Breakin Free!

Easter break came, and it was my first good opportunity to leave the Milan and explore ITALY. I began the time off with Pete and Roberto in Rome and met up with Maria when P & R went to Tuscany. Maria and walked our bums off in Rome (we don't need no public transport) and then went to Florence for 2 days.

Jumping Jacks at the Parthenon

Things I learned over Break:
1. I LOVE ROME.
I love it, I love it, and I want to go back. It’s packed with tourists, but for some reason I didn’t mind. The beauty around every corner made up for it. My favorite site was the Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that if you face away from the fountain and throw a coin in, you’ll return to Rome. If you throw two coins in, you’ll fall in love with an Italian. I regret that 2nd coin.
Below is one of my favorite pix of the trip. Please note the couple on the right. The entire time Maria and I were at the fountain they were facing away from the beauty and violently kissing eachother. It was painful. They left after the popperazzi began taking pictures. So if you want to see the other pix, just ask.



2. A TRATTORIA is an old style Italian café.
Roberto, a native Roman, took Pete and I to an out-of-the-way trattoria in Rome. Roberto said there was a good chance they’d never had foreign customers. We saw the nervous stares of the staff when the three of us walked in the door. Pete and I, with our light hair and light eyes, were obvious foreigners. After we were seated we overheard two waiters fighting over who would take our table.
“Do you speak English? “ “I don’t speak English.”
Roberto had to inform them that he is Italian and could translate.
The menu was verbal, and the waitress smoked as she listed the items.
The final dish was a plate of 5 meats: 1) chicken, 2) liver (looked like curly intestines), 3) heart and lungs (looked like liver), 4) cowtail (a specialty of Rome), and 5) a cow gland (that I thought was cabbage, then thought it was some form of seafood, then found out the sick truth AFTER I tried it). With a little coaxing I tried them all. The liver was the last one because I don’t trust meat that looks like a slippery curly fry. I was just happy I had filled up on Spaghetti Carbonera during the course prior.

3. ROME has NO SEMBLANCE of ORDER to its streets.
I thought Milan’s concentric circles were a bad way of organizing. Roberto said he never uses a map in Milan because it’s so easy for him. I asked him if he always knows his directions in Rome. “No, not always,” was his answer, and he lived there for 25 years. By the end of 4 days in Rome I felt like I knew it better than I know Milan.
Petate and Roberto enjoying gelato:


4. MARIA MEOWS a lot.
Just about everything is an excuse to meow: a cute baby, a poodle, a pair of shoes in the shop window. I remember when I used to have this problem…Meowing as a response to things. I’m pretty sure I’ve stopped. Maria is at the height of her meowing phase, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her to can it. But other people weren’t afraid to give her laser stares to show their disapproval.
Here's Maria:


5. ROLLERBLADING is HOT again.
Maria and I ran onto a crazy rollerblading show in a park. Maria fell in love with long-haired blader with the grace of an eel skating around mini-cones. I preferred Grandpa Splits: