Yesterday was a huge day of exploring. We set out relatively early and caught the tram all the way to the end. From there, we just started walking. First, we found the Parthenon, which is so cool! You walk down an ally way surrounded by modern shops and buildings, then WHAM! There's the back of this ancient building! We walked around inside, and while everyone else was like, "yeah, cool", I started going off with a few different things. The Tomb of Victor Emanuel II is in the Parthenon, a fact I did not know. (For any non History people out there, that's the unifier of Italy.) I want to go back when it's raining to see the drainage system for the demon's hole (occulus) in the ceiling.
We left the Parthenon and started wandering through different ally ways to see the shops and what they have to offer. Most seemed to be little cafe`s and touristy shops.
We found Via del Campo, the main shopping area in Rome. Although we were at the more expensive end for most of the day, the stuff they were selling was really cool. We walked through the allies until we turned at one point and saw the Trevi Fountain.
Can we discuss amazingly beautiful? Seriously, the detail on each of the sculptures is amazing!
We turned and walked around a bit more, and we saw what we think is the parliament building. We also found the Alter of National Unity, aka Man on the World's Biggest Horse. (That little tidbit is actually curtosy of Dr Kraut. The second tallest man on horse sculpture is the monument to Ulysses S Grant, right outside the Capitol Building. The tallest, he said, "was somewhere in Rome.")
We also came across a number of random archeological sites. We'd be walking through a modern area, then find fallen columns in a ditch.
Some general notes on being in Italy:
It's a lot colder right now than I expected, and more people speak English, especially to us, but for those who only speak Italian, it's easy to make ourselves understood. We found this little tiny pizza place for lunch yesterday, it's on a back ally near Via del Corso, where 100 g of pizza was 1E. Noone in the shop spoke English, but pointing really did the trick. "I want that one!" and paying was also simple, because it was all coins.
I keep forgetting that there are coins instead of bills for the 1 and 2 E notes. Also, most places want small bills or coins, which means you have to find a place to break the larger bills, the 20s, 50s and 10s.
I hate driving. Most people who know me know this. If someone else was willing to drive me around for free for the rest of my life, I'd be more than happy about that. But I thought DC drivers were bad. They're nothing compared to Roman drivers. And being a Roman pedestrian is even tougher. Running across a street, trying not to panic when traffic is coming at you from both sides from at least 40mph, maybe more, is mildly terrifying!
My roommate and I were talking really late last night (okay, it was actually mid morning this morning- we weren't tired enough to go to bed until around 2, then we talked some more) about how we both stand out. In the States, everyone wants to be blond haired with blue eyes. That's the desired norm, and people will do almost anything to get to that norm, bleaching hair out, putting in contact lenses, etc. They also want to be tan. Here, it's different. The few blond(e)s I've seen really stand out, and I know that I'm one of them. (of course, I also stand out because I'm American, but that's another story all together.) My roommate stands out because she's black. There are very few minorities in Italy, and those that I can see are mostly Asian, so she stands out, although she has very light skin.
I've found that I do actually like to cook. At school this semester, I would make something large and leftovers would last me for a while. Here, though, Kerri and I are cooking together, and we work well in the smallish kitchen. She'll be working on one thing while I'm doing another, and the two of us are yacking until dinner is done, the the six of us sit down with a bottle of wine and we talk for hours. It's so easy to loose track of time here. It's strange cooking for a large crowd, but of the six of us in the apartment, five of us are on a strict budget. We decided that cooking for ourselves would be cheaper and healthier in the long run, so that's what we're doing for now. Kerri and I are doing most of the cooking, and it's all been with fresh veggies and food, which taste amazing. I stir-fried some veggies last night with some garlic and chicken, and it was really good. I didn't use enough spices, though, because I'm not use to cooking for a large group. Up for later on this week- buying a pre cooked chicken and making soup. YUMMY!
Anywho, it's already 1pm, and I've done nothing, only been up for two hours, and need to shower in what could be cold water or could be very hot water. I don't know at this point.
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