Success!

Good evening. It's the end of a beautiful, sunny, warm day in Rome. Today was much more successful than yesterday. I spent an amazing two hours with Franco for our lessons. It turned out to be more of a private tour for me. I certainly can't complain. Franco and Federica are both multi-generational Romans. They love their city and he seemed to enjoy showing me little special treats. We both worked through the language barrier --- his english is actually quite good. He only had to use the dictionary for a few words. We looked at lots of paintings while he told me about the artist and the meaning behind the painting. I wish I had a tape recorder because I enjoyed all of it, but remember very little.

I do remember the story behind this part of the "Four Fountains" sculpture by Bernini which is above. Notice the hand raised up. Right beside this fountain is a church designed by Barberini. He and Bernini were, to say the least, not on friendly terms. Franco used the word "hate". The raised hand on this sculpture is Bernini protecting his work from the church when it collapses. It was quite an insult to Barberini.

Above is a photo of the Trevi Fountain at night. It was totally crowded during the day and only moderately so at night. I always have difficulty finding it, but as you near it, you can hear it before you actually round the corner to see it.

A night shot of Victor Emmanuel Monument is above. It houses the tomb of the unknown solder. For some reason, my camera colors things yellow at night. I'm sure it's a simple adjustment and, if Nathan were here, he would fix it for me. I did set it to night snapshot, but.... oh, well. You get the picture.

As I was walking home from the tram stop, I shot this picture of nightlife in Trastevere. It was about 9pm on Wednesday. The streets stay busy later than I stay up. One nearby bar was advertising blues music tonight beginning at 10pm. I would like to have gone, but have that problem of not liking either beer or wine. I feel like a mooch. Perhaps I should just order and nurse one glass without actually drinking it.

Tomorrow I'm planning on heading to Orvieto. I loved it last year and want to return. It's also an informal way of me trying to figure out the train system out of the city. New adventures await.

Campo De Fiori by day, Lost by night

This first picture is of my street. Trastevere is a bit like a maze because it consists of narrow streets with tall buildings on either side. It can be difficult to get your bearings.

I headed out this morning to shop for produce. Here are a couple of pictures of the stands at Campo de Fiori. It was very nice and not too busy. After getting some yummy, colorful produce, I found a supermarket and got milk, eggs, jam, and bread. Of course, I could have gotten the produce at the supermarket, but it's too fun to find outdoor markets.

I headed home to put away my purchases and picked up my mp3 player and a map of trastevere and took a guided tour (via podcast I downloaded at home) through the streets of Trastevere. It worked very well and was easy to follow. I learned lots of information about the history of many things I would normally just walk past. I stopped off to pick up a Donar Kabob to go for lunch at home. I discovered Donar Kabobs on my last visit and they are beyond good. Hard to describe, though, because I don't know what type of meat it is. It's roasted on a big spinning skewer (like our Gyro meat, but not the same type meat) and served with lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, tomato, onion, some white sauce and a little hot sauce. You can get it on foccacia bread, on a plate, or wrap. I saved half the meat (they are huge) and am eating it now at 10pm while I post this.

So... that brings us to tonight. I was planning on heading across the river to central Rome and grab a few night pictures of popular sites -- maybe Trevi Fountain, Coloseum, etc. Well, I decided to walk in the opposite direction for awhile (this began about 5:30) because it was just about fully dark and I wanted very dark. As I walked, things became unfamiliar and sparse. I kept thinking there would be crowded streets and shops just around the corner. I ended up totally lost for 2 hours. Like really lost. Not one shop or restaurant in sight. There was lots of traffic, but nothing to tell me where I was. I ended up on some highway with exit ramps and everything. Not on my map at all. I was beyond relieved when I saw a bus that said "Termini" (the main terminal in central Rome). I hopped on and, even though termini is the opposite direction from home, I knew I could find my way from there. I got on the bus about 7:45. It took until 9:30 to get home. Needless to say, no pictures for you tonight. We'll try it again another night.
Tomorrow I meet at Campo de Fiori with Franco for my italian lesson and his english lesson. I want him to explain what some of the produce I was unfamiliar with. According to the weather forecast, the next 4 or 5 days are to be sunny and warm. Should get some nice pictures with clear weather. I will head off to Orvieto by train probably Thursday.

Rainy day 1 Rome 2010

I arrived safely in Rome on a rainy day. It is about 7:30pm and it has been raining since I arrived 12 hours ago. I was able to find the right bus from the airport to Trastevere and then very easily found Federica and Franco's apartment. They are the owners of the apartment that I have rented. I dropped my luggage with them and explored the rainy streets of Trastevere for a couple of hours until my apartment was ready.

The apartment is lovely. It is quite clean and has everything I will need for my stay. I posted a couple of pictures to give you just an idea of what it's like. The bed is unmade, but you get the idea. I took a 30 minute nap before venturing out.

I walked to Santa Maria di Trastevere where there was a church service going on. Today is All Saints Day. I am only guessing that that's why there was service on Monday. There were also many beggers, umbrella salesmen, and tourists. As is true of most churches I've visited in Rome, it was ornate from floor to ceiling. Between services (which is when I took some inside photos) there was a children's choir singing. Their voices were very beautiful.

It began getting dark today at about 4:30 and was completely dark before 6pm. Their time changed just a couple of days ago, but it feels strange to be dark so early. It will be fine with me, though, because it has been a long 2 days of travel and orientation, so I'm happy for an excuse to turn in early.

Tomorrow I plan to go to Campo di Fiori where there is an outdoor market each weekday to stock up on some fresh fruits and vegetables. Because today is a holiday, the markets were closed so I've had one day of only airplane food and one day of italian "fast food" which mainly consists of pizza and panini. I'm looking forward to fruit for breakfast and salad for lunch.

In case you didn't know, the characters on an italian keyboard are organized differently than ours, so you would be amazed at how much I've had to backspace to fix my many mistakes.
I feel like I'm just learning to type.

I'll fill you in on what I find tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some sun - things look so much prettier in the sun, don't they?

Sharing photos

I'm trying to learn how to upload a slideshow from Picasaweb. This is trial. I hope to attach photos from last year's trip to Civita di Bagnoregio. My brother Michael and I went there last November. It's a really cool place where no cars are allowed. It was a long uphill walk into the city, but well worth it. After we spent the day there, we drove to the coast and bought some fresh fish which we took home and cooked for dinner. I think (I hope) if you click the following link, it will open up a photo set.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=RosannDHS&target=ALBUM&id=5408915822566367009&authkey=Gv1sRgCOe0we3_mraeBg&feat=email

I just checked it and it worked. Yep! I did it. So now I can upload photo sets for those who are interested when I go next month.

Travel Preparation Plugs

As I get ready for a trip, I spends lots of time online finding information to help me before I go. This is almost as much fun for me as the actual traveling. Since I'm not the only person that travels, I wanted to share my favorite finds with you in the hope that one or more of these will help someone else as they research future trips -- or just dream of someday.

http://www.livemocha.com/. This is totally free and has become the main site that I'm using to study italian, but there are many, many languages that you can study. There are other sites I use for supplemental instruction, but this site is truly amazing. It is very difficult to learn a language online without a real person to help and this site gives me that personal assistance. When a student posts a writing or speaking submission, it is listed on a page where anyone can correct and grade the work. From the time I began using this site, whenever an italian native was particularly helpful in their comments, I sent them a message and asked if I could directly send my submissions to them for help. Everyone I asked said "yes", and now I have 9 native italian "friends" to whom I send each submission and I get from 4 to 7 ratings and comments for each one. They will rate my work (which I really don't care about) and then, as they correct mistakes, will explain why it was wrong or why the way they suggest is better. If it's a spoken submission, some of them will record themselves reading the work so I can hear the difference. You can imagine how helpful that is. If you're looking to study a foreign language, check them out. Also look at www.about.com to find information on about anything. I typed in italian language and downloaded tons of information. Also www.speak7.com A site that teaches 7 languages. Great information there, too. All free. Don't you just love free stuff?

http://www.ricksteves.com/ Rick Steves has spent 3 months in Europe each year for 20 years. His business is Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD) and he helps those of us that choose to travel to Europe without groups or guides. You can find his guide books in any bookstore. His stuff is very practical and you can great pointers. On the site, I'm learning how to use the train system. I can even order my train pass before I go. He explains the difference between buying a pass or getting destination tickets and when each one is better. Too much information to list here, just browse and you'll be surprised at what you find. The site is invaluable if you plan on going to any place in Europe.

http://www.ricksteves.com/news/travelnews/0602/audiotour_menu.htm This is also from Rick Steves. If you are interested in Italy, Paris, or Britain, these are audio walking tours that you can download onto your MP3 player or IPod. I've downloaded tours of the Vatican, Coloseium, various areas of Rome, the Pantheon, Pompeii, etc. You can also print out maps to follow while you're listening to the tours. Not only informative, but will keep me from having to rent the audio tours when I go to many of these places. I love free stuff!

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/ One of a few sites I use to find an apartment to rent when I travel. If you're going to stay in one place for at least a week, it's usually less expensive to rent an apartment. You choose a country, then a region or city, how many bedrooms you'd like, then BAM! - you see lots of choices. Pictures, descriptions, prices, etc. You can shop in the middle of the night or whenever it's convenient. Of course, you must be careful, ask questions, and carefully read all the information. I've never been disappointed, but it's always a bit of excitement over the unknown. I like places where I rent directly from the owner - not a management company. I've never tried using a management company, but I like the personal touch. Here's the link to the apartment I rented for 2 weeks last year just to give you an idea of what and ad looks like: http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/italy/IT1047.htm. Everything was exactly as described and I couldn't have been happier.

http://www.flipkey.com/ Another rental site. This is where I found the apartment I've rented for this November. This one has lots of management listings, but I skip past those and focus on the owner managed ones. Here's the listing from the apartment I've chosen this time: http://www.flipkey.com/properties/view/193263/lovely+apartment+in+trastevere/ Oh, also, read all reviews and contact the owners. If you're staying more than a week, do not pay the listed price. Haggle. Offer them much less and see what they will accept. When I contacted the place I stayed last year about possibly returning this year, she quickly offered me 25% off. I ultimately decided to stay in Rome, so I chose to search elsewhere. Because I'm staying 4 weeks this time, the owner agreed to 50% off. It doesn't hurt to ask. The owners know there are more choices out there, so I have found them easy to work with. I always email back and forth with questions to find how helpful they are. The couple that owns the apartment I've rented this time said they will organize a gathering of their friends so I can practice my italian and get to know others in the area. It's like you rent friends with the apartment.

I think everyone knows how to shop for airline tickets. I check many sites, different dates, etc., but for someone reason I have always ended up buying tickets from http://www.travelocity.com/. I'm not recommending them specificially, just mentioning that I always end up there. Probably because I've used their site so much that I'm comfortable with getting around there. Find a site that offers flexible dates (like +/- 3 days) so you can compare. Sometimes changing the date by one day makes a big difference. Also, many sites have prices that look really cheap, but the listing doesn't include all taxes and fees, so randomly choose a couple of flights and pretend you're going to book them. Take the process all the way to just before payment and there you will find the total price. At travelocity, the price listed is the one you pay. Also many sites have a place where you can shop specials. It helps to know when airfare drops for certain areas so you can plan accordingly.

Wow! This is probably too much information. Hope this helps someone planning a trip or allows you to dream of future possibilities.

Rome

Rome - the eternal city. I've been wondering what makes it so special. Rome began small, and through wise decisions and careful planning, began to grow and soon became powerful. Before long she turned prideful and controlling and, all too soon, fell. The once staggering empire was destroyed and downtrodden. Her gilded churches and magnificant works of art were frequently stripped of their valuables.

A city with many scars and regrets, she is still beautiful. She is real and gritty, not at all pretentious. Her ruins speak of struggles, determination, and hope. Her artistic creations speak of beauty and appreciation. Walking through the city, one is able to visualize the personality of Rome. A city that allows past regrets to lead her to present successes.

Perhaps that is why I am drawn to this city. In many ways, I am Rome.

Learning Italian

In anticipation for my return to Italy, I am trying to learn italian. I tend to get obsessed with new ventures and that seems to be the case here. I spend hours each week listening to italian music, reading a book on the history of the italian language, and researching various websites that explain proper use of verbs, prepositions, etc. I found a wonderful site - livemocha.com - that teaches the language using various methods and I've connected with many italian natives who review my work and correct, encourage, and challenge me to continue. My mind is one big mosh pit of information that I hope will one day come together as knowledge. Right now the information seems to be unorganized and confusing, but I trust that it will find a path to comprehension. After homeschooling for 21 years and correcting my children in proper use of grammar, I find it hard to grasp italian's contrary rules. For example, double negatives is a pet peeve of mine. If anyone says, "I don't have none." I'm quick to respond, "Yes, you do have none." "I didn't do nothing," is immediately corrected, "That means you did something." So, imagine my frustration to learn that double negatives are not only allowed in italian, but necessary!!! Please say it isn't so!

Where we might say, "Break a leg" to wish someone good luck, an italian would say, "In bocca al lupo!" which means, "In the mouth of the wolf!" (I guess it makes as much sense as break a leg...... but still....) By the way, the correct response is: "Crepi il lupo." which means, "Let the wolf die." If someone here is not dressed, they are naked as a jaybird, but in Italy they'd be nudo come un verme - naked as a worm. Getting caught in the rain might get you soaking wet, but in Italy you'd be in zuppato - dunked in the soup. Double consonants are very important in the correct pronounciation of italian. One must be sure and pronounce each consonant or hold the sound for 2 beats. Quanti anni ha? means, How old are you? (literally - how many years have you?) but if you don't pronounce each "n" in anni, you might end up saying, Quanti ani ha? which means, How many anuses have you? A considerable difference there! So much to learn, so little brain function remaining. I'll keep you posted as to how it's going. Wish me in bocca al lupo.