Italy

Two weeks ago I expanded my exploritory territory with a quick trip to Itlay. Hopefully, it is the start of further treks. I love, love, LOVE Italy. The language is so beautiful, the people are so friendly and there is plenty of good food, wine and sunshine.

Carly and I stayed in an apartment in the Trastevere quarter of Rome. Trastevere is characterized by superabundant vines scenting the air with their sweet jasmine and creeping up buildings painted faded shades of gold, copper, pink, and honey yellow that deepen as the sun rises then begins to set. Many of the streets are too small to drive down and the bold car that attempts this feat must toot his horn in the politest way possible in order to clear pedestrians from his path.

Saturday commenced in traditional European fashion-at the market. Thanks to Carly's adeptness in the Italian language (after gaining a petit mastery of French I am definitely moving on to Italian-so musical) we quickly make friends with the vendor selling grapes the size of kiwis, beautiful juicy tomatoes, salad, oranges and so on. Really I don't know why we make candy - nothing beats Jehovah's own sweet concoctions. After procuring our ripe bounty, and marriage proposals, we made our way to the cheese vendor. Carly loved that the people continued to speak Italian to her, not only to sharpen her skills but to experience a warm Italian welcome and encouragement. Of course, we obtained our buffalo mozarella and olives and could barely contain our excitement for dinner time.

After this essential shopping we made our way up the Tiber toward the Vatican and our goal: the Sistine Chapel. Afer baking in the sun for over an hour and winding our way through the cathedral, we rested our feet at a bench as we gazed up at the art of Michealangelo. Honestly, you are in the presence of genius and greatness when seeing this art. Even the throngs of tourists and the constant shushing of the guards could not detract from the brilliance of this masterpiece. The dome is adorned with nine biblical scenes, along the sides of the walls are the prophets and below these tapestries of scenes from Jesus ministry. Behind the alter is "The Last Judgement." What was the most amazing to me was the depth of the figures, they really looked liked three dimensional sculptures and not flat paintings, giving tribute the Michelangelo's superior talent in sculpting. I was also impressed with how he interpreted biblical stories. It is amazing to think of what it will be like to talk to many of the artists who obviously meditated on these accounts and were able to bring them to life with so much emotion.

On our last night, of course Carly and I had to have a good Italian dinner. We decided on a small tratorria in the Trastevere with three little tables on the street providing a prime people watching spot. Our waiter promptly sat himself down in the third chair at our table and did not let us down in our expectations of real over the top flattery. After letting us know that he would choose our wine (of which later in the night he helped himself to a glass of) he commenced in choosing our cheese, and our main courses. He was right in letting us know that we do not know he knows what is best. I was worried that the food would not live up to its hype and I was so wrong. All of the flavors were so light and complimentary, nothing overpowered. Our fiesty waiter entertained us all night long, despite being told off by his superior. At one point he stole a guitar off a couple street musicians and composed a song right there with which to serenade us. Allthough the words consisted mainly of la, la, la and were peppered with amora, it entertained and sufficiently embarassed us. Of course after a bit the rest of the group joined in creating a little italian jam session. And so ended our time in Italy.