Roman Architecture

 Walking through Rome, is like walking through a museum. Everywhere you go, there’s ancient history. 

This is at the Trojan Markets. 

Titus’s Arch has significance if you’ve read For the Temple by G. A. Henry. 

The ancient city walls are still there, and it was odd seeing cars driving through them. 

There were a lot of unique building designs. 

The Colosseum floor was mostly removed so you can see beneath where the cells were. 

This is the ceiling in our hotel hallway. Everywhere you go, there’s artwork. 

This is the church we attended on Sunday. It was fun going to an English service after a few days of only Italian. 

Even our hotel room ceiling was painted. 

Have you ever wondered why half the Colosseum is missing? I assumed it was war damage, but it wasn’t. Turns out, when they were building St. Peter’s Basilica, they needed more building materials, so they looked at the colosseum, and decided that since no one was using it, they might as well. They left the complete wall that faced the main road, and started taking materials from the rest of it. 

I loved staying at a hotel with real keys for the rooms! It’s one of the oldest hotels in Rome, and is family run. It was a real gem! 

Notice the pockmarks in the colosseum walls? Again, not war damage. It’s the result of marble being removed, and other brace bars to be used at other locations. 

This is the front of the Basilica across from our hotel. It might not look huge, but there are two huge domes on the other side of it that you can’t see from the front. 

Roman Food

The food in Rome was AMAZING, but the best part, was the coffee!!! Now, these pictures are out of order, but you'll get the idea.

Even at the continental breakfast in our hotel, there was an espresso machine. The kind where you can make cappuccinos, macchiatos, and straight up espresso for breakfast.

This meal on the Italian airlines came with tiramisu for desert, and tasted as fresh as if it had just been made. 

After walking for a few hours around Rome, exploring the Appian Way, and taking a ton of pictures, we stopped for some gelato. Essentially, it's basically just soft serve ice cream, but the notable difference in taste, is the natural flavors. I tried several kinds, and none of them had artificial flavoring. Even the pistachio, was flavored with fresh chopped nuts, and was amazing!

These were the biggest coffee cups I saw the entire time I was in Italy, and are the equivalent of a small in America. At first, it seemed odd how all their coffee drinks are so tiny, but when you're drinking pretty much straight espresso, you can't drink an American extra large. Another noticeable difference about the coffee menus there, apart from everything being small, is that none of the coffee drinks were sweet. You could add your own sugar, but the initial drinks weren't sweet. Unless you ordered hot chocolate. That was a different story.

There were fresh orange trees everywhere. We had fresh orange juice at breakfast, including trying the red orange juice.

Roman restraunts have different rules. These pizzas sit out at room temperature all day, and when you pick the one you want, they heat it for you. We didn't die, and the pizza really was amazing!

Then, we had our pasta cooking class, and tiramisu class. It was fun getting to know the different people in our group. We had a family from Amsterdam, two gals from Poland, and a family from L.A.

Even at McDonalds in Italy, they have tiny espresso, odd items on the menu, and marble  pillars out front.

It seemed like every window you walked by had amazing food displays!

Cannoli!

Now, the hot cholate in Italy isn't like anything I've had in America. It's kind of a mix between a hot liquid chocolate pudding, and a melted candy bar. They don't come with marshmallows, but lots of whipped cream.

Fettucine was way simpler than I thought!

Our hotel breakfasts were always set with China dishes, and had a huge menu!

This nutella and blueberry crepe served in a cone to go may have been the best thing I ate the entire trip. It was actually in a little shop in the Roman airport, and was everything you expect in an Italian dessert. Nutella is a staple in Italian desserts, which makes sense, since Nutella was invented in Italy right after WW2, when making chocolate was so expensive.

If you want to act like a local, you sit at the bar counter and leisurely sip your caffe latte from China until you're done. Sitting at the basic tables costs, and sitting on the tables outside cost even more, because they wait on those tables.

We had lunch twice on the plane back to America, because of the time change. We left Amsterdam at 10 something in the morning, and arrived in Minneapolis a little after noon.

Our hotel room didn't have Styrofoam cups, just the China ones.

We enjoyed drinking tea on our hotel rooftop overlooking the streets.

This was a salmon croissant.

In America, we have soda pop machines. In Italy, they have espresso machines. You stick your euros in, and watch it work. I got a cappuccino just for the experience, and it turned out to be pretty great.

In Naples, we had an authentic Mediterranean pizza.

When you're eating Mediterranean, you have to get some falafel in there!

Fresh squeezed pomegranate juice at Pompeii.

Just your usual bakery display case in the Roman airport.

Our rooftop was next to a taller building and had shade part of the day and full sunshine the rest of the day. We even had lemon trees up there.

 

Roman Water

 Hi everyone! So, I was planning on posting as soon as I got home . . . but there were too many pictures! There are still too many pictures, but I came up with a plan. Instead of overwhelming you all with dozens of pictures, I'm going to do a few at a time on a topic, and share some of what I learned.

For those of you who don't know, my sister and I just spent a week in Rome! It was partially research for a book character, partially inspiration for more articles, and partially, just a vacation. It was an incredible experience and I would go back in a heartbeat!

Since water is essential, I'm told, we'll start there.

All over the city, there were these old water fountains. They came in all shapes, sizes, and styles. The first one we saw, I dubbed the 'Creepy Angel Fountain', and I refused to drink from it, because I wasn't sure it was safe. By the end of the week, that was one of my favorite fountains! The 'Faceless Fountain' pictured above, is the first one I actually drank from, and is located along the Appian Way.

Even in Pompeii, on our tour, we saw some of the same style water fountains, although these ones weren't running. Speaking of Pompeii and water . . . did you know that they had lead pipes in Pompeii before the eruption of 79 A.D. ? I saw them!

And speaking of water and Pompeii . . . This is by the Bay of Naples in the Mediterranean Sea, and in the background, you can see Mt. Vesuvius.

We've all heard of the Roman aqueducts, and how some of them date back to B.C., but did you know that Rome still uses them? I'm not sure how many are still in use, but we got to see one that's still in use. The famous Trevi fountain has water supplied to it by the aqueducts built around 19 B.C. Also, some of the drinking fountains around the city are still getting water from the old aqueduct system.

Speaking of the Trevi Fountain . . . Like everything in Rome, it's perfectly balanced. What's on one side, is reflected on the other side. Except for one thing . . .

This sculptured ball is not matched on the other side. According to the story, the architect was annoyed by a shopkeeper while the Trevi Fountain was in building. It took 30 some years to complete, and the shopkeeper was constantly complaining about the noise, and the workers, and insisting that the hype was misplaced as the fountain wasn't even going to be spectacular. Last minute, the architect added this sculptured ball in such a place that it blocked the view of the fountain from that shop. To this day, if you're standing by that shop, you can't see the Trevi Fountain.

And here's the "Creepy Angel", fountain that I actually learned to like! That fresh spring water is great!

They also had another style, pictured above, where if you want to drink from the fountain instead of filling a bottle, you just plug the bottom hole, and water shoots out the top like an American water fountain.

We walked by this little angel a lot, so it became a regular stopping spot.

And that's the water of Rome!