Weekend in Parigi!

Ciao or should I say...bonjour!

After an incredibly fast week passed, I headed off to Paris for the weekend!  Even though by now I have come to fully grasp that I am living in Rome, which is in Italy, which is in Europe...every once in awhile, its strikes me again. Wow, I can jet to Paris for the weekend! Easily.

Paris was beautiful...despite the terrible weather on Saturday and Sunday.  While I had hopes of sitting out in the lounge chairs in the Jardin du Luxembourg all weekend, because it was rainy, I spent time going back to my favorite museums (L'Orangerie...j'adore...), drinking BIG cups of coffee at sidewalk cafes, eating falafel and croissants and baguettes...and, bien sur, shopping.  Shopping in Paris really is second to none.  Luckily (or not?), I attempted to designer shop on Rue Saint-Honore on Sunday, when ALL the shops were closed.  I think that probably saved me a few euros ;-)

What would a trip to Paris be without Laduree?! 

I went on a tour of the Montmartre area and saw Picasso's house, Van Gogh's temporary apartment and learned way more about Toulouse-Lautrec than I ever wanted to know. I climbed up the Notre Dame tower, something that we did not have time for last time I was in Paris.  It was beautiful...and totally worth the post-stair climbing leg-shaking I had for 15 minutes after the tour.

The back of Sacre Coeur

Being back in Paris, where I had been with my mom and brother just about 1 1/2 years ago, made me really miss them and my family. Looking at the velib bikes with envy this time, not having the magnetic credit card necessary to rent them, I remembered how much fun I had with my brother riding ALL around Paris.

View from the top top bell tower of Notre Dame

Going from spending time in Rome to visiting Paris made me realize what a great contrast there is between the two cities.  Paris is HUGE compared to Rome, a fact that I had not really considered before. Also, Paris's 13+ metro lines really make Rome's measly 2 look sad.  That being said, I was glad to come back to Rome today...I missed it!  And being able to understand 20% of what is going on (vs. the 5% in Paris).  I think I have made this foreign, chaotic city my home and it feels good to be back.

My favorite chairs.  It was sunny on Monday, so I was able to lounge before heading to the airport! 

Au revoir!

Calma ti!

Ciao!

This week was incredibly busy with work and sending off one of my friends who returned to Canada.  I wrote my first appeal reply brief for the UN Dispute Tribunal.  It was quite a feat to accomplish--40 depositions, 7 binders of background facts, 2 attorneys and 25 pages later, I think we wrote a winning brief haha.

Also, my friend Joelle was leaving and wanted to go out with a bang her last week.  So, we experienced Rome's finest dinners, drinks, gelato, biscotti and all the things that you grow to love when living here!  It was tiring, but great fun.  I also started tutoring an Italian girl in English (a daughter of a work friend's friend)--so far it has been mildly entertaining.  It really made me reflect on sayings that don't translate (see e.g the blank stare I got from the girl when I said the phrase "blank stare" haha) and that I speak incredibly fast apparently...

This weekend I tried to take it easy because I have another busy week and then am going to Paris next weekend!  On Saturday, I went to my yoga instructor friend's ashtanga class, drank some caffe, found the Intermezzo of Rome (!!!!) and experienced the chaos of Trastevere at night in warm weather!  Today was the Rome Marathon so the city was even more chaotic than normal.  I escaped the crowds and went to the MAXXI museum, a museum focused on modern art and architecture, with a friend.  It was a really cool museum, including my favorite painting of the day a GIANT canvas of pink glitter which took up practically an entire wall...if I knew how to ask in Italian, I would have inquired where I could buy it!

My friend and I were walking around the museum chatting when all of the sudden one of the curators basically tackled us.  We had unknowingly wandered onto and were walking through sand installations that were sporadically, and without warning, placed around the floor...oops.  While we were embarrassed to have wreaked havoc on the MAXXI, it was pretty pretty funny.  Plus, now our shoe prints are part of the art :-)

ciaociao!

The white building at the end of the street, Chiodi di Bramante, is where my friend's yoga studio is!  Amazingly beautiful, huh?

The yoga studio is in such a beautiful building and the space is amazing!  We both took a moment to just realize how lucky were are to be in Rome--doing Yoga in a historic building, in the center overlooking Piazza Navano...

Signs of spring! 

One of my favorite hidden fountains--it is always deserted and quiet in this square. 

The MAXXI museum--very cool building. 

Perche no?

Mi dispiace!  I have been absent from my blog updates for the past couple of weeks!  I was struck with the Roman flu (it seems have been going around rampantly here) and then had some camera /weather technical difficulties!  But other than that, these past few weeks have been filled with adventures!

I have done plenty of wandering around Rome these past couple of weeks, including being a "tour guide" for a new intern--it was kind of fun because I didn't get lost and actually showed him some of my favorite places!  A friend showed me that there are Cravaggios in churches all over the city that are almost hidden from crowds and, of course, have no entrance fees. I discovered caffe at Sant'Eustachio--some of the best coffee I have ever tried, I went to an aperitvo in a book store--amazing, and have done some decent ground work on finding the best gelateria in the city!

I have now been in Rome for two months.  It still surprises me that it has gone by so fast, but at the same time I feel so far away from the U.S and San Francisco.  I was walking around the city today with a friend when it started pouring, so we ducked into a book store.  I wandered into the travel book section, and ended up looking at the California guide (in Italian, certo...).  I was reading all of the recommendations for San Francisco and the Bay Area (many of which are my favorite places--they recommended the Makeout Room and the margaritas at Latin American Club haha) and couldn't help but feel like I do miss home!

I finally attended a welcome orientation at work and met some more amazing people from all over the world.  It is such an incredible experience to working and hanging out with people from every country you can imagine.  My world has expanded its borders not only in meeting these new people, but also through the work that I have been doing.  One project I've been working on included surveying the legal systems and meeting with lawyers in countries all over!

Santa Maria Maggiore

Piazza della Repubblica

This Friday marks the 150th Anniversary of the unification of various city-states to establish Italy, an event that will be celebrated for the rest of the year.  Who knew it was such a young country! 

Amazing caffe--the caffe is served with this unique foam, so unique that how it is made is a secret.  The caffe is prepared behind a barrier!

I hosted an aperitvo!