On Friday, February 16th, my mom, Aunt Linda, Aunt Bonnie, and Uncle Jon (aka Maximus and the Three Amigoettes) flew into Rome to see me and Rome for several days. We had a great time, had a lot of fantastic food (in Italy, how can you not?) and great wine, and it was great to share with my family what living here is like. I most likely messed up on the order of some things... like all the restaurants (and offhand I can't remember a lot of the names, until I pass by the actual locations again), and probably omitted some events, but here are some of the high points.
Cast of characters (and I mean that literally):
Mom and I at the Roman Forum.
Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jon, also at the Forum.
Aunt Linda at the Colosseum.
I met them at their hotel on Via del Corso, and we walked around the area, then had some good pizza on Piazza della Rotonda (can't beat the view of the Pantheon.) After that, my family went back to the hotel to rest up, but we met later on for dinner at Old Bear, by Piazza Navona (Dave - thanks for the recommendation!) Great bucatini all'amatriciana... always a good decision.
The next day we met at my apartment to tour the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. We met at my apartment and walked a bit to the Campidoglio.
One of the guardian statues at the entrance to the Campidoglio.
After the Campidoglio, we walked down into the Forum, exploring a little and testing my tenuous grasp of Roman history, before heading out to the Colosseum.
The Forum, the Campidoglio, and the Victor Emanuel II monument... thousands of years of building history, literally on top of one another.
The Arch of Constantine, outside the Colosseum.
We stood in line for a while at the Colosseum, passing up some guided tour offers since we basically just wanted to see the building and roam around independently. The line eventually moved inside, and after dealing with the ticket counter/mosh pit, we got in.
What once was the floor of the Colosseum, with the network of underground rooms and hallways now exposed.
The Colosseum cheap seats.
Sunlight falling through the bars of a room containing some ancient artifacts.
It's still a pretty spectacular place to see... you can almost hear the crowds in the seats.
The Arch of Constantine, as seen from a balcony on the Colosseum.
A high shot of the arena.
After the Colosseum, we ate at a small restaurant near Largo Argentina that had some great pizza, and then parted ways until dinner. I believe that Saturday night was the night walked by the Trevi Fountain (throwing in our coins, so hopefully we are all returning to Rome), and then we ate on Piazza della Rotonda, right in front of the Pantheon... generally it is advised to avoid restaurants near the high-traffic tourist areas, but the food was great, and the Pantheon is gorgeous at night.
The next day was Sunday, so we decided to go to St. Peter's Basilica to see the pope give his Sunday blessing. It was raining on and off throughout the day but the walk to St. Peter's was fairly dry.
The lovely Tiber near St. Peter's.
A statue on Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II.
Via della Conciliazione and the view to St. Peter's.
The cattle call going through security... I'm assuming Bernini didn't have this in mind when he designed his collonade.
The baldachin and high altar.
Even on overcast and rainy days, the sun coming through the windows is beautiful.
The entrance to the basilica.
Pope Benedict XVI, addressing the crowd. It was great seeing him speak, he seems pretty robust for an 80-year old.
After St. Peter's, we walked down the Tiber to Trastevere and wandered around, finding a restaurant just as it started to rain pretty hard. After lunch, we left the restaurant and set out in the now-pouring rain, stopping in Santa Maria in Trastevere (for the beauty as well as the shelter) as we passed it on our way to the river. We walked partway back to the Campo, and then parted ways until dinnertime. For dinner, we ate at a place across the way from Punto (the grocery store off Via dei Giubbonari) called Le Maschere. It was a very cool, very interesting place, we ate in the downstairs part of the restaurant, in a room with hanging plants and a skylight. It also had great food, and the tiramisu was pretty fantastic.
The next day, Monday, the gang went to Florence for the day, but when they got back, we met for dinner at the same place we had lunch on our Colosseum day. The service started strong and then faded as dinner progressed, we ended up waiting forever for the check... in Italy it is customary to wait a while, since they apparently aren't as obsessed with turnover as American restaurants are, but it was still a long time. Can't complain about the food though, I had bucatini with mussels and scallops. I'm not going to lie, it was sad having our last dinner all together... my mom and Aunt Linda had to leave early the next morning. After dinner, we said our goodbyes and parted ways... what a great time to do studio work, huh?
On Tuesday, I had class in the morning, but met Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jon for dinner at Le Maschere, which seemed like a pretty safe bet considering how good it was on Sunday night, and it didn't disappoint. The next morning, they also had to leave, so we said goodbye, and everyone was gone.
Thank you all for an awesome weekend! It was a really great time, and my only regret is that I couldn't spend more of it with all of you... I hope you all had as much fun as I did.
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