Italian Noms

I think we can all agree that Italian food is amazing. When I got back to the States, I had a one month hiatus from eating anything remotely Italian. It was just too depressing to think about having anything but the real deal.

Colazione

Italians have a whole bunch of options for their breakfast. My Perugian breakfasts consisted of small, dry toasts, Nutella, fresh fruit, meat and cheeses, and pastry croissants filled with chocolate. As always, a cup of coffee (cappuccino, espresso) was there to accompany the meals :)

Cappuccino in Roma

Breakfast in Perugia

Pranzo

Most of my lunches in Italy were very casual since I was making a travel connection, was on a tour, or had to make an evening rehearsal. Bars, pizzerias, and trattorias were the name of the game!

Pizzeria in Perugia. The table did food swaps so we could all enjoy the variety of goodness.

Gnocchi in a balsamic vinaigrette sauce in Montepulciano

Lunch buffet in Perugia

Best panino of my life from La Buca del Tartufo (not far from Palazzo dei Consoli) in Gubbio.

Cena

Served around 8pm, these were the meals I looked forward to the most! Antipasto, contorni, primi piatti, secondi piatti and dolci... va bene! Also, here's a random factoid about Perugian cuisine: their bread has remained unsalted since 1540.

Welcome dinner in Perugia

Last meal in Italy- Fettuccine Alfredo

Vino

My favorite wines are Tuscan reds, like Chianti (I blame studying abroad in Florence for my love). I'd order a glass of the house wine for most meals, and go to the grocery to pick up super cheap bottles to drink back at the hotel. Even their worst "2 buck chuck" was decent. If you're on a budget, that's the best way to go!

Spaghetti and Chianti in Florence

Gelato

Straciatella. Enough said :)

Three flavors in that one cup of gelato

Weekend in Roma

Aside from the travel debacle (I forgot to mention the toddler across the aisle throwing up as we took off) it was great to be back in Rome! I had been 5 years ago for a weekend trip when I studied abroad in Florence and this time around I had approximately the same time frame to fit in all the sights before catching a bus to Perugia with the rest of the choir.

Our route through Rome

Our hotel was by the Castel Sant'Angelo (chosen for it's location near the big sites, the river, and centrality to Metro lines). It's the purple outline on the map that looks like the Pentagon. Use that as the starting point and follow along :)

Swag's guide on how to do Rome in a day and a half:

Piazza Navona.

We left our hotel around 8:30 after breakfast. When we got there, the piazza was practically empty, save a few art students. Our view of the Bernini Fountain of the Four Rivers was unspoiled by vendors and tourists!

Pantheon.

The Pantheon was only a few blocks away from Piazza Navona and again, we got there early enough to avoid large crowds of tourists. We signed a book to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Italian unification next to Vittorio Emanuele's grave.

Coliseum.

We walked along the Corso and stopped in various ruins along the way to take pics. At the Coliseum we waited in line for 45 min (not bad at all). In retrospect, we discovered that you can buy tickets that include the Forum and the Coliseum at the entrance to the Forum which would have spared us the long lines at the Coliseum.

Roman Forum.

Saw the Arch of Constantine, grabbed panini from a vendor, then made our way into the Forum. We did a bunch of walking among the ruins (Nero's Gardens, Palatine Hill etc) and throughout there were potable drinking fountains.

Spanish Steps.

We hopped the Metro at Colosseo and took it to Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. The station is literally right underneath the steps. We took advantage of the large palm trees nearby to take a gelato break.

Borghese Gardens.

The gelato powered us to climb the steps and walk past the Villa d' Medici and onto an amazing overlook of the Piazza del Popolo. It's truly one of the best places to see all of Rome. We made our way into the garden past magnificent fountains, chipped busts of exalted Italian literary masters, and onto a bench in the shade where we people watched.

Piazza del Popolo.

We backtracked a bit and made our way to the Corso which was filled with mainstream stores. After a few blocks we found ourselves at the obelisk in the middle of the circular plaza. We also went into one of the twin churches that are on the corner of the Piazza and Via del Corso.

Trevi Fountain.

Showers were definitely in order. We went to the grocery store next to the hotel to pick up breakfast for the next morning, cleaned up, had dinner near the Pantheon, and walked to the Trevi fountain after. It was crowded, like always, but it was a beautiful night. I made sure to throw in a coin :)

Vatican Museum.

Checked out of the hotel at 6:30 am and left our luggage in the hall to retrieve after our jaunt to Vatican City. After a 35 minute walk, we found the entrance to the museum and sat down in line (we were in the first 10!). Advice: If you want to do the Vatican museum, get there around 7 am. By the time the museum opens at 9, the line is wrapped along the wall down the length of the city's perimeter and you're screwed.

Inside was uncrowded! We were free to move around and see the museum at our pace which was important since we had to make our connection at the Rome airport that afternoon at 2pm. Some highlights were the Egypt exhibit (complete with mummies), The School of Athens, Henri Matisse, and the Sistine Chapel (breathtaking).

St. Peter's Square.

After the museum we hit up the square and took pics of the Swiss guards. Unfortunately, we were short on time so we didn't make it into St. Peter's Basilica (the line circled the square). But it was amazing just to even stand in the square and take it all in.

Getting there is half the fun!

Probably the best decision I made with my recent trip to Italy was to fly in earlier than the rest of the choir to conquer Rome Veni, Vidi, Vici style. Getting there was a stressful/fun/random adventure though. Our original flight plan was to take an evening flight to Rome with a layover in Amsterdam on Delta. Wrong. We checked in and found out that the flight was overbooked so only 1 of us was able to go on. Me and my other roomie were pushed to a late night Air France flight with a layover in Paris.

Not cool? Having no phones or idea of where to reunite at the Rome airport.

Cool? Delta wrote us $800 checks on the spot for screwing up.

The beautiful architecture in the CDG airport terminal.

Fast forward through an unconditioned Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, getting hit on by French airport security guys (so stereotypical but they were cute, hooray), and finding that our luggage was indeed en route to Roma Fiumicino, we found our roomie waiting in baggage claim. We were so relieved to find her! We swapped flight stories and it turned out they switched up our baggage so she picked up my traveling companion's bag and vice versa when our flight's luggage hit baggage claim.

We were in Rome and ready to go but we had no clue how we were getting into the city. Oops? We went outside to find a way to get to our hotel. Cabs=too expensive. Train=where was it? Shuttle bus for 6 Euro? Ok sure. The 3 of us and maybe 4 others boarded a bus after an intense inquisition of where the bus would drop off/would it be near our hotel etc. We were told the bus would take us to the Piramide station where we could catch the 271 bus to Castel Sant'Angelo. Wrong again, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The bus ride was going great. Sure there was some traffic but we were moving toward the city. Then it happened- our bus rear-ended a car. I could see it coming a mile away. (Italian drivers are crazy. CRAZY. They speed and swerve and tailgate...) The light just turned yellow and the driver decided to not go through the intersection. Our bus driver wanted to go. Boom! The guy's entire back window shattered onto the road. No one was hurt and the bus only suffered a small dent and busted headlight.

Bus driver (with man purse) arguing with the driver on the side of the road.

Cue the onslaught of Italian curse words and gestures. It was absolutely hilarious. We spent a half hour on the side of the road while our driver (who had a man purse btw) exchanged info with the guy he hit. We eventually made it to the Piramide station which had the sketchiest crowd of youth and homeless-looking old guys. Not good. The 271 bus that we were supposed to connect with wasn't there and even then the ticket machine was broken. Feeling somewhat defeated, we walked toward the depot building. All of a sudden, a car pulled up to us and the hot girl on our bus (she looked like a model) asked us if we needed help -- it was like divine intervention.

Her boyfriend got out of the driver seat and looked at the map. Between my limited Italian and his broken English, we figured out a game plan to get to the hotel. Piramide was a stop along the Rome Metro! He pointed us in the direction of the entrance and we hauled our luggage a few hundred yards and hopped a train to San Pietro via transfer at Termini. It was very late when we emerged from the Metro and we hoofed it a good 25 minutes to our hotel near the Castel Sant'Angelo.

v

Proscuitto pizza? Yes, please.

We celebrated our journey by dining along the Tiber and listening to 2 Canadian guys sing karaoke.

Ciao Roma!