Christmas in Rome

Waiting to be seated on a busy Friday night at Pizzeria de Romo (in the Testaccio neighborhood of Rome), I try to get out of the way of other patrons as I watch the chef decorate pizzas and slide them along the counter to the waiters. The place is packed...with hardly room to stand near the door, and customers all rubbing elbows at their tables. But they all look happy, because the atmosphere is lively, the wine and beer is flowing, and the food is great. The chef can see me lick my lips as he lays out thick slices of fresh mozzarella onto the piping hot pizza crust just out of the wood-fire oven. Then he adds a generous layer of prosciutto on top. I knew right then that it was just a matter of time before I was devouring that pizza. He only reinforced my decision when he walked over and held out a plate with a piece of the fresh mozzarella. At first I didn't know what he was saying because it was in Italian, but it only took one Italian hand gesture on his part for me to realize he wanted me to eat it. And I did not hesitate.

This dinner was a highlight among highlights on my trip to Rome. Not only because I got to catch up with my old friend Angelo (who I met while we worked in San Jose), but the food was amazing, and the service was hilarious (plus I got free cheese). Our waiter was also one of a kind. He must have made fun of me (in Italian) 10 times in the first 5 minutes. After we sat down, he came over and started his stand-up comedy. Of course, I didn't understand anything, but the table next to us all started laughing...and even Angelo was giggling, even though you could tell he was trying not to (to be polite). I guess the idea of the service there is to be a bit rude (in a friendly way) but also very helpful. This guy was very funny, but also the service was great. He stood by our table for most of the night, talking to Angelo and making fun of me in Italian and broken English...the best was when I took a picture of my pizza and he said "you said you are American, but it looks more like Japanese". By the end of the night, we were pretty friendly with each other. He was giving other customers kisses as they left, but I settled for a handshake. Maybe next time. Did I mention that the pizza was the best pizza I have ever had???

Best pizza EVER

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A couple months ago I tried to go to Rome, but when the flight price went up the minute I pressed "buy" on the website, I took it as a sign that maybe I should postpone. So, with nowhere to go over Christmas break, I thought that would be a great time to visit the Pope, if he could fit me into his schedule.

I planned the trip for 6 nights, because those were the cheapest flights on Wizz Air, and I think I could still manage to fit all my clothes in a carry-on (since Wizz Air charges $1,000 for a checked bag). I was going alone, but honestly I wasn't concerned about it, because a) cool people travel alone, b) the online reviews of the Mosaic hostel made it seem pretty social and a good place to meet others, c) my friends Angelo and Patrizia were both willing to meet with me during the week, and d) I can usually find someone on couchsurfing.org to show me around the city.

I really had no big plans, except to show up to the hostel, get a map, and wander around the city. I obviously knew about the big sites to see, and got some advice from friends on food and some other spots, but the trip felt pretty spontaneous. The great part about going to these big cities and staying in hostels is that you can easily figure out what to do by just asking other people.

First stop, Colosseum at night

A helpful tip I got was to book a guided tour of the Vatican. So I did this on Christmas eve. The tour was outstanding...the guide was very funny, passionate, and informative, probably my best ever. There is so much interesting history, art, and stories of propaganda in the Vatican, that I can't even say it all in the blog. Everything there is for a reason...whether to make political statements, to increase the Church's influence and power, or even to take jabs at other artists (Raphael and Michelangelo were rivals, unlike the teenage mutant ninja turtles we now know). I HIGHLY recommend a guided tour to anyone. I booked my tour on viator.com (where I book all of my tours in any city I visit), and would gladly do it again next time. Later than night, I went with a couple guys from the hostel back to the Vatican to catch a glimpse of Christmas Mass from outside St Peter's square. We didn't get to see the Pope in person, but we watched it from just outside, on the big screens.

The Vatican

Raphael depicting Michelangelo as an old, bitter, friendless man in his painting

Christmas eve at the Vatican

Within Rome, I have obviously heard about the Colosseum, Pantheon, and the Vatican (which were all impressive), and people say to just wander around the various piazzas/fountains/streets in the city.  But the thing that surprised me was the Forum/Palatine Hill. They're Roman ruins, in Rome! But nobody really ever talks about it. I loved it because they are actually IN the city. We often see ruins out in the boonies, but these ruins are sitting in the middle of the current hustle and bustle of Rome. And by the way, all of the other sites were great to see, and I definitely loved just wandering around for hours.

Roman Forum

Roman ruins within Rome!

Inside the Colosseum, where real gladiators once battled

Under the roof of the Pantheon - how did they build this???

The Mosaic hostel was actually really great. It was near the Termini train station for easy access to public transport (although a 50 minute walk to the Vatican so a bit far to walk).  It was very clean, the rooms were huge, and the staff were all really great. Plus, since there was a common room with TV, and they sold bottles of wine for 4 Euros, it was easy to make friends. There were a surprising number of solo travelers over Christmas. One night, 7 of us soloists gathered in the common area for wine, and then went out for dinner. The party continued and grew back in the hostel, and it turned out to be a great night.  My roommates were from places like the US (one guy went to UW and had the same accounting professors as I did), Brazil, and Australia. I even saw the Brazilian guy this weekend in Berlin...randomly just walking down the street!). And another guy was from Hawaii but lives in Seattle going to UW. Such a small world!

Out with the hostel guys

My favorite foods were suppli (a ball of rice, tomato sauce and cheese deep fried) from all over, but my favorite was from Gusto (a nice place near Piazza del Popolo), the fresh mozzarella and prosciutto pizza from Pizzaria de Romo (in Testaccio), and also the Capriciosa pizza (with an egg on top!) from La Fraschetta in Trastavere, which is a great place to walk around and to eat in. Oh and drinking wine any time of day was great, as was the gelato from San Crispino.

Suppli (and ravioli)

Second best pizza ever - Capriciosa

Other observations:

- Italians like to talk

- Italian guys like to talk to any woman they see

- The weather was almost as cold as Warsaw (because it was cold for Rome and Warsaw is a bit warmer than usual right now)

- If you want to sneak a second bag onto Wizz Air (they only allow 1 carry-on), you can wear a small backpack under your coat as you board the plane. It worked for me!

- One reason I missed having a travel buddy is that I didn't get to share food so I could try different things, especially gelato flavors

- An American family laughed at me for taking pictures of my food...but then the daughter took a picture of her own food, and I laughed back

- Raphael was young, handsome and fun, while Michelangelo was old, bitter and a loner - which is historically inaccurate according to their TMNT personalities

- It's great to find someone from Couchsurfing to show me around...this time a Finnish girl who has lived in Rome for a couple years met me and we walked around the city at night.

- I could go back to Rome in a heartbeat.

Oh, one last parting story (before the next entry about Assisi, Pompeii, Amanda Knox's house, and Christmas lunch at Patrizia's):

As I was headed to the bus to the airport (only 4 euros by the way), 3 ladies spotted me, looked me up and down (but not in a good way), then rushed me. They were holding a big piece of cardboard and were all reaching out to grab at me, asking for money. This is exactly what happened to Mo and me in Barca, so I knew what was coming...they were going to use the cardboard to block my vision, while a few of the 6 hands were grabbing in my pockets. Aware of this, I pushed the cardboard out of the way, punched 2 of them in the face, body slammed the other, then ran off. Ok, no, I didn't do that, but I did run away, unharmed and with all my belongings. They were clearly shocked that I knew it was coming. If I wasn't in a hurry, I would have stood next to them all day warning everyone that walked by that they are thieves. It really bothered me and I spent the next hour contemplating how I could teach them a lesson...let them try to steal something, then hold them down til the police could come? Steal their cardboard prop? Steal their bag of stolen wallets and give them back to the owners? Put a bunch of mouse traps in my pockets?  I don't know, but it still really pisses me off when I think about it.