Roma

Update: I think many of you know this by now, but I started working again. As in a normal Monday - Friday, 9-5 job at adidas (no, I don't work with or near Josh).  Strangely, I do enjoy having structure to my days again and don't completely miss the idle days of housewifery that I enjoyed for the last two and a half years. The actual job part though...meh. At least most of the people I work with are nice. 

Now, back to the fun stuff....

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By far the most time consuming part of putting together these blog posts is the picture selection process. We took so many pictures on our Rome trip, but for some reason I'm not feeling overly excited about any of them. It could be that Rome is one of those incredibly ambient places that is difficult for amateur camera wielders to capture well. The pictures seem so blah compared to how it felt to be there in person. Fortunately, I intend on going back at least once my in this lifetime. I'll see if I do better next time. And Josh did get some great pictures from inside St. Peters.

So if Florence was a bit of a disappointment, then Rome was a wonderful surprise. I had no doubts before this trip that Rome would be an interesting historical treasure and have a great food scene. However, I truly hadn't considered that it would be so beautiful. It's gorgeous and while big, it feels accessible. Bonus points: They also have a burgeoning microbrew scene focusing on IPAs and APAs.

We stayed in a great neighborhood called Trastevere. The tourist word is out on this working class area/artist haven, but it didn't disappoint. It's all cobbled alleyways, laundry drying between buildings, and outdoor cafe and restaurant seating. As we wound our way through the narrow streets we could hear the sounds of families from open windows: children playing, adults laughing, dishes clattering. And the food smells. It smelled so good all the time. But unfortunately, it's the once place we forgot to take pictures of...

Ah well, there are other pictures to enjoy.

The Colosseum

The Roman Forum

The Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus

The Victor Emmanuel Monument, employer of the best job ever: policing the lazy tourists who want to sit on the steps with only a whistle and hand motions.

Trevi Fountain

Keats' grave in the Protestant Cemetery

The Pantheon

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in Piazza Navona

Caravaggio paintings in a church....God help me, if I remember which one...

In the Vatican

Sistine Chapel 

The Vatican

Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Theresa

Michelangelo's Pietà

St. Peter's Basillica 

Nom

Are you the Funke everyone's been talking about?

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