Food and Sightseeing...But Mostly Food

This week basically started on Thursday when I had possibly the most amazing* meal of my life. *Though the food was certainly all very delicious, the meal was more amazing due to the sheer amount (four courses and endless drinks) that was included for only 15 euro. The restaurant is called Tony's (of course it is, right?), and it's located on the picturesque side streets of the downtown Trastevere neighborhood. I arrived in a group of 14, and after seating us in two tables of 7, the wait staff immediately brought water, wine and bread.

After about 5 minutes had passed, they brought more bread--focaccia--which probably isn't as good in the US, but it's a flat, pizza crust-type bread that the restaurant baked with rosemary and a bit of salt on top. The first course was the appetizers. We scrambled to make room on the table as the staff brought out a plate of two types of bruschetta--one with tomatoes, basil and capers, the other with a sort of olive tapenade--, a plate of fried zucchini sticks, a plate of calamari (both of which came with a red dipping sauce), and a plate of fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes with basil and chunks of fresh parmesan (I think it was parmesan...). To be honest, I could have been done at this point and still been happy. But the wait staff came back out, refreshed our wine with a bottle of house-made red, and brought the first main course--penne al vodka and gnocchi with pesto. I'd never had penne al vodka before, but let me tell you, it was AMAZING! I'm not a huge gnocchi fan either, but the pesto sauce was delicious as well. Next, they brought out three plates of chicken parmesan--cheese melting and sizzling on top. I only had a couple bites of this because I was really getting full, but it was amazingly delicious as well. For dessert, they brought out cups of tiramisu. I'd never had it before, so I had to try it despite my rapidly expanding stomach, and like the rest of the meal, it was spectacular.

My stomach and I were basically this cat after the meal

Tony's is definitely a touristy restaurant--every customer there was speaking english, but I'm very glad we decided to go, and I may even go back at the end of the semester once I feel hungry again.

The next morning I felt the distinct urge to go running, so despite the rain, I ran over to the Tiber River for a beautiful 4.5-miler. Once I had come back and showered, my roommates and I decided to go on the actual tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was 12 euro for a two-day ticket to both and the plan was to see the Colosseum on Saturday and the Forum on Sunday when the weather was better.

Below are a few pics I got at the Colosseum. It was really hard to imagine what it looked like in its prime. The building was subject to quarry (practice of taking out pieces of the brick/stone to use for building other things) when it stopped being used (before the Romans decided that they should preserve it), so it didn't look like any kind of arena at all. You can see evidence of quarry on the outside of the Colosseum (and pretty much every other ancient building) in the small holes in the stone.

In the lower left hand corner of this one, you can see the only seats left inside the Colosseum

The ground level was covered with wooden boards while the arena was in use, 

as shown a bit in both of these pictures (above and below)

Just as we were leaving, we saw this man whom we all agreed must have been Elvis (or at the very least, an Elvis impersonator). I tried to get a decent picture, but in case you can't see, he's got obviously Elvis-like hair and an American flag scarf.

After the Colosseum, we headed down the main street of Rome (Via del Corso) towards Piazza del Popolo, a large, open, Time's Square-type space. The piazza was beautiful of course, but what really made it cool was a couple selling homemade bubble-blowing apparatuses that they were demonstrating for the crowd, filling the piazza with giant bubbles.

From the Piazza del Popolo, we walked up a few steps to the Villa Borghese Gardens, where we ended the day's adventure. Originally the home and surrounding property of the Borghese family, the gardens became public domain when the family could no longer afford to maintain them and donated the grounds to the city of Rome. The gardens were full of statues and busts of unknown people, including Voldemort, apparently.

Much of the Villa was just green space

Though other parts were filled with statues and monuments

Sneering alongside Lord Voldemort

The next morning, we kept with the plan to head straight to the Roman Forum. I had somehow lost my ticket, so I had to buy another one anyway (yes Mom and Dad, I'm an eeediot), but everyone got the audio tour and we headed in.

For those that don't know, the Roman Forum is crazy old and crazy huge. Originally built during the reign of the Roman Republic (the time in which Rome was ruled by 2 consuls rather than a king or emperor), the forum was used as a meeting place, a city center, the home of the vestal virgins and a place to hold legal court. As time passed, the forum became overgrown and was actually known as the "valley of the cows" for a time before Mussolini began excavation on the place to uncover its original glory (for his own dictatorial agenda, of course).

Anyway, walking through the ruins was truly amazing. Just being among buildings from centuries ago (like 300 B.C. era) really gave you some perspective.

This was a view from atop the Palatine Hill (just another part of the Forum, really)

After the Forum, we headed back to the apartment for some much needed rest, and to work on homework (or to watch Seinfeld, in my case). Also, before I forget to mention it, the fruits and vegetables here taste AMAZING! Those of you who have your  own veggie gardens may know what I mean, but vegetables just have something more here. You can really taste them, and let me tell you, they're terrific. Specifically the tomatoes...I could talk for hours about this, but I'll digress for now.

Thanks for reading!

Kasey Ann