guida turistica.

On Friday morning, I met up with my friend Katie from UWEC. She's been studying abroad in Ireland, and her and 4 of her friends made it down to Rome for the weekend. Take that volcano! I met up with them and showed them around the city. And even though I have about a billion pictures of things in Rome, I couldn't help but take some more...

Tomb of Rafael in the Pantheon.

terra = amore.

On Thursday morning Clara and I took advantage of the free attractions and went to Castel Sant'Angelo. It was originally built as a mausoleum for Hadrian between 135 AD and 139 AD. Then in 401 it was converted into a fortress, destroying many of the decorations and adornments. Today, it is a museum and has a gorgeous view of Rome from the top.

Castel Sant'Angelo.

The original angel which adorned the top of the fortress.

Keeping watch.

St. Peter's from the river.

Dessert pizza from Simone's is AMAZING! I just had to throw this picture in. This was our dessert for the day.

After going to class, Clara, Vivi, Tonio, Damian, and I went to a gallery. It was a photography and digital art exhibit by Matteo Basile entitled, "The Saints are Coming." Here's an example of his work:

"Ofelia"

After the gallery we headed over to Circo Massimo, where there was a free Earth Day concert put on by Nat Geo. It was a really good time and I got a lot of swag, including 3 new reusable bags! :D

The stage.

Damian playing with his balloon. And by playing I mean beating me and Clara in the face with it! :]

"We can breathe in space. They just don't want us to escape..."

Clara and I had to leave the concert early since we had already made plans to watch Anchorman with Mickey. Technically it was a Res Grad event, but we're generally the only two who come to the movies anyways. After getting microwave popcorn and quoting waaay to much of the movie, we ended the night by going to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Le Fate.

I love Earth Day! :D

buon compleanno.

Wednesday was Rome's 2, 763rd birthday! That means that all the city museums and sights in Rome are free for the week. On top of that it's also culture week, so all the state run museum and sights are free as well! YAY! Gotta love free things!

On Wednesday night, Clara and I went to a sound and light show which culminated in fireworks. It was really cool. They had at least 4 large projectors that spanned one side of Piazza del Popolo, projecting onto the buildings, the trees, and the fountains. They played clips from a bunch of Italian movies, as well as playing songs that are significant to Rome. Most of the songs were opera and I was very excited by the fact that I knew what they were. Must mean I'm learning something here. The show ended with highlights of Italian athletes from summer Olympics past. This is because Rome is bidding to host the 2020 summer Olympics.




After the show the fireworks started! They were gorgeous and went on for a good 30 minutes! It felt like the fourth!

"Lindsey, come here!"

On Saturday I went to the small town of Bracciano. It is located on the huge Lago Bracciano and is an absolutely gorgeous town. Random fact: the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi, which is the main sight, is the castle where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married. Due to timing we weren't able to go into the castle but we had a good time just walking around the small town.

Stephen, Morgan, and Rebecca. [Damian took this photo for me :D]



Stephen, Damian, Tony, and Me. :]

And I always have to take a picture of a cat.

sketchtown.

This Friday I made it down to Naples, Italy. I went with Vivi, her husband Tonio, and their son Damian. We left at the ungodly hour of 7 in the morning, but that gave us plenty of time to make our train and give ourselves plenty of time in Napoli. The train was about 2 1/2 hours. It was spent sleeping, reading, and playing rockets with Damian.

Once we arrived in Napoli we spent the first hour or so just trying to figure out where we were and where we wanted to go. Napoli really isn't that tourist friendly around the train station, there was a ton of sketchy booths and we saw two prostitutes within the first 20 minutes of being there! I was warned that Naples was bad, but I didn't think it would be that bad. Thankfully we had Tonio with us! We finally got a map and got our bearings in order. We found what looked to be a castle but was really just an arch way. Then we went to the main church of the city, Duomo di Napoli, or the Cathedral of Naples. It was a very pretty church.

Fake castle. I couldn't find the actual name of it.

Duomo di Napoli.

Statue in the Duomo di Napoli.

After the the church we walked to the church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. The actual church was closed for siesta, but we went to the archaeological site beneath the church instead. They had Roman and Greek ruins, including actual shops, houses, and original roads. It was really interesting. We also checked out the museum from the excavation.

Street in Napoli.

Old Roman houses under the church.

Museum display.

When we left it had started to rain, so we decided to get lunch. This is pretty much the reason why I wanted to come to Napoli. They claim to have the best pizza in all of Italy. I will say it was high on my list, but my main pizza place in Rome still holds my heart! After we ate our pizzas, we went across the street and got pastries for desert. Again, I think I'll probably go into pastry withdrawal when I get home, but I can't stop they're just waay to good!!

Delicious pizza margherita.

Sfogliatella, a traditional Napoli pastry.

After stuffing our faces we decided to walk to one of the actual castles in Naples. The Castel Nuovo was originally built in 1279, and now houses an art museum. It is culture week in Italy, so we got in for free. The art ranged in everything from medieval to modern and the castle provided some beautiful views of the city and sea.

Castel Nuovo.

Damian passed out. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone push you around all day!?

One of the rooms in the castle had a Plexiglas floor and you could see a bunch of tombs and skeletons.

Ceiling of one of the rooms in the castle.

Cannon stuck in one of the original castle doors.

Bay with a huge cruise ship.

Me in front of the bay.

We then headed back to the train station to catch our train back to Roma. The train ride home ended up taking an hour longer than it was supposed to so we didn't get back until 9. All in all though it was a successful day!

Sunset on the train back to Roma.

under the tuscan sun.

Last weekend, I stayed in Rome for the majority of the time. On Friday I went with Clara and her friend Bethany to a gallery exhibition opening. It was a bigger exhibit then the last opening we went to. There were 8 works of art, all were by the artist Richard Serra. It was an interesting exhibition, all the works were black circles from paint sticks on a white paper. I can't say I was moved enough to actually want to buy one of the works, not like I ever could afford one, but I was glad I went. Here is an example of the works:

"Baldwin", 2009
Paintstick on handmade paper.

After getting dinner we went to a friend's house to celebrate my good friend Mickey's 23rd birthday! We had cake and then made our way to Campo to meet up with other people. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with everyone together. Around 1:30 I decided to head home as I had to be at school at 7:30 to go to Tuscany. Yay for 4 hours sleep!

So I hauled myself out of bed and managed to get to the bus on time. We drove for about two and a half hours to the Fattoria del Colle estate in Trequanda, Italy. Upon our arrival we got a short tour of the grounds and the estate, including the history behind the region.

View of Trequanda from the estate.

Then we were taken on a wine tour, as the grounds mainly serve as a winery. It was very interesting to see how wine is actually made. Another thing that was cool, is that the entire estate is run by women. When they first started this was an extremely uncommon thing. Slowly though, it is becoming more acceptable.

The vats where the wine is made.

Oak barrels to age the wine.

After the tour we had a wine tasting. We had three different wines, a Cenerentola, a Brunello, and a Chianti. All were very good! After the tasting we got a lesson in pasta making. After the demonstration we even got to give it a try. I definitely need to work on my skills a bit more! :]

Trying the first wine.

Our teacher in the art of pasta making.

Rolling out the pasta.

Finished product.

Finally we got to sit down and eat. We had a four course meal with the all the wine our hearts desired. Lunch alone was about a 2 1/2 hour ordeal. It was AMAZING!

First course: Meats, cheese, and bread.

Second course: Pasta in a bolognese sauce.

Third course: Roasted chicken and potatoes.
I started to eat this before I remembered to take the picture...

Fourth course: Apple tort.

After lunch, Brittany, Stephen, and I walked to the town of Trequanda. It had an absolutely gorgeous view of the estate and of Tuscany.

Grape vines on our walk to town.

Church in Trequanda.

Tuscany.

We then piled back on the bus for the ride home. I thought I was going to fall asleep, but they put in "Troy." Needless to say Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom will definitely keep me awake! :D I was going to go hang out with people later that night, but when I laid down for a short nap I didn't wake up until the next day! Whoops!

Side note: AS Roma just beat Lazio in soccer and everyone in the city is going crazy! My already noisy street is filled with honking and yelling!