When in Rome: Part 2

So. On Tuesday morning we woke up and figured out the Metro system! (Actually Ryan figured it out while I looked on). We took the Metro to the Vatican to tour St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel. It was a beautiful day and the tourists were out and about! We got mixed up in several different tour groups, but it didn't really matter that it was so crowded - we spent the whole morning walking around looking up at the ceilings in the Basilica, Museum, and Chapel!

After a quick lunch right outside the Vatican walls, we took the Metro (again!) on a little sporadic adventure to Piazza del Popolo. I had wanted to see the church there, which I read was one of "Rome's most overlooked churches"...but of course - it was closed! We ended up at a Leonardo da Vinci museum that Ryan really wanted to see (I had no idea he was a fan) and that was interesting, and then we walked in the Borghese Gardens for an hour or two before heading to the Borghese Gallery to look at Bernini sculptures and beautiful, beautiful walls (no pictures allowed though!).

That night we had a thrilling Roman dinner - cacio e pepe, which is a Roman specialty that I've never seen anywhere else and was dying to try, ossobuco, and fried artichokes. YUM. We ate in a great little restaurant near our hotel with tons of locals, all of whom were there when we sat down at 9 and were still there when we left at 11.

The next day we booked it over to the Santa Maria della Vittoria church to see another Bernini statue, St. Teresa in Ecstasy (I seem to have a taste for Bernini these days). It was great and the church was so ornate and beautiful, but very small and plain on the outside. It was one of my favorite things we saw. THEN we popped in to the Cappuccin Crypt to look at bones. Literally. The Crypt has the bones of over 4,000 friars who died between 1528 and 1870 and they are arranged in patterns all over the walls - skulls, thigh bones, shin bones, pelvis bones.....(Ryan was thinking that I was crazy at this point, but it was actually quite cool).

Then, with sore necks and aching feet, we headed back to the train station, hopped on the train, and fell sound asleep. Overall - great, great trip!

When in Rome: Part 1

Well, we made it back from Rome last night. Our trip was a whirlwind of museums, ruins, restaurants, walking, and espresso. Here's a few pictures from the first two days, if you'd like to see:

We took the train and arrived around 3:30 - after walking to the hotel (successfully) and checking in, we left and took off for Trastavere, a neighborhood across the river. No time to spare! We started at Santa Maria, the local church. There was actually a service going on so we listened to the singing for a while before heading back out (into the rain).

We walked along the narrow streets and found a little place to have a drink. We decided on Negronis because we don't have those in Cortina and neither of us had ever tried them.

We ate dinner at a local pizzeria, Dar Poeta, that was recommended by two people....but we found that there were more Americans than Italians inside! BUT - we outlasted all the other tourists and students, and by 9 pm, the Italians were pouring in. The pizza was delish and totally different than what we have in Cortina! We shared two and then went to get hazelnut and pistachio gelato next door before heading home for an early (ish) bedtime.

We started Monday at the Colosseum....enough said. The first picture here is our first view of it, from down the street...we just loved how it was peeking through.

Then we headed over to the Forum and Palatine Hill. We walked through the ruins and did a tour from our guidebook.

Then we took a quick trip over to the Church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin to see the Bocca della Verita, which was fun and silly:

Then FINALLY to a little wine bar for lunch, where we ordered a Lagrein which is from our own Trentino-Alto Adige region! And had some absolutely delicious antipasti (which we had a lot of throughout the trip).

So that was a loooong morning. We walked back to the hotel to regroup and rest a bit and then headed out AGAIN! This time - the Pantheon.

Then on to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps (we were very, very busy...but we did rest on the steps for a while):

Then we ended our first day with a fantastic dinner at a little place in North Rome called Ristorante il Gabriello, where we ate antipasti, little raviolis in a creamy sage sauce, homemade pasta with lobster, shrimp and calamari, steak with different types of salt.....it was one of our favorite parts of the whole trip!

And finally we fell into bed after the busiest day of our lives!
Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow....

Ci Vediamo Cortina!

Tomorrow morning we leave the snowy mountains for the big city! We'll be back on Wednesday night with lots and lots of stories.

And - In other very exciting news, the team won TWO GAMES IN A ROW! Way to go, boys. They are crawling their way up the ladder to 8th place.

Talk to everyone soon - xo

Hello Snow

Our view seems to have drastically changed on this chilly November morning.....time to head down to Rome where the weather is still in the high 60's!

Last year it didn't snow until Christmas. But that's okay.

Happy All Saint's Day!

Lately

Fall is in full swing

Lately we have been really BUSY.

Last Saturday I had a fun visit from Natalie, a friend from last year, who now lives in Alleghe - we went to all her old favorite places in town, and had some prosecco before going to the game. The next day Ryan and I were sitting, having a cappuccino, when I was approached by the woman who owns the cafe, asking me if I would teach her two children English. My new job starts this afternoon! The weather has been incredible, so we've been doing a lot of walking and sitting outside. And lots of cooking. I made spaghetti con vongole the other night from this recipe and it's delish. One of my other new activities is putting a cookbook together of all the things I love to make here (like this, yum). Ryan is back playing now, but we're still waiting on the third win!! We're doing lots of trip planning for Rome, if anyone else has suggestions. And....8 weeks later, I'm still trying to figure out when my Italian class starts! Bella vita!

Travel Time

It's getting to be that time of year again....we're only two weeks away from our mini-break! Once this next round of 9 games is over, Ryan gets a week off from games, a few days off from hockey in general, and we get to go on a little trip. We're assuming that since the team decided to start winning again, he'll get about 3 and a half days off, which is what we had last year. (Last year we went to Siena, Pisa, and Florence).

This year we're jetting (haha no, we're taking the slowest train imaginable) to....ROME!

Image via Google

Trip planning is in full swing, despite the fact that I have no idea actually how many days he will have off, and I probably won't have this information until two days before we leave because this is Italy.

If anyone has suggestions on where to eat, stay, and what to see during our 3 days, we would love to hear them!

Snowy

Seems to be a little bit snowy up in the mountains this morning....