Tag: Events

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Carnevale in Rome

This write-up and photos are from almost a year ago, Carnevale 2012, but they never made it up. I’m trying to upload old pictures and the accompanying stories now with back dates so they are archived in order.

Today (Saturday) we went to Carnevale in Rome. The celebration is ongoing starting after Epiphany and going up to the day before Ash Wednesday (Fat Tuesday). Today is a parade with horses and a horse show later at night. Other celebrations included Fat Thursday, also tomorrow will be another parade without horses, and more celebrations Fat Tuesday.

In many cities the celebrations are for the poor people, in Rome the celebrations historically were focused on the ruling class. The style of the parade and performers reflects this history. Tomorrow we’re going to a traditional farmer-style Carnevale in a small town, so I’ll see the difference better.

Including horses is traditional for the Roman Carnevale. Via del Corso, the main street in Rome that cuts across the city was built to have races for Carnevale. The Roman Carnevale of the renaissance period was the biggest in all of Italy. It centered around the horse races held every evening for the eight days of celebrations. In 1874, a boy crossed in front of the horses and was killed in front of the royal family. They canceled the races going forward and it was like Carnevale itself was canceled.

For the parade today on Via del Corso they started with street performers. They came down and stopped and put on a show before moving down the street. Then the horses. There were an incredible amount. The theme was “Travel and Discovery”, there were many riders and carriages holding people in medieval garb, as they would have arriving to Rome many years ago.

After the parade Daniele and I took a short walk, had a snack. We came back in time to get a good place for the horse show that night. They had set up half of Piazza del Popolo as a sand bottom pen for the performances.

The show was a series a world famous horse performers. They had a few trainers. One was incredible! There were also trick riders. One guy had a pony and some type of horse that was the size of a dog. It was so cute!

After the show Daniele brought me to the restaurant that he wanted to bring me for Valentine’s Day, but it was overbooked. It was founded by two vegetarian sisters in 1987, so most of the menu is vegetarian. The food was exceptionally good, even by Italian restaurant standards. The menu included lots of different interesting items that I’m not used to seeing. We shared a Crostini di polenta al pesto di noci (baked polenta square with walnut pesto) for an antiposto. Then for first course I had a Lasagne mandorle e olive (olive and almond lasagna) and Daniele had Tortelli alla Mantovana (special pasta from Mantova with a sweet filling of squash and dried fruit in a butter sage sauce). For the second course I had Polpette di ricotta e Fichi (“meatballs” of ricotta and fig) and Daniele had Crocchette di cannellino alle erbe aromatiche (“meatballs” of beans and mushrooms). Everything was just so amazing. You know those rare meals when the food is so well prepared that you get that super satisfied feeling and you keep waiting for the over eating feeling, but it never comes? It was one of those. Though I did still feel full the next morning. I don’t normally get three courses– but how could I resist! The place itself was adorable as well. The door outside is locked, you have to rind the bell. They fill up every night with reservations. So you are not being disturbed with people coming in and out while eating. They create an atmosphere like they are sharing a meal with you at there home. In fact the small room with only a few tables is decorated like we could be in someone’s home. It’s my new favorite restaurant!

Le Bistrot in Garbatella
http://www.ristorantelebistrot.com/UK/HomePage_UK.html

Photos from Carnevale
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5834097767310554817

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Snow in Rome

This is an older post that got forgotten– because it’s not all that interesting. I’m putting it up now with a back-dated post-time. Since this blog is, primarily, my own travel diary.

Sometimes people are surprised to hear that it can snow in Rome. It can and most winters it does. In my experience it seems typical to get two to three snow storms a year. We do not get that storm on top of storm weather that you get in the North-East United States, where the old storm has not had a chance to melt before the next one is piling on top of it.

In the North and East of Italy, they can get, and have gotten, crazy amounts of snow– like 5 feet or even more. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when you think the Alps and Alpenini are over there. Here in Rome, we are very close to the sea, which probably protects us from getting too much. But we all know that how serious a snow emergency is has nothing to do with how much snow, and everything to do with how much snow there is compared to what a place is used to receiving.

The first storm we had, the mayor closed schools for two days just on the weather report. It snowed all night and the next day. However, it didn’t actually start sticking for hours. In the end I think we had about 5-inches. Now in general, the Italian people will stay inside if the weather is less than perfect, but obviously some people were out and about. Daniele, for example, is an ER nurse and had to go to work. So many people fell in the ice or got in car or motorbike accidents that it was an emergency at the hospital and he worked 24-hours straight. He fell in the ice too, and is now home for 20-days with a broken rib.

The second storm was even less, but again they closed the schools and even government offices this time. Also the mayor put out an ordinance that you can’t enter the city by car without snow chains in your car, which we don’t have. So we were basically trapped at home since we weren’t sure if the buses/trains were running normally. This was a day *after* the snow had finished. Then he extended the ordinance *another* day. I was rather annoyed, cause I had shit to do. But I guess he had to because Rome basically has no plows so streets still weren’t cleared. Private property, like apartment buildings or grocery stores never got plowed out. At all. Ours melted, but Daniele’s parent’s building is taller, so there is more shade, their lot still had snow in it yesterday.

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Daniele Visit to NJ

The last part of Daniele’s visit was almost two weeks staying around NJ. Last time we did not spend much time here and I wanted him to see more if we might move here someday.

Wednesday.

Our redeye from San Diego got in to Philadelphia Wednesday morning. This day was just meant to be a recovery and unpacking. I also planned to help my mom prepare for Thanksgiving. I committed Daniele and myself to making the now traditional “leaf cookies”. My mom was cooking for my dad’s whole extended family which can be anywhere from 40 to 60 people, and since many don’t reply to her invite she is normally cooking for almost that wide of a range. She makes all the traditional turkey fair with stuffing and cranberry, as well as sides including yams, mashed potatoes, her own hand-made bread, and two salads. She also makes Italian dishes: baked stuffed shells and meat balls. We start with a large antipasto course served from when the first guest arrives until we serve dinner, as well as the usual chips and dips and all sorts or drinks.


(Leaf cookies from last year, I don’t know if I took a picture this year)


(Daniele with the antipasto we served Thursday)

My mother starts way in advance planning and preparing, but as you can imagine she is very busy the day before cooking what can be prepared in advance (most of it). So imagine what it was like when our power went out on Wednesday afternoon. And then stayed out.

Our power was out for hours, despite there being no storm or any sign of what would cause an outage. Eventually I convinced my dad to make some calls. What if it doesn’t come back? No one else can do Thanksgiving on such short notice, and if we don’t host it, all this food will go bad. He called up a buddy of his who had just bought a brand new generator (he had been one of those effected by the outages during the October snow storm and hurricanes that came through NJ this Fall). My parents went to pick it up late, when the friend got back home. They got back around 11pm and our power came back on at midnight. All that for nothing, but better safe than no Thanksgiving!

Thursday.

Daniele and I had waited to tell anyone about our engagement until today when we planed to tell everyone together. Daniele was meeting most of my family for the first time today, so it seemed nicer to do it this way rather than me tell everyone alone that I plan on marrying that guy I’ve been dating that they still haven’t met. Also we could tell everyone at once and then everyone knows, rather than gradually all finding out from the grape vines. We were basically using the holiday for an old fashion engagement party. The revealing happy news and celebrating together type, rather than the having a party to celebrate another party type.

I told my grandmother first because I knew she would be annoyed at being kept in the dark this long, I could at least give her that. She was all excited. As family members arrived I hung around by the door and introduced Daniele to them as my fiance. Also I was wearing my ring for the first time to a family event. But I guess Grandma was expecting it more or is just generally more quick on the uptake than my Aunts and Uncles because they just gave a “nice to meet you” and moved on to the food. No one noticed anything until dessert when my Aunt Morreen finally noticed the sparkle and the gig was up. The news quickly spread throughout the house and the congratulations followed. Apparently my grandma had been dieing all day that no one was noticing and kept trying to prod her other two children into looking at me better. Special mention for Vivian, my cousin Marc’s fiancee, who actually did notice and asked Marc if I was engaged earlier in the night and was told no. I feel a little bad about not letting Marc in on it, especially since he told me before he proposed (actually he told everyone he knew), but I couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t tell his sister, who would tell her mom, would would tell her sisters, and so forth.

My Aunt Linda pulls a double hitter on Turkey Day, eating first with us then dessert with our cousins on my mom’s side. I told her to let that side of the family all know so now everyone found out today.


(My mom with the turkey)


(These guys are adorable)


(You can’t see there is actually much more on the buffet table to the right)

Friday.

Daniele and I planned to do some Black Friday shopping, but we weren’t very serious about it. We woke up at a reasonable hour and went to the Garden State Plaza where the door busters were all over and only other casual shoppers like us lingered. The sales were not anything impressive, maybe early in the morning they were. I’m going to take the hipster approach here and say Black Friday just isn’t as good since it became mainstream.

We had been invited to dinner at my Aunt Terry’s house. I was really hoping we would have a chance to also see my mom’s side of the family, and they were all coming over my Aunt’s for a Turkey Day leftover dinner and to wish my cousin Donnie, Uncle Greg, Uncle Harry, and Aunt Linda all happy birthday.


(4-way birthday)

Dinner was really great. It was a little less hectic than the day before (or even other holidays with this side). I also think Daniele fell in better with the Italian relatives.

Saturday.

Saturday we had what my family calls “Second Thanksgiving”. (Didn’t we just do that yesterday? No, didn’t count.) Second Thanksgiving my Uncle Larry cooks another whole Thanksgiving dinner, this time for closer to ten of us, and we celebrate my Aunt Linda’s birthday. Unlike the first time around, this is a sit down meal served in courses. While my mother puts everything on buffet trays and lets people take what they want; my uncle, on the other hand, fills your plate over and over again; then asks– don’t you want seconds? I used to be saved by skipping the actual turkey, then he started making a bigger pasta course; a few times he has made me my own pizza. Then we have dessert where often there are as many pies as people.

I end up eating more at Second Thanksgiving than actual Thanksgiving. Luckily my Uncle Larry is a very good cook, especially when making recipes he’s made before.


(Look at the perfect meringue!)

Sunday.

While we were having dinner Saturday we were getting text message updates about my cousin Corrine, who had been due to deliver her baby. She gave birth to a baby girl, Cella, that night.

Sunday morning Daniele, my mom, and I went to the hospital to visit the proud new parents and little girl. While we were there Lori, Tim, and Kayla came by as well as my Aunt Linda. It’s always nice to see them. Corrine was so cute, not only did she text us all announcing her own labor, she had favors she handed out to all of us baby visitors. Amazing!


(Sisters)

That afternoon Daniele and I met up with Lisa. We went to Cheeburger Cheeburger, which is one of Lisa’s favorites and I knew Daniele would love the “American” food.

After we went back to her and Brian’s place and played some kinect. I had actually never played one. It was really fun!

Monday.

We went to the Spruce Run Reservoir, very close to my parent’s house, to show off some of the natural beauty here in NJ. It’s a nice park with paths, a big lake/reservoir, camp and picnic sites. Plus there are always a lot of deer running around.


(Daniele and Kait in Spruce Run State Park)


(Spruce Run State Park, Union Township, New Jersey)

In the evening we went to Verona to join in on Marc and Vivian’s regular poker game. My other cousins John and Robby and my Uncle Rob were there too. It was a good time. Daniele liked Verona, so that’s a bonus.

Tuesday.

We spend all day Tuesday doing work research for Daniele. He has a masters degree in Emergency Care and 6 years experience and an ER Nurse. I had truly believed that as an experienced Emergency Room Nurse, one of the most in demand jobs in the US, he would be able to get a Working Visa. Apparently I was completely wrong.

Following my Aunt’s advice, we concentrated on the larger medical centers. I called various people in HR and ER Nursing departments. The nurses typically didn’t answer, the HR women were some of the hugest bitches I have ever talked to in my 26 years. The nicest women I talked to told me straight up that they used to issue working visas, but they are not right now and she doesn’t know if that will change. The most horrible and cruel women I spoke to throughout the day was a human resources employee in the Nursing Department of Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. This is a very large hospital. To quote them, “[w]ith more than 800 physicians, 3,200 employees and 150 volunteers, the Medical Center has over 300,000 outpatient visits and 25,000 admissions annually”. I asked her if she could tell me anything about the process of foreign trained nurses coming to work at Beth Israel and she insisted there were none. I pressed this because it seems downright impossible that such a large employer could fill its workforce 100% with natural born US citizens. Maybe in a land-locked state, but NJ is rather diverse. Personally, I have never had a job where I have not worked with some foreign born and/or trained coworkers since I was an assistant dance teacher in high school at a single instructor studio. This woman insisted she had never met a nurse who was foreign, and was not nice about it. Is that consistent with anyone’s anecdotal experience? I’ve found *most* nurses I encounter are foreign.

Based on these calls, it seems Daniele can not work in the US without being a citizen, so it seems we can not live here until we are married and have started that process. There have been a few suggestions that we get “married” quickly now and have the wedding we want later. I hate this idea and think it is contrary to what a wedding should symbolize– the celebration of the beginning of a marriage, rather than a big party where two people justify putting themselves in debt and demanding to be the center of attention. If we were already married, that is really all we would doing (and it would be much harder for me to justify the attention I expect that day *grin*). The mere fact that this seems like a viable option reflects poorly on the state of American marriage and citizenship.

Wednesday.

Today they lit the Rockafeller Christmas Tree. Daniele and I went into the city to check it out. We first went to Rockefeller Center to check out the stage and tree. There wasn’t anything going on, so we went to do other things.


(Stage for the tree lighting show)

We did some midtown Christmas time stuff, like the Macy’s window displays and the tree in Bryant Park.


(I made this in a Macy’s window!)


(Daniele in front of the Bryant Park NYC Christmas Tree)


(Macy’s Christmas window display)


(Daniele in Times Square)

Daniele wanted to check out this neighborhood in Brooklyn, Bensonhurst. It has a very dense population of Italians. I didn’t believe it would be anything special, lit any Italian neighborhood. But in fact there was a lot of Italian writing and people speaking Italian that seemed to have been born there.

We got back to the Rockafeller area only an hour before the show was supposed to start. However we did have the slight advantage of having scouted out the area in the morning. The police had set up those barriers to control pedestrian traffic. They corralled us considerably around the square and forced us to enter from another side. Unfortunately they were either just messing with the tourists or genuinely not talking to each other because one cop forced us all one way, across a street. Then the cop there just said “I don’t know why they are sending you all here, you have to go that way”, that way was back around and though the line a second time. We did it again, and then it was pretty open and we filled in shoulder to shoulder with the other spectators. Thank goodness they were all really nice and joking about being squished in there. Sometimes when people are pushing me I just can’t stand it, but everyone was nice. Packing in tight, but not trying to push ahead of each other. We were about 15 feet from the corner of one of the buildings on the square. That building blocked our view of the stage, that would have been facing us if we were just a little more ahead. We could hear the music and there was a big screen across from us where we could see the show. So we just watched the show on a screen anyway, but it was an experience. When the show was over we were able to get into the square and take some pictures. There were people waiting to get in that had been much worse off than us. Over all the whole experience was much better than I imagined.


(Kait and Daniele in front of NY Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree just after it was lit)

Worth noting, the crowd was probably a bit smaller because Justin Beiber wasn’t there. He was supposed to perform live, however the president ended up being in NYC that day. And apparently the city can’t handle both Obama and the Beibs on the same day. The Obama traffic made it impossible for Beiber to logistically make his performance, so he prerecorded it. Better for us!


(Kait and Daniele in front of NY Christmas decorations)

Thursday.

We hit up another park near my parent’s, the Round Valley Recreation Area. This one is a bit bigger, but I actually like Spruce Run better. We did some of the hikes and enjoyed the views before moving on.


(Round Valley Reservoir, Lebanon, NJ)

In the afternoon we walked around Somerville. It’s a really cute town with restaurants and shops on the main street and Victorian houses going off of it. They have a train station, too. If I was going to live in the burbs, this would be a good choice.


(Somerville, NJ)

Friday.

When Daniele first arrived and we walked around Hoboken and Jersey City he really wanted to see Liberty State Park, the park in Jersey City opposite Liberty Island. Unfortunately we quickly realized that was unrealistic for the time we had and made plans to come back this week when we had more time.

Later had the even better idea to take bikes with us. This turned out to be very smart because Liberty State Park is actually pretty big.

We packed some sandwiches, wrapped up with layers (it was a cold day) and drove into the park.

The park has nice paths for pedestrians or bikes. We rode through all of it, saw New York City, Lady Liberty (her back side), and some of the other attractions. There was even a couple taking wedding photos.


(Daniele in Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ)


(Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ)


(View of NYC from Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ)


(Views of Jersey City, New York City, and Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park)


(View of Statue of Liberty from Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ)


(View of New York City from Jersey City)

Saturday.

Saturday we all went to the birthday party my cousin Michelle threw for her daughter.

Sunday.

This was our last full day. Daniele had wanted to see Easton, the first town over the Pennsylvania border. He seems to like PA. Ehh. We walked around there, it was kinda sad and desolate. A lot of empty stores. We went through Phillipsburg on our way back to New Jersey.

We also made plans to have dinner and catch up with Fabienne, who had visited us in Italy in the summer.

Monday.

Daniele flew back to Rome. I would see him again in January.

Photos from the NJ part of Daniele’s visit are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20111108DanieleVisit

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Proposal

This weekend (weekend for us) Daniele organized a surprise for me. It wasn’t a total surprise, I knew what was going on and had a rough idea even where we were going, but he organized everything by himself and actually managed quite a few surprises for the trip.

We left Sunday morning (8/21) when he finished his night shift. As soon as he got home we had a little breakfast together and headed north (about 90 minutes). That was when I found out our first destination because I had to get directions: Bagni San Filipo, Castiglione d’Orcia– so that’s why I needed a swimsuit!

Side Note
Bagno, plural Bagni is an interesting Italian noun that means both bathroom and an outdoor pool. Not a typical swimming pool, or “piscina”, though you can “fare bagno” or bathe (as in swim or wade) in one as well as the ocean. Bagni as I have come across them are typically natural man-enhanced pools or springs. End side note.

The destination was actually the Therme of San Felipo. Daniele had brought me to terme once before near Viterbo not far from us. Those were the typical Roman style with different pools filled with hot, medium, or cool water boiling up from the ground. These here were in a park. The hot water came up in different places and mixed with the fresh streams that flowed through the woods. There was also this giant white bolder-mountain perhaps made of the calcium that flows from the hot spring water, I’m not sure. The hot water poured all over it and you could also lay in the sun. At the top there were pools of the hot water and even a little cave. Some water showered down from an even higher level, but I avoided the boiling-shower and sat in the little pools instead.


Lunch hunger hit me pretty hard since we had left early and the restaurant that Daniele’s friends had recommended to him was closed for Sunday. There was one other restaurant near there and I was really hungry so we went there. It was OK, nothing special, but not bad either. Daniele is very picky about restaurants, him agreeing to eat here so easily was definitely for me. (Only a little complaining)

After lunch we continued North to the town of Pienza. This cute but small town had a surprising amount of Americans there. The houses on the edge of the old center were newer but in the typical Italian / Tuscan villa style, so beautiful! The center had a lot of cute stores. The obligatory main church and city hall were pretty impressive. There was a park just outside the center-center. Super cute little town and just the kinda of thing I love to visit in Italy!


(Old Tuscan sunflower farm house on road to Pienza)



(Kait in Pienza)



(Cheese store in Pienza)

After that we went to find and check into the hotel. We were staying in a hotel that used to be a tobacco farm. It was pretty cool. We got there like an hour before the pool closed, so we did that for a little while.


(Daniele and Kait at hotel pool)

Daniele had bought a package that included one night dinner in the hotel restaurant. Like he read about, the restaurant was high quality, but the service was like a trattoria (one guy who kept forgetting he still had not taken our order). It was a package, so we each got two big plates of food. I knew he had the ring with him, and he even did a few fake outs.

After we finished dinner we took a short walk around the grounds of the hotel. That is where he asked me.

The next day we went to the city of Arezzo. Besides being a super cute city they have a ton of history– that even I know about! Two important people from the renaissance were from here. First we visited the house of Giorgio Vasari. He was an artist and architect, but he really made a name for himself as a writer. Before him no one ever really knew much about the artists behind famous works of art. He wrote about the super stars of the renaissance and is the reason we know about the people they were today. Then we visited the first home of the poet Francesco Patrarca (in English Petrarch). He is one of three poets, along with Giovanni Boccaccio and Dante Alighieri primarily credited with fathering the Italian language. Even in the time of the renaissance, the Italian language did not exist. While the French and Spanish had united under a common dialect, Italy was still a collection of different regional dialects with Latin used in universities. Florence’s central part in the renaissance (much thanks to patronage from the Medici family) led to many important works being written in that region’s dialect. Then when the nation finally united 150 years ago they chose it as their language. However still today depending where you are you can hear words mixed in (think “hella” or “wicked”) or entire separate languages spoken in the different regions. The city of Arezzo was also dripping in medieval charm. There was big squares, gardens, and colorful flags and family plagues all over the place. Probably one of my favorite places I’ve been in Italy, though as a disclaimer, it might be less impressive if you didn’t geek out as much as I did at those two guy’s work.


(Family plaques in Arezzo)



(Pozzo (water well) in Piazza Grande of Arezzo with the Palazzo delle Logge del Vasari / Columns designed by Vasari on the right)



(Piazza Grande of Arezzo)

At night we went to the city of Laterina to get dinner. The city was small and cute. Most places in Italy close either Sunday or Monday. This was Monday and just about everything was closed. We did find a place called “Anema e Core” (Soul and Heart in Napoletano) where we were finally able to eat. And then just like that, our magical weekend was over.

The rest of the photos from this weekend are in my Proposal album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110821Proposal

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Home for May

I made a trip home to New Jersey from May 4th through June 7th. It was motivated mostly by my cousin Corrine asking me to be in her wedding on May 7th. Luckily May is one of those months full of family parties, so I got to see lots of people while I was back.

Corrine and Anthony’s wedding was beautiful. Corrine’s daughter, from her first marriage, Celina was just precious as a flower girl. Anthony is first generation Italian, so the food (and especially the dessert) was amazing!

My cousin Mike and Bonnie baptized their second daughter Keira. My Uncle Bill was in from Alaska and able to do the ceremony.

My cousin Brian graduated from Boston University with a collection of degrees and honors and is off to a really sweet job at Duke now. He is going to bike down there.

I had a fun New York day with my godmother. She is a Tony judge, so we hit up both “Sister Act” and “How to Succeed in Business with out Really Trying” on a Wednesday. They were both really good. I thought Daniel Radcliffe was great in “How to Succeed in Business”. We also hit up this Gelateria in midtown near the park, Grom. They ship their good stuff in daily from Italy! Daniele’s mother had seen a special on them and told me to check them out while I was home.

My parents and I also opened up my Uncle Bill’s LBI house. We stayed a few days but the weather was not very good so we headed back home. My friend Fabienne stopped by, so did my Aunt Linda and Connie.

Now it is back to Italy for the summer. I wish I had made it up to Boston, but there was so much going on in NJ I never found the time. Ciao USA!

Pictures from Corrine and Anthony’s Wedding:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110507CorrineAndAnthonySWedding#

Pictures from NY fun day with Aunt Linda, Keira’s Baptism, and Brian’s Cake
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110603KeiraBaptismAndNJ

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Arrivaderci Roma

I am heading back to New Jersey after 2+ months in Rome. It’s just for a short visit (I hope) and then I’ll be back here. It will be nice to see everyone back home, but I’ll miss it here. I wanted to go through a few of the things that I did but never made it into blog posts but I want to remember.

Typically I upload a blog post together with a photo album. So it’s not a coincidence that these are all things that went into my “Rome and Monterotondo” album. I’ll just walk through the whole album.

2/27/2011 We went to Villa Ada. This is another park in Rome. The palace is now used as the Egyptian embassy. This was our first first little outing.

3/3/2011 Daniele makes me some sacchettini or “little sacs” along with the rest of a complete Italian dinner, featuring homemade fresh sauce. I picked them out at the store. They are so cute!

3/6/2011 Carnevale in Monterotundo. This one does have a post.
http://blog.kait.us/test/?p=88

3/26/2011 Parco della Cervelletta. This park is near Daniele’s parents’ house. It has a castle.

3/29/2011 Walking around the center taking pictures, mostly of Tiberina Island.

4/3/2011 We planted our tomatoes. There are more random pictures of them in this album as they grow.
UPDATE: As well as in the Rome album from when I came back for the summer.

4/4/2011 Walk along Via Venito, one of Rome’s more hip streets and the setting for La Dolce Vita (recommended iconic Italian film). Followed by a walk through Villa Borghese.

4/14/2011 Daniele brought me to the important churches in Rome that I still had not seen: San Giovanni Cathedral and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.

4/17/2011 An Amici di Roma Event. This also has it’s own post:
http://blog.kait.us/test/?p=79

4/20/2011 Walk in park and in Spaninsh Steps. Spanish Steps were decorated with flowers for Rome’s anniversary, April 21st.

4/21/2011 There are lots of whores at night on Via Salaria (the road that takes us home). I have tried lots of times to get pictures, but it is really hard in the dark with us moving in the car. Luckily there are so many. I get lots of tries.

4/24/2011 I spent Easter with Daniele’s family. We went to the beach town of Torvajanica and met some other friends. Then ate the biggest meal ever, of all time. Fun Italian Easter facts: There is no Easter Bunny, but they understand if you compare to La Befana, a witch who gives candy on the eve of the Epiphany – January 5th. They don’t have chocolate bunnies, they have chocolate eggs. The traditional treat is a giant chocolate egg with a prize inside (illegal in US). Story: http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/11/surprise-woman-has-illegal-chocolate-egg-confiscated-at-u-s-border/

4/27/2011 Another walk through the center. We hit up the Colosseum, Rose Gardens and a few other spots.

Ahh, Rome, so many good times. Arrivederci (Literally, “until we see each other again”)

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Italian Labor Day

(Man with tri-color beard for Italian Labor Day)

Today was a very hectic and crowded day in Rome. May 1st is the Italian equivalent of Labor Day. Every year the three biggest unions in Italy hold a free outdoor concert in the center of Rome. Also in honor of this holiday, all of the museums owned by the City of Rome (opposed to those owned by the State of Italy) are only one euro today and tomorrow. To top it all off, the Vatican chose to hold the Beatification (first step in becoming a saint) of the late Pope John Paul II this same day. Most Italians thought I was crazy for wanting to be anywhere near the center (think someone from NJ’s reaction to the idea of going to NYC for NYE), but how could I miss all of this?

I went to the Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi with Daniele earlier in the morning. I liked it. It told a good story of the different periods of Rome, opposed to focusing on only one. Also it was not just room after room of “Madonna with Child” like so many Italian museums.

We avoided going too close to the Vatican and the Beatification of the late Pope John Paul II. I feel like they could have planned better and chosen a better day, but I’m sure the day has spiritual significance for this sacred ceremony that I am not aware. Most Italians I know chose not to attend and only commented on what a nuisance it was going to be having so many people coming to Rome. It may have been a cool thing to say I was there for, but I’m not that interested in Vatican affairs, so I skipped this to go to the one euro museums and free concert instead.

Daniele headed off to work and I spent the day at this outdoor concert. All of Italy’s biggest artists come to this. The lesser known or newer artists play in the day; the big names play at night. Italians pack into Piazza di Porta San Giovanni and all the space around it. Men from Africa and Bangladesh push through the crowds offering to sell beer, water, or umbrellas for the sun.

I saw almost the whole concert, I was there from about 1:30 PM until it ended at 1:30 AM. In hindsight I should have probably gone to another museum or something else instead of spending so much time there. I left for a little while when I got uncomfortable sitting on the ground. Daniele and I met back up at 10 PM, when he got out of work and we had dinner. When we came back enough people had left that we were able to go right up front. Woo!

The bands and the music were almost all Italian pop. In general each artist came on, performed maybe three numbers, then there was a ridiculously long pause where someone would talk before the next artist. I didn’t really listen, but I presume it was pro-union propaganda. I know very few of the artists, but I listen to enough radio that I recognized a fair amount of the songs, which was fun.

The crowd was largely composed of what I will refer to as European hippies. That is hippies in the modern sense of the word: slightly dirty, typically young people, with dread locks, who may or may not be fighting for a cause. And if you think the American version of these people are dirty, imagine for a moment their European counterparts (you don’t have to imagine, I took pictures). Many of these people had shirts promoting some political message. All of them and most of the “regular” people at the concert were wearing “Stop Nuclear” stickers.

(There were dirtier groups, but I try not to get too close to anyone that might have something contagious while I’m traveling.)

As a back story, as few years ago Italy voted to not allow the development of nuclear power plants and today there are none in the country. As such, they have to buy much of their energy from abroad. A great deal of that comes from France, who has plenty of nuclear power plants, a fair amount of which are right on the Italian boarder. So the risk is still there, but they pay more and to France at that. For to this reason there is a bill now to allow nuclear plants in Italy. However many oppose it and want to keep it out of Italy. End side note.

I always considered Europe ahead of the US in terms of environmental awareness. But I was shocked… SHOCKED at what I saw at this concert. These same people who were wearing “Stop Nuclear” stickers, where tossing the “Stop Nuclear” fliers on the ground; along with other political and environmental fliers and newspapers. All the beer and water that everyone was drinking, the bottles were left right were they were, at most they ended up at a curb. What angered me the most was hundreds of “RAI Radio 2” balloons were handed out to the crowd on only strings. They all quickly ended up in the sky, and soon they will all be in the ocean. Moments after the concert ended the area was filled with machinery and workers who would stay up all night cleaning the mess. They actually used plows to pile the beer and water bottles, effective, except when the tires go over the missed bottles and shoot broken glass to the side. I was taking some pictures after the last act, but literally had to run, yes run, from flying broken glass as the plows started the cleaning. I think every worker in Rome was out sweeping and hosing for miles around– I have never seen such a mess.

(These people must really, really care about the environment to hand out all those fliers)

Umm, guys, I think you forgot your trash…

Run for your lives!

All the pictures from the day:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110501LaborDay#

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Amici di Roma Day: Palazzo Quirinale and Colosseo

Amici di Roma is a group of academics with interest in the archeology and art history. During Culture Week in Rome they hold a series of events for free or with a guide for 10 euros. Daniele and I made reservations to see the Palazzo Quirinale and Colosseo on a day Daniele was free.

We had a tour of Palazzo Quirinale in the morning, which I believe is open once a month normally. Our guide was really good and I actually understood most of what she said (it was in Italian). The palace was amazing, just room after room with beautiful glass lamps and wall decorations. In roman times this hill was home to a complex of baths and statues. As the tallest hill in Rome it was a very desirable place for palaces. In 1583 Pope Gregory XIII build the Palazzo Quirinale here as a summer home to escape the humidity of the Tiber River. In 1870 when the papel state was overthrown, Rome joined the rest of united Italy. Immediately after in 1871 Rome became the capital and the palace became the home of the king. In 1946 the monarchy was abolished and the palace is now the official home and office of the president.

In the afternoon we went to the Colosseum or “Colosseo”. It was free for culture week, so it was super crowded. Luckily we were with the “Amici di Roma” group and didn’t have to wait in line. Unfortunately this guide (or more the other person “organizing”) was not very organized and lost half of our group. She was practically running through the crowds and our group split in half at some point. Luckily someone with us had the number of someone with them, so we got reunited after a little confusion.

The point of this tour was not to see the normal inside of the Colosseum, which you really only need to do once and I had already done. They brought us underneath and on top to areas normally restricted. In fact as we were let through locked gates I heard at least once “how come they get to go through?”.

First we went underneath. The area has only just been opened to anyone besides archeologists. The guide was difficult to understand, but she showed us where animals (or whatever) where brought to the stage level on pulleys. Also where water was brought in from the aqueducts to flood the Colosseum and stage naval battles.

Then we went up top. Like top top. I’m pretty sure were were right where Alberto Sordi threatened to jump if not brought to the US in “Un Americano A Roma” (recommended film). Up top our guide told us more about the history of the Colosseum. All the shows were free and they could load everyone in and out in a few minutes. The seats right up front were for the senators. The only woman allowed on the first floor was the emperor’s wife. All other women were on the higher seats because the shows were considered a thing for men. Not far we could see the field where the gladiators would have trained.

Before the Colosseum was build the valley was a swamp. The Ancient Romans lived in the hills. Nero drained the water from the swamp because he wanted to build a giant villa. He died before finishing it, and the Flavi family used the materials to start building the Colosseum.

After Constantine converted the empire to Catholicism, they started using the Colosseum less and less. It just wasn’t considered very Christian. Eventually everyone stopped caring about it and it fell to all different kind of uses over the years. The papacy even made it into its personal quarry, using its marble to build up the Vatican. That is why a whole chuck of the side is missing by the exit. The Romans, who invented cement, did not use any on the Colosseum, they held the stones together with bronze clamps, which were also taken, leaving those pock marks. For a while people even had apartments inside; if you look you can see the retrofitted windows.

The story ends well, in 1749, Pope Benedict XIV declared the Colosseum a secret site saying that martyrs had died there. He began reinforcement and excavation and more was done by Mussolini. Today, of course, it is one of the most popular tourist sights in the world.

Pictures from this fun day are in my Rome and Monterotundo Album: https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110225RomaAndMonterotondo

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150 Years of Italy

Today is the 150th birthday of Italy. It has been one nation under one flag that long. In celebration, Rome had a “white night” last night. Everything was open until 2 AM and all the museums were free as well as some things being open to the public that normally are not, like the senate and some special ruins.

Daniele, his brother Emanuele, and I went into the center together to celebrate. Many of the monuments were lit up in the tre-colore. We made it inside Musei Capitolini and Museo del Mercato di Traiano.

Then we went to the senate, which I was excited about, but the line moved so slowly that we had to give up to catch the metro back home. We were pretty tired by then anyway, so it was for the best.

Meanwhile, all over Italy everything from billboards to the “tre-colore” lettuce I bought today is celebrating the 150 year landmark. Since who knows where I’ll be for “200 Years” and I probably won’t be up for running around all night at the age of 75, I’m glad I got to partake. Happy Birthday, Italy! Tanti Aguri!

All the pictures from this night:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20110316150YrsOfItaly#

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Carnevale di Monterotondo

Sunday is the typical day to do the big Carnevale festival in these towns. There is also Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday– it is actually a whole week of Carnevale / Mardi Gras but we just did Sunday. Daniele got home from work about when these things typically start, so we went to the one in our town instead of driving somewhere else and risk missing it altogether. Monterotondo is a reasonably big town of 40,000 residents, but somehow the smaller towns but on bigger festivals.

It was basically a big parade of people in costumes. I guess for Latin cultures Carnevale is more their costume holiday than Halloween. Groups organize themes. There was everything from “Beauty and the Beast” to Traditional Farmers to a group of old ladies in black-face that I really couldn’t figure out what they were going for. I explained to Daniele how it was really politically incorrect to wear black-face in the US anymore and he didn’t get it at all. There were also performing groups like a marching band with baton girls and a group of Venetian-style masked dancers.

Everyone had bags of paper confetti or “coriandoli”. Confetti is actually the Italian word for the almond candies typically given at weddings.

The parade finished in one of the town squares, where everyone stayed together in a bit of chaos; playing music, dancing, kids re-gathering the confetti to throw again.

After we had seen most of what there was to see of Carnevale, we went in to the historical center of Monterotundo. It is a bigger than the other old towns we have visited.

[Edit] Pictures from this day are in the Monterotondo / Rome album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20110225RomaAndMonterotondo#