FINALLY, AN UPDATE!

At least I think that's what you're going to say when you see this, dear Reader.

I'm sorry about the weekly but unpredictable updates. I've been knitting and making designs for work, church, and school. Then there's homework and spending time with friends and family so that I won't end up a hermit chained to my laptop. And I got sick last week. A strong typhoon also happened to shake up my neck of the woods at about the same time. There was also a small but sharp earthquake a few days before that.

And yes, all of this happened last week.

So. Rome.






There were lots of beautiful things to see, and lots of cobbled streets to get lost on. (We did get lost, by the way.) Again, I was reminded about how Europe was a mix of both the old and the new just by looking down at my feet on said cobbled street.


I don't know if the average person gets tickled by how his average footwear looks so new against the old stones. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, we joined a tour on occasion. I say on occasion because when we got bored, we just went somewhere else and left the other tourists gawking at everything ancient. Only to arrive at another old spot where even more tourists were gawking at something even more ancient.


My cousin Ken's jaw dropped when he saw that last picture. And he yelled "You went to the Pantheon?!?!"

I would like to take this opportunity to say yes, Ken, we did.

We saw some famous (dead) people in their graves there. The architecture was also really cool with massive pillars and everything.




We traipsed onward to a certain square with a name I've forgotten. But I remember it's built on top of some really old Roman ruins. A pope used to live there and commissioned the church and fountains on it from rival artists. I can recall some of the statues in that square being subtle ways the artists used to insult each other's work.

I can recall all that but I can't even give you the square's name. It's pathetic, really.


Most people passing by Rome drop by the Vatican. Our family did so as well.


It was pretty majestic. Everything was so detailed and really worth looking at.


I don't know if those were supposed to be saints or something. We weren't really on a pilgrimage --- We're not Catholic. --- so not knowing who they were didn't seem to matter. I did see the window the Pope appears in weekly though.

We continued on to a place so famous that every person I've showed the next picture to immediately knew what it was.


This was also where I got my first scoops of...


I've always wanted to try out different foods in their native lands. So I enjoyed pistachio and lemon gelato in Italy.

It was just beautiful. The pistachio was appropriately nutty, and the lemon was the right blend of sour creaminess.

I'm almost drooling just remembering it.

Anyway, the Coliseum didn't disappoint. Neither did the Forum a few blocks away.


Did I mention how many people were milling about? Well, there were droves. Herds. Whole villages of them. And they were all tourists.

We were blessed enough to head to the tourist spots earlier than the rest of the crowd. Like the Trevi Fountain we passed by that morning. This was the same fountain we passed by later that day only to find tourists crowding into our personal space.

And we wondered why no one was around that fountain that morning. They must have been sleeping. Or they knew the fountain would be lighted in an unflattering way at 8 in the morning.


This was also where I got my second helping of gelato. Because, you know, I wasn't full yet.




All mouthwatering. All creamy. All yummy.

Did I mention I normally don't like ice cream?

Those who often visit this blog know I cannot --- yes, cannot --- end this post without chronicling what I had for lunch in a tiny hidden Roman cafe that day.


I'd been craving this pasta dish since The Gustavian post a month back. But I'd just been looking for said dish in my area. Who would have thought I'd get the chance to fulfill my tortellini dreams in its cultural home?

Looking back at the trip, I can say God's been so wonderful to me and my family.

And now, it's homework time. I bid you all adieu. Or ciao if we want to say goodbye in Italian just to keep the context.

FINALLY, AN UPDATE!

At least I think that's what you're going to say when you see this, dear Reader.

I'm sorry about the weekly but unpredictable updates. I've been knitting and making designs for work, church, and school. Then there's homework and spending time with friends and family so that I won't end up a hermit chained to my laptop. And I got sick last week. A strong typhoon also happened to shake up my neck of the woods at about the same time. There was also a small but sharp earthquake a few days before that.

And yes, all of this happened last week.

So. Rome.






There were lots of beautiful things to see, and lots of cobbled streets to get lost on. (We did get lost, by the way.) Again, I was reminded about how Europe was a mix of both the old and the new just by looking down at my feet on said cobbled street.


I don't know if the average person gets tickled by how his average footwear looks so new against the old stones. Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, we joined a tour on occasion. I say on occasion because when we got bored, we just went somewhere else and left the other tourists gawking at everything ancient. Only to arrive at another old spot where even more tourists were gawking at something even more ancient.


My cousin Ken's jaw dropped when he saw that last picture. And he yelled "You went to the Pantheon?!?!"

I would like to take this opportunity to say yes, Ken, we did.

We saw some famous (dead) people in their graves there. The architecture was also really cool with massive pillars and everything.




We traipsed onward to a certain square with a name I've forgotten. But I remember it's built on top of some really old Roman ruins. A pope used to live there and commissioned the church and fountains on it from rival artists. I can recall some of the statues in that square being subtle ways the artists used to insult each other's work.

I can recall all that but I can't even give you the square's name. It's pathetic, really.


Most people passing by Rome drop by the Vatican. Our family did so as well.


It was pretty majestic. Everything was so detailed and really worth looking at.


I don't know if those were supposed to be saints or something. We weren't really on a pilgrimage --- We're not Catholic. --- so not knowing who they were didn't seem to matter. I did see the window the Pope appears in weekly though.

We continued on to a place so famous that every person I've showed the next picture to immediately knew what it was.


This was also where I got my first scoops of...


I've always wanted to try out different foods in their native lands. So I enjoyed pistachio and lemon gelato in Italy.

It was just beautiful. The pistachio was appropriately nutty, and the lemon was the right blend of sour creaminess.

I'm almost drooling just remembering it.

Anyway, the Coliseum didn't disappoint. Neither did the Forum a few blocks away.


Did I mention how many people were milling about? Well, there were droves. Herds. Whole villages of them. And they were all tourists.

We were blessed enough to head to the tourist spots earlier than the rest of the crowd. Like the Trevi Fountain we passed by that morning. This was the same fountain we passed by later that day only to find tourists crowding into our personal space.

And we wondered why no one was around that fountain that morning. They must have been sleeping. Or they knew the fountain would be lighted in an unflattering way at 8 in the morning.


This was also where I got my second helping of gelato. Because, you know, I wasn't full yet.




All mouthwatering. All creamy. All yummy.

Did I mention I normally don't like ice cream?

Those who often visit this blog know I cannot --- yes, cannot --- end this post without chronicling what I had for lunch in a tiny hidden Roman cafe that day.


I'd been craving this pasta dish since The Gustavian post a month back. But I'd just been looking for said dish in my area. Who would have thought I'd get the chance to fulfill my tortellini dreams in its cultural home?

Looking back at the trip, I can say God's been so wonderful to me and my family.

And now, it's homework time. I bid you all adieu. Or ciao if we want to say goodbye in Italian just to keep the context.