Hallie and I rendezvoused at St. Peter's Square, I gave her a bottle of wine as payment for housing me, and we promptly went to Old Bridge to get some gelato (the same gelateria Deanna and I went to two weeks before. It was still just as good. Thanks Allie!!). In the process I crossed an international border twice; it's weird thinking about the Vatican City as a different country. Anyway we got gelato, enjoyed it and then headed over to Piazza Campo de' Fiori for drinks. We decided to go to a bar called Sloppy's and got a 14€ pitcher and, because of how insanely overpriced the beer was, stole the two glasses it came in. We walked over to Piazza Navona (which is across the street) and saw the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi at night, talked about how proud Signorina Fini (our Italian teacher in high school) would be of us for actually going abroad and doing something with the Italian we learned, then made our way back to Hallie's apartment (from which you can see the dome of St. Peter's!) and slept nice and late (10).
The next day we wandered around the city. Both of us had seen all we wanted to see there already, so we were pretty aimless. We ended up at the Trevi Fountain, where I saw Jorge and his family (who were visiting Rome that day on their grand European adventure) and the world seemed incredibly small. (Speaking of, I completely forgot to mention this before but I saw my Italian professor from Miami at my bus stop outside of school one day in June. It's not as crazy as it sounds: she was teaching a class of kids from Miami in Milan for the first summer session, but it was still pretty crazy. So we took the bus together and spoke in Italian the whole time, she wished me luck on my exams and seemed genuinely impressed with my grades, even though I got them mostly because I am foreign not because I was a good student, and then we said ciao. When I see her again in the fall my Italian will not be nearly as good as it was then.) We spent some time at the fountain then said bye to Jorge and the rest of the Serrano clan, and started wandering again. We made it to the Quattro Fontane, an intersection with a fountain at each corner (which was a little underwhelming). The fountains, respectively, are carved statues of the River-Gods of the Tiber and the Arno, and the Goddesses Juno and Diana. The fountains were nice enough, but nowhere near Trevi or Quattro Fiumi (I'm spoiled) and they were also pretty dirty. I guess that's to be expected when they're right on a busy Roman intersection. After that disappointment we walked around some more, saw all the same stuff we had already seen and bought delicious grapes from a market in Rome. They were huge, had seeds and were three times the size of normal, American grapes. And were so juicy!
My day in Rome wandering around with Hallie made me realize just how much I love the city. I could wander there forever. Of course I've never spent more than 20 hours consecutively there, but I would like to think that doesn't make a difference. Anyway, my weekend of aimless Italian wandering came to an end that night when I got on the Frecciarossa back to Milan and finally slept in my own bed again. See you tomorrow with one final bullet pointed post!
The next day we wandered around the city. Both of us had seen all we wanted to see there already, so we were pretty aimless. We ended up at the Trevi Fountain, where I saw Jorge and his family (who were visiting Rome that day on their grand European adventure) and the world seemed incredibly small. (Speaking of, I completely forgot to mention this before but I saw my Italian professor from Miami at my bus stop outside of school one day in June. It's not as crazy as it sounds: she was teaching a class of kids from Miami in Milan for the first summer session, but it was still pretty crazy. So we took the bus together and spoke in Italian the whole time, she wished me luck on my exams and seemed genuinely impressed with my grades, even though I got them mostly because I am foreign not because I was a good student, and then we said ciao. When I see her again in the fall my Italian will not be nearly as good as it was then.) We spent some time at the fountain then said bye to Jorge and the rest of the Serrano clan, and started wandering again. We made it to the Quattro Fontane, an intersection with a fountain at each corner (which was a little underwhelming). The fountains, respectively, are carved statues of the River-Gods of the Tiber and the Arno, and the Goddesses Juno and Diana. The fountains were nice enough, but nowhere near Trevi or Quattro Fiumi (I'm spoiled) and they were also pretty dirty. I guess that's to be expected when they're right on a busy Roman intersection. After that disappointment we walked around some more, saw all the same stuff we had already seen and bought delicious grapes from a market in Rome. They were huge, had seeds and were three times the size of normal, American grapes. And were so juicy!
My day in Rome wandering around with Hallie made me realize just how much I love the city. I could wander there forever. Of course I've never spent more than 20 hours consecutively there, but I would like to think that doesn't make a difference. Anyway, my weekend of aimless Italian wandering came to an end that night when I got on the Frecciarossa back to Milan and finally slept in my own bed again. See you tomorrow with one final bullet pointed post!
CHRIS,
ReplyDeleteSTEALING! NOT GOOD! But you didn't get lost.
Love, Mom