From Pizza to Piazza

 Someone didn't want us to go to Rome.  First I heard about a train strike which was going to affect Dwi's journey, and we were worried.  But trenitalia assured her it would be fine.  Then, thursday night, we get an email from British Airways telling us that our flight has been canceled because Air Traffic Control is on strike and we've been rebooked on one 5 hours later from a different airport.  Well, at least we don't have to get up early?  So we get to the airport, go through security, chill at the Harrod's in the airport for a bit, and then wait to board.  And wait.  And wait.  It was never "officially" delayed, but we boarded 45 minutes late.  Then we sat on the runway for another hour while waiting to take off.  All very frustrating when you're meeting someone on the other end of your journey and aren't allowed to use a cell phone!

 

 My first view of Rome!  These are mountains of some sort but I'm not sure which ones.  Any geography experts should feel free to chime in.

Our cute hotel, from the outside.  It's called Rome Hotel Pinewood, and is a great B&B out by the Cornelia metro station, which is nigh at the end of one of the metro lines (but there are only 2).  Definitely not taken on the day we arrived as it was pitch black by then.  Love navigating in the dark!

Lobby shot!

Another lobby shot!

 

Having arrived at the hotel so late, there wasn't much we could do the first day.  So we caught a bus to Piazza Cavour, walked to Piazza Navona, and then found our way to the Pantheon from there.  Unfortunately it was closed by then, so we just marveled at the outside and ate crepes.  Boo yah.

The view from the bridge (of another bridge!) that connects Piazza Navona and Piazza Cavour.  That's the Tiber river there.

The next day, after our Roman ruins outing, we went on a free tour sponsored by, ironically enough, Rome Free Tours.  The guides are all local college students who work on a tips-only basis, and our guide, Simone, was both informative and, well, nice to look at. Rome is full of basilisks (read: solitary tall columns) and here are three that we passed on our walk.

We also went to the Trevi Fountain for the first time while on the tour...it was a magnificent display of white marble and jets of water.  We vowed to revisit during the daytime, though.

A Rome metro car.  This is why I liked the Paris metro more than most people: the metro in Rome has two lines that overlap at just ONE POINT and it's rather dirty (though cheap).  Paris's metro is slightly cleaner and far more extensive, which I greatly appreciated.  London's metro is head and shoulders above the rest of the world, but is so darn expensive!

Dwi and I spent the better part of one afternoon wandering along the Tiber, because that's what we like to do.

More from our wanderings.  I loved that the green still came through in the reflection!

Loved this painter.  I kind of wanted to buy what he was working on right there--a shot of St. Peter's with the bridge and Tiber in the foreground...it was rather magnificent.

Entirety of the Trevi fountain at night...

And a portion of it during the day!  I threw in one coin just to return because I wasn't sure if the three for marrying an Italian meant one originally from there...I have my Italian already! (Legend goes: 1 coin--will return to Rome; 2 coins--will fall in love with an Italian; 3 coins--will marry an Italian).

Piazza Navona's central fountain.  We met up with a friend who lived on our freshman year floor here...out of the 27 of us, there were 4 who made it here on the same night!

The "ugly boat" of Piazza Spagna.  Simone told us that when the Tiber flooded, an ugly boat ended up in the centre of the piazza, and so they built a fountain to commemorate it.  Go figure.

Random arch in the Villa Borghese park.  We wandered around in this huge park for about an hour and a half, enjoying the fresh air (you think Londoners smoke?  go to Rome!) and meeting all the dogs in the park!

Also in Villa Borghese park.  No sign, though, so no idea what these columns represented...

It's time to play..."what's wrong with this picture?"  If you're wondering why I have a picture of the Globe in the Rome post, check out the flag...we were wandering through, saw this, and were very confused, as we've all been to the semi-real Globe (the original was destroyed by fire) in London.  Evidently the Romans love Shakespeare so much they wanted one of their own.

Really cool (well, warm) sunlight we saw on our way out of the park.  We danced in its magical beams.

We attempted to go to the Boca but we got there just as it was closing, alas, and even when we pleaded in Italian we were turned away.  Supposedly if you put your hand in and tell a lie, the mouth bites you!  See Roman Holiday for details...or just watch it, 'cause Audrey's my girl.

Thus concludes our adventure in Rome! Our last day, Dwi and I had a late flight so we slept in, got breakfast, went to the Vatican markets, went to a grocery store, and then headed back to the hotel to get our luggage and then begin the trek to the airport (walk to metro, take metro to train station, take train to airport, take plane to London).  But Paris is still my favorite! =p

A Customs-Free Country

Survey says...Vatican City!

This is the Vatican gardens, part of the giant walled complex that really does seem to be a small city...not sure about the country bit, though.  We brilliantly decided to go on the free Sunday, which meant that lines were quite long (people were comparing them to Easter) but there was no charge at the end...we got there as it opened and waited just over an hour to get into the Vatican Museums, which isn't too bad!

Before you were allowed to even enter for the security check, there was a clothing check.  As you can see, bathing suits are a bad idea.  After that, you go through a metal detector and your belongings are x-rayed to ensure you have benevolent intentions.

The path to the Sistine Chapel through the Vatican Museums is long, and paved with beautiful ceilings (rather a propos).  However, no photography was allowed inside the Sistine Chapel, and yours truly was actually obedient for once...so imagine this, but higher, more gilded, and more intricate...and then you're about halfway there!

I was amused to find Greek gods also in attendance.  This here is Bacchus, my favorite--he's the god of food, wine, and festival.  Note the grapes and cup of wine.  He's a pretty chill guy.

The old-fashioned Popemobile, and in my opinion, the much cooler one.  We accidentally stumbled upon the carriage house and got to see various editions of papal transport, including a model of the new jet.  Quite cool.

After a good 4 hours, we headed over to St. Peter's Basilica and square.  However, these lines were also quite long (it's evidently another way of getting into the Sistine Chapel), and Dwi had already been through.  I've been through a lot of pretty churches, so we were bad Catholics and stayed outside.

Then we trekked over to Angel's Castle, an ancient marvel.  Thanks to Tom O'Toole for the most excellent recommendation; we never would've found it otherwise!  This used to be the papal fortress and is now a museum to art, weaponry, and other old things.  But the best part of Angel's Castle is the view from the top.

This is part of the way up!  Climbing very old stone spiral staircases is tough work, so we stopped on the middle level for gelato.  Somehow I don't think there was a cafe and bar here in the Middle Ages... This was taken peeking out of a tiny opening in the wall...not much in the way of windows here!

And St. Peter's from the top.  We could see for many miles, and there were handy panoramic diagrams telling you what you were looking at from each side of the roof. We stayed up here for a good 45 minutes, just enjoying the breeze, sunshine, and marvelous view!

Angel's Bridge.  Any good fortress needs a moat, and the Tiber suffices rather nicely.  So this bridge was necessary for the trafficking of people (in a positive way!) and goods in and out of the fortress.  Each end is decorated with angel statues.

Thus mostly ends Day 2 in Rome!  We checked out some of the piazzas that evening, but those'll be in the next post. Ciao ciao!

A City of Ruins

...which would be...Rome!

A brief intro first--this past trip has caused me to love unions even more as Air Traffic Control in Rome decided to be on strike while we were flying in...which meant our flight was canceled, then we were assigned to a new one, then that one was delayed several more hours....long story short, we only got to crash at our hotel, grab some dinner, and check out a piazza on our first day...rather disappointing!

But the next day we were up early to check out the historical parts of the city.

This part of the city basically feels like an open archeological dig. These are the ruins of the political part of ancient Rome, where speakers would gather to sway public opinion.  But we saw this on our way to a piazza, because some of our fellow travelers needed an ATM...which the Colosseum strangely doesn't have.

But if they hadn't needed one, we wouldn't have gotten to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Rome...we completely stumbled upon it by accident, and the whole thing--from the monument to the guard parade in front of it--was beautiful.

Then we made it to the Colosseum.  Yay!  This is where some of the ancient Roman games were held.  From what I remember from Latin class, the gladiators would go over to the emperor and say "We who are about to die salute you" which sadly I can no longer say in Latin.  The lowest level of the Colosseum could be flooded for mock naval battles.  The Colosseum was the emperor's best way of winning public favor--give them blood sport and they'll forget about everything else!

And of course, Rome was a Christian state...so I couldn't resist silhouetting this original cross against the backdrop of the Colosseum.

Some etchings we found.  Now, I need feedback--are these teeth, or hearts?  I snapped a pic because I thought it was adorable, and then someone pointed out that the stem of the heart is just a bit too long.  Thoughts?

View from the top of Augustus's house!  He had quite the palace, with gardens and his own chariot-racing stadium (a bit smaller than the Circo Massimo, but still).

Romans liked pillars.  A lot.  This is outside the old Roman Forum.  Also, you can tell we're in Italy in this pic.  Why?  The sky is BLUE, not the gauzy grey you get in the UK!

Lastly, the Arch of Constantine.  You know, the good guy who converted to Christianity because he thought it gave him better luck in military battles.  Built in 315 A.D., this commemorates one of his many victories, so he was on about something!

A Mart of Many Nations

...which is what Bede said about London many many years ago, never having gone there.  Not much has changed.

So Dwivs flew back from Rome (pics will come eventually) with me and I decided to show her London.  Day 1 (Wednesday) was a foodie day, and we started off with an amazing full english from Valtaro Snack Bar.  If you ever go to London, go there...a full english spilling off the plate for under a fiver is a rare find indeed!

Next we went to the British Museum and Covent Garden...because free things are great. However, having been thus thrifty, we splurged on the nine-pound afternoon tea at Bea's of Bloomsbury, which was strangely enough started by a Cornell grad!  The delicious-looking pink tea concoction was my amazing Jing tea--the best I've ever had.  We drank a pot each and then some.  And of course, no tea is complete without scones and jam, cupcakes, meringues, brownies, and miniature cakes...aka lunch! Much to my delight, the substance in the picture is NOT clotted cream (which I hate) but butter, which is much more tolerable.  What can I say, I was raised on margarine...

 

 

Next we went to matins (an evening prayer service) at Westminster Abbey, the bottommost frame.  Also pictured are two scenes at Trafalgar Square, which was on our route--one of the twin fountains all lit up in front of the National Gallery, and an iconic double-decker bus zooming past Nelson's Column, named for Admiral Lord Nelson (now you have some Googling to do).

The following day was our trip to Paris so we called it a night on the early side, but Friday began our next adventures in London.

After a nice bit of sleeping in, we trekked back down to Whitehall (the Westminster area) to watch the changing of the Mounted Guard.  Not only did I get the horse to stare directly at my camera, but Dwi got a smile from the guard!  I hear the ones in front of Buckingham are a bit tougher to crack, though.

 

Westminster again, this time by daylight!  It's such a pretty Gothic church that it merits both views.

Secondly, Big Ben, the clock tower, and the London Eye...which will feature quite shortly in our story.

The view from the top!  Westminster (Parliament) and Big Ben from the London Eye.

Zooming in...

 The sun came out just as we were starting the second half of our journey!  It's peeking through the clouds and making the lovely Thames (it's not) shimmer.

 
Parliament, etc, again with the newly prettied sky behind it...what can I say--I love that building!

Next was a tour of the City--the financial heart of London. I took Dwi to a Wetherspoons (the McD's of pubs; they own 40+, all with different names, in London neighborhoods) called the Green Man and we had their gourmet burger & beer deal.  Or rather, not-beer, as neither of us drink it.  C'est la vie.  Above is Lloyd's of London, the world's leading specialized insurer.  They cover things like celebrity's legs and ship cargoes, as well as some of the more traditional items.  One of the coolest, most modern buildings in the City--it has more than 8 escalators inside and 4 glass elevators going up the outside of the building!  We also stopped by the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666, St. Paul's, Leavenhall Market (including a stop at Ben's Cookies!), the Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe (not the fake one in Rome; the fake one in London), and London Bridge (which is no longer falling down).

But by now it was quite dark, as daylight is in short supply in London.  This is the view of St. Paul's from across the Thames. You can see Millennium Bridge just off to the right, which was featured in the most recent Harry Potter movie (the one that twists and torques).  The ironic thing is that the bridge did just that, though without the dementors--opening day drew such a crowd that the bridge started to twist, and was closed for 2 years.  It's quite stable now!

Friday night ended with a half-price dinner at Pizza Express with friends (note to readers--go to restaurants with 4 other girls and you get waaaay better service)...but Rome's Forno at Campo di Fiori still takes the cake...or...pie?

Saturday morning means one thing for foodies--Borough Market! This incredible paradise has more than 150 stalls of baked goods, entrees, and drinks...this is a shelf at the Flour Power bakery stall.

A basket of croissants from some other bakery.  We actually got cheese straws and pain au chocolat (don't know how to pluralize!) here, but these were so beautiful-looking that I needed to steal a pic.

Since it was fall, we wanted a nice autumnal beverage, and we happened upon an organic cider stall.  Dwi got the pear and I got the apple, and we finally got to drink them by the time we were on the Tube (they were quite hot)!

After that, we were off to the West End by a rather circuitous route to see CHICAGO!  And being the avid theatrephiles we are, we dressed up.  Check facebook for pics (Dwi has them; I don't).

Sadly, she left Sunday morning.  London cried (aka poured rain) for just the 3rd time this semester (during the day).  I think it was a sign she wasn't supposed to leave.

Rome pics coming soon!