Ciao tutti!
This week brought some fun and some challenges (well, the challenges all came today actually...). Amazingly, friends from law school and from college were in Rome this week. It was so much fun to share this city with them--even if I did get lost trying to take my first set of guests to my favorite gelato spot (sorry guys, next time)! Fortunately, when Sapna (my freshman year dorm roommate) and her husband came into town we found it!
I took Sapna and her husband around--showed them a few of my favorite places, introduced them to a few of my friends and hit up all the ultra touristy spots I have been avoiding since I arrived (but so glad I finally went). I did opt out of returning to the Vatican museum with them (I think that I am good on the whole shoving-other-tourists-to-get-a-better-view-of-the-Sistine-Chapel thing for at least another year...).
We also went to the Galleria Borghese which proved to be as beautiful inside as it is outside. I had heard that of all the museums to see in Rome, this ranks near the top. I totally agree and as Rick Steves suggested we say "Grazie mille, Cardinal Borghese, for commissioning such an amazing art collection."
Fresh off a weekend filled with Rome love, I returned to my apartment this afternoon to find that the crazy wind storm had blown and broken two windows in my apartment and my kitchen sink was clogged (awesome.). Normally, shattered glass all over the floor would bring me to tears, and it nearly did today, but having faced a broken window in my apartment previously, I both knew the Italian vocabulary for "Can you fix my broken window?" and where I could find someone to help me fix it (just down my street, my new buddy, Luigi, at the glass shop). I dropped by to see Luigi and he already came, picked up my window, fixed it and brought it back--in an hour. Oh Luigi, grazie mille!
But what to do about the kitchen sink...well, my landlord's childhood friend, Marcello, owns a shop below my apartment. So, I went and saw him and asked for some aiuto, and he quickly called up his buddy Massimo who came and checked out the problem and will return tomorrow with tools.
Instead of crying out of frustration, when Luigi, Marcello and Massimo came to my disaster apartment rescue, I nearly cried over happiness at the willingness of people to help (despite my broken Italian), at the thought of how cool it is to live in a place where every body knows each other and at the fact that even when Rome throws me challenges, it only ends up making me love it more. How is this possible??!!!
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This week brought some fun and some challenges (well, the challenges all came today actually...). Amazingly, friends from law school and from college were in Rome this week. It was so much fun to share this city with them--even if I did get lost trying to take my first set of guests to my favorite gelato spot (sorry guys, next time)! Fortunately, when Sapna (my freshman year dorm roommate) and her husband came into town we found it!
I took Sapna and her husband around--showed them a few of my favorite places, introduced them to a few of my friends and hit up all the ultra touristy spots I have been avoiding since I arrived (but so glad I finally went). I did opt out of returning to the Vatican museum with them (I think that I am good on the whole shoving-other-tourists-to-get-a-better-view-of-the-Sistine-Chapel thing for at least another year...).
We also went to the Galleria Borghese which proved to be as beautiful inside as it is outside. I had heard that of all the museums to see in Rome, this ranks near the top. I totally agree and as Rick Steves suggested we say "Grazie mille, Cardinal Borghese, for commissioning such an amazing art collection."
Fresh off a weekend filled with Rome love, I returned to my apartment this afternoon to find that the crazy wind storm had blown and broken two windows in my apartment and my kitchen sink was clogged (awesome.). Normally, shattered glass all over the floor would bring me to tears, and it nearly did today, but having faced a broken window in my apartment previously, I both knew the Italian vocabulary for "Can you fix my broken window?" and where I could find someone to help me fix it (just down my street, my new buddy, Luigi, at the glass shop). I dropped by to see Luigi and he already came, picked up my window, fixed it and brought it back--in an hour. Oh Luigi, grazie mille!
But what to do about the kitchen sink...well, my landlord's childhood friend, Marcello, owns a shop below my apartment. So, I went and saw him and asked for some aiuto, and he quickly called up his buddy Massimo who came and checked out the problem and will return tomorrow with tools.
Instead of crying out of frustration, when Luigi, Marcello and Massimo came to my disaster apartment rescue, I nearly cried over happiness at the willingness of people to help (despite my broken Italian), at the thought of how cool it is to live in a place where every body knows each other and at the fact that even when Rome throws me challenges, it only ends up making me love it more. How is this possible??!!!
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| Vatican city |
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| St. Peter's Basilica |
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| Palantine Hill--amazing to imagine what it used to be and what it used to look like. It was used from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D!! |
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| Inside of the Colloseum |
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| Plug for Rick Steves? Riiiiccccckkkkk!!! |
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| Sapna and I! |
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| Gardens at Villa Borghese |
What an adventure! I especially like the title of this week's entry! But, truly amazing how the neighborhood pals step in to help! Really a 'community'. Your pictures are stunning - the beams of sunlight in St. Peter's Basilica are amazing. You look beautiful, too!
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