When in Roma

Here I am again, sitting in class writing an entry. Massimo wouldn’t be happy with me. This past weekend the group went to Roma (also known as Rome) It was a really fun weekend spent in this beautiful city, I wish we would have spent a week there and not 1 night and two days.

Friday night (June 8^th) we went out to dinner at Ganzo for a birthday. I ate pigeon and once again, it was delllicious. It wasn’t a pigeon that they shot in the street; plucked and then fried… it was more of a game hen, a wild bird. They put cocoa on top which really brought out the flavor. After dinner we went out to the Piazza Santo Spirito, had a glass of Prosecco at Volume and cut our night short. As Danielle and I were walking home we cut through a different street than we usually do and smelt fresh pastries. It was about one am in the morning. I stopped in my tracks and started smelling around because word on the street over here is that there is a “secret bakery”. Danielle eventually found a vent that was above our heads and a window where she saw dough being flung. I at this point found some locals and had asked them if they knew about this “secret bakery” and was told it was the next street over. There was a van blocking the doors but they had two huge wooden doors open where two bakers were baking (not so much of a secret but more of a great find) We ordered six pastries and they were the best ones I have ever had. Not sure when they are open regularly but I will definitely be making my way over there sometime before I leave.

The next morning we hopped on a bus (sadly without Chef, he had business in Switzerland and leaves for the states that Sunday) and headed towards Roma. Our first stop was The Vatican where I learned that the Vatican has its own country (Vatican City). We had a tour guide through the Vatican Museum; it had tons of sculptures and paintings inside from hundreds of years ago. Here are a few pictures from the museum. 

An original Greek sculpture. 

It is Greek because of the signature, only Greeks signed their artwork at this time. 

The floor was made out of special stone

                                    The longest ceiling in the world covered in hand painted art

"The School of Athens" 

 We also went to the Sistine Chapel where you can’t take pictures inside but they had copies of the paintings outside with explanations. The main picture that was the biggest one was called the “Last Judgment” where the colors on the top are lighter and get darker at the bottom. The top part represents people in heaven and the people on the bottom are going to hell. 

If you walk through this door every 25 years (on the jubilee) your sins will be forgiven and you will be pure

Where the Pope makes his speeches

Inside

Swiss guards; to be a guard you have to be full blooded Swiss to work for the Pope and their outfits are originally designed from Michelangelo and has never changed. 

Outside The Vatican. 

After the Vatican we went to our hotel and got ready for dinner with everyone and our crazy bus driver and then we split up for the night. I went with Bryn, Josh and Ben out to the night life in Rome. We went to a couple of sit down bars and explored around, it reminded me of Florence a little bit but I still like Rome better. 

On Sunday we had a five hour tour around the Coliseum. I'll write about that later, It’s getting late and I have class in the morning and then I'm leaving for the weekend for Viareggio, a beach on the coast! Can't wait to get out of this town for the weekend and layout in the sun, it's going to be so nice to relax in 85 degree weather. I'll probably come home Sunday night and write about that trip. I still need to do the Parma weekend and our trip to a winery…. Ciao Ciao!