Week 5!

6/11: We were off to Rome. We found the bus really easily at the Pescara Station and the ride was only about 2.5 hrs (the train was 4!) and very pretty. Once we got into Rome, it was a Friday afternoon in rush hour, not too pretty. We were able to find the local bus to our B&B but went the wrong way when we got off so we took a nice little walk. We ate some delicious pizza and watched a world cup game, then off to bed for a long day on Saturday.

6/12: We got up and ate and were out of our B&B at about 9:45. Our host gave us a great city map which had all the streets and was perfect! Took the tram to Termini Station in the center of Rome and started our trek from there. Just so you know in advance…we did not go into the Colosseum, to the Pantheon, Vatican, etc. (bigger tourist places) because we are going in August with Casey’s parents and didn’t want to do everything twice. However, we did walk about 5 miles in a huge circle taking in: Piazza M. Fanti, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, Church of Santa Prassede, Parco Oppio, Colosseum, Trajan’s Forum, Victor Emanuele Monument, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, expensive shopping roads (Via del Carozze and Via Condotti), and the Spanish Steps. Whew! Casey’s favorite building was the Victor Emanuele Monument (white building above) and I loved the Trevi Fountain (minus all the tourists!).

It was unbelievable how many people were there and we weren’t even in the busiest time yet, which will be in August when we go back. It was a lot of fun taking pictures and seeing all of the beautiful buildings. The churches were so detailed and intricate at every place you looked! Beautiful! Overall, we were happy, but exhausted when we got back to our B&B about 6ish. We lounged for a bit and then went on a hunt to find somewhere to watch the US vs. England world cup game. We got really lucky and this guy showed us a restaurant that had it on where we could get good food as well! Ate some bruschetta and pizza and tried limoncello (very strong!), while watching the US tie the Brits. Lucky goal!

6/13: Got up and were out of the B&B at about the same time, but didn’t have a set route for the day. We got back to Termini Station and tried to find a locker to put one of our backbacks in, but it turns out they are closed for now so we got to lug around our backpacks all day (we’re hoping the lockers in our other destinations are available). We went to Trastevere to go to an open market I heard about in Piazza Portese. There were so many people and it seemed to go on forever! Casey bought a very neat chess set that is made in Tuscany from the wood of olive trees. A little bulky so we need to figure out how to get it home! We walked around there for a couple hours (partly because we didn’t know how to get out of the long roads of booths). Earlier we bought tickets to the National Museum of Rome which included a couple other museums as well. So, next we went to the Crypta Balbi Museum. We are not exactly sure what it was, but the building was built around the ruins of an old city or crypt (?). After that we headed to the National Museum, via a pit stop at McDonalds to eat real quick in the scorching sun. It was extremely hot!! We were happy to go inside the museum and get out of the sun for a while! We wandered around looking at sculptures and lots of head busts! Kind of neat, but a little boring too. After that, we went to Tiburtina Station, to wait for our bus. We were very tired by this time! Again an easy bus ride, getting back to Pescara about 9:15, then we walked backed to our place for some much needed dinner and showers!

6/14: Casey had a less-than-thrilling day at work, as his work-mates and he hung curtains over all the windows, since the afternoon glare is unbearable. After work, we wanted to find a place to watch the Italy-Paraguay game. Historic Pescara is full of small restaurants and taverns that are made of brick walls and archways inside. The rugby pub we went to only had 8 other people, which we were surprised to find, however we found that everyone usually stays home to watch the game. We wanted Italy to win, of course, especially to see the streets fill with people. We’ve heard from several people that after the World Cup Championship victory in 2006, every city in Italy erupted in the streets. We’re hoping we can see something similar…even though we’re supposed to favor the Yanks.

6/16: Went for a run along the beach after Casey got home from work and then went out for dinner with Alessandra to watch some more soccer. We went to Inn 88 in Historic Pescara, where we went the first week we were here and had some delicious steak! We really enjoy steak, but with our limited kitchen, spices, and cooking knowledge over here, it is a little too difficult to cook it ourselves. Got some gelato and headed home.

6/17: We went to the beach for a few hours when Casey got back from work and it was beautiful! Very nice temperature, still some sun, but not too hot. We played some volleyball and lounged around. Then we headed home to clean up and go get arrosticini! We went to a place a little northwest of Pescara with Fabio, Nicola, Luigi, and his fiancé Claudia, Alessandra, Casey, and I. Overall, it was pretty delicious (not as good as the last place, but still good!). We had bread, wine, dessert, and some mild liqueur shots called rabatia which had a hint of cherry. It wasn’t very strong which was good because we had to finish a full bottle of it! Then we came back to Pescara and went for a walk along the beach. There are always so many people out, even at midnight on a Thursday!

Our next mission is to find a good place for arrosticini in Pescara. We want to take friends and family when they come, but everyone keeps telling us we need to go inland away from Pescara to get good arrosticini and we don’t have a car…hopefully we can find one! We think we’re going to ditch our college degrees and open the very first Colorado arrosticini restaurant. We’ll throw in some gelato too!!

L & C