Weekends are flying by!

Only 12 more to go! That's really scary/sad! We're filling up weekends with plans as quickly as we can but it's getting to the point we have to start choosing where we really want to go and prioritizing. Kat and I (and probably some others) are eager to get to Napoli and have some pizza because I have some familial connections there. There is a trip planned for Amsterdam (Hi Alexis!) that I think I'll skip to try and see Florence or Venice or Sienna. It's been a month but hardly feels like it.

Yesterday was spent entirely with the puppy (cucciolo) Syria. We played with her in the morning over breakfast and alternated between homework and playing with her. We ohhed and awwwed while she curled up to nap. We had to scold her when she misbehaved (not house trained yet!) and we took for a walk up the geniculum. That was a beautiful place to watch the sun go down over the city. We got hungry quickly and scampered home to whip up something. Last night I had my zucchini from the market with tomatoes and left over rosemary lemon chicken. After dinner I watched Pocahontas in Italian just for kicks and giggles :) It was surprisingly easy to follow and the little girl inside me was happy. EVA RAE!!! I walked past the Disney store on Via del Corso and thought of you and missed your adorable self.  After the movie Aven and Pepperoni came over to go out to a wine bar. One of the best/most comprehensive wine selections are at Vino Olio which is very very close to us in il centro. We let our red expert Pepperoni pick our bottle to share but Kat found the white she really liked at the tasting she attended. We're super cultured haha


They continued their night and I went on home to sleep cause I was tired. That's when I found out lots of my friends chose this weekend to visit IC! Jealous I couldn't see them all, but there will be plenty of time in the spring when I am home with my holmesies!


This morning I slept rather late, whoops! But it's the first time I slept past 10am so I don't feel too bad, I'm not missing out on much of Roman mornings. Kat, Sophia, and I were the only ones home because Nico went to study, Julie was in Tuscany, and Ginny was at work! We decided to try and see a museum today so we went to Palazzo Doria Pamphilj which was AMAZING! We got the student discount of 7euro instead of 10 and it comes with a giant cell phone looking handset that gives you a tour guided by Prince Jonathan's voice, one person in the family haha it was great! I half listened to the tour but it allowed you to be selective and I could choose what rooms or paintings I wanted to hear about. Pepperoni, Kat, Sophia and I loved it! There was a cute little garden area and then the palace had probably twenty rooms open to the public. The bath was the first thing we saw and it (like everything else) was so elaborate. There were mosaics everywhere and every ceiling and wall was painted where there weren't priceless works of art! This family has had maybe 4 popes and a whole slew of cardinals so they are very wealthy. The replica of St. Peter's that is in Piazza Navona (see earlier post) was actually theirs. Every inch of wall space was covered with paintings and it was breathtaking and lovely. I would have visited a museum to see those works and I would have paid to visit that house, and they were together!!! Defiantly something I would recommend anyone and everyone doing when they visit Rome. It's easy to get to, cheap, and soooo worth the money. It wasn't crowded either so we could take our time. Sadly pictures weren't allowed so here is all I could find on the internet, look up more! 

the courtyard

Landscape paintings!

One giant room full of statues from all different time periods

Three giant corridors with paintings everywhere

Velázquez's famous Pope Innocent X!
It was next to Bernini's bust of him too!

Friar Lippi!!!!

The bath

Kat, Me and Pepperoni enjoying the sound of Prince Jon's voice

After that we had to stop and get gelato across the street, vanilla tastes like yellow cake, yummmm! Then walked around more, just up and down via del corso. We went to the Borghese Gardens to hangout with Claudio, Mattia, and Mattly. They brought devil sticks and hackysacks to juggle (hackysacking doesn't exist in Italy) and a slackline! I felt like I was in the academic quad at IC! haha Then home for dinner, grilled cheeeeeese! Tonight my friends are going to an art festival while i catch up on some readings, and I might meet up with them at Scholar's for karaoke again :)   so off to do homework! ciao tutti

Mattia and Claudio on the slackline

Mattly on the slackline and Claudio with the devil sticks

Even I tried! but not gracefully