The Vatican and the Coliseum

JULIE :

Today was dedicated to Vatican City and the Coliseum! We began our morning with breakfast from the Sicilian Bakery near our hotel; seeing as I was still full from our food indulgences, from yesterday, I wasn’t too hungry so I got a doughnut and Jake got a Suppli filled with ham and cheese. Due to having a ways to go and taking the Metro we didn’t sit and have a Cappuccino we ate on our way to the Metro (very American of us).

SIDEBAR – Jake and I are both fast walkers however Jake walks so fast it is as if the Terrorists are after us – it gets to be ridiculous.

Upon arriving at Vatican City we immediately took note of the crowd – Vatican City was CRAWLING with people roaming (haha!) around – it was a sea of people, literally a sea of people, and the school children, sweet Moses, where are these children coming from? I seriously doubt elementary school aged children care about Vatican City.

SIDEBAR #2 -Jake declared that he hopes to never chaperon Mason’s class on a field trip, however seeing as Parker school children probably go to McDonalds, Jack –in – the Box or Wal-Mart, for field trips, I really don’t think it will be an issue.

It was so crowded if the Terrorists really were after Jake there would be nothing he could do about it, everyone was slowly moving as there was no where to go. Finally we make it to the Sistine Chapel, which was absolutely, breathe taking! Thanks to the Rick Steves, pre downloaded, audio tour we learned that it only took four years for Michelangelo to complete the chapel! Yes, only four years! I can ‘t begin to conceive how fast and how many hours he put into the chapel. After we finished taking in the beauty and after some dirty Europeans sat on my leg we were off. Next stop was to get lunch at The Pizzarium (highly recommended from Eleonora). Of course we got lost and of course we were starving – but snaps to the local police for pointing us in the right direction. Eight blocks and two Metro (P.S. Zach Kirk I saw your European doppelganger on this Metro) stops later we were at The Pizzarium – a seemingly small and inconspicuous place, but oh so worth the wait – the pizza was fantastic! I had a slice of the ricotta (imagine I just said that with an Italian accent) cheese and zucchini as well as the tomato while Jake had sausage and tomato. It is important to note that Gabriele Bonci cut the square pies with real scissors and sells it by the weight. This is also the sort of place that does not have any seating but a “counter” outside to eat. Maybe it was the fact that we are on vacation or maybe it was the fact that we were starving but this pizza was absolutely fantastic! We sat on a bench outside of the building and were showered with pink rose pedals as the wind quietly blew them off of nearby trees – what a great setting!

We raced to the Coliseum and again had to dodge the school children and masses of people.

SIDEBAR # 3– Okay I know I touched on this in an earlier post but where do Europeans get these crazy outfits?

The Coliseum is, of course in ruins, surrounded by tragic history. Very cool to walk where ancient Romans spent their entire day watching animals and people slaughtering one another.

SIDEBAR # 4 – Is it appropriate to request a traveling Nun to take your picture? We witnessed several people asking them to take their picture and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think of it as well – what are they going to do throw your camera in their habit?

SIDEBAR # 5 – Why do little girls feel the need to share a stall in crowded bathrooms? If each one is peeing, in theory, it should still take the same amount of time; crazy little girl scouts!

Dinner tonight was excellent! We went to another highly recommended restaurant, per Elenora, Trattoria Monti family owned and operated (mother cooks and sons serve tables). I had what appeared to be a giant ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach topped with truffles while Jake had rabbit (I am not a fan of rabbit but this was incredible!). Both of our dishes were fantastic and followed by a cheese dish which was good but way too much cheese and the creepy French guys, occupying the table next to ours kept spying on our dishes then would order the same thing we were eating. This excellent meal ended with an aperitif for Jake and a failed attempt at a cappuccino for me. All in all is was another fantastic day in Rome!

Lots of Street Food!

Today was the day I was really looking forward to. We had booked a “street food stroll” by a Roman blogger. She was born to an Italian mom and an American dad (sounds like a great 80’s sitcom for all sorts of crazy trouble). She moved to Italy when she was little and has been there ever since, though you wouldn’t know it from her accent. We met up with Eleonora at 3:00 PM and began our education on Roman street food. Keep in mind this isn’t hot dog stands or any other crappy American fare; this is what is eaten in Rome on the run. We started in the Jewish Ghetto, a name it has carried since the Renaissance. I guess they are known for their fried fare, and we sampled a fried artichoke. This was heavy duty, not battered, just straight up fried. It had a unique taste and a wonderful crispy texture. While Eleonora admitted some leaves were a bit leathery, others had a potato chip-esque flare. As with steamed artichokes, the best part was the heart, though I was shocked to learn that the stem was equally good. Julie didn’t really care for this sample. We stopped at a Jewish bakery next that was making limited food due to the upcoming Easter holiday. We tried some macaroons, which I normally don’t like, but I loved their delicate fluffy texture. After a bit of a history lesson about what went on during WWII, we moved on to a wonderful gourmet shop (think Tony’s Meat Market for Italians). Speaking of Tony, this place was featured in Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.” It had all sorts of cheeses, meats, oils, vegetables, and wine. She procured us a taste of fresh buffalo mozzarella with semi-dried tomatoes. You read me correctly, semi-dried, not sundried. The tomatoes are dried or somewhat dried with oil and other herbs. This was amazing. Definitely Julie’s favorite stop and maybe mine. Next we went to the bakery that was related to this place. They are known for their bread, obviously, and their pizza, which is sold by the weight (One of the bakers there claimed that some of the bread was requested by Prince William and Kate for the royal wedding. Our guide said we could choose to believe that if we wanted). The pizza was a very thin crusted pizza with simple toppings. Quite delightful as well. On to try some Suppli. Suppli is made of rice mixed with a tomato sauce wrapped around a ball of mozzarella then fried. This was also quite tasty and filling. Next we stopped at the oldest chocolaterrie in Rome. They were busy making tons of Easter chocolate, particularly really large chocolate Easter eggs that apparently have prizes inside. Some were as expensive as 100 Euros! We sampled a little bit of chocolate, which wasn’t bad, but it’s hard to impress me with chocolate. Since we had nothing to drink, we tried some espresso. This place was really busy and we only got a tiny cup of espresso, which was maybe a tablespoon and a half. Eleonora told us we’d be up all night with it. I swear it made me sleepy. We’re almost done, I promise. We moved on to a pasta making shop that we found out supplies several restaurants nearby and even some residents. You might visit them if you were having a lot of company over, and you didn’t want to make a lot of pasta. Lastly, we got to visit an authentic gelato place. How do you know it’s authentic? Well, they have a sign from a government organization that ensure the quality of the gelato. They periodically check in on the restaurant to make sure they are using the right ingredients. They also respond to complaints from customers. Who knew this existed and can I report Dairy Queen for all sorts of grievances? I tried pistachio gelato, which I never would have if Eleonora didn’t tell me it was the most authentic she had ever had. It really did taste like pistachios. Julie had the wild strawberry gelato, which she claimed was much better than the day before. We bid Eleonora “arrivederci” and went on our way.

Fortunately, we were able to obtain reservations for dinner tonight at the gourmet food shop we went to earlier that day. It was such a neat place, and we essentially ate at the back of the deli. We definitely ordered too much food. We ordered everything at once and started with buffalo mozzarella and burratta. Then, I had the pasta carbonarra and Julie had fettuccine with shrimp and pancetta. Still eating, I had the beef carpaccio as well. Note that we tried to order the cheese plate, but our waiter (nicknamed Giorgio by Julie) said that would be too much. I wanted to tell him that we were from the land of too much, but he probably figured that by our choices so far. We befriended a couple sitting next to us (nicknamed Jay and Gloria, from Modern Family, by Julie because of their similarity to them[Julie nicknames everyone]). Julie offended the male by asking him if he was British because of his accent. He corrected her that he was an Aussie.

SIDEBAR (as made famous by Julie) - Really Aussies? You're offended that you're mistaken for a Brit? You're offended that we misunderstood an accent from the Isle of Criminals for one from the Isle of Manners? C'mon, be happy we didn't think you were Canadian.

Giorgio was not happy that we could not finish any of our orders, but like Americans, we love to waste! I asked for a "digestivo," and received a very interesting herbal drink that Eleonora had recommended earlier that day. It was different and I couldn't place any of the herbs even after Giorgio explained to me that it had herbs in it. He didn't understand Julie's question of what kind of herbs. It's possible I drank liquid marijuana or other "herbs," which would explain the large rabbit that tried to attack us on the way home.

To answer Andrew's question, Italians eat pastries for breakfast. Think My Favorite Muffin but without all of the crappy muffins.

Here's a lot more photos. (Can you find Julie on the Spanish Steps?)

A Dying Population

Perhaps I'm being a little harsh, but I've heard that Italy's birth rate has decreased and thus, their population has decreased. I think I know why. . . these people are ugly. Is it possible that all the attractive Italians have met each other and now all the ugly people are left? Can't that happen with any population? Seinfeld claimed that half of the population is undateable. . . undateable! The fashion is weak as Julie said and people don't do much for themselves to attract one another. Hopefully, they work on this.

Anyways, today we had a no plans. We woke up with no agenda except to eat. Who knew that would be so difficult. We tried to have the concierge make reservations at the restaurant we wanted to go to the night before. Of course we had no luck. We set off for another place near the Campo de Fiori that was featured on "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain. Surprise, they were closed. Now the debate began as to whether we should risk eating at a place we know nothing about or go somewhere we knew would be good. We chose the latter and went back to Pizzeria Fiametta, already a reliable place in the Lanier family. Julie had an excellent risotto and I had some linguine with anchovies and some veal scallopine. Both were delicious. Next we headed for some ruins. As Julie has famously said, "Look some more old stuff." There's a lot of old stuff here. Some wonderfully aged and some that looks quite decrepit. We ventured near the Colosseum, but not quite there. We wandered around, took some pictures and had our first official gelato (which was as good as we remembered). We caught some Z's at the hotel, and headed out for dinner. We opted for a recommendation from the hotel and lost horribly. Yet another weak restaurant. This place had way too many movie star's photos on the wall, and they spoke English too well. Plus, there were too many Americans. The crappy bread was placed on the table and with our first dish, prosciutto and melon, we knew we were in for it. The melon was not ripe and had zero flavor. A forgettable meal that ended with us in the hotel lobby with some incredibly loud Americans. Why do people hate us again? Perhaps it's because we have obscenely loud conversations about who was in Tin Cup.

All Those Roman Things. . .

JULIE: Due to yesterdays travels we slept in this morning; sleep feels great!

After brunch (prosciutto and cheese sandwich and a cappuccino) our adventures began with the Trevi Fountain – it was a zoo! I pushed my way through the masses and made it to the front in order to document this feat. After, we took our pictures and threw our coins we were on our way. On our route to the Pantheon we stumbled upon a highly recommended restaurant so decided it was time to eat, once again! This time we both had pizza; for me it was buffalo mozzarella, basil and cheese while Jake enjoyed mozzarella and prosciutto along with a beer. For dessert we indulged in Tiramisu and left very satisfied!

SIDEBAR - why do all of the public bathrooms smell like raw sewage? If I am required to pay to pee the bathroom should be somewhat maintained!

SIDEBAR # 2 – I always think of Europeans as setting the fashion trend however if the up and coming fashion is to wear jeans so tight that it causes you to have “muffin top” and no bra – I am not interested!

Next, we found ourselves at the Pantheon and listened to a pre downloaded Rick Steves audio tour (yes we are nerds!).

SIDE BAR # 3 Jake is so prepared and organized I’d still be in Denver trying to find my way out of DIA.

While at the Pantheon I managed to snap a few shots of some monks and took a few photos of Flat Stanley (don’t ask!). Onward to the Spanish Steps, to be perfectly honest I didn’t do any research before this trip (Jake does enough research for both of us) and the Spanish Steps are a cool place to people watch and oddly relaxing, however, with that being said I am not sure what all of hype is about – aren’t they just old steps?! Once we have internet access I’ll have to look this up. I am sure there is cool history behind them. Speaking of people watching there were creepy guys trying to force people to buy roses and an Italian cop chasing them around – it was pretty entertaining to say the least! “When in Rome do as the Romans do” so we are off for a late night dinner!

JAKE: We had a wonderfully crappy dinner!!! After attempting to go to a place that was recommended by the lady who will give us the food tour on Monday, we ended up at a place that sucked. Julie caught their menu as we walked by, and we decided to go in. A little tip for any future international travelers, if the menu is in multiple languages the place probably sucks. If they offer free WiFi, the place probably REALLY sucks. We had the feeling it wasn't going to be good, and they placed some bread at our table. We learned the night before that you don't eat the bread or else you'll be charged for it. Julie ordered a basic pasta dish with artichokes and I had a "Hunter's Style" lamb. Julie's dish offered a complimentary hair and after an awkward attempt to complain about it, we learned that it was an artichoke fiber by several waiters. Julie wasn't convinced and ate around it. "Hunter's Style" is Italian for very little meat and mostly bone fragments. We opted out on dessert and got the bill. The bread that we left untouched was on our bill. Apparently you pay for the option to eat bread. It's kind of a weird idea. We finish our night in the hotel lobby sipping cappuccinos and enjoying our dessert.

& Smell

Julie:

We arrived in Rome yesterday, via London, without any hiccups! The only hiccup, for lack of a better word, was the guy I sat next to, for nine hours, who had diarrhea farts the entire flight (no, this was NOT Jake...or was it?). Praise be to God for safe travels (especially after the scariest taxi ride of my life - all I kept thinking was no wonder Princess Diana died in a car crash. That's right, I did reference something that happened in the '90's and not in Rome).

Jake and I love to play a game called "what nationality are you?" while traveling abroad and have determined the shoes, jeans and backpacks are typically the dead give aways. Of course, you always have the nerd who wears their money belt on the outside of their clothing letting you know they are American. So I have to wonder what is it about me that screams AMERICAN? Is it my extra pale skin? Or perhaps the fact that I have mini padlocks on my travel purse? Maybe because I, unnecessarily, took my shoes off going through security in London?

Mason - Mama & Daddy LOVE you so much and miss you! Be a good baby for Mam Mam & Baba this week.

Bean - What up dog?

Shout out - The St. Regis Rome for upgrading us and providing a fruit basket in our room! Working in the hospitality industry is all about making a personal connection. You nailed it St. Regis!

A Plane!

The airport. It's kind of like the hospital of vacations. The beginning and the end of a journey. Maybe that's too deep. Luckily, we were not in a rush, so we were able to enjoy what I hope will be the worst meal of our trip. We are really excited for this trip, though I told Julie I won't officially be excited until I see our bags coming off the carousel in Rome.
The hardest part of this will be the photo you already saw. Mason. Circa yesterday. He's an awesome little guy that we're already looking forward to seeing in 2 weeks. Keep posted as we keep posting (I just thought of that!).