Roman Holiday

Just back from Roma! Spent Friday getting extensively lost by myself en route to the Spanish Steps and frolicking in and out of designer stores with SALDI written all over the windows. Spent Saturday morning in Cinecitta' to see set after set of extraordinarily deceitful styrofoam which completely fascinated me (Gangs of New York was filmed there - isn't that crazy?). After lunching by the Spanish Steps with some friends, Audrey, Aggi and I made our way to the Catacombe di San Callisto to see one of the ancient underground Christian burial sites - very, very cool.

After, we decided we wanted to go to "the mouth of truth" (it's in Roman Holiday, forgive us for being Audrey Hepburn fanatics and really dorky tourists) - anyways, we asked our Catacombe tour guide how to get there, who was standing with a Priest (dressed like a normal Italian guy), who thought my Italian was entertaining, as usual. Long story short, Priest (who I thought could have been in the Mafia based on his constant reference to "brothers" - apparently this was religious) announced to various comrades that "these English-speaking people need to get to la bocca della verita," and then drove us to the said mouth with his sidekick Luigi sitting in the passenger seat giving him directions. As we drove, he told us all about how he has a special pass to the Vatican (including a parking spot - very serious) and nonchalantly told us about ancient landmarks as we drove by them. While making an illegal three-part (at least) u-turn, he turned around and said to us: "ok, now we're doing a little bit of cheating here..." coming from a Vatican Priest, that was one of the most hilarious sentences that any of us had heard in a while. Everyone needs a Roman adventure every now and then. Anyways, pictures!

(Friday)

(Saturday: Cinecitta')

("oh...this isn't a rock...this is styrofoam...")

(the Fellini museum inside Cinecitta')

(La Bocca della Verita!)

(ciao ciao photographers!)

(strolling past Il Colosseo)

Allora, io sono molto stanca! Domani: a much needed day of resting and dancing around in the fitness room before another week of running around Florence. A presto!

Ciao Amori!

Laura

Miercoledi

Buona sera! Marc is safely back in NYC and I am back at Villa Natalia. Here are some pictures from the past few days that I haven't had a chance to post yet:

(The Duomo - inside and on top!)

Off to study for our Italian midterm tomorrow (after doing some egg tempera painting in the art studio for art history). A presto!

Ciao Amori!

Laura

“Fate plays tricks on us all. If you’re not laughing, then you don’t get the joke."

Hi everyone, it’s Marc (Laura’s boyfriend). I know you’re all used to Laura’s blog entries sprinkled with beautiful, sepia-toned pictures and references in Italian that you (or at least I) don’t understand, but Laura’s off at class, so I thought I’d give her a rest and fill in for a day.

I arrived here in Florence on Friday morning, and it’s been kind of a whirlwind ever since. We’ve done the typical “you gotta see this when you’re in Florence” things like the top of the Duomo and the Piazza di Michelangelo, sure, but we’ve also done a lot of less-touristy things that Laura has discovered during her first month here (Hannah and Branson, that steak place was every bit as good as advertised… good call). I’ve gone to the “good” gelato place, the “great” gelato place, the “incredible” gelato place, and the “oh my gosh, we have to go to this gelato place” gelato place. Our hotel is right in the middle of town, but that hasn’t stopped me from instinctively walking in the wrong direction every time we leave to go somewhere. Laura has shown me around with unfailing good humor and patiently ordered for me in Italian on more than one occasion. Molto bene, Arachidi. Grazie. (oh, and Ali, I’ve heard the “voice” quite a bit… “yehhhh…”)

More than anything, it’s just been good to see Laura, and to get to experience some of the things that she’s seen and done over the last five weeks or so. I leave on Wednesday, so you’ll all get your regular correspondent back. Until then, we have plans for dinner at Circolo dell’Unione Firenze tonight and maybe another walk through the Piazza della Signoria. It’s been a quick few days, but I’m really glad I came. In keeping with tradition:

“A domani! Ciao!”