Thursday, March 3, 2011

Last day in Rome

It was a bit cold and rainy on our last day in Rome.  We went to the National Museum and the Baths.  We we disappointed by the baths, we had expected to see empty basins, old aquaducts, etc.  All we saw was a giant vaulted room with a concrete floor.  The museum had lots of remains from burial sites around the city.   Jewelry, pots, etc.  There was also a pretty garden with lots of sculptures in it.




We walked over to the Trevi fountain and took some pictures.  It would have been nice to hang out if it wasn't raining.


We found some pizza for lunch and strolled down a bunch of small shopping streets, eventually making our way to the Pantheon (not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece).

TV?

One funny thing we noticed is that everyone must still use arials for their TV reception.  The top of every apartment building looked like this...
We had about 10 channels in the hotel room.  BBC and CNN were included, but Delaney became and avid 'futbol' (ie soccer) fan and insisted on watching whatever match was on in the evenings!

Smart Cars

The cars in the city are incredibly small!  (Even some of the buses are minis- basically a driver with standing room only in the back part of the vehicle - wish I could have gotten a picture, but they moved too fast!) Nothing resembling a Hummer here!  I love the fact that the Smart Cars can part vertically in parking spaces.  You see more Fiats and Smart cars than any other vehicle although there are also a lot of Alfa Romeos, Renaults and Mercedes.



Wednesday, March 2, 2011


















For your dining pleasure tonight (well, mine anyway) I offer Cornelius Premium Lager Beer. It is tasty because it is bez konserwantów niefiltrowane (without preservatives unfiltered). The brewery is part of Sulimar, maker of beer, wine and energy drinks, including one called "Hot Brain". It went well with the pirogi and kielbasa.
It has been very difficult to pin down just exactly who owns what in this global economic world. One is owned by someone else, is bought by their brother from another mother, changes their name five different times for 3 different countries and then offers practically the same product under too many names to keep track of. To top it all off, add a few languages into the mix (and a Googletranslate that is not capable of working within the Java language - mostly). After trying to make heads or tails of the whole thing, you want to reach for another beer (and that, ladies and gentleman, is the purpose of marketing!). Well, I am not buying it (figuratively speaking, of course). One for me tonight. My second drink is Lipton Gunpowder Green Tea (hot).














For the morning drink, I finally broke down and purchased a French Press and coffee grinder. The beans are compliments of my sister (and boy, did they have a long haul getting here). Tomorrow is the first taste of this brew.



















When I bought the French Press, I thought that I could get away with just buying already ground coffee. This was my first purchase. Notice that the package says "strong coffee". They weren't kidding. I think it grew hair on body parts that I had no idea existed. I quickly high tailed it back to the store for a grinder.

Delaney's perspective

We had to walk SO much!  My feet got very tired.  Mom had some bandaids that helped make my feet more comfortable.  On the last day I stole her tennis shoes and they were the best of all!  I was so tired after our first day exploring the city that I feel asleep on the bed @ 5:00 pm and had to be woken up (and dragged out of bed) for dinner @ 6:30.  I was super strong to walk up the 551 steps at the church though!  I stayed up with Mom, Dad and Adam for all three days and didn’t complain much at all.

At the castle we stopped at the café to warm up and got ‘gourmet’ hot chocolate.  It was so thick it required a spoon!  It was de-lish!

I really liked the huge fountain (Trevi).  We got gelatto afterward and it was such a big scoop it fell off my cone (into Mom's hand).  We got a dish instead so I could finish it.

I was so glad that Mom and Dad let me get several cool souvenirs like my splat pig, a mosaic cross necklace, and 3 books about Rome.

I"m looking forward to showing my classmates a slideshow from our trip.  Mom is making it for me to show.

Fountains

Not only are there beautiful public fountains all around Rome, there are also many fountains that you can drink from (in contrast to David's post about not finding fountains in Lublin, there are some every few blocks).  Rome is built on many natural springs that are tapped for use for the fountains.  I particularly liked this fountain that Adam found that could pour down or spray up...
 St Peter's Square
 Near Termini Station
 Republicca
 Trevi Fountatin


City views in Rome

I'm fascinated by architecture, so I had a lot of fun just looking at the different buildings around the city, not just the famous historical sights.  Adam and I noted that the way apartments are built in Rome is very different from London.  London has straight blocks with row houses that are all connected together that all face out on the same street and back alley.  In Rome, the apartments are built at all kinds of angles and stand separately from the complexes next to it (except in the center city where they are close together).  This allows everyone to have small balconies (with flowers in pots) that look in different directions (some only 10-15 feet from another neighbors balcony).  Its much less square and generally more attractive in my view.  Because the city is so hilly, the apartments range up and down the hills.


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Italian Chocolate

Very creamy and sweet.  Not as good as E. Wedel or Milka in our view.  The crème caramel (Flan) that we had at dinner one night was delicious however!


Weather contrasts

We purposefully decided to go to Rome first because it is farther south and a bit warmer.  Contrast this view from the train to Warsaw....
 This is snow/frost accumulating INSIDE the train window of our car.



With this view from the tour bus...

San Angelo Castle

Spent the afternoon at San Angelo Castle built in 139 AD, which housed nobility as well as a number of Popes.  There is a 6 block long wall that runs from the Bascilica to the castle with an enclosed tunnel where the Pope could escape to the safety of the castle if necessary.  There was only once entrance to the inner part of the castle, it would be very difficult to seize control of it.  The castle got its current name in 590 AD from Pope Gregory who was praying for an end to the Plague.  He saw a vision of the archangel Michael floating above the castle and sheathing his sword - a sign that the plague was over.
 Tiber River


 Archangel Michael sheathing his sword to signal the end of the plague.
 Bascilica in the background

 Outer wall and inner castle
The brown stone wall on the right runs from the Vatican to the castle to allow Popes to escape under seige.

Gelatto!

We enjoyed Italian ice cream several times while we were there.  Delaney's ice cream tried to leap off her cone (and ended up in my hand before we got a dish for it).  Adam enjoyed his chocolate cone, but refused to pose for a picture.

Scooters

There are lots of ways to get around town.  There are tons of scooters that only marginally obey traffic laws.  They pass cars and buses by riding on (or over) the center line and pulling back in front of them at stop lights, then zipping through when the lights change.  You are more at risk of being run down by a scooter than a bus.  They also rent segways (8 E for 30 mins).  We were tempted, but didn’t try them out.  They are probably a lot easier on your feet than the cobblestones.


The Roman Forum

We returned to the area of the Colleseum to explore the ruins around the Pallatine Hill.  It was like a huge park where a giant tossed random sections of columns and stones.  Amazing layer upon layer of ruins from over 2000 years of history.  We took a bit of time to just sit and enjoy the view and the kids read the books on Rome that they purchased the previous day.  The pictures are definitely worth a thousand words.






Ancient mosiac flooring




Video of the Colleseum

Couldn't load this in Rome with our other post.  360 degrees in the Colleseum...