Ciao Bella!

Rome was wonderful.

We arrived at the train station and Morgan’s friend Lorenzo picked us up and took us back to his enormous apartment. I can’t even describe how gracious he and his roommates, Bea and Alesandro, were. And the food! When we got in, Bea cooked us lunch and over the course of the week they made a few more meals for us. It was by far my favorite place to eat in Italy...every day food to them but to us, it was the best Italian we have had. Thank you again!!! Lorenzo also took us out to many restaurants over the week, which were incredible.

Thursday we arrived and Lorenzo took us out to dinner and to walk through the city. The thing about the center of Rome is that everywhere you go there are a million gorgeous things to see. You see the most beautiful building you have ever seen and it is just the post office. And around every corner there are stunning churches.

Friday I went to the Indian embassy to start my visa process (see my blog on obtaining visas). After, Morgan came to meet me and we wandered around the city for a while. We found a gummy shop and bought one of every type of coke gummy…just to make ourselves as sick as we could. We have been trying for weeks to get Morgan a certified copy of her passport for her Australian visa (something very simple in the US) with no luck. We spent the afternoon searching for a place to do this. It was a bit stressful and we never were able to get it done. We decide an appointment at the US embassy is the only way to go.

Saturday I had fully caught Morgan’s cold (thanks Morgan) so I stayed in bed all day. That night we went out for Calzones. YUM!

Sunday we got up late and realized it was the free day to get into the Vatican. We did not catch a bus in time (unfortunately) but wandered around the city and had a great meal at a little restaurant in a back ally. It is fun to discover nice restaurants. On the way back to the bus, we stumbled across this street side art exhibit. It was amazing. I gave money to the donation box and the artist ran up and gave me a bookmark size piece of wood with a drawing and signature on it. Morgan got one too. I photographed the entire thing in my photos if you want to see. It was one of the most inspiring things I have seen in a long time. It was just right there for you to walk by.

Monday we bought tickets to the Vatican for 2pm. At 1 Lorenzo suggested we go to lunch and took us to a little restaurant with no menu. They have about 6 things they make and 4 are available each day. It was so good and an experience most tourists wouldn’t get. Then there was the Vatican. We began in the hall of marble statues where we overheard a tour guide tell her group after only walking about 1/8^th of the way into the hall, “ok, lets go, once you’ve seen one head, you’ve seen them all”. Then we walked through hall after hall of statues and carvings, paintings and tapestries. And the ceilings wow! I wanted to start in the Sistine Chapel (to see it when we were fresh) but the way it is set up; you have to walk through the rest of the museum first. So it’s weird to say but by the time we got to it, we were sort of overwhelmed by all of the beauty we had already seen. That and the chapel was nothing like I imagined. I guess I have never really seen photos of it but I thought it would just be the “Creation of Adam” image and I thought the chapel would be round. Ok, I was wrong…it rectangular and that image isn’t even at the center of the ceiling. It is the most overwhelming thing to look at. You simply can’t take it all in, no matter how long you look. I am really glad we went!

Then a nice walk along the river back to the bus. Morgan and I seem to have a never ending stream of conversation. It’s really nice!

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Naples (see Naples entry)

Thursday we headed back to town to deal with embassy nonsense and go shopping. We made all these requests to the universe and most all of them came true. My visa, Morgan’s certified copy of her passport (finally!!), buying Morgan’s boots (although they ended up being shit and she had to return them…boo!) and going out to dinner with Lorenzo and his friend Marco. Wait, first he took us to the best Tiramisu place in Rome…holy crap it was amazing. Then to a traditional Roman restaurant….I have to talk about this dinner as it was the most adventurous eating experience I have ever had. Apparently traditional Roman cuisine involves a lot of organs. The proprietor of the restaurant spoke very good English (to the shock of our companions) and told us he would bring us a sample of two types of pastas. We were eating them (one white and one red) and trying to figure out this strange taste. Turns out the white one was pasta with Thymus (that’s a gland in case you didn’t know) and the other was pasta with Ox tail. We had already eaten most of it and it wasn’t so bad. Then he told us he would bring us out a sampling of more traditional food.

Ok, we’re game, let’s do it. To preface this, I have tried many of the foods on this plate before but they were definitely not all served together like this. When this plate came out, I was not sure I could do it. It had: tripe, liver, heart, thymus, ox tail, and lamb intestine. The lamb intestine was the one thing that actually looked like what it was and completely freaked me out. But we did it. We all tried all of it and it actually wasn’t that bad but it’s so unappetizing to look at, a quick taste to say we did it was enough. After the meal we got a lesson in Italian cursing which was so much fun! “Suona sulla fregna de tu madre che lí si che c’é traffico.” Figure that one out and I’ll make you a pasta dinner (Morgan, this does not apply to you).

On Saturday my sickness was back full blown. I can’t stand this cold! I stayed in all day while Morgan went to return her boots. That night Morgan, Lorenzo, Bea, Alesandro the friend and Alesandro the roommate stayed in drinking (not much for me, I’m sick) and playing the card game my mom and I love (Mom, out of 5 games, I didn’t win once and Morgan won twice...apparently Morgan’s talent lies in the big groups. She kicked butt!). It was a really nice Halloween (although seeing everyone’s facebook photos, I did miss dressing up!)

Sunday: It was time to leave. Morgan’s flight to Portugal was at noon and my flight to Brussels (and then onto Chennai) was at 430. I had not checked in online and was not allowed to check in at the airport until 2 hours before my flight so I couldn’t walk Morgan to her gate which really sucked. I finally made it to my flight and an empty row to myself. Goodnight Rome.