Mamma Mia! My Momma is in Roma!

*I apologize for this post being a little light on the pictures! My mom took quite a few and I can't upload them without her cable! I will remedy that as soon as I am home!


**Also, as a note, no pictures of you, Mom, will be replaced with different ones. Sorry




The plan was to be standing at the gate as my mom walked out of customs. Of course I had to oversleep a bit and get stuck in traffic...so that didn’t work out quite as well as planned. But nevertheless, my mama was in Rome. 

We drove from Fiumicino to our hotel by Piazza Barberini, of course getting stuck in traffic taking almost an hour to get there, but with the detour- my mother got her first glimpse at Rome. We crossed the Tiber by Pont San Angelo and drove past Piazza Venezia onto Via del Corso.

I’m not used to hotels, after so many trips and staying at hostels, I was shocked when I found my luggage moved into our new room with everything ready to go! And a bathroom attached?? Be still my heart! No shower shoes needed for this trip. Mama and I are going to be traveling in style...ok so maybe just better than the hostels I have become accustomed to..but still. It’s a nice change. 

I let my mom change and we got ready to head out. Thankfully, I have a good sense of direction and the city center is my stomping ground. We skillfully wandered the small cobblestone streets to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We walked down the Spanish Steps, side stepping the men trying to sell roses and stupid toys and enjoyed talking about Roman Holiday and Audrey Hepburn sitting on the Spanish Steps with Gelato in hand and Gregory Peck’s character “just happens” to pass by. 4 months later, and that move still defines my Roman experience. By the time we got to Via della Vita, we were on the search for something to eat. We stopped at a cafe and got panini and I let my mother get an insalata...which I told her I wasn’t going to let her get. But oh well, it was actually really good. We split some little lemon cookies that I forgot the name of and soon we were off to my favorite bar by the Pantheon for a cappuccino. Every time I walk past the Pantheon I am remembered of a passage in Elizabeth Gilbert’s book: Eat Pray Love, “As the old proverb goes, anyone who goes to Rome without seeing the Pantheon goes and comes back an ass.” It’s quite true, how could someone miss such an amazing structure..the most well kept ancient structure. I told her the entablature says, “Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucus, while counsel for the 3rd time built this.” However, Hadrian built the Pantheon which we see today.

Anyways, I’m getting off point, I told my mother all the things that I remember from Art in Rome, about lateral thrust and the perfect centralized plan and a ratio 1:1 width and height of the building. I told her the portico is octostyle, prostyle, and corinthian. I think I bored her a bit, I knew what she wanted to do, she wanted to head to the Trevi Fountain.

It took a lot longer to walk the short distance from the Pantheon to the Trevi than normal just because my mom is a shopper, and every store she wanted to stop and look in the windows and look at all the scarves. I’m not sure what it is about scarves but apparently that is the hip thing to do at her work now, everyone wants to wear scarves. So I guess that makes it a perfect gift. 

Finally, we made it to the Trevi Fountain. It wasn’t extremely busy for the Trevi Fountain and my mom got to throw her coin in the fountain. I guess my mom and dad are heading back to Italy soon. I think it isn’t necessarily the fact that you threw a coin in the fountain that makes you come back to Italy. It is the fact that you are in  Italy. You spend time wandering the streets, seeing ancient structures that were built by the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Once you eat the food and drink the wine, Italy takes a hold of you and it never lets go.

With all that walking, and both of us having severe sleep deprivation we decided (since it is our vacation and we can do what we want) to take a nap. We slept for a bit over an hour..possibly longer. Before we got ready and headed out for dinner. We went to this place down a street by the Spanish Steps and we ended up taking the long way to get there. Mainly I forgot that the streets in Rome are not perfect grids and you shouldn’t assume if you take a short cut that you will end up on the same street that you intended.

But no worries, we ended up on via della croce and headed to a restaurant that I had been at before with Sarah. We ordered some wine, bruschette, and carbonara. It was a great meal and that bottle of wine got us giggly enough to call my Dad. Not entirely sure if that was the best idea we’ve had. But nevertheless, we were up and ready to head to Giovanni’s. Yes, I did bring my mother there, I figured she should see where I ended up spending a lot of my nights in Rome. We ended up staying until 2:30am, we met some other American students studying in Rome at St. John’s and a girl who was on a trip with her dad who is a flight attendant. All in all I say it was a pretty good night out with the mom. And everyone was saying that I have such a cool mom, I think she liked that.

The next day we slept through breakfast and got up a little late, around 10:30 or 11 and got ready and headed out to the Colosseum. Thankfully the line wasn’t that bad and we got in right away. I again acted as tour guide telling her that the true name is the Amphitheater of the Flavian Dynasty and when it was built there were 100 days of games and fights. I even told a couple of Canadian guys that my mom made me talk to because they wanted to know what happened there. I was pretty happy that I could flaunt my knowledge of Rome a bit. We also had a chance to see Italian’s version of democracy first hand, there was a demonstration passing the Colosseum heading to Piazza Venezia protesting the raise in tuition or something...honestly I’m not sure. It happens so often it’s hard to keep track.

We walked around the outside of the Colosseum finding a little Trattoria nearby to have a quick lunch, because we slept so late we missed breakfast and we were starving. We had bruschette and pasta. We didn’t have wine though because I think we had enough of that the night before. We walked back towards Piazza Venezia after lunch and walked around trying to see if we could make it to the mouth of truth before it closed. But we got sidetracked going up to the campodoglio and there was a wedding going on in the church..so of course my mom had to stop and look. It was pretty cool to see a wedding going on, they must have been pretty important to get married in such an amazing church. That night we decided to stay in and skype with my dad. There was a big blizzard in Minnesota, the metrodome collapsed and people from my work got stuck there! I realized I shouldn’t have been shivering in 40 degree weather..oh well. haha

Day 3 we actually woke up early enough to get breakfast and head down to the mouth of truth. We finally got to Santa Maria in Cosmedin and my mom got to put her hand in the mouth of truth. The picture turned out pretty well. We walked up to Corso Vittorio Emanuele and I saw Bull Dog coming up, after so much talk about Irish Cider my mom was dying to have some (she would disagree with this statement..haha) but we did stop in at Bull Dog and grabbed a quick lunch- I was starving again. Italy has increased my appetite I think! But it’s amazing food and such great quality that I just follow the words of Elizabeth Gilbert (and something I keep telling my mom) “I’m on my no carb left behind experiment. I’m through with the guilt” Liz Gilbert is a champ, she at 2 (!!!) da Michele pizzas in Naples. Gotta hand it to her, she’s an inspiration. She taught me travel is worth any sacrifice, it can be your opportunity to learn more about yourself than ever before, and eating amazing food is no crime. How many girls in America will walk down the street with a big cone of ice cream? Italian women do it allll the time. They own it, they have this look on their faces like they are saying, “yeah, so what I’m eating gelato, I’m loving it- and you are going to stare at my beautiful self regardless.” 

Why can’t women in America have that mentality. I think a lot of women would be a lot happier.

We stopped at the Piazza Navona Christmas Market and got some gelato. She looked at all the toys for sale and all the christmas ornaments. It’s a pretty cool sight to see all the Italians out with their kids shopping and enjoying such a beautiful piazza. We walked all the way up Via del Corso (it was so busy with all the Christmas shopping) to Piazza del Popolo. Mom walked to walk a different way back to the hotel so I took her down Via Babuino and I remembered Via Margutta from Roman Holiday was nearby. It isn’t a very busy street and everything was closed, but I did take a picture of my mom by a sign. All we needed was to get arrested for driving a moped and we would have pretty much finished Roman Holiday...ok and the barge dancing too, but everything down by the Tiber is closed in the winter!!

We headed back to the hotel and we got ready to meet Christina at Piazza Navona for dinner. We walked down the street to a place she said Mike Beazley recommended when they were around there the day before. Beazley is the director of student life at J-Force.  We ordered some wine, pasta and tiramisu and soon enough we decided to show my mom the Abbey. Another one of my favorite haunts. Gareth was working with Oliver and we all did a shot called a brain hemorrhage. Don’t ask me what is in it..I think maybe tequila but all I can say it was good. I think my mom wasn’t too proud that I took the shot so well...oh well When in Rome right?

We left the Abbey and walked to Giovanni’s where we had a good time with our Italian Iced Teas and my mom spent some time talking to one of Giovanni’s friends who used to live in Rome. There were a couple flight attendants there again and they were all having a great time. We left around 2am and headed to our Pizza place on Corso Vittorio Emanuele and THANKFULLY they had my Pancetta pizza...oh my god that stuff is amazing. My all time favorite kind of pizza. Yummy. We saw to it that Christina got on the n6 bus heading home just fine and we took a cab back to Piazza Barberini and spilled into bed. 

Monday was for the Vatican. Our plan (I don’t even know why we make them anymore) was to get there around 9 or so to be the first ones in. We overslept and decided to book the tickets online so we wouldn’t have to worry about the line. And of course there was hardly one. But we got into the museum just fine. We saw the Apoxyomenos (the scraper) a roman copy of a greek original made by Lyssipus. Yeah, I had to know that one for Art in Rome. Also, we saw the Laucoon, Apollo Belvedere, and the Belvedere torso. My mom wanted to take a tour of the Vatican..but I like going through it by myself. I like taking my time. I like standing underneath the Sistine Chapel and just staring in awe at it’s genius. I’ve seen it 3 times now and I’m still shocked when I see the Last Judgement. When a bishop saw it for the first time right after Michelangelo revealed it he fell to his knees praying to God that he would be saved from eternal damnation and would be sent to heaven. It has that affect on you. You feel sad and scared of the end of days, and you feel yourself hoping you are one of the chosen few who can be saved.

We had lunch at a rather touristy place near the Vatican, but it wasn’t too bad and rather cheap. And I was pumped for some Old Bridge Gelato. It is some of the best of gelato I’ve ever had. The carmel is to die for. You must go there if you are ever in Rome. It’s amazing.

We walked to Piazza San Pietro and looked at Bernini’s masterpiece. I showed her how his tricks of optical illusions give the basilica an appearance of being taller and slimmer than it really is because there was supposed to be 2 large clock towers on either side of the facade that had to be taken down before they were finished because it was causing cracks in the foundation. We walked into the huge baroque basilica decorated mainly by Bernini and the architecture by Michelangelo and Maderno. We also saw the Pieta by Michelangelo, which is my favorite sculpture. It is just a subject matter I’m not used to seeing. Normally, you see the Madonna and Child but seeing the Virgin Mary with her recently crucified son is something that is quite powerful.

We walked out into the Piazza and wrote a postcard to dad to be sent through the Vatican mail. We walked down to the Tiber so we could see the Pont San Angelo and Castel San Angelo. It was such a beautiful day with the trees changing and I told my mom that yes I do love London and even Chicago...but there is something about Rome. There is something to say about the old buildings with so much history and love for life. I don’t know any other way to say it, but te amo Roma. 

We started packing for Venice once we got back to the hotel and we had a late dinner on Via Sistina near the Spanish Steps, we had Pizzele, bruschetta, pasta, and lasagna. We shared some vino della cassa rosso and watched the Top 10 Michel Buble music videos on one of the TV’s. That was so fun to watch, especially with the waiters dancing along with “Save the last dance for me.” It was a great end of a great day to spend in Roma. And in the morning, it was off to Venice.