Rome Sweet Home

We are finally in Roma!!

We arrived safely last Friday. Nothing really exciting to tell about on the trip down (which is how you want it). The only thing note worthing is the cost of the toll: 50 euros! We were dumbstruck when we saw that number on the screen.

Our apartment is in Trastevere and on a little street right off the Ponte Sisto and near the Villa Farnesina. If you look up Vicolo Moroni on google maps, you can see where we are! We are in the building on the left and our windows are on the fourth level.

Here are some pictures of our apartment. (Village friends: this apartment makes me look forward to the Village apartments and view them as a luxury.)

We made our night stand into Georgie's play table. We also bought a little chair for him in Torino. George saw it sitting outside of a chair repair shop and the owner was basically trying to get ride of it. So with his chair and table, he has this awesome little play area!

The blue blanket in the doorway is our attempt to make a door so little George can sleep while we sit at the table in the evenings talking or working.

To reach our apartment you have to ascend three flights of steep, narrow (about 3 ft wide), marble spiraling staircases. Keep in mind that one is doing this with a baby, stroller, purse and any other bags you may have with you. The huge pro is that I am quickly getting more fit and have noticeably lost weight! George and I both have!

After we settled into our apartment a little Friday afternoon, we walked around Trastevere becoming acquainted with our new home. I think the highlight for little George was that when we stopped for gelato, the lady gave him his own little cone with a little gelato in it for free! He was in seventh heaven and devoured about haft of it! I have never seen him hold onto something so tightly.

Maybe because we were all on a little sugar high, we decided to walk to the Vatican. (Its pretty close to us, maybe a 15 minute walk at a quick pace). It was awesome showing Georgie the Vatican! It was great starting our time here with a visit to St. Peter's. I know we will be visiting it often!

Saturday was filled with tons of walking and visiting some of George's favorite spots. We ate lunch at Forno's in Campo di Fiori (mmm remember that pizza Dan and Bethany?) I could eat that everyday! Little George loved seeing the sights. He sometime slept but most of the time flirted with the people walking by. Since he was willing to be out, we were able to see so much in just one day! We went to the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Vatican.

(I have not taken too many pictures recently because in these first couple of weeks, I just want to soak it all in. I know I am going to be visiting all of these places over and over again in the next few months.)

At the Vatican, we mailed some post cards to some of you. I had intended on sending all of you postcards and trying to sending you a few while here. Well that was before I knew the price of mailing a simple postcard... Know that we are thinking of you all and think of the blog as a virtual postcard!

Where Pope John Paul II is buried

On Sunday, we went to church at Santa Maria's in Trastevere. Wanting to take advantage of one of the few days left that George was not going to be in studio, we walked around the Forum and to the Colosseum. We headed home by way of the Pantheon and Campo di Fiori. (Ahh how wonderful it is to have these be the sights we see when walking home!!)

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the bride and groom. How cool to have your wedding photos taken in the Forum! This was actually the 2nd couple we saw doing this.

Monday was a more practical day for us filled with figuring out how to do laundry here and where to shop for the different things one needs. Our washing machine is on the roof of the next door building (a workout to get there) but the terrace it is on has wonderful views. Little George had a ball up there splashing in the puddles and walking around! The grocery store that was recommended to us ended up being in the basement of a department store. It was so hard to find because you have to actually go through the department store to reach the grocery store. Odd!

We went on an evening stroll and saw some breathtaking views. I could not help but take this photo. This is from the Ponte Sisto.

Tuesday the rest of the architecture graduate students arrived! It is nice to have the other wives to spend time with.

Wednesday morning was the last straw! We had been asking the landlord since Saturday to fix our toilet and our internet. (Neither really worked at all...) I mean is a working toilet too much to ask for? By Wednesday, we were both fed up (I in tears, George insanely angry) so we asked the assistant at the ND Rome program to help us. She promptly called the landlady telling her that the toilet needed to be fixed now. Also that the internet had to be working by the end of the day for all of the students or ND was going to get internet and that the landlady would have to foot the bill. (Woohoo go Pamela!!)

I came home to find the man working in the bathroom but in order to fix the toilet he was pouring multiple large containers of chemicals down the toilet. So clearly Giorgio and I could not be there. We wandered around for about an hour and then Mercedes, one of the wives saved me from my boredom. She came by and we decided to head out to eat lunch and do some errands together.

We had a family picnic on the Janiculum hill on Thursday morning. The views of Roma are breathtaking from there. George's professor told them that one should fall in love with Roma and that from the Janiculum you can have a romance with it. I want to go back there many times over my time here. It was also wonderful to be in a park. Little George could walk around freely and enjoy a little of nature. He actually walked pretty long distances by himself here. (He normally takes just a few steps, plops down and then crawls.) He continued this at home so maybe this is the start of a whole new stage!

This is where we live! Right above the trees to right is a dome. That is the church that is literally right behind our apartment. To the left of dome is our apartment, then to the left of that is the convent that is across the street from us. (Not sure the order.)

 Pointing to one of his favorite things, motorcycles!

Little George likes his melon!

In the afternoon, George went to his first class of his semester in Roma. He loved it! They went to the site of their first project which is a garden near the Colesseum and while walking there the students had great discussions with their professor. He is very excited about this semester. Meanwhile Mercedes, Giorgio and I meandered around Campo di Fiori, looking at all of the wonderful foods. All of the wonderful ingredients are inspiring me!

Torino pt. 3

Tomorrow we leave for Roma early in the morning so this is the final Torino post! I think we are all ready to go to Roma and settle down there for the next few months. We are also so excited to explore Roma and be in the Eternal City!

This past week has been filled with a mixture of success and failures but they all make for good stories later on!

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Duomo di S. Giovanni (Torino's Cathedral where the Holy Shroud of Turin is!). We first went to the Duomo's museum as the church was closed when we arrived (of course). The museum had some incredible artwork! The man who admitted us was taken with Giorgio and keep waving to him.

The Duomo itself was beautiful. The Holy Shroud of Turin was not on display since it is only a display every decade or so. (We knew that before coming to Torino so we were not disappointed). Being so close to the Holy Shroud was still amazing! My other favorite thing about this church was that one of my favorite blessed is buried here; Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati! If you don't know about him you should read about him. When I was teaching, he was one of the people who I had my students study and that they were able to relate to. He is a great inspiration for the modern person.

Behind the glass on the lower level is where the chapel that the Holy Shroud is in is.

After the Duomo, we went to the Savoy family's "chapel", San Lorenzo, that is attached to the Palazzo Reale (the Royal Palace). The chapel was built by another Baroque architect and was not really the size of a chapel more like a church. It was fascinating to see another Baroque church designed by someone else other than Vittone and see the different ways the architecture can be interpreted.

While at San Lorenzo, Giorgio fell asleep so we decided to utilize this opportunity and tour the Palazzo Reale. WOW!! I wish we could have taken pictures here. The Palace was so grand. It was more ornate than any other place we have been in and the other places we visited were incredibly ornate. One of our favorite rooms was the armory. It had had incredibly lifelike horses fitted with armor and knights posed on top of them. The weapons from the Crusades up until the early 20th century were on display. Stephen, we thought of you the entire time and how much you would have loved seeing it all!

Sunday, we went to mass at the Duomo and then George went back to the churches he had tried to get into north of Torino. (I mentioned the failure of getting into three of them in Torino pt. 2). He just needed to get into one of the three and he wanted to go to one in particular. So when he arrived, mass was just starting as he expected. He attended the mass and then afterwards asked the priest if it would be okay if he sketched the church or at least could take some photos of it. The priest said no but that he could come back tomorrow at 4pm. So George came back to Torino frustrated of course but also excited because he said the church was the most beautiful one he had been in.

On Monday morning, we went to the Basilica di Superga. My favorite place in Torino!

It is at the top of a hill overlooking Torino and then you can see the Alps in the distance surrounding Torino. It had rained the night before so it had cleared out the overcast and now we could see the Alps! We took a tour of Superga and of the Savoy family crypt, which is below the church.

The large dome in the middle of the photo is the Museum of Cinema and our apartment is right across the street from that museum. It is called the Mole.

On the top of the foothill to the left of the valley is a building which is Sacra San Michel. That is where we went last week.

When we started the tour, the tour guide saw that we had a translation of the tour in our hand and started to in French explain that he was going to do the tour only in Italian and that we could not take photos. This keeps happening to me. A person will speak Italian to me and I will get this blank look on my face and then they will speak French to me. At that point, I either figure out what they are saying through picking up words that are similar to English or Latin or I will respond in Italian that I do not understand them. I guess I will take it as a compliment that they do not right off the bat think I am an English speaker. But it makes for a confusing interaction for me!

George's interactions with the Italians are pretty funny. They speak Italian to him and then he responds with the few words of Italian that he knows. To an observer it seems that he understands the person perfectly but when you ask him later what the person said he will often say he only kinda understands! This often times happens when ordering food which is a little nerve racking!

The cappuccino at Superga's cafe was delicious. Only in Italy would a church's/ museum's cafe have great coffee.

Giorgio studying his Italian so he can better flirt with the little girls and the elderly ladies! Actually at Superga, there were two older men who were quite taken with little George and wanted to know all about him. They could only speak Italian but miraculously I was able to respond to all of their questions and comments about George!

In the afternoon, George went back to the Vittone church north of Torino. He arrived at 4 pm as instructed and waited for an 1 1/2 hr! Then he saw a women entering a side door, explained who he was and what he wanted to do, and she told him to wait. So he waited some more and heard in the other room the Rosary start. Would he have to wait for the Rosary to end? Finally the priest entered (the one who had the previous day told him no), recognized him and then showed him into the church while he went into another chapel attached to the church to say mass. Yeah he got in after three tries!!!!

Tuesday was pretty uneventful except for one disgusting lunch. We wanted to go back to Eataly for lunch one more time before leaving. We decided on splitting an antipasta from the salami & formaggio section and then an entree from the meat section. George ordered the special knowing that it contained veal but he could not translate the rest. We trusted that it would be yummy since it was Eataly. The antipasta was delicious but when the entree came... it turned out to be veal liver!!!! Gross!! We tried to eat it and Giorgio actually ate a decent amount but George and I had a difficult time eating our portion. But we ended the meal with amazing gelato (chocolate & pistachio, the Italians know what they are doing when they ask for that combination).

I know I have posted tons of George's gelato face but its just so cute!

On Wednesday, we visited the town of Bra south of Torino so that George could study what is considered Vittone's masterpiece. It truly is a stunning church!

After visiting the church, we walked around the town, enjoying the market and scenery. We came upon a restaurant that ended up being part of the Slow Food Movement. (It started in Bra and its goal is to counter against the junk food culture and encourage a revitalization of regional cooking with regional ingredients.) The food was the best we have had in Piedmont. Giorgio particular enjoyed Dad's pasta and our pudding! But he also enjoyed eyeing a little girl there. Right in the middle of a bite of food a little girl ran by and little George watched her with his fork poised in the air. Oh boy is he starting early!

The other treat of the day was a pastry that George brought home after he had run out into Torino for the afternoon. I don't know if any of you had a sfogliatella (Fr. DeRosa introduced it to us) but coda d'aragosta was like it but bigger, cream filled and the top had whipped cream on top with fruit!! Best pastry thus far!

Another treat George brought home a few days ago was watermelon and ever since then after dinner little George has been really enjoying it!

Little George did not want a slice of the watermelon but the whole thing. I did not get a picture of it but he tried bitting the whole thing.

Today, Thursday, is filled with packing and last minute work on the grant. We went out for a few hours to our favorite cafe in Torino to say "arrivederci" to the city and enjoy one last treat in Torino!

One of our favorite piazzas in the city is Piazza San Carlo with these sister churches right next to each other. One is Baroque and one Neoclassical. Both beautiful churches!

Today particularly he enjoyed riding on Dad's shoulders and pointing to everything asking "Wazdat?"

What a charmer! (Sorry for so many gelato face pictures!

Giorgio, l'Italiano bambino!

George loves his gelato! (He just woke up from a nap in these photos thus the sleepy look) He took a spoon and just started shoveling pretty large scoops of daddy's gelato into his own mouth!

Gyros are not an Italian dish but they are popular here and very popular with Georgie!

"Mmm, chocolate gelato is my favorite" says Mr. Serious

The elderly men and women here like to say "Ciao" to George and he loves it. He gets a big grin on his face and will sometimes wave his hand back to them!