots of cheese today. Here they are as follows: Pecorella 296 g fir €3.46, Grana Padano 330 g, for €2.94, Formaggio Asiago 446 g at €3.43, Pecorino Nobile 280 g and €2.21 lastly Mandarino Affumicato 208 g at €2.54. We’ll let you know how they are. We just got home from shopping and did we cash in. We bought two bottles of olive oil and one bottle of balsamic vinegar to bring home. We also bought some generic biscuits with cocoa. Along with that, a 1.5 Liter box of sangria followed us home. How bout that?

It was a fun little venture. The grocery store was a bunch of stops away on the metro, but it was about a 15 minute trip. It was part of a mall that included a Coin store. Lisa and I wandered around the mall to see what Italian malls were like. It was pretty dinky compared to most of ours in the states. I would say it was smaller than half the size of the Apache mall. When we were walking around we saw some food shops, particularly one selling pizzas and sandwiches. Lisa and I told ourselves that we would stop later and we did. We ended up getting a huge piece of like a tuna salad (minus the mayo) pizza with lettuce and tomato pieces and a Prosciutto and zucchini pizza. We also got fried zucchini flowers and fried Baccalla (salted cod). The fried flowers had cheese and anchovies and the salted cod was good as well. Not bland like some of the fried fish that I have had in my time. The Tuna Salad pizza was awesome, but I couldn’t finish the Prosciutto pizza, because instead of like melted cheese, they had some sort of liquid cheese or something, and it wasn’t very appealing to me. It just kind of freaked me out. So I left it alone. It was pretty pricey in the mall, because we ended coughing up 14€ for those two pieces of pizza, the fish, the flowers and a diet coke. Ouch. After that we went grocery shopping. After the trek to the grocery store we came home and had a snack of some artichokes. This time we had a total of 3. We sauced them in a bit of oil and balsamic vinegar, salt/pepe (pepper). They were pretty good, a good little snack that I don’t feel horrible about eating. It also served as a break between veggies as we are having salad and minestrone soup and asparagus tonight, it is also hard to cook all that stuff with only 2 burners and no microwave to help share the load.

After our snack we decided to go up to the roof and lay out in the afternoon sun. We laid out and talked for about an hour to an hour and a half. I think it is safe to say I would have been asleep if it were not for the 3 caffe’s we each had. It was warm and still breezy up there. We didn’t break a sweat in the sun which is always nice. I usually am against sun bathing unless a pool is available.

We came back to the apartment and Luke is making the minestrone with real beef and the fresh veg we got from the market yesterday. I’ll get the salads ready in a minute. We MAY go to Piazza Navonna later or we MAY stay in and watch a TV show. Plans for tomorrow are still up in the air. Over and out. ljf

Thursday, May 10, 2007 1754

Good evening. Today we got a moderately late start and went out to re-view some of the things we wanted to see again. We hopped on our good ol’ 116 bus and went to Trevi Fountain.

There still were a good handful of tourists there. We sat for a while in a sunny spot and then moved to a more shady vantage point to people watch. After an hour or more we had had enough of Bernini’s grandest fountain.

We walked around a while half heartedly looking for a place to eat dinner. We knew we needed to eat before our museum entry time at 1500 or we’d likely keel over. We looked in a few take out pre made sandwich places, stopped to look at a few menus posted outside the doors. We were accosted by a the owner of a neighboring restaurant. He said he had real Italian food, not that crap over there. He pulled us in and we looked at some of the food samples he had in cases along the way to the back of the restaurant. We allowed ourselves to be seated. I ordered the Lasagna I saw in the kitchen window it was a lot of layers of noodles with some creamy tomato sauce like they mixed in real ricotta with the warm sauce and it all melted. It was very good but I would have liked more or a side or something. Luke ordered the bucatini which was basically a bacon flavored tomato spaghetti. The spaghetti was really big around. A few of them were hollow in the center. I know cause I felt air when I was sucking the spaghetti into my mouth when I was trying it. It was really good, Luke got a big portion. We also decided to share a Pizza, we had a Margherita. It had a lot of cheese compared to the Naples pizza we had. The bill came to €31 with water and 15% service included. We went to the bathroom and we saw the desserts in the cooler in the basement. They were packaged and purchased from a vendor. They were really pushing the Lemon Sorbet that was served in a hollowed out lemon. Glad we didn’t get it. The people upstairs were taken. The service was really friendly, I can say that much.
We walked to the Spanish steps. There is this little staircase that is parallel to the Span steps, they are more functional than decorative. I said to Luke, “This is it?” We laughed. Oh, another funny thing Luke said when we were touring around the forum previously- he asked “Where is Caesar’s Palace?” Caesar’s palace is Las Vegas. There is no C.P. in Roma. Ha ha. Ok back to the Steps, we sat for a while in the sun, people watched again.
At 1400 we decided to get going for our 1500 entry time to the Borghese gallery. We had Rick’s instructions and the instructions from the Borghese people. We were kind of dumbfounded. We were supposed to go to Via Veneto which didn’t really run in that area from what we could see from our mappa. We decided to go from the Spagna metro stop and try to follow the directions that way. We finally hit the right spot to start from. The signs pointed us to a subway level moving sidewalk and then out to daylight and then to cut through a dog type park over gravel and past a little Carosel and arcade for kids out in the middle of “nowhere” you could also rent bikes to an unseen destination. They had little bikes too for the kiddies, also a 4 person covered bike. That looked kind of cool. We saw some American kids biking and screwing around in one. We finally were sure we were on the right path and saw the museum. We even made it the required 30 min ahead of time to claim our tickets so they didn’t sell them. A sign said at the desk that they were sold out of tickets until Sat. Can you believe. I bet they had lots of pissed off people that when they got all the heck way out there found out that there were no openings until the next day.

We drank some fresh water from the fountain and wetted our faces down before entering the museum as it was in the low 80’s and very sunny.

The museum was packed with great stuff. It had a very high concentration of big names for not being such a huge museum. The admittance was €7.50. We saw first the Paolina Bonaparte lady posed reclining as Venus. That was very beautiful and done by Canova. Then we saw Bernini’s Apollo e Daphne. It is Apollo trying to grope or grab Daphne. She in her escape had begun to turn into ( I don’t know the significance ) a tree. The sculpture is in a twist of motion and their hair and togas are windblown as her fingers grow leaves and toes sprout roots. This was my favorite sculpture.

Next we saw Bernini’s Pluto and Prosperina, a sculpture capturing Pluto trying to take Prosperina to the underworld. She is fighting him and trying ot hit him, he is holding her up and has a strong hand grabbing one of her upper legs. This part looks so real as his fingers are dug in and pressed into her, she doesn’t look marble. This one was Luke’s favorite.

We saw some more Raphaels, Caravaggio’s, Titian, Bernini’s David of which I didn’t get a post card. We saw a room full of rare Porphyry purple marble.

We exited and sat on a sunny park bench, contemplated sunburn, discussed our thoughts on the museum and were dreaming about the cheese plate we were going to make when we got home. Yummy. We luckily found a 116 Electric bus stop and took it directly to our stop in the Campo. We were very happy to be home.

We stopped at the local dry goods store and bought some coffee as we drained the caffé grounds that was provided or left with the apartment. We bought more or we wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the AM.

Luke will make some kind of miraculous tomato sauce for the fresh pasta we bought in the store the other day. Maybe we’ll have some garlic toast or something too. I think we ate all our fresh veg yesterday. Oh, wait we can have our favorite salads. Luke also informed me that he would like some tartufo dark chocolate gelato. We had some in Parma. It was SO VERY good. It was so rich and chocolaty, not even terribly sweet, just good. We better get going if we are going to do all those things before bed. Plus I should do dishes too.

Today is Day 8 of 10 in Roma. We leave Monday AM. Luke and I have talked about how we miss our house. This has been the first time we have really talked about missing that. I guess it will be good to be home. Hopefully we’ll have time to post. ljf

We are now having a cheese tasting and I will be doing the documentation. We are eating tralli thin breadsticks and toast.

1.) Nodini mozzarella prepackaged from the fresh case-soft rubbery/chewy, light and cool. Like a wet cheese curd. It needs salt. Kind of flavorless.
2.) Parmigiano Reggiano- you can taste the crystals when you crunch a chunk, a dry and almost crumbly cheese it kind of sucks the moisture out of your mouth. Tastes milky and has some depth
3.) Provolone Piccante Auricchio Spicchio. This one is smooth and slices well. Light ceamy color, it has a bit of spice to it. It almost tastes like vinegar or something acidic in the aftertaste.
4.) Pecorella. Smooth with infrequent small holes in the cheese. It is a bit smokey, slices well, tastes a bit like a standard white cheese, a bit mild.
5.) Pecorino Nobile. This one is a bit rubbery to the tooth, reminds a bit like the Mozz. Luke says it has a very subtle bitter aftertaste- I am not sure I’d call it bitter, maybe the taste blossoms at the end. I very much like it. It also has a few infrequent small holes.
6.) Mandarino Affumicato. Smoky to the smell and taste. It makes me think of a campfire and pleasant memories. Maybe it reminds me of hotdogs. This cheese is soft and creamy a little darker cream color than the other cheeses.
7.) Asiago This is a plain creamy soft cheese that has no real strong characteristics. Luke tells me that this melts very well. It is a good overall cheese that a kid would eat or even a picky eater.
8.) Grana Padano This is cheap Luke tells me. It is in the Parmigano Reggiano family, in that it crumbles and splits similarly, however we feel it lacks the depth in the flavor and the crystallization that the P.R. has. This is a very apt substitute at €8.90 that’s € 5 less a kilo. Hmm. Tastes fine.
9.) Fontina Aosta Inter. Luke doesn’t like this he says it’s bitter. It sure is bitter, wow. It almost tastes basic like it’s poison. I tried it earlier and didn’t think it was that bad. I wonder if the characteristics are just magnified when comparing the cheeses. It is again creamy in color and texture, slices well. Luke would not let us get more of this. I guess I wouldn’t suggest it either. Good thing we only got a bit. This concludes the cheese tasting.

Pompeii and Rome Day 5 and 6

Monday, May 07, 2007
Luke and I just arrived to the apartment. It is 2145. We left this morning at 7.00 on the dot. We passed the Campo’s market as a few stalls were setting up. We took the short bus to the Termini train station and had 30 min to wait for the 8.30 am bus Intercity to Napoli (Naples). We could have taken a train in 15 minutes but that was a Eurostar and cost €15 more each and got you there 30 min earlier. We didn’t feel the need to pay the extra.

We sat in a coach ette a little train compartment for 6 people. It had a door and curtains. There were assigned seats and it was pretty comfy too. We sat with an engaged Michigan State college couple backpacking across the highlights of Europe. They were going to Pompei too. It was kind of nice to talk with normal Americans.

We got to Naples followed the signs in the station for the “Circumvesuviana” train. That’s a line of trains that goes locally around the Naples area to the smaller towns and around Mt. Vesuvius. We found the right train and for €2.20 we were taken on the 30 min ride to Pompeii. It was not raining currently but you could see the rain and hear some lightning. We got off at the stop and the excavations were literally a block away.
The admission was €10. The excavations was in an area at least 3 square miles large. You walked a bit, saw some of the columns left of their Forum. Saw some neat views of the current time Pompei. The other direction you saw Vesuvius. It’s funny that I didn’t look solemnly at it like this volcano ruined the people and preserved this town. The view of Vesuvius was cloudy and dark blue with occasional sounds of thunder. At first I didn’t believe it was thunder. I thought it was suitcases rolling over cobblestones.
A neat thing we saw were 2 or 3 large stones (about 8-12 inches high) where the crosswalk would be where you’d cross your street. The stones were placed just so that the people could walk on them elevated from the water and drainage on the street and so that the carts could wheel right over them and control traffic a bit. I thought that was interesting. We saw some fast food places where there was counter tops over the fire and you’d put a pan or a grill over and cook/serve your food.
I, of course, took a pic of Luke behind there. He just loved to pose for it, I could tell by the enthralled expression on his face. I got to see what I have been waiting for; a field full of poppies. I like poppies probably mostly because they are red. So, I got my moment and my picture. We weren’t able to follow rick’s tour very well nor the map provided very well. We also weren’t terribly involved in the “exhibits” as all of the things of interest: frescos, furniture, landscaping, was absent; it was just the shell of the foundations sometimes shoulder to 11 feet tall walls. It was also very hot and sunny despite threatening to have a major storm on top of us. Long story short and excuses aside, we decided to leave relatively soon after we arrived to the Scavi maybe an hour and a half to 2 hours. There was very much more to see. We hoped what we were really interested in would be shown at the Museo Archeologico.

We took the short train back to Naples. By this time we were absolutely STARVING! Luke said, “what are we going to do after we first go get pizza?” Luke navigated us with minor difficulty to this city wide known pizzeria called Pizza Antica de Michele. We knew we were at the right place when we saw 17 people waiting with their number to get seated. We had to wait maybe 20 minutes. They called your number and you found the dirty spot where the people who just left were sitting. They cleaned the table. We ordered 4 Peroni beers to quench our thirst while waiting to order. They had but 3 pizzas on the menu, without cheese, with cheese and extra cheese. The normale pizza size was like on a 15 inch plate. The pizzas are baked in a wood fire oven, done and dark on the crust and slightly doughy in the center. The pizza was thin so you could fold it and wrap it, the sauce was pretty thin too. It was so simple just tomatoes and a little bit of spice, a few circular slices of fresh Mozzarella and a small sprig of basil in the center. I suppose you have to like the pizza where pizza was invented. The place opened in 1870 and has been family run ever since. It was good, and cheap, only €3.50 per pizza and €1.50 for a bottle of beer, the cheapest we’ve seen.

We then went to the Museo Archeologico via a street nicknamed Spaccanapoli. They had crude stands set up to sell toys, sunglasses, miscellaneous household items. Definitely not tourist oriented. It was kind of a nice change actually. The streets were cobbled and not terribly well maintained. It seemed like a long walk to the museum. Luke read about a few of Napoli’s famous pastries. We found a stand and got the sfogliatella a crispy scallop shell shaped flaky pastry filled with sweet ricotta cheese and they had Baba which was a rum soaked doughnut. Boy do they mean rum SOAKED. We were kind of loopy after the 2 beers on an empty stomach. The lady packed them up as we said we wanted the pastries to go. We put them in the backpack and saved them for later on the train.
On and on to the museum which we still found difficult to get to. We finally got there at 1615. That is already a late day for us! Ahh, we went into the “secret room” where the erotic art from the scavi is kept. The art was supposedly in the private baths and bathrooms of the rich and famous. The male privates were supposedly uses as amulets to ward off evil and make you more virile or something. Anyway what I was getting at is they had this whole glass case cube filled up halfway with a pile of male genital amulets. I thought it looked kind of funny and chuckled to myself.

The rest of the museum consisted of many busts, large greek type statues, frescos and mosaics stolen off the walls of Pompeiian homes, a special amber jewelry exhibit, bronze and glass kitchenware, some mummies and Egyptian artifacts. I was tired and pissy with all the junior high age kids on end of the year school trips. They are so loud and obnoxious. I was never like that, not ever. So we kind of rushed through that museum and decided to take the metro back to the station.

With a little time with the map and some very helpful and well timed advice from a local guy we got onto the correct subway and the right track to get to the real train station. We caught the 1830 Intercity train direct to Roma. I got to see the sunset out my cabin window. Luke was fighting sleep. He always claims he can’t sleep on the bus, plane, car etc. He was almost asleep. Poor Luke. After we arrived we took our metro to the bus stop, and looked at the sign to see the hours- I thought the bus ran til 2330. I was wrong. We went to check another bus line to see what could get us relatively close to our apartment. As we were looking the original bus we wanted drove by, we saw it as it was taking off. Ahh. It turns out that the same bus takes a slightly different route in the evenings to accommodate some of the Theatrical doings in the area. We still got home well enough.

Luke talked to our friend Kevin who is now with his wife and sister on Vacation in Italy. We’ll rendezvous in Rome on Sat or something. We got home, had some leftover cold home made Alfredo sauce on fresh pasta, had some cold potatoes heated up and fried. Nothing like white food and carbs at that too. We didn’t do dishes just went to bed.


Tuesday, May 08, 2007 2030
Good evening again. Here we are. We got up early of course to go to the blessed Vatican. We did however also need to go to the market as it was closed on Sunday and then we left too early to purchase anything yesterday. We got some apples, onions, artichokes ( 4 this time), a different kind of cheese that is semi soft and tastes buttery, bulk spices, fresh mixed salad, fresh minestrone mix, eggs, panne (cream for café). I think that’s about it.

We took it back to the apartment and then skipped to our bus in the direction of the Vatican. There were lots of religious oriented tourist stuff in shops along the way.
St Peter Square is quite huge, the obelisk in the center is quite a sight too. The 2 semi circle huge colonnades with the big statues on top were quite a site, as were the SUPER long lines.
We decided to go into the Vatican museum first. We waited in line to a yet unseen location. We waited on line for about an hour we think. It was sunny and no clouds today so we got some sun I am sure of it. There was this Bosnian or Russian family behind us who stood so close if I leaned back a few inches I would lean on them. It just about drove me insane. You know, this is my dance space, this is your dance space. We finally got to the museum went through security metal detectors and xray bag checks, paid our entrance fee €13 each. Rick said to go into the museum with the mindset not to linger among artworks. He was partly right. You couldn’t linger as there were so many people in your way. There was this one dude who in the first 100 yards of the beginning of the exhibits has taken a picture of each thing he looked at. They weren’t even good pictures, I know, because I was looking over his shoulder at his digital camera. At this rate he’ll be out of memory in 20 minutes. Then there are the school age kids on their school trips, they all are yakking, holding hands for fun (not for safety) and clogging up the quickest route from A to B. “Damn kids,” I found myself muttering to….myself and Luke of course.

We saw some Egyptian Mummies and the jars they put the organs in (don’t ask me why the Vatican has those), statues too. Also some pretty impressive Rapheal “The School of Athens” that Luke studied in his Art Appreciation class and then the “Disputa”. The rest was busts, tapestries, elaborate ceiling frescos, some more Greek sculpture that Michelangelo was inspired by the Laocoon and Apollo. Saw some expensive and rare gigantic marble sarcophagi and a 15 foot wide and 6 foot tall “birdbath” made out of this purple porphyry marble. He selfishly used like all of it. There is no more of this marble available unless it is “recycled” from another piece.

We saw, in contradiction of the Secret Room in Naples, most of the privates of the male statues covered with a fig leaf. Supposedly it was after the Renaissance when a period of conservative movement of priests decided to reform all the nude male art.

Then the biggie, what we all have been waiting for…. The Sistine Chapel! It sure was a hike to get there. Something tells me that if the Sistine Chapel was a separate ticket for just that, there wouldn’t be that many people in the Vatican museum. I would be the gladder for it too. I would have just enjoyed enjoying the Museum at my own pace instead of navigating around other tired and hurried travelers. Sheesh. So, the chapel was BIG. There were people almost shoulder to shoulder enjoying the site, more like trying to take photos of it. Even though there were guards shushing the crowd and telling them every 15 seconds that no photos were allowed. People just kept on taking pictures. Jerks! Supposedly it took 4 years to for Michelangelo to fresco the ceiling. When the fresco was revealed art scholars said that the Sistine ceiling was the single greatest work of art by any one human being. We absorbed all the little scenes painted about Genesis. The focus was creation when God made man, the fingertips of God touching Adam’s and giving his lifeless limp body life.

We went out and to our delight the entrance to the Vatican itself was available to us with no line to wait in. I’ll let Luke take over here as I am bushed. Okay, now the fun begins. Lisa and I were mentally and physically exhausted after all that art. I guess we should have slammed a few more espressos. When we went to go to St. Peters Basilica, we took Rick’s advice and went out this special exit that basically led us to the church. Lisa and I went into the church, and boy, is it huge. Huge would probably be an understatement. They actually have markers on the floor that show how much smaller some churches actually are compared to the St. Pete’s. Lisa and I got out of everyone’s way and went into a little nook and I read the basics from Rick’s book. To the right when you walked in, you could see Michelangelo’s Pieta. More on that later. The first thing that really catches your eye is the monster altarpiece. It is a seven story brass “four poster” canopy for the altar. Only the pope is able to use it for mass though, otherwise mass is held farther back in the church. Underneath the altarpiece lies the body of St. Peter, the first pope, and the person that Jesus told who would lead the world to religion through the church. It was on the church grounds that St. Peter was crucified upside down (he wasn’t worthy to be crucified like Christ, hence being upside down) and died. At that time, St. Peters Square was a race track and a torture field for Nero, the Roman emperor of the time. Christians were actually burned, crucified and fed to lions for believing in God. But look which religion prevailed. So back to the Vatican. When walking around the church, you notice all the paintings on the wall (these were paintings that were large, not the Mona Lisa) and Rick actually tells you that they are mosaics, and sure enough they are. Bernini did most of the statues and the marble work for the church, plus the altarpiece. Michelangelo did the dome (no building can actually be built higher than St. Peters Dome). Ringing the dome and the church about ten stories up are latin inscriptions talking about scripture. The lettering used is actually seven feet high, and Lisa and I were about to dismiss it as false until we saw people walking the “ring” of St. Peters Dome (a tourist attraction that you had to pay 6€ for) and sure enough the people were shorter than the lettering. Wow. We finally made our way back to the entrance to Michelangelo’s Pieta. They put the sculpture behind bulletproof glass because back in ’72, some dude came in wielding a hammer and started bashing the sculpture with it. Of course they subdued him and fixed the damage. What a crazy guy. Rick offered no other explanation as to why the guy did it. I bet though that all the art collectors in the world are paying somebody to watch this guy (obviously he isn’t going to spend life in prison) to make sure he doesn’t “hurt” anything else. The Pieta, which is Mary holding her dead son (Jesus) after he is off the cross, was the highlight of St. Peters Basilica. I learned about this in art class (actually a lot of the things I have seen in Italy I learned about in art class). I could go into detail, but look into it yourself. A wonderful piece of art, and something you could think about for a while (Mary, mother of God, holding her dead son knowing who he is, and what he has done). Lisa and I decided to leave after that.

Once outside we sat on the steps of the church and had lunch. A simple meal consisting of apples, oranges, bread with butter and cheese. Not too shabby. We left from there wondering what we were going to do next, and I decided that we should check out the near by market. Lisa and I ran into a lot of street stalls selling just about everything for cheap. We stopped at a café and had coffee and left for the market. After navigating to the “supposed” site for this huge market, I realized the exact spot on the map (using Rick Steves’ book) was actually not there, but construction was and they were making something. There was no market, it was gone. So Lisa and I walked to the nearest Metro stop and decided to get back home. During the course of getting to the Metro, we decided to hit some of the things that we missed a few days earlier. First was St. Peter in Chains church.

Not only does this church hold the chains that held St. Peter when he was in the Mamertine Prison, but also the chains the held him in a jail in Jerusalem. It is said that when they took these two chains and went to put them together, they miraculously linked together without help. Plus they have miraculous powers. So in this church are the chains, but there is another thing that goes along with it: another Michelangelo sculpture. This one is called Moses, and was supposed to be the crown piece for a tomb for a pope. And the best part was that this church was free to get into, plus there were hardly any people in there. I told Lisa that they could easily charge admission for just those two things. After this church back to the metro.
The second church we needed to visit was right across the stop for the bus off the metro that we had been using for the last three days: Cappucin Crypt. We walked over there and found out that it is closed for repairs or something until the 12th. Great, we walked by it about 8 times and never figured it out that it was there. Oh well, we might hit it on the 12th. So we walked to another church to see a Bernini sculpture called St. Theresa in Ecstasy. We found the church after a not so long back tracking. Lisa and I both thought that the sculpture was placed too far up on the wall to actually see detail, so we weren’t all that impressed. After all these things we actually were able to get back home without too much hassle. We hung some clothes out to dry, tried feeding pigeons on our deck and ate a huge salad. I don’t know why, but salads are just hitting the spot right now. Maybe it is because we are using olive oil and vinegar, and not ranch and other things. It is impossible to find any kind of salad dressings in this country, but back home you have about 1,000 selections. For supper that night I ended up making a mostly from scratch dinner. Lisa had bought a package of fresh spinach and ricotta filled ravioli and we had some ground beef and tomato sauce. So we figured why not put it all together. I browned the meat and added it to the plain tomato sauce with about six tablespoons of one of the spices that we bought at the market. Boy did it turn out spicy! I had to add some sugar to tone it down a tad. But a good spice blend all together. Those guys have a good business with spices. Lisa and I are going to try to get it back into the states, because they all look good. We also stopped and bought some dried mozzarella along with some cream for our coffee. When we tried the mozz, it was awesome, and cheap. So I think that I will have to get more of that. It is almost time for our cheese tasting. I told Lisa that we could get 100 grams of all these cheeses and have a huge taste testing of these great cheeses. We shall see, maybe on one of our down days. But that is about it. ljf

Rome Day 3 and 4

Saturday, May 05, 2007 2030 pm
Good evening. We had a lovely day. Luke made and egg and toast sandwich with cheese and senape. It started out raining before we left the apartment so we packed umbrella and raincoat in preparation.
We went right out our door to the Campo di Fiori fresh food market. We bought some fingerling potatoes, asparagus, tomato with a sprig of free basil, artichokes, onion, blood oranges and that’s about it. They had fish and basically a butcher shop on wheels with rabbit, boned chickens, beef steaks etc. There were lots of fresh vegetables, eggplant, freshly prepared lettuce mixes with carrots, radicchio, celery, cauliflower, zucchini flowers, all colors of grapes, garlic, fennel, potted herbs, heirloom tomatoes, apples from the tree, huge gnarly lemons the size of small cantelope. We brought our stuff back to the apartment and took off from there.
We walked to the nearby Piazza Navonna. It was surprisingly close. It was too bad that the main fountain was under construction due to erosion, bird poop and pollution. The fountain was done by Bernini and had an obelisk in the center. We bought a post card. The 2 minor fountains were interesting to look at. Luckily we arrived early in the morning and could see these places sans crowds. We got to pet 1 of 2 furry dogs that looked like they were in the corgie family. They were short and furry and off the leash to roam around while their owner was shooting the breeze with a neighbor.
We then walked a few blocks to the Pantheon. Pan meaning all and theon meaning of theology or gods. The Pantheon was a church for all gods where everyone could “worship. We took pictures from the piazza and then walked closer to enter. I was really surprised to notice just how BIG it got when we got closer. I took a pic of 6 foot 3 Luke at a pillar. The Pantheon was the only ancient building to have been in constant use since it’s inception. It was changed from pagan to Christian and was said that was what kept the building out of disrepair. I feel I got some pretty good pics here. There were lots of people here even though we were there relatively early in the AM.
We then went to some of Rick’s recommended church tours around the Pantheon. We saw the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi, Gesu Church, Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The San Luigi church had a Caravaggio painting of J.C. choosing and strongly encouraging St Matthew to come and be an apostle. This painting was significant as to how realistic it was. You could have seen this scene and it shows how Jesus and the disciples were real, tangible people in everyday settings. Next the Gesu’ Church this one was Baroque and all guilded coffered ceilings. The real thing to see here was the 3-d painting on the ceiling. Rick says that the Baroque people were the masters of using “multimedia.” They used fresco techniques mixed with standout statues and cutouts that extended above the decorative mouldings and also cast a shadow (real and painted I am sure). This looked the MOST 3D than I ever would have expected. Ever. I was really taken by this. This church looked like it was the most used. It had the most people in the roped off chapel for the members and had some old ladies in line for confession. At Sopra Minerva the special thing was a Michelangelo statue of nude muscular Jesus carrying a cross. Also Fra Angelico’s (who we saw that was like at the start of the renaissance in Florence) tomb and sarcophagi.
We then hiked a bit to Trevi fountain. This amazingly large fountain was PACKED with people. Everyone was throwing a coin over their shoulder to ensure they return to Rome. We even got a lady to take our picture. We spent a few moments here where the sun really started to come out and we had to put on sunglasses. I bet this is really nice at night when it is lit. They have so many vendors or people with crap walking around amongst the crowd to sell silly things. They were selling these squeeze stress ball figures. They were pretty ugly and people were even buying them. I get annoyed with these salesman.
Then we scooted up to the Spanish steps. We arrived from the top of them which was nice not to have to climb them to get the view. Here is where it got really sunny. We baked until I felt my face start to burn and we took some pictures, people watched and then headed to the Metro stop then to our bus stop.
While we were waiting for our bus I spotted a movie theatre that we saw the other day. I told Luke, “see they are too showing Spider Man 3.” We decided that since it was only 1500 that we would go watch a movie if it was showing. It was showing but with dubbed speech in Italian. We got advice from the ticket lady to where it was showing “originale.” Lucky for us it was only 1 metro stop the other direction. We hit that and checked times, we were 5 min early. Luke got 2 tickets for €7.50 each. Not too bad I thought. The movie made me forget I was in Italy for a bit. I guess it was being in a dark theatre and having people around me speaking English to their kids. We had popcorn, it was like €3.50 for a medium tub, a pretty big tub, and there was no option of butter. The popcorn was AWESOME. We really enjoyed it. We took the metro to our bus stop again and then took the short electric bus to the apartment.
There were some doings going on in the Campo di Fiori. A band playing with accordion, bass, violin etc. Then there was what looked like a parade at first. I saw a banner on a stick and heard the drum beats. Then I heard the little finger symbols and saw a line of shaved heads and ladies wearing sarongs or ethnic dress of some variation. It was the Hare Krishnas. I thought that was pretty interesting and funny. We ignored the short 15 person long procession and headed back to the apartment. Luke was craving the Peroni Beer after the sun this afternoon and we were thirsty too. So we unloaded our bags and headed up to our Private rooftop area and enjoyed the views of pigeons and enjoyed the taste of the beer. We had some “Combo” style stuffed pretzels to enjoy with the brewskis.
Luke called Kevin our friend on the cell who has just arrived to Tuscany they talked a bit and Luke gave a few important tips about driving and how to buy cheese, that sort of life or death stuff. Luke said Kevin must have been cranky because he wasn’t in the mood to chat like usual. They had been on Italian soil for less than 6 hours or so. I would think not being chatty is the least of Kev’s worries.
We came back in to prepare dinner as it was like 7.30- we are eating like the Italians now. We had leftover cold pasta (we have no microwave and no ambiton to get another pot dirty) and Luke steamed some artichokes that we bought this AM. The chokes were really good even just dipped in a tiny smidge of the red wine vinegar. They are a bit of work to eat, but I suppose that is the fun of it. We also had and devoured the lettuce salad again. For some reason we really enjoy those. We’ll get some fresh mixed and cut salad in the am at the market, oh, and some more artichokes. Dishes are done but the rest of the apartment is mish mash mess. Oh well. Another museum is planned for tomorrow and some Roman bath ruins, and Cappucin monk bone remains artistically decorating a church. Good night as Luke is already asleep on the bed. Ljf
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Don’t they say something about the best laid plans….Luke and I got a modest start this am. We were all set to go to the market for the artichokes and salad etc. Then we realized that today is Sunday and there is no market today. So.. then we decided to go to the Museo Nazionale di Roma.
We got there the usual way, bus to metro. There were much fewer of our busses running today so we waited around a bit more. We found the museum and Rick and Luke guided us around. We saw the greek discus thrower also a beautiful Aprhodite. Rick taught us lots about the rise and fall of roman history along with the museum. We went into the basement where we walked into a vault. There was a priceless collection of Roman coins. I couldn’t believe how many there were. They all looked like they were in really good condition, only some showed wear on the raised image. Saw a wimpy collection of jewelry too. They had a nice collection of frescos and mosaics taken off walls and placed in the museum.

We decided to go to the church where you could see the Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini. We went there as the sky went from blue with sparse sprinkles to a pretty good pour. We saw lots of people at the covered entrance just sitting. We went in a bit further and found the door closed. I looked at the hours posted at the door and we missed the closing time by 15 min. We ate our lunch as we sat and stayed out of the rain. We looked at the other church we were going to see the artwork in and they were at their closing hours too. We would have gone to the Baths of Diocletian which was included in our museum except it was raining gatos and canes (cats and dogs). So, we grudgingly decided to go home and have a café and perhaps a nap if that didn’t keep us awake.

We had been having instant espresso which was present in our apartment kitchen. Yesterday we had about 2 double espressos. I was expecting to bounce off the walls at that much caffeine, but we were still yawning. Luke decided to conquer the little stovetop espresso pot. He did and the coffee was really good. In Italy the Italians put milk in their coffee. In the US we put cream in our coffee so Luke and I went out to find some panne (cream). We found some panne in a hi-c type box for €1.10. When we snipped the end and tried to pour it into the coffee it came out in glops. Apparently it has thickner added to it for sauces. We had to add it to a bottle and supplement with a bit of milk and shake it up to make thinner cream. Now that made our coffee and the right color and taste.

We had an early dinner of a hotdog on sliced bread and some creamy asparagus risotto. It hit the spot. We will go out and dink around in the Campo some. Maybe do some shopping and post this. Tomorrow is an EARLY day to Naples and Pompeii for the scavi (excavations). Til then. ljf

Siena and Rome Day 1

Wednesday, May 02, 2007 1600
Good afternoon. Luke and I are on the road home from a complicated trip to Siena. We woke, ate breakfast and left the hotel before 8.30. It was going to be another rainy day today; we brought our rain coats and lunch with. We left on the road to Siena, wound our way down the mountain from Volterra where I start to get car sick as Luke feels bad when an Italian is riding his bumper so he drives as fast as he can to feel like a local. And, after breakfast I can’t handle that.

We make it to the town with no trouble at all but when we look for parking at city center we find one large lot “Chuiso” or closed. It was also market day which didn’t help free up parking spots. We drove around for literally an hour hoping to get lucky and have a person who was walking to their car stop right in front of us so we can get their spot. Oh course no luck. Luke is getting stressed out because there are NO spaces. You see locals drinking coffee in a café with their car parked on the sidewalk with the hazards on. We see an occasional open spot but are we allowed to park there? Are the surrounding Italians parked there illegally? Luke and I did not know nor did we want to return to find a ticket or a boot on the car. I was ready to give up and just return to Volterra or stop at a winery on the way. We decided we should check Rick’s advice. Rick suggested us to park at the train station and take the city bus to the center. Which we eventually did. The car park underneath the train station was the easiest to find. We parked the car, went up the stairs, walked into the train terminal and bought our bus tickets. I asked the lady where to get on the bus to the center and she told me. We got on the bus, validated our tickets, and rode to the closest drop off from the center. We had to walk about six blocks towards the center (we basically followed everybody else), and then we looked off to our left and saw the Il Campo. From what Rick Steves says it is the “THE” square of Italy. So it was nice to check it out. When you come onto the square you notice that it is quite “slanty”. The square consists of a few different levels, and the middle kind of sinks in and slopes towards the bottom end near the City Hall. Many people could go out onto this slope part and sit down. There were more restaurants in this general area than the whole city of Volterra. Lisa and I decided to see what Rick said about the square, so we went and sat down to read about it. Lisa proceeded to read what Rick wrote, and I proceeded to look around the square. Well, for people that don’t know, every year the 17 districts of Siena pick one horse rider to represent their own district in a horse race. It is called the Palio. Well, they run the race in the town square, the Il Campo. The square isn’t really square, but more of a seashell shape, and since it is on different levels, the outside “track” isn’t level. So the race is a race around the track three times on horses, and everybody watching crowds into the center of the square and watches/cheers. They end up padding the walls of the outside of the track with mattresses because the horses are running so fast that the riders don’t bother slowing down their horses, they just keep running them and hope they hold on. This is a really big deal in Siena. It would be like if the Daytona 500 was raced in Byron or Kanawha, and only locals could compete. I really don’t know how to explain it really. But that is the Palio in a nutshell. So Lisa and I read about the square’s history and what everything is in the square. It is one of the few major squares in Italy (if not the only) that doesn’t have some sort of “church” theme/presence to it. Siena wanted to get away from the church, so in defiance; they built the square around the city hall. Once Lisa and I decided that we should get going to do other things, we went to the local TI and asked about which bus to take back to the train station. The lady gave us a map of Siena, circled where we needed to be, and told us which bus to take. Great, that was all we needed so we took off to the Duomo. It seems like every city in Italy has some sort of “main” church that they cram a bunch of stuff into trying to attract people to go and see it. It even looks good on the outside. So Lisa and I decided to get to the Duomo, and take a tour.

In the Duomo (cost was 3€ a person) there was of course religious elements abound. Some of the highlights was a sculpture by Michelangelo, a bronze sculptor from Donatello, some very intact frescoes from the 1500’s about a local Sienese guy, and a lot of Mary things. Mary was the mother of Jesus of course, but in Siena, she plays a more important role. She is believed to be the one that won Siena a war between them and Florence back in the day when they were outnumbered. The Sienese proclaimed the victory in her name and after the war, Siena had 80 good years of art and good luck. So Mary plays a big role in the local culture. The Duomo was a nice little stop off to see some really good art. Of course, when we go to these places, we hit the highlights. If you wanted to, you could spend all day in the church looking for iconography, digging through all the history of every piece of art in the building, or just walk around and read Rick Steves. We ended up doing just that. We then decided to get out of there and figure out the next point of our adventure. It looked like it was going to be the Duomo Museum. Now here is another way for churches to raise money. They end up gutting the church and putting all the good stuff into the church museum, and then you have to pay for that. So we ended up paying for the museum tour, which surprisingly Rick covers in his book. It also offered striking views of Siena and the landscape outside of town. But you had to walk up a few flights of spiral staircases to get to them. No problem.

In the Museum, we got to see another Donatello, the original apostle sculptures that hung outside the church, the original stained glass windows above the altar, and the original altar piece. All in all, it was nice to see. Of course, after going up the steps, the view probably matches what was inside. The viewpoint actually was a chunk of the church that was going to be built. For some reason, it never got built, and just turned up being a separate structure of the church. After we left the museum, we were going to go and hit the Palio movie offered at the local movie theater. Every hour on the half, they offered a 20 minute show about the Palio in English. Well, Lisa and I were a little late getting there, and they had closed the theater. So we didn’t have any other choice then but to go home. Well, the real reason I wanted to get home was because the traffic the last few days has been horrible, and I just wanted a nice gentle and relaxing trip back to Volterra. So Lisa and I descended upon the place where the TI lady told us to go. We then tried to decipher which line we would take to get back to the station. We really didn’t argue about it, but we finally agreed upon one line. The total amount of time that we waited was about 20 minutes, and if I had my way, we would have walked the distance, because it was that close. Lesson learned. We got back to the station, and we couldn’t figure out where we had come out from, so we wandered around the train station looking for the staircase that led us up. Finally an old man stopped us and asked in Italian if we wanted Centro, and we said no, we wanted to know where to get down to the parking garage was. He showed us and it is amongst overgrown grass and built up terraces, so it was almost impossible to see if you walked by it. So we went downstairs, I found the place you had to pay (for the whole time we were there, it was 2€, the cheapest parking ever!), and we both jumped in the car to exit. We get to the gate where you pay, and the screen on the ticket thing says invalid ticket, and it wouldn’t take anymore tickets, but the gates weren’t up. So I hit the info button, which actually called the attendant on duty, and I say “Buon Giorno, parla inglese?” I got no response from the guy, but the lift did go up, so Lisa and I figured that he didn’t speak English, and to save time, just let us pass. Easy enough. So off we went back to Volterra. On the way out of Siena, we stopped at a McDonalds (call us dumb, but I still hadn’t had a real McDonalds experience in Italy). So we stopped there and Lisa and I both got a combo meal, hers was a big mac, and mine was a bacon double quarter pounder or something to that nature. The lady behind the counter was a little rude, but we managed to get everything we wanted without having to get out the translation book. We ate there and then proceeded home. The drive home was very picturesque, with being on top of hills and looking down seeing the nice countryside. After a few miscues from the TomTom, we ended up back at the hotel. It is now time to get packing, because on Thursday, we get on a train to Rome after we drop off the car in Florence. That should be interesting. Thanks for reading! ljf

8pm that night
Luke and I decided to go downtown one last time, if you can call it “downtown” in that small village. We wandered around up and down the streets with the eventual desire to get a slice of pizza from the place we have gotten it at before and some gelato. We walked by the archeological park and the Medici Fortress which is now a state prison. Went on a long walk past that. We saw lots of restaurants with empty tables. We saw a set of benches that we longed to sit upon when we were uptown previously, and we sat. We sat and drank our box white wine that was poured into our 1.5 L water bottle. The street was dark and empty of people because they were all eating dinner late as the Italians do. We enjoyed the quiet and the wine and the company. Walked toward the Hotel Porta Al Arco and said goodbye to the busy day tripper town and the quiet small town night.

Thursday, May 03, 2007
Today we left the hotel by 7.30 with the car and all our extremely heavy baggage. Our luggage is getting MORE full as we go along. We even have a “food bag” isn’t that awful. When we went to eastern Europe last year you didn’t want to be the one that had to carry the “food bag.” So needless to say it has negative connotations. The food bag was particularly heavy. We made it to Firenze or Florence at a leisurely pace. We had to get on the Autostrada for 10 or 15 km or so and the toll was 2 €. There was only a backup on the roundabout just before the Autostrada we were stopped for 15 min or so. Made it to the Florence airport where we were to drop off the rental car. We saw our €4.50 shuttle bus to the train station sitting idle so we walked briskly towards the bus and made it with some time to spare. Traffic in the city was pretty crazy, glad Luke wasn’t driving. I think the vespas are the worst mannered in Florence.

Anyway, we caught our train to Roma, Ate a snack on the train as we didn’t have breakfast. ( I was glad to skip breakfast so I don’t get queasy on the S curves on the way out of Volterra) I read my book, took a little nap. I woke up to Luke playing his video game on the laptop. Then we watched an episode of our TV on the laptop, watched the scenery go by. We had a bank of 4 seats to ourselves. You know how they face each other on trains. We commandeered them and were very comfortable with all our crap.

Arrived in Roma at 3 PM. We fought our way past people that had the “express taxi” that were trying to con us into their car. Who knows what they could have demanded or where they could have taken us to put us in an even worse situation. AHHH. So, we got a legit taxi. It took us to the edge of the Campo Di Fiori for €23. We found our apartment but had to wait for Gulia to get here which was like 30 min of standing at the door. We were early but the waiting still kind of sucked. We couldn’t remember which floor the apartment was on, but we soon found out it was the 4th. AHH. 5 flights up stairs up with 50 lbs of luggage and a food bag. I am glad we only have to do it once. You’d think we were training for the Tourist Olympics.

Our apartment is nice, but as I am sure all Roma apartments are small too. It is trendy and kind of unique. There is NO stove again and 2 burners, virtually no counter space, a private rooftop terrace, plenty of cookware and dishes etc. Luke and I got settled, turned on the AC that works, and washed our first load of clothes as all in our suitcase was pretty much dirty. Luke cooked some asparagus risotto and I made some toast in our toaster (that I have never been so happy to see) and we ate only starch for dinner. That’s just how we Minnesotans love it. We decided not to wait to hang up the spinning clothes but left on our first jaunt of the city.

We walked on a busy road that followed the Tiber, from that view it looked a lot like Florence and Parma (cities on the river). We walked and walked, kind of the round about way and saw Circus Maximus which basically now is a grass track park for people, litter, and dogs. The circus maximus was a Chariot racing arena, they had 12 races a day, the wooden bleachers would hold 250, 000 people. Rick Steves’ says that one collapsed and killed thousands. We walked again on the roundabout way to the Forum which is free but the last park entry was 15 min prior to when we arrived. So we were kind of bummed about that. We did get a cursory view through the fences. We walked around the huge forum some more and saw the Arch of Constantine that is right beside the Collosseo (the Coliseum) and saw the Palatine hill ruins too. We sat a moment pondered the ruins and the best way home. As we walked because we couldn’t find a bus to take us home we saw the huge Vittorio Emanualle Monument, the colossal white marble monument that was, regrettably under restoration. Why the H should they be restoring it, it was only built in like the last 100 years or less. We walked home, through some major traffic. Looked around the Campo di Fiori a bit, grabbed a pannini form this lively place for €4 each. Luke had a hotdog one with catsup and mustard (senape) and kraut. I had a frite (fritter- it looked like a chicken patty) with mayo and tomato). It sounded much more exotic in Italian. It was good and HOT, hit the spot. We ate the sandwiches as we pondered the band playing and the juveniles drinking vodka out of paper cups and passing the 750 ml bottle between the 4 of them. The Campo was a pretty rowdy, noisy place. We’re glad our apartment is on a side street so we can rest without trouble. There is an internet point a half block away. Our goal is to post as always. ljf

Friday, May 04, 2007
Good afternoon. Today Luke and I were a bit more organized with our whereabouts. We started the day with a rainy walk to the Capitoline Hill Museum and Nuovo Museum which is attached. We bought our Roma card here for €20 each that included 2 free museums (discounts on any further) and free bus/metro fare for 3 days. We saw the original she wolf suckling Romulus and Remus who came to be the founder of Rome. We actually saw their hut on Palatine hill excavations. It was thought that the brothers were myth but then it has become accepted to be more fact now since the excavations. We saw lots of busts of Roman leaders and republicans. We saw the Venus statue and a famous picture that is about 18 by 18 inches and looks like a painting or some such, in reality it is actually a mosaic with tiles so so tiny you have to get very close to tell. I really like that picture and I’d like to get a print if I could. We also saw lots of Roman decrees written in stone. One was basically don’t leave your trash out and no burying dead within the city. We saw the foundation of the Temple of Jupiter that the museum found during remodeling, and it turned into its own exhibit. We saw 2 huge statues of Constantine in pieces, a head here, a hand here, a sphere he was holding there. Kind of weird to see it separated and saved for that matter. Saw the famous “boy picking a thorn from his foot” statue. We saw some really great view of the forum, took some pictures too. We were annoyed by a very loud group of German middle aged tourists.
Next we went to the Mamertine Prison where Saints Peter and Paul were imprisoned. Supposedly a spring spouted from the column where Peter was chained. The srping allowed St. Pete to baptize and save the people imprisoned, he also baptized his guards who were even martyred. This opportunity was for donation only. We followed the exit past the gift shop where I bought an overlay book about the ancient sites in Roma. I paid €20 for it, I shouldn’t have but oh well.

We then entered in to the Roman Forum. I was very excited to see this. There were lots of ruins and collections of ruins making up old buildings, I was keen on the fact that they had pieces of stuff just laying around willy nilly. I found this collection of, some matched and some not, column pieces. They were just sitting behind a tree where there was a spare spot and out of the way. I was surprised that there wasn’t any visible graffiti, as there is graffiti EVERYWHERE you look. We saw the place where Caesar’s (hope I spelled that right) was burned after his murder. Then we walked on the Via Sacra the main Roman road. Saw the temple and statues of the Vestal Virgins who kept the flame burning. After I walked around and Luke narrated and after all the pictures were taken – we decided to head to the Colosseum.
We felt like VIPs as we passed through the line of people waiting. We got right in and looked around. I must say that I wasn’t awe inspired when I saw the interior. I guess is was like I’ve seen on TV and in pictures. It was hard to picture how the bleachers would have been positioned and the canopy would have been raised. I guess it was pretty cool to walk up the same stairs as millions of old Romans had. We sat a bit and absorbed as much sight and memory as we could about the Collosseum.
We then went back up to Palatine hill and saw some more ruins. On this hill was the Palace of centuries of emperors, in fact that is where we get our word palace from Palatine. There was barely the rough foundation left to get an idea of how the layout or size of the rooms went. I didn’t particularly enjoy this set of ruins. I don’t know if it was because I was “done” for the day and was ready to head home, or if it was because I was tired and hungry as it was 3pm, or because I needed a little stimulant caffé pick me up. Luke sped up the tour and we saw a view of the Circus Maximus that we saw yesterday. Saw a few more intact ruins but couldn’t get close, and headed for the exit. We decided to validate our Roma card 3 day Bus/ metro ticket. We took the metro the first line for 2 or 3 stops then the second line for 2 stops, ended up at someplace and that is where we could pick up the bus to take us pretty damn close to the apartment! With no two mile walk home! Yipee. We were very happy.
We stopped at the market as it was closed when we passed it yesterday. We found it a bit overpriced. We got some milk, but not the box milk, only in bottles, Parmigiano Reggiano and asiago, some chicken cutlets, pasta sauce, hot dogs and beer (two 3 packs of Peroni). Luke made Pasta Puttenesca, chicken, green salad with balsamic vinegar and oil and we had spicy Tralli cracker/bread. It was very good, the big salad especially hit the spot. I did dishes since Luke cooked.
Luke just tried out the bed in the loft. The ceiling up there is like 3 feet tall. The reason Luke was testing the bed is because the bed we slept in last night is a double bed which is not a problem but it has a headboard and a footboard. I am pretty sure that Full size beds are shorter than queen sized. So Luke could not fit straight in bed, he’d have to bend his knees and sleep on his side. Which would not be a problem either but the mattress though obviously new is SO very very very hard or firm. I have never felt anything like it. Concrete would have more give than this mattress. The thin mattress on the floor in the loft is exponentially more comfy for Luke. I don’t know if I want to sleep up there though. We’ll see.
Now we will try to post tonight. Tomorrow is a big day too. We’ll be able to use the bus/metro combo again and maybe this time we’ll pack a lunch so I/we don’t get crabby and we don’t have to buy an overpriced sandwich to split. Good night!

Parma last day, Volterra Day 1, 2 and 3 (sorry for so much)

Sunday April 29, 2007 8:30 p.m.
Well, we had a very exciting day today. Before I get to the day at hand, I have to talk about the night before. We went back to the same restaurant (Corrieri Trattoria) that we had been to the previous day. It had good food, and I wanted to give it one last shot, and it was a good atmosphere. So we found the eatery, and asked for two seats, but they were closing, and it wouldn’t be until 7:30 that we would be able to sit down. So we had about 45 minutes to kill. So nearby was a kind of block mall, so we went and found some windows to look through. And in our escapades, we found a Army Consignment shop. We both thought it would be a great idea to go and have a look. Just so we could tell John (Lisa’s brother, and avid Armed Services Person) that we went into one. So we went downstairs and they of course had guns, and other Armed Services crap. So we were about ready to go, and Lisa and I saw that they had MRE’s. I think we actually saw them in the window and went in to inquire. Well, we asked how much they were, and they said 12€. Ouch. That is about 16 bucks, for 1 MRE. But we decided to get one, because it would be fun, and we could get a lot of stuff out of one. So we ended up buying two of them. One is basically turkey and gravy, and the other was beef ravioli. We left there and went shopping some more at the mall. Nothing really caught our eye, but who cares. We also went back to the place we ate the first day in Parma, and actually went past the place to see all the other shops on that street. Boy was there a lot of people out that night. I am so surprised at the amount of people that are actually out on any given night. But we went past all the places without stopping and made our way back to the trattoria. We got there right when they were raising the gates of the restaurant. We asked for a table for two, and they asked if we had reservations, and we said no, but they were able to fit us in. That place was really packed for reservations for the night, because most of the tables had reserved signs on them. So we sat down and started figuring out what we were going to order. Well from the first time around, I know what I didn’t want. But I figured that Lisa and I could get a few things and try to stay under what we had spent prior. So we ended up getting the fried pasta and two green salads, the first course tasting menu, and one off the second menu. We also got a half liter of Lambrusco and water. The waiter brought out the wine in a little carafe. When I went to pour the wine out, I ended up spilling (it was more like I didn’t spill, but the container was horseshit, because you had to pour so slow) about half cup of wine. I felt like a schmuck. There were about 15 spots of wine on our white table cloth. That was just the start of the evening. So we covered that up with our napkins, and the first part of the food came out. Now in Italy, it has been hard finding salad dressings. When you get a salad, they bring out olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And to tell you the truth, it tasted pretty good just that way. I grabbed the cracked pepper and the parmesan cheese and we made a pretty good salad. And the fried pasta (Lisa swears that it was fried pasta, but I believe that it is more like fried bread) was good, and smelled like the fair. So we drank wine and ate our food. The first course came, and it was a tasting sampler some of the items on the first course menu. So we ended up getting spinach ravioli, gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts, and the last entrée on the plate was basically chix a la king with pasta instead of biscuits. But it was awesome chix ala king. So we mowed that down. And for the second course I ordered stuffed veal. Thinking that I was going to get a pounded out piece of veal with some stuffing in it, I thought it would be a good choice. Boy was I wrong. It was basically two slices of veal (3/8 in thick) and a pureed stuffing in the middle of the slices. It was good, but the day before I paid the same amount of money, got five meats and some polenta with sauces and that night I got a teeny plate with some shitty meat, weird stuffing and gravy. Oh well. Lisa and I both ate it and were mildly happy. I really liked that place, and I know other people would as well, so if I went back to parma, I would eat there again. So we ended up leaving there and headed back to our car. That was a chore, because we kept trying to go down stairs that didn’t lead to the parking ramp. We were on the way home and I discussed with Lisa about filling up the car with diesel (I accidentally put diesel in it(for twit)) and I found a kind of 24 hour gas station. So I pulled in, and the car was facing the wrong way after pulling in, so I was about to turn the car around and these teenagers with mopeds beeped their horns because I was doing something stupid I guess, so I had to wait for them to move to move my car in their spot. When I got the car in the right spot, I went to use the computer terminal. As I went up there, two guys show up in their car, and were waiting to use the only two pumps in the whole area, and I was at one, and the other was an old man. So I went to attempt to use the pump, and there wasn’t an English button, so I tried to wing it, and there wasn’t any response, and these two dudes were looking at me like I was a mental challenged, so I got in the car and got the hell out of there. If there is one thing I hate, is making people wait for me. So I was about irate when I was going home. So I had Lisa punch into the TomTom how to get to another close gas station, and she did. When she found it, she said it was like 850 meters away. So I started following the route the TomTom gave me, and low and behold it was sending me to the same gas station that I had just left five minutes prior. I was super pissed now, because I was going in circles for something I could probably easily get the next morning, so I pulled over, re-examined the route the TomTom gave me, and it was lying to us. Sure enough it said that a gas station would be up in 850 meters, but when you click okay, the damn thing said 2.5 Km. So I swore, went back to the hotel and parked the car. I was pretty hot and bothered for about another hour before I cooled off. I was also pretty hot physically too, so I had to take a cold shower that night. Lisa and dinked around for a while, and then decided to get an episode of the Sopranos in. Then off to bed.

At the crack of dawn (actually more like 7:30-8:00) we got up and got all our stuff together. We then proceeded to get some breakfast. Everything was great like the last couple days. I was pretty happy with that breakfast. I got everything I wanted. Lisa even got us caffé. When we were done, we went upstairs to get our bags and head out. I ended up leaving the senape there, because I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. The ends didn’t justify the means. But everything else we were able to get in one trip. We typed in the directions to the TomTom and off we went. Of course, along the route to get to the autostrada, we found a gas station. A guy came out, asked if I wanted diesel, and he filled it up. I was impressed. It came out to 17€. Fine by me. So the trip to Volterra was a major headache. The first part of the trip was fine, but then we started getting into start/stop traffic. And when I say start/stop, it would be at a standstill, we would drive like half a mile, and then it would stop again. This happened a few times. Finally, when we reached Pisa, I was able to haul ass because nobody was around, and I could actually pass people without having to worry about some dink going 200 km/h behind me. But here comes the kicker to the story. When you get off the autostrada, you have to go through a tollbooth and pay the toll. Well, for some reason, all these tollbooths get backed up for some reason (my reason is because Italians can’t form lines, and motorcycles “budge” in front of everyone (you would have about 1 motorcycle for every 5 cars basically, and they don’t form a line, they go in between the lanes and on the sides of the road to get farther down the road, and nobody says anything). So we sat in line for I would say an hour and a half because there were three types of lines: the autopass (which is like an electronic pass you put in your car and you drive through a scanner/reader thing), credit card (it just said carte with no visa/MasterCard signs) and then Cash/money. And there were billboards for you to queue into. So I was actually driving in the autopass lane, and I figured this out after going around the two lanes of people at a stop. So I had to slow down and basically dive in front of another car in line for the carte (at this time, I figured that the carte lane would be a credit card. So, from left to right, there was three lanes: autopass, carte, and euros. So after about an hour of driving (and having to pee) we got to the point where you could pick a lane at the tollbooths. The Italian system is so dumb that for all the people that queued up in the lane they thought they were supposed to be in, they switched the tollbooths. So for the people in the credit card line had to merge and then go past the people in the euro cash line, and vice versa. So after an hour of start/stop traffic, you have to swerve and weave into a whole new lane. I swear I could break bricks with mind on how stupid this line/queue thing is. So I ended up staying in the euro cash lines because I wasn’t sure if the carte was actually a credit card payment. So at one of our stops, I had Lisa go behind the car and get some cash, because I wasn’t sure what they would take when I got up there. After we got up close enough to read the small print on the signs in front of the carte lanes I figured out they were credit card lanes (I really didn’t want to get in those lanes, find out that I couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to pay, and then have to back up and pick another line. I would have caused a mini traffic jam, so better safe than sorry). Well, when I came up to the line for the tollbooth, these retards were making two lines for one tollbooth, which really threw a wrench in the system, so I ended up letting people into my lane, because they made their own queue for a nonexistent tollbooth. Ugh. How frustrating. Finally we got through the tollbooths and zoomed off to our destination. First we stopped at a gas station to go to the bathroom and stretch our legs. The rest of the journey was a breeze compared to this. We got off the interstate and went on these windy roads to get to Volterra. And the scenery was nice. You could see Volterra from about ten to twelve km away, and it is a city basically on the top of a cliff. There is a series of windy roads that go up to the city, which are really windy. So the TomTom told us we were at our destination, but I couldn’t find the hotel, so I had to quick make a u-turn and then we kind of “parked” to see if we could find it. Well, no wonder I couldn’t find it, because the sign was about as big as a cracker box, and there was a car in the driveway that I needed to get to. So I waited for the car to leave so I could get my car in there. Finally we parked the car, got our check in squared away and got our room. It is a beautiful room with a large bed and a chair in it. Lisa and I hauled up all of our baggage up two flights of steps. Ouch. That was difficult. But not compared to the walk we had to endure to get up to Volterra from there. We got all our stuff out that we needed to get out and then I decided to get some clothes washed. The bidet helped me out with that. I got some hot water in it and some soap and I washed a few shirts, because I only brought about 5 or 6, and most of them were dirty from parma. After that, we took off to the Etruscan gates. Volterra was one of the bigger Etruscan Cities before the Romans took over. The Etruscans were a people that were around before Romans showed up. Around 3rd and 4th Century B.C. I think. We had to hoof it up a 10 degree incline to get to this gate, which is even before you get into the city. So up to the gate, then up to the city. What a long and hard walk, especially when you aren’t used to it. When we got up there, we just ended up walking where we thought the way was to the Etruscan Museum. Volterra, inside the city walls, is a small town. I can walk from end to end in about ten minutes. So we got to the museum and paid 8€ per person, plus a 3 euro audio guide for 1 person. (Lisa and I figured out that an audio guide for 2 people is basically a player with a headset for an extra amount of money, but if you just get the audio guide for one person, you can plug in your own headphones). In the museum, you figured out the Etruscans were big into burial. 90% of the museum are these funeral urns that look like stone boxes with a carved scene on the side and a carved person on top. The other stuff in the museum included pots and jars, coins and jewelry. It was neat to see all the old stuff in the museum. These people were pretty good at carving into stone (especially alabaster, which is the predominant stone in the area). Lisa especially liked seeing the pottery, and I liked seeing the jewelry, because you would think these people couldn’t do such intricate work. The audio guide was worth the 3€, because otherwise only about 1/64 of the museum was in English (I know I shouldn’t bitch about things not being in English because it is of course Italy, but come on). When the tour was over, I went to go to the bathroom while Lisa looked for postcards. Now let me tell you about the toilets in Volterra, at least these. When I opened the door to the bathroom, there was basically a porcelain slab with a hole in it (the flushing hole) and two imprints for feet. This slab was even with the floor. Well, if you wanted to pee, you stand up and pee in the hole. If you gotta take a dump, I would guess you would put your back towards the wall, put your feet on the imprints, and slide your back towards the floor and crap. Mind you that the slab is even with the floor, so you really don’t sit. I was aghast at the sight. I couldn’t believe that people would take a dump like this. How archaic. And how flipping hard would it be to update this system to the toilet system. I should have taken a picture, but I guess it is commonplace in this area, so I will get another chance. Yuck. Well, Lisa bought 3 postcards and we left. Across the street, we walked into the first alabaster shop we saw. We started our journey out of the city, but before we did, I ended up getting a magnum bar. Double chocolate. Yum. Then I decided that maybe we should look into getting something to eat, and I offered to Lisa to pick a place to eat something small, then she vetoed that and told me to find a place. So I turned around and found a great pizza place. It was kind of spendy 4€ for two medium slices of pepperoni pizza. It was tasty to say the least though. So it was worth it. We left this place and went to the main square of Volterra to find out that they were having a craft fair. People brought in their wares and tried selling them. All of it was junk, like meatheads trying to sell belts and purses or some people trying to peddle trinkets. We then crossed another street and found the food fair. There were people trying to sell their wines and olive oil, etc. That was nice to see. Then we took a rest by the baptistery. I looked at the map and found a spot where there are scenic views of Volterra, so we went there, took some pictures, and went back to the hotel. We did some more laundry, and then opened the windows to dry some of my shirts. Boy did it get cold quick. I was freezing in the room, so I demanded that we close the windows. We had a few snacks to finish off supper, and then realized that we had MREs. So we opened one up (the beef ravioli) and ate some of the stuff out of them. The Ravioli was good, and we used the “heater” included in the bag. Everything that we ate was good. And now we are up to date. Time to go to bed, or watch TV. Ljf
Monday, April 30, 2007 PM Whoa, I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be writing in here today. We really didn’t do much. We got up leisurely arrived at breakfast kind of late at 0900 or so and had a wonderful breakfast of breads with two kinds of cheeses and meats. There were 4 I think sweet “cakes” or tortas, Luke tried a few varieties: pear and chocolate, lemon and shortbread (my favorite from Luke’s plate) and can’t remember the other one. We had the blood orange juice again. Had American coffee served to us by a miscommunication, though it was very good and it had been a while since we’ve had that. It was rainy so we ate breakfast inside. It was cool and sprinkling a light mist. We walked to the big big hill to get up to the city center. Oh, I just hate that hill. It wasn’t so bad today though you really have to use your big muscles in your butt or you can wear out your ankles and calves. We didn’t bring the itinerary or even review it before we left so we had to do what we remembered. OH well. We went to the Roman theatre. There is a great public viewpoint from a street otherwise you pay €2 to get a closer look but still behind fences so you can’t wander IN the theatre but only in a straight line between a section of the seating. I guess it was covered and not rediscovered until the 1950s. It was very nice to see (from the street) and there was no one else there to hinder or bother us at admiring it. From there the day gets a little more unstructured. We walk around and consider going into the Tortura Museo – the torture museum. We walk into the anteroom before you pay admission, they had some pictures and some old “interrogation” chairs with spikes all over the sitting surface and straps. We probably could have gone in, but not for €8 each. €6 we would have gone in but not 8. So we turned around. Oh, I thought it was funny that the Casa de Pane (house of pain) was next door to the torture museum. Actually it was House of bread in English translation. We walked from there and decided to go to the Etruscan excavation site. We followed the map and eventually headed downhill which means we passed the “center” and were going down the other side of town. We walked mistakenly into residential areas and had to backtrack a bit. We walked by this huge cemetery. There were plaques on the walls of two levels, there were librarian stairs to get to the ones close to the ceiling. ALL the graves were SO very well decorated, flowers ALL over almost every square inch. The bodies did not have grass over them, it was a stone cemetery and the bodies were buried and covered with a big engraved slab and the next person was lying a few inches away. It was interesting in hind sight. We saw lots of people visiting there. They remember their dead often. So we still haven’t found the Etruscan excavation. According to Luke’s map we should have passed it. When I make suggestions he blows me off. Which I guess he is in charge of the map, the only time I try to help is when we aren’t getting where we want to go. So we turned around when we realized we were way off the map, oh well. The bad part is we had to walk again- uphill. We ended up and looked publicly at the front viewpoint of the Roman theatre. We walked back to town, looked at the city hall and saw but didn’t take a picture of the “yardstick” the official measurement of length for selling things so everyone was on the same page. Went to the tourist info and asked for wine tours etc. They “didn’t have anything organized” but gave us a pretty big booklet on information and routes to drive. So, they were not really very helpful. We then discussed where to go and what to do. We talked about lunch out or cold lunch at the B & B. We stopped at the De Spar store. We were in DeSperate need of some sliced sandwich meat (pre packaged sliced ham for €3.30), Ementaler cheese (kinda like swiss), more mustard, olives (not in oil), I also got a shelf stable tiramisu that was about 8x8 little debbie style. Luke and I trudged home, crossed the busy street, up the stairs to the room. It was Luke’s turn to make lunch. We split 1 of those huge buns from Parma, Luke topped with mustard, cheese and ham. We also had dried cherries and finally finished them off, ate some olives (I wanted a beer with them). Then we watched an episode of Criminal Minds on the computer. We did flip through the TV twice so far. They did have American MTV with shows that were subtitled with Italian. I wasn’t too keen to watch Pimp my Ride or those Dating shows they have so we turned it off. When we flipped last night with the 20 channels they have- Colombo was on 2 of them. I thought that was funny. I guess it is no different than here we have at least 2 Law and Order shows on every afternoon. One thing I thought was interesting with the rain here is people with umbrellas. Boy, at the slightest sprinkle, they put the kids in the stroller and cover them with the stroller rain coat, they put up their umbrellas or put their jackets over their heads to keep the hair dry. It was hardly even sprinkling! I also have seen lots of Norwegians. That is, just seen them only because they have been wearing some piece of clothing with a flag on it. I wonder if there was a soccer match or something. Luke and I woke up late from our nap; I hope we can sleep tonight. We are debating going to Siena I don’t know as of yet. We’ll probably go out to dinner and post this at this “Wine and Web” place. Now that I think of it we REALLY haven’t taken many pictures. Not many at all. I am sorry but nothing has really popped out at me. It’s pretty local here but still have lots of tourists to push through when walking the street. I think most people here are day trippers from other places. I would say the view is the most worthwhile thing here. Ljf tomorrow as one of our day trips.

April 30 2100 Well we did eat out, but at the grocery store. We discovered that we had access to the hotel microwave in the common area where we eat breakfast. We bought food at the grocery store that we could eat from the microwave. We had pasta carbonarra from a package, canned peas, cordon bleu from the deli, and potato and carrot soup in a “hi-C” box. All the food was very good and really hit the spot after we microwaved everything and brought it up to eat in our room. We watched the sunset and the brilliant blue sky and pondered watching the Sopranos.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007 1800 Good evening. We got home from our “day trip.” We did not go to Siena but to see the coast and the Mediterranean Sea. Our B &B hostess Antonella guided us to a place with a great view and had some Etruscan monuments, Populonia. It was about an hour away (not on the autostrada, thankfully). We made it there at like 11 or so. Parked for €1 and went to look at the views. They were amazing even though they were the trademark “hazy” for our trip. The water was so blue and was so far down from our viewpoint. We walked into the “city” which was literally like 3 blocks down. They had this tower (Torre de Populonia) that you could climb….for a fee €2. We walked up and had some more nice views and the ladder to the top was kind of tight. The stairs were nearly the most un even we have experienced here in Italy. Got some pics and walked around. The weather was breezy on top and warm in the sun, mid 70s I’d guess. Luke and I looked into the shops geared toward the tourists. We saw a cantina carving a pig, a whole head on roasted pig. Luke had a sandwich for €3.50 and it came with some like beans in a pod. They gave you a paper cone filled with like 8 eight inch long pods that looked like green beans. You popped them open and ate the 5 beans inside. The first bite was kind of starchy but then we enjoyed them. We then walked down to explore the Etruscan Acropolis. You could kind of see the ruins from the road. Luke had to pee, so we inquired and he used the bathrooms in the process. We thought the entrance was €3 but we misread the handwritten numbers and it was €8. I made the call to go in anyway. The center was close to the sales building and we began our tour there saw foundations of temples and water cisterns, hutches, an old pretty intact road, foundations of baths, mosaic tile floors (had been moved to a covered museum). We walked to see some “hutches” that wandered out in a gravel trail with tall bushes and some trees to either side. Every once in a while you’d see a lizard or a salamander rustle a low lying bush. It scared the shit out of me; of course it didn’t bother Luke wearing long pants and tennis shoes. Then we walked through a little worm “spider” web, that about gave me a heart attack as I absolutely HATE spiders and especially the webs. My brother used to chase me around the house with a spider web on his finger or make me walk into a web on purpose. So I was pretty freaked out and then we heard bugs or bees buzzing like crazy around us and then, what must have been a huge lizard (he was too quick for us to see) rustled a bush really loud and moved it quite a bit. From then on I was absolutely on edge. I was nearly hysterical. I wanted to get out of this isolated bush ASAP. We did and I tried not to see the huge beetle on my path and tried not to walk into any salamander nests. We exited the Acropolis, used the bathroom (of course) and went on our way to see more of the Mediterranean up close. We saw TONS of cars parked along the roadway and families getting out with their beach towels and lounge chairs. We knew we were in the right direction. We saw a motorcycle rally with a band and lots of people playing soccer and generally being rambunctious. We decided to skip the “state fair” exhibition. We went further on, found an access, parked and brought our lunch. We found the beach. The sand was like very coarse sand. They were like COARSE pepper. It was really neat. The sand was so very warm to the touch. The temp couldn’t have been more than upper 70s when the sun was behind a cloud. It was pretty cloudy most of the time we were there, but warm despite being on the ocean. Luke and I laid out our rain coats and sat/laid on them. I read my book, Luke people watched and listened to music. There was an ice cream salesman with a cart that had motorized tank treads on it so it could traverse the coarse sand. He still got stuck several times though. Luke pondered that if he helped the stuck ice cream man if he’d be rewarded with an ice cream delicacy. There were also 7 or 8 African Italian peddlers of purses, towels, and sandals. We had to say No Grazie! Oh well, at least they didn’t kick sand on my “towel.” Luke put his feet in the ocean, he said it was as warm as the Kanawha pool. We stayed and lay in our clothes tanning for 3 hours. My cheeks got a minor burn, forearms a mild-moderate burn. Luke got pink on his shoulders. I guess that is an indication of the cloudiness and that we had no sunscreen on in hopes of getting some color on our lower bodies. I decided we should go when the sun got notably brighter. We took our lunch garbage with us and scooted to the car. It took us an hour to get to Populonia and I took us 2 hours to get back due to traffic back ups. The problem lies with the demonic Autostrada. The traffic stops 8 miles before the entrance to the toll way where people have to stop and queue up to get their ticket. Our exit was before the toll way and we still paid dearly for it. Traffic was also very backed up on the backroads to Volterra due to construction also. Then to deal with Italians who think you are not going fast enough pass 3 cars at a time when they can’t see oncoming traffic. They also like to cross the yellow line when going around curves. Luke and I came to the decision that they cross the line so they do not have to slow down as much or downshift at the curves. Many of the curves are blind and you don’t know if someone is coming until you meet them and have to overcorrect their hogging the road. I am sure that Luke has talked enough about the driving for a whole blog entry, so I will leave complaints and frustrations at that. We very much enjoyed the beach. Tonight we WILL go to the Web and Wine and have a first course or 2 and post and then come back for an early start to Siena and hopefully the traffic on the way back will not be such a frustrating nightmare! Wish us luck and hopefully we’ll pick the “right” wine. ljf