Sicilian slices and stray cats

Cuisine wasn’t a big focus of our trip, but day two kicked off with a couple seriously tasty slices of Sicilian pizza from a little grab-n-go joint called Fiori Pietro Pizzeria, right at the end of the tram line in the middle of Centro Storico. Perfect combination of chew and crunch, double-stacked like a sandwich, bellissima! Across the street were the Argentine ruins. Not a big stand-out against the rest of Rome, but the dozens of stray cats lounging around caught our eye. I might’ve forgotten all about it except that a week after returning to SF I spotted an article (on HuffPo?) about the unexplained stray cat occupation of Rome’s Argentine ruins. Un Café, day 2 The Sicilian slice revelation was immediately followed by our first venture into a bona fide Café Bar. Tiny little side-alley corner-store kiosky things where you’d walk up to the bar, order “un café,” get back your espresso, down all 4 sips of it in about a minute, then wander out without ever sitting down. Genius?

Capitoline Museums

Having caught the Paris museums on their day off, we made up for lost time at Rome's almost-Louvrely Capitoline Museum(s). Several floors of floor-to-ceiling paintings, busts of ancient emperors, ornate sculptures, and mega-sized chunks of Constantine were inside, and it also offered great views of the Roman Forum nextdoor. Much to my surprise, they allowed photography throughout the museum. A highlight (unphotographed) was an exhibit stepping through the geological/archaeological history of Capitoline Hill itself as it evolved from a small outpost to a military fort to the headquarters of modern civilization to… a museum. A chunk of the ancient Roman Capitol building (photographed) still sits at the base of the museum, with a model nearby illustrating its position in the foundation. Capitoline Museum: She-Wolf Breakout section The only thing I really knew to expect inside was the iconic 5th century BC She-Wolf sculpture, which turned out to be just the launch pad for a dozen other Romulus & Remus wolf-suckling spin-offs (including racy ads at the airport and elsewhere). Nick and I both managed to study her thoroughly, each choosing his own method of examination. Okay so this last photo was a billboard ad (for coffee?), not a museum exhibit.

Roman Forum

View from Capitol Hill Our first look at the central square of the cradle of civilization had the feel of a human zoo exhibit. People drifting back and forth between eclectically-shaped, crumbling, arbitrarily-positioned rocks, occasionally interacting or stopping to sun (or scratch) themselves. Roma as larger-than-life theme park. Two words people: audio tour If our hosts hadn’t dished out a pre-loaded iPod and a printout differentiating columns from crypts from chunks of stone we wouldn’t have had a clue. No coherent structure, direction, or labeling, so it’s up to you to know what’s what. Highlights… the Basilica of Maxentius (the first ever Basilica, and not a church) threw me off with its enormity – the three intact arches were massive enough, and then we realized we were leaning against the foundation of the opposite wing, tripling the scale. Caesar’s crypt seemed surprisingly intact, as did the Arches of Titus and Septimius and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. Somewhere along the way I was reminded that most of the months in the Calendar come from the names of Roman emperors. And standing on the site of Caesar’s “Et tu, Brute?” moment gave my eyebrows a lift. Forum & Colosseum views from Palatino hill I think what struck me most about the Roman Forum was the notion I was standing on (or, from Palatino, looking down upon) the town square at the center of the ancient civilized world. And that now anytime I’d see an on-screen depiction of the ancient Rome Forum I could picture the actual site. You can make out the Colosseum in the background above. Forum & Colosseum views from Palatino hill The colossalness of the colosseum can't be overstated. But we'd heard it wasn't necessarily worth going in so we just savored it from the outside. Mmmmm savory…

Birthday indulgence (sorrrrta)

Italians^Irish and ice cream We subwayed to Termini Station (Rome’s “Grand Central”) from the Colosseum to sort out our forthcoming Milano-Lyon-Montpellier train tickets (a failed effort, more on that later) before hopping a bus back to the central Piazza Venezia roundabout by the uber-regal Il Vittoriano. It was here that Nick’s sweet tooth and clinically serious weakness for Italian ice cream cones was first revealed. Italian ice cream shops, it turns out, are just as commonplace as Italian pizza or panini stands. Romans really love their ice cream. Pints at the Pub, aka “Scholar’s Lounge” We met up with a couple more of Nick’s Trinity College alum mates at the “Scholar’s Lounge,” an Irish pub just around the corner from the “Trinity College” Irish pub (which, strangely enough, we did not go into). It was as iconically Irish of a joint as you can picture. Classically cookie-cutter cliché. But, in context, a refreshing reprieve from the international babylonia outside. A familiar oasis. I caught bits and pieces of the Gold Cup football (i.e. soccer) match between Italy and Egypt here, and was glad to be watching in a neutral Irish zone rather than an Italian joint since Egypt pulled off a huge upset. (That upset, unbeknownst to me at the time, helped hand a second-round bid to the still-floundering USA squad before they made an explosive comeback run and knocked off top-ranked Spain the following week. This is key information people, are you writing this down??) Pizzeria Patio in Trastevere We took the tram back across the river to this lively patio pizzeria in Trastevere. Somewhere along the line I declared that it was both my birthday (w00t) and also that my head cold had returned in force, so I headed back to the Villa around the corner to catch an early bedtime. Tiber Riverside at Night Nick, on the other hand, took some time out of his leisurely stroll back to peer over the edge of the river and take some photos of the late-night bustle.

Full Rome photosets: Andy’s (flickr) | Nick’s (SimpleViewer)

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