Birthday in Roma

Rome. Actually Roma, is amor backwards...literally meaning the city of love.

Our quick trip (just three days) to Rome started off with a smokey, white-knuckle cab ride into the heart of the city. Our driver, (who spoke and endless stream of Italian the entire 30min to our hotel) somehow managed to swerve in and out of potholes, pedestrians, horse-drawn carriages, trash, pan-handlers, oh, and about a million 14yearolds doubled up on vespas smoking cigarettes and talking to each other at 90mph, all while turned towards Brown in the front seat, using hand gestures to get his point across. I'm not sure how we made it, I had my eyes covered most of the time.

The hotel was simple and clean, nothing spectacular but we didn't spend much time there anyway. We spent the first day walking through ancient Rome. First we hit the Colosseum, dodging panhandlers and pickpockets (which, by the way, we had no trouble with because August we learned is the "off season" for Gypsies). This place is massive and very impressive. I'm big on touching things, let me clarify, old things (significant or not) have a different meaning for me when I can hold or touch them in the same way someone else did hundreds or thousands of years ago, it's much more personal. Unfortunately that seems to be the one rule at most places of preservation, no touchie! But, the Colosseum was fair game; Brown and I looked like kids circling the two levels with our arms outstretched touching all of the columns, benches, walls and rubble. We sat down at the base of one of the pillars at floor level and imagined all of the tourists in togas, the roaring crowd of town folk with the Cesar/Emperor and his entourage watching Christians, animals and gladiators get slaughtered in the ring. We decided we'd probably be with the commoners up on the third level in the cheap seats...they had the shade anyway.

The rest of the Roman forum/Ancient Rome and Vatican is best told by pictures, for those of you that aren't facebookers I'll start using picasa for this kind of stuff. The comments on the pictures in the album are by both Brown and I, he attempted to write them in my "voice," but you might be able to tell the difference :) Here is the link, http://picasaweb.google.com/kivi.anna/Roma or try http://picasaweb.google.com/kivi.anna/Roma?authkey=Gv1sRgCKXA55XQnPiFag&feat=directlink

Each day we did a morning/day tour, guided by ourselves & Rick Steves audio (on Brownie's ipod-genius!) on foot, which made an afternoon nap absolutely necessary. Then we'd cruise the different squares at night and find some dinner. Aside from the pubic hair in the peanuts (you'll see in the pictures), all of the food was excellent. The squares, which every town has - usually marked by a tower/fountain/something cool, were full of people and street vendors from morning until midnight. There were a ton of tourists while we were there, I think we saw more Germans and Americans than we did Italians in some spots.

Rome, I initially thought was very interesting with this bottom "dust cloud" layer of trash, graffiti and people everywhere - and then you look up and there are these beautiful buildings and pieces of ancient history literally everywhere. Growing up in a small town, my first reaction was that all of these people are ruining this city. But, since its beginning Rome has been a bustling place full of street vendors, panhandlers, politicians and the like. Instead of becoming a forgotten ghost town, Roma has thrived.

All in all it was incredible, and we didn't even come close to seeing everything we wanted to. A few things on the list for next Rome trip: Catacombs, St. Peter's church, the necropolis under the church, Angels & Demons tour (I can't help it), and I'm sure a few others between now and when we actually go back...which we have to since we both threw a coin into the Trevi fountain :)

Gypsys, Theives and Popped Collars

When we were kids our mom would often make references to things being stolen by Gypsies; our toys, if they were missing or if we didn't pick them up, and even us if we didn't hurry up, "You'll get stolen by Gypsies!" Heck she even made me dress up as one (against my will) for Halloween one time. Of course we knew she was full of it, always trying to mess with us.

Turns out, these dudes really exist. As in straight up Gypsies, nomads (usually from Romania-or at least that's what the Italians will tell you, they despise Romanians) who will steal the purse off your shoulder and the money off your nightstand...while you're sleeping next to it. These guys are good too, they work in groups so by the time someone picked your pocket, even if you think you know who it was, your goods have been passed off several times...never to be seen again. They also move through town a couple times a year and "visit" different strings of American housing. Not that our stuff is any better, they just seem to like us more. It is not uncommon to personally know several people who've been robbed, we've heard some good stories already. The good news is they're old school, and they don't want to hurt anyone. It's not like the US where if someone breaks into your house while you're in it, there's a good chance you could be attacked/raped/murdered. They just want your money and gold (pearls are bad luck), and often times they'll send the kids in after it...I guess they figure people are less likely to hurt a child who's in their house stealing all the valuables. Brown on the other hand says he has no problem physically throwing a kid out of our house. As for me, if I ever wake up in the middle of the night and there's a strange kid in my room, I'm going to be more concerned about whether or not he's part monster or possessed rather than the fact that he wants the 10 Euro in my purse!

Fortunately, there are lots of simple things you can do to deter them though, like lock your doors and windows, get those little door alarms, motion lights, a dog or even just a "beware of dog" sign, OR the first time you encounter them just go psycho and maybe they'll mark your door/mailbox with the numeral three (as you can see from the picture). I'm planning on trying all of them :)

We've learned quite a few Italian idiosyncrasies/superstitions in the last week or so, but incase it sounds like I'm painting them in any kind of negative light, I'll sprinkle them throughout my blogs. This truly is a fascinating place with wonderful people, even Gypsies haven't stoped me from loving it here. That being said, we're pretty sure we know where the popped collar look originated. So, if you're riding on a train and it's extremely hot and you decide to open one of the windows, you will be meeting some angry Italians very quickly, because...many believe that if they feel a breeze on their neck they could get sick and die. Even on a sweltering hot day, if there is a breeze, there are numerous people wearing scarves. It's very interesting! So last night at dinner there was a little breeze and we noticed a lot of people had their collars popped, and in the US that look originated near Jersey where there are a lot of people from Italian decent...maybe it got passed along and now frat boys everywhere have no idea that they're popping their collars so they don't get a breeze on their neck and die! Could be a stretch, but it was a good dinner conversation :)

The other picture is the sun going behind the mountains, they are beautiful.

I love wine!

The past few days have been a blur. It is super humid here, sweating is just a natural part of life. They have air conditioners, but they are a lot like the refrigerators - cool things off a little but barely enough to notice. Nothin like luke warm milk in your cereal!
We're staying in a hotel room not far from base right now, the pictures are of the street right outside the hotel. We just found a house in little village about 10min away. The town is right at the foot of the mountains, they're a small part of the Alps range, but not nearly as big - just as beautiful. We won't be able to move in for a couple weeks (but that's okay since we won't have our stuff until late August anyway). It's definitely an old-style Italian house, just a few blocks from the town square, where they have the market once a week, I'm trying to learn my numbers quick so I halfway know how much I'm paying for stuff. I'll take some more pictures of it next week, we're going back to fill out paperwork with the owners who've learned most of their English playing farmville on facebook...fun!
So far the people are really friendly, if you attempt to speak Italian they seem to really appreciate it, and can speak English much better than they sometimes let on. We're working really hard on learning the language, we practice on each other at home as much as we can...so far Brown is way better than I am.
We went on a guided tour of the local areas/villages today with a program from base. They taught us how to buy bus and train tickets, eating etiquette (these people have three course meals for lunch!), and a bunch of other stuff. More importantly we did some wine tasting. I've always said I thought wine was liquid headache...but I honestly did not have one bad glass of wine today, even the dry champagne and red wines were good. I don't know what these guys do that's so different, but it works.
So far...I love this place. You can drive down the road and get fresh honey, bring your bottle or jug to the winery and fill it for a couple euro, it's even cheaper to buy fresh baked bread. Some of the food is a little different. Brown and I went with our friend Stacie to get some lunch the other day and he got a kick out of my face when the lady asked me if I wanted raw beef on mine pannini, seriously...not cool. You can stay dangerously American if you're not careful (I know, maybe I'll try the raw beef eventually), the shopping center on base feels just like walmart...and I've heard that a lot of the "wives" (such a weird group to be put in) hate it here. I've been warned that I'll have a hard time for the first six months or so, but I just don't see that happening. I already feel like our days are numbered.
Brown and I are trying to plan little weekend trips as often as possible, and longer trips whenever he has a few days off. We're going to do some local hiking this weekend, but I think we're feeling comfortable enough to head to Venice next weekend, at the rate he's going his Italian should be pretty good by then. It's about an hour train ride from here, now than we know how to buy a ticket, and the train is way better than trying to find parking, or driving for that matter...the laws and street signs are more like suggestions here.

I'll try to keep this current, I think once Brownie starts officially working I'll have more time on my hands...until I find out where the antique market is :)

*I'll be posting most pictures on facebook...it's much easier that way.