Miniseed

Living in Rome has definitely required some adjustments, as Karen and I had to re-learn various mundane routines.  For example, I stroded down to the restroom for a #1, and it took me a while to identify the trigger which activated the system.

Anyway, after that we headed out Rome and decided to take the train.  We noticed this one girl who must have skimped on her ticket, as her seat location was a little peculiar…

This is certainly most inconvenient when some passengers need to pass, but beyond that, it is most awkward to have to face a passenger for the entire duration of the trip.  Yours truly happened to be that passenger.

It was one thing to be in the same compartment with 4 other passengers, but being observed like Jim Carrey in the Truman Show while we ate, read, and napped was most unpleasant.

After a few hours, we arrived at the destination, Palazzo Bruchi, where the doors were characteristically small…

And the keys were super high-tech…

Not to mention super-large size penthouses…

And included fancy breakfast served in your room!  Okay okay, so it was some self-serve packaged food, definitely a downgrade from the Convent.

After being spoiled by the St. Peter’s Basilica, we decided to check out the Duomo in Siena, and the facade was…

a facade in the truest sense.  What timing…  Anyway, at least not all sides were wrapped up.

Inside, the entire interior was lined with 172 Pope’s heads, giving a very eerie feeling, as if it were straight from some Hunted House movie….

After that we ventured to Il Campo, the best square in Italy.  No idea why it’s the best square because it’s just a flat piece of land…

We had dined on the square, and the food was actually quite good.  We had some deliciously prepared Salmon…  cooked to medium.

After this we joined the evening walk along Via Banchi di Sopra, basically the one road that runs through town.  I think the whole town was shopping on this street, and it wasn’t long before we reached the end, where all the young people from the town hung out.

I wonder if some of these kids will just grow up in this town and be sheltered from the rest of the world…  Just when we thought we reached the end, we noticed there were people coming up from the underground with a Italian guard posted at the entrance.  Hmm, what was it?  A secret passageway?  Nuclear testing?  Matlab?  Karen and I took out our courage, walked pass the guard, and descended the escalator, only to end up at…

A grocery store.  Okay, maybe we got too carried away with our imagination.

For more pictures, check out the Siena gallery.

Siena was certainly a relaxing town, but we were about to hit the most recognizable monument of all.  Where was this place?  Why did the police start throwing people out?  Find out next time on my blog!

After our departure from St. Peter’s Basilica it was already 4:30pm, so we ran to the Vatican Museum.  Can you spot Karen in this picture?

One of the famous sculptures in this museum was the Torso.  I thought it was some unfinished piece of…  I later found out that this wasn’t the entire work, but what’s left of it.

Check out the impressive depth on the wall…

This being a Catholic museum, I didn’t expect to find pagan goddesses here.  Apparently they carried Antemis, goddess of fertility.  There’s a debate on whether those are breasts or bulls’ balls.

Anyway, after this, we went to the highlight of this museum, the Sistine Chapel.  When we entered the room, it was dim, the room was packed body to body with standing tourists who couldn’t squeeze into a seat, and signs were posted at the entrances saying “No Noise. No Pictures”.  Of course, it didn’t prevent people from attempting to take pictures or talk.  Periodically, a loud “shhhh” would originate from a guard as the crowd quiets down, and the audio level would gradually build up in this again in this perpetual cycle.

Can you find the famous Adam and God portait?

After this we went to Campo ‘de Fiori (Field of Flowers), where we had dinner.  We got here around 6pm, but unfortunately the Italians typically have their dinner around 8pm, so most of the restaurants haven’t opened yet, except for the touristy ones.

As we had dinner, we were treated to the Italian music with accordion et al. 

Again, the Italians really try to preserve old artifacts, such as Theater of Pompey where Julius Caesar was assassinated, so these apartments were built right into the outer wall.  Either that or they were trying to save material costs…

After dinner, we went on the “Night Walk Across Rome” tour from Rick Steve.  Along the way, we noticed this poor dog chained up, with no owner in sight.

After this we went to Piazza Navona, the most interesting night scene with street music, artists, ice cream, fountains made by Bernini, etc.  We tried the “Tartufo” ice cream, “Death by Chocolate”.  Fortunately it didn’t taste like it sounds.

About half way through our enjoyment of the chocolate ice cream, some police cars, followed by some antique cars, started driving into the piazza, circling around, honking.  After examining the Rick Steve’s guide more closely, we realized this piazza used to be a race track back in the Roman days, and they kept the original shape of the tracks.  I wish we had more than a couple centuries of history in the States…

After this, we walked to the Trevi fountain.  The place was multitudinous even at 10pm.  The magic of the place was that if you threw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain, it’ll grant a wish and ensure your return to Rome.

At first we were planning to visit the Spanish Steps after this, but unfortunately it was approaching 10:30pm and we dreaded being locked out of our rooms by the punctual nuns, so we decided to skip our last destination.  Maybe the coin at the bottom of the fountain will ensure our return, but for now we could only enjoy the sight of the Spanish Steps in postcards.  For more pictures of this day, check out the Vatican City gallery.

What will James and Karen’s experience be as they arrive in the urban Siena?  What was the most awkward train ride that James has ever had?  And what about the church that deceived James and Karen?  Find out next time on my blog! 

Descending from the dome wasn’t as bad as climbing the dome, even if it’s 323 claustrophobic steps.  By the way, I didn’t describe too many items in St. Peter’s Basilica, so let me just highlight a couple of exhibits.  On the right side was this statue, the only statue behind a glass.

Michaelangelo sculpted this statue, called Piet?, which means pity, is his only signed work.  Unfortunately in 1972, some crazy dude with a hammer ran in and started chopping at the statue, so it’s been behind bulletproof glass ever since.

Of course, being St. Peter’s Basilica, one of the altars marked the spot where St. Peter was crucified. 

Speaking of St. Peter, we saw a funky bronze statue of St. Peter.  The right toe has been worn out from all the foot-fetishists, and there’s usually a line for kissing the toe.  To avoid foot-and-mouth disease, one could also kiss the hand and rub the toe.  Today the whole center was sealed off, so it was not possible to pay reverence to Paul.

Speaking of which, this whole Basilica started giving me the creeps about how pagan everything seemed.  From the statues, which appeared to be idols, to the altars, to having naked statues inside the Basilica, to the goddesses such as Helena.

Everything just seemed so Greek Mythology, except with Bible character substitution.  Anyway…

After this we decended into the truly creepy crypt, where we were greeted by Egyptian sarcophagus.

Oh wait, that’s the pope.  Anyway, you see the resemblance.  Having the popes being higher than the angels, I suppose it was no wonder they got their altar upon death. 

We also passed by the tomb of the newer popes, who no longer got the same distinction but was lined up with lots of picture takers.  One of these was the latest Pope John Paul II.

Further into the crypt where the tomb of St. Peter was.

You couldn’t actually see the tomb unless you took a 10 euro tour, booked a week in advance, so this was all we could see.

After this we exited the Basilica and passed by the clowns, I mean, guards.

After this we ventured into the Vatican Museum, where more paganism manifested itself, but I’ll leave that for another blog. 

One of the privileges of visiting Rome was bumping into monuments everywhere.  Even when we walked on an obscure, tiny road, we saw walls from the first century fenced off under government protection…

At least that’s what I concluded these were.  Validating my theory would have been an easier feat had we spoken Italian, so take my comments with a grain of salt.

After this, Karen and I locked up our bags and squeezed onto the crowded #64 bus, most famous for its pickpockets.  Thankfully with our vigilant eyes, we didn’t miss the stop or any bags.

There were numerous fountains in Rome powered by their well-designed aqueducts.  They were cool, refreshing, and best of all, free.  Braving the chance of E. Coli infection, Karen and I loaded it up and it tasted better than bottled water.

Since we were still alive after partaking the liquid of unknown origin, we took some pictures of St. Peter’s Square…

And St. Peter’s Basilica, where the Pope typically gave his speeches…

Unfortunately because we didn’t attend Sunday worship, I didn’t get a chance to catch the pope and question him on his infallibility.

After lining up for quite some time, we finally arrived at the entrance of the Basilica, where we encountered this Holy Door.  It’s opened on Christmas Eve every 25 years, when the pope bangs the door three times with some mystic silver hammer and the door opens for pilgrims to pass through.

I asked Karen to walk up for a picture, but to my dismay, Karen decided to take a century before looking forward, so I ended up with a Shampoo ad instead.

When she turned around for the normal shot, we were informed by some bored guards that we could not take pictures with the door.  “Only the door, not people”.  While I reasoned with him, I paved the way for hundreds of other tourists to take pictures behind him, but it certainly didn’t help my own efforts.  In the end it was a futile exercise.

So we entered St. Peter’s Basilica…

Despite the basilica being two football fields away and could hold 60,000 members, the basilica was designed to be intimate using optical illusions.  For example, the statue at the top was much bigger than the statue of the bottom, which made the place feel smaller.

Ironically I’d like some optical illusions around my house to make my house look bigger.

After finishing the Basilica tour, we decided to climb the dome.  We first took the elevator to the first level, then climbed some stairs to the second level.  Unfortunately the safety fence 10 feet tall slightly hindered our ability to exercise our photographic liberties.

Fortunately for us, through some ingenious creativity, circumvented the technical difficulty…

And we were rewarded with a shot of the basilica from the middle of the dome, thanks to my image stabilizing lens…

As we made our way to the upper dome, the path became psychodelic as the walls started twisting and the walkway shrunk alongside of the dome…

And when the rope appeared, we knew we were in for some serious staircase…

After squeezing through the final rat hole, we were greeted with a grand view of St. Peter’s Square.

After this, we decended what appeared to be a prop for Slimfast commercial, considering how slim you had to be to squeeze through.  Just look at Karen…

What’s at the end of this staircase?  What else happened in Vatican City?  How did we we end up watching a modern Chariot race?  Find out next time on my blog! 

After walking through the Colosseum, we headed over to the Roman Forum.  We first went through the Arch of Titus, built by the Jews under the Romans for not worshipping the Emperor.

As we walked down the path, we tried to soak in the fact that these same large basalt stones were also walked on by Caesar Augustus 2,000 years ago.  That’s a lot more history than the puny 200 year history on any street in Seattle…

Then we headed toward the Main Square, which looked like my patchy dead lawn in the summer.

According to Roman legend, some twin brother Romulus (Rome) and Remus couldn’t get dates, so they attacked the nearby tribe and snatched their women.  I have no idea why they’re proud of this story.

Of course, we had to visit the spot where Julius Caesar was burned, after being stabbed by his own Senators…

and the meeting place of the Senates who stabbed him…

I see that the statue is headless.  I’m not sure if that was by design.

After that, we passed by this Victor Emmanuel monument.  I must say that this place seemed much bigger in person.

After that we dropped by a bookstore to use the restroom.  Even though I didn’t speak Italian, there was no mistaking which bathroom is which…

It’s also interesting to observe foreign forms of cute transportation…

as well as the transportation for the police department…

and the aftermath of the transportation device’s foul defilement of the street… oh wait, I didn’t take a picture of that.

Afterwards, we swung by Gelateria della Palma for our first taste of the famous Gelato that everyone says we must try in Europe.

I don’t know what all the raving was about because it tasted just like ice cream.  I suppose it was a little thicker…

After this we arrived at the Pantheon, a roman temple dedicated to all of the gods.  Then in the Middle Ages, it became a Christian church dedicated to all the martyrs.

With this engineering marvel, it had a nice and bright skylight illuminating the interiors.  I love skylights.

It’s the only building continuously used since it was built.  Pretty cool, huh?

After this, we were a little hungry, so we decided to go to Cafeteria Brek, with “a modern, efficient atmosphere and cheap prices”.  Unfortunately when we arrived, we saw a note on the door that said…  hmm…  something we didn’t understand.  But we did understand the universal implication of a locked door.

So we took a detour… a long detour, and arrived at another Rick Steve recommended restaurant:

Ristorante Grotto del Teatro di Pompeo, sitting atop an ancient theater, serves good food at great prices, perfect if you want to dine on a characteristic cobbled street, busy with strolling people and musicians.  It’s well-established, albeit a bit tired, but always populate.  Their pasta radicchio (made with red endive) is good.

So we stepped in, and a rude waitress pointed to a table for us to sit down.  On the table sat a wine glass… with lipstick mark on it.  Hmm, definitely off to a good start. 

We didn’t ask for any bread, but she took the order and brought us some anyway, one of which has already been cut in half.  Either she was really nice and precut it for us or the previous customers did.  She also brought the wrong size of the water.  After about 10 minutes we finally waved her down to explain it to her, and she realized it was meant for the table next door and came and just grabbed it and moved it over.

Finally we got our order of pasta radicchio…

I have no idea why took we the suggestion of an American (Rick Steve) for food because frankly we were… less than impressed.  The other dish we ordered, the seafood pasta, turned out to be much better.

Finally we were ready for the check, which she managed to produce by scribbling on a piece of paper.  How ghetto.  We also noticed 4 euros for the precut bread.  I wished I could have left no tip…  oh wait, I didn’t leave any tip!  But then neither do the Italians so it didn’t really matter.

At least on the way back, we were treated to a nice nightly stroll with a full moon and a night scenery of the Victor Emmanuel monument…

We were able to find our way back to meet our 11pm curfew…  barely    For more pictures, take a look at the Rome 3 Gallery.  I will be adding comments in individual pictures in the gallery soon.

Next stop, Vatican City!

(continued from previous Europe trip entry…)

Now we were ready to hit the big Roman attractions, and where else could we have chosen but…

The Colosseum.  Pictures do not do justice the size of this monster.  As soon as we descended the steps to approach the structure, we were greeted by these friendly Gladiators, who Karen took a picture with…

What a nice service from the Colosseum, I thought.  What?  You want me in the picture too?  And you’ll take the picture for us?  Hand you the camera?  Now wait a minute…

As soon as I denied his request, he immediately asked for money.  Initially I refused, but after some haggling, I relented and handed him just a few petty euros.  He watched me in disgust as we hurriedly zipped out of there.  Apparently I had missed this crucial paragraph in my guidebook:

Beware of Goofy Gladiators: For a fee, the incredibly crude modern-day gladiators snuff out their cigarettes and pose for photos.  They take easy-to-swindle tourists for too much money.  Watch out if you tangle with these guys (they’re armed… and accustomed to getting as much as 100 euros from naive Asian tourists).

I suppose we got off easy.

It may be difficult to identify the long line in this picture, but a long line runs somewhere along the middle of the building.  Armed with the Rick Steve guide, we headed to a secret passage that led to a covert ticket booth at a deserted side of the Roman Forum.  Colosseum wait time: 1 hour.  Deserted entrance wait time: 2 minutes.

After what seemed like an endless flight of stairs, we entered the interior…

saw some ancient roman misplaced labels…

and breathed in the immense size of the interior of this place. Pictures cannot do justice unless the picture is enlarged to an appreciable dimension.

The bottom part was supposed to house different trap doors for wild beasts to appear and devour the gladiators.

Finally, we’ve visited our first Roman attraction–a building from the first century where the Romans stuck two theatres together to watch people get their body parts chewed off and people getting killed.  Such savage sport… glad we don’t have anything like this today.  Oh wait, I guess there’s boxing.

After exiting the colosseum, we headed toward…

…the Arch of Constantine, where Emperor Constantine defeated Maxentius in the Battle of Milvian Bridge after seeing the vision of a cross in the sky the night before.  This is where Christianity is legalized.  Before AD 300, you were killed as a Christian, but afterwards, you were killed for not being one.

After this, we headed over to the Roman Forum next door, but I’ll share that next time, on my blog!

(continued from previous entry)

As Karen and I headed out in our Quest, we had to hike across the elegant streets of Rome, covered with cobble stones.

 

While the street texture may prove difficult to navigate in high heels, Karen and I were able to romantically strode along the Italian streets in our sandals. Along the way, we noticed the excellent parking job of some of these locals.

 

As we entered the major street of Via Nazionale, we observed the extravagant facade with statues on many buildings…

Also, Rome buildings were often painted with the bright, cheerful portion of the visible spectrum. Home Depot would make a fortune in Rome.

 

At the end of Via Nationzale, we entered the gigantic Piazza della Repubblica…

There used to be wood furnaces that heated up the water for some serious bath, a long, long time ago. In the center stood the statue of Victor Emmanuel (whoever he is), and surrounding it were four water nymphs (censored).

 

Finally, we descended into the underground mall of the train station (Termini) in search of the cable, but none of the stores carried it. On the way, I attempted to make an ATM withdraw, but instead of the “Thank you, here’s your money”, I got something equivalent to “No money for you! Card not enabled for international withdraw.” Oh oh. Houston, we got a problem.

At this point we were famished, so we dropped by a self-service restaurant.

My seafood salad was surprisingly delicious…

 

But Karen got what appeared to be raw Mongolian BBQ platter…

I hope it was really prosciutto wasn’t labeled “E. Coli 7 Euros”.

As we made our way to the cassiere (cashier), a huge advertisement caught my attention: “Speciale: Cappuccino 0.50 Euro”. At such an inexpensive price, we bought one, thinking of sharing the warm, luscious coffee over lunch. Instead, we got this…

 

The size of the cup proved to be insignificant, and the volume of the content was even more underwhelming. For the record, not a single sip had been taken prior to the photography.

After lunch, we ventured across the land of the terminals to seek the wisdom of the masters at the TI (Tourist Info), who set us out on a journey to the nearest computer store. Finally, a glimmer of hope! After arriving at the store at 3:30, we glanced inside only to stare into darkness. Closed. What self-respecting store is closed at 3:30 in the afternoon! A quick inspection of the sign revealed the hours 8-1, 4-6. Slackers! Apparently it was common for Italians to take a siesta, or an “afternoon nap/rest”.

As we waited impatiently across the street at Piazza Indipendenza, the atmosphere of Europe became evident as the music of accordian surrounded the place…

 

Finally at 4pm, the store opened. Once again we were met with the disappointment of visiting a store that sold the Ipod but not the cable. A salesperson pointed us to yet another store, extending our scavenger hunt. Along the way, we eyed an European furniture store in gluttany, wishing we could import it all…

After arriving the store, once again we found Ipod, but no cable. At this point were struck with despair, so we returned to the first computer store to salvage our vacation by purchasing their cheapest cable… the one came with an Ipod. As I tried bargaining with the manager to explain the ethical implications of bundling an Ipod with the cable, he replied, “If you need just cable, go to Apple store”. Apple store?! Where!!!

To make a long store short, it was a Mac Store and… without the IPod bundle, it was indeed easier on the wallet. Praise God! Mission accomplished.

On the way back, we noticed the nationalism of the Italians…

And took some random pictures, now that memory space was no longer an issue…

 

For dinner, we went to the Flann O’Brien Irish Pub, which according to Rick Steve’s Italy Tour Guide, “is an entertaining place for a light meal, fine Irish beer, live sporting events on TV, and perhaps the most Italian crowd of all.” Being a novice at ordering Italian cruisine, I inquired the waitress about their special.

“Lasagna”, she replied.

“Uno Lasagna”, I ordered the authentic italian food by giving her the finger. The index finger.

As a side note, I didn’t realize that the index finger actually meant two in Italy. One would use just the thumb to indicate “one”. Glad she understood, because contrary to what I had ingrained into my mind as Lasagna as early as infancy, the plate that came was…

Ravioli skins in Ravioli sauce?! “Lasagna”, the waitress insisted. Oh… okay.

Now that our first quest is complete, which sights and monuments shall James and Karen uncover? What other Italian cultural nuisances will unfold? What about the ATM situation and the inability to replenish our cash supply? Find out next time… on my blog!

(continued from yesterday)

Apparently the IPod plug arrived in Europe with us but the USB cable connecting the iPod to the plug itself did not. This Series of Unfortunate Events left us with the need to save space by lowering the picture resolution to those on par with mosaics. Here’s a sample of that…

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After struggling with this, we decided against it as it might be a difficult undertaking to find picture frames for our 8mm x 10mm pictures. To salvage this fiasco, we decided to turn our next day into an adventure: “The Quest for the Holy Cable”.

The next morning, Karen and I woozily woke up and stumbled our way to the breakfast table. I selected my choice cereal…

…and scooped some milk out of the cocktail bowl.

As I poured it on my cereal, I noticed that the Italian milk exhibited a peculiar lumpy texture, the texture of… yogurt!! Oops. Looks like this bowl is making its way to Karen.

I figured it was time to sober up through the potent aid of caffeine. I approached the coffee machine, depressed the button labeled “Cappuccino”, and voila! Out gushed this cappuccino…

I took a sip. Mmmm…… Not bad. Would have been nicer, though, had there actually been coffee in this cream. A nun later explained (with words none of which I understood), that to get Cappuccino, the cup needed to be filled with expresso first. In America, when I see a button labeled “Cappuccino” and I press it, I expect “Cappuccino”. Apparently the Italians think otherwise.

Then I picked up a couple of Italian breads. They are always deviously served cold and impart a sour taste. Italian bread is versatile, however, as it doubles as a weapon of mass destruction when tossed and can easily penetrate a wall or create an oversized bruise on a human target.

The Nutella has its origins in Italy and tasted just as good as the ones in the States. Then there was the Schinkencreme…

Took one bite. Yup. Cat food. Garfield would love this stuff.

Afterwards, we headed out toward the Main Terminal in search of our treasure. What would we find along the way? Would we find the cable? Find out next time… on my blog!

 

 

Back in May, Karen and I plucked ourselves from our daily routines and took a three week vacation to Europe. Neither of us had been there, but we’ve certainly heard of its reputation for two things: lots of history… and lots of theft. Many of you have expressed the desire to see our pictures before your grand-kids are born, so let me just take you through our journey through select pictures.

The trip didn’t sink in until we hopped on the Northwest plane and realized we were finally going to take a step in the European soil! The plane definitely had an upgrade in the multimedia system since the last time I rode it.

40+ Movie on demand! This includes Blockbuster movies, Disney movies to quiet those noisy brats, and games including trivia that you can play with other people on the plane! Wow. The ability to pause the movie when the rude pilot interrupted us or when food came was priceless. The geek in me noticed it was a linux system with each screen as a different console, so perhaps there’s some market opportunity for Microsoft here.. Oops, back to our story.

Our connecting flight was in Netherlands, and everything felt like an American airport, aside from the language, until we noticed airport security dressed in green camouflage suits and carried semi-automatic weapons suspiciously resembling the AK-47s. Yeah. I was glad I wrote my will before I left town.

When it came to nature calls, Netherland airport took the cake. As I walked in, soothing ambient music filled the air, and I was surrounded by a gorgeous view of the city… wallpaper. I must give credit where credit is due, as their urinal design is a piece of excellent engineering. The contemporary design of this stall is elegant, and yet the ergonomics of the design provide more splash resistance. Talk about raising the bar.

Now with one panoramic view across all the walls, the entire experience felt eerily like doing a #1 onto someone’s roof, but there was something mysteriously soothing about taking care of nature… in nature. (Jeffrey should know, after that “Ferry” incident. )

Upon arriving in Rome, Italy, we decided to take the Leonardo Express, a train that connected the airport with the city. Wow, a city that succeeded in building aiport connection rails. I was definitely not in Seattle any more.

Then we took a walk through a good portion of the city and finally found the first place we’re staying, Il Rosario. A convent.

After a short nap for the jet lag, the night had descended and hunger had struck, so we randomly picked a place to dine. One thing I have to say… don’t take American service for granted. The Italian waiter was slow and unresponsive beyond belief! The worst Chinese restaurants in America seemed like Red Robins to this place when it comes to service.

After what seemed like an eternity, we got our orders, a tuna pasta…

and some Italian pizza…

Don’t be fooled by my photography. We were slightly disappointed, as the quality of this food was easily exceeded by Karen’s own cooking, thanks to her private tutor, Giada de Laurentiis on the Food Network. Maybe we hyped ourselves up too much for authentic Italian food, but this stuff was certainly… edible.

After that we headed back to the convent.

Our room was institutional and smaller than those found in most American hotels, but it was immaculate and came with a private bathroom. After Karen took a shower, we realized a design flaw…

The place had nothing for water containment, and the shower drain, partially blocked by the mat, was also partially cluttered. The result…

No, those weren’t shiny tiles. The reflection stemmed from the deluge that escaped the confinement of the bathroom and ventured through the doorcrack into our bedroom. I certainly wasn’t expecting to role-play a hotel maid on our first night in Italy.

After taking care of the floor, I opened my bag and … OH NO! We forgot to bring a critical item, the item so crucial that it would decimate the fabrics of our vacation. Which item was this? And how did we rectify this situation? Find out next time… on my blog.