Siena Bound

          The time has come for us to travel north toward the rolling hills, cypress trees, and cute villas of Tuscany! Two weeks flew by and I am glad to say I feel like I conquered Rome. I could probably write a novel about everything we saw and did but how about I share a few  more photos and other highlights I haven't mentioned already...va bene?!

1.  Villa Borghese Gardens...OBSESSED! We went as a group to the gallery and museum and saw some pretty amazing masterpieces (my favorite was Bernini's Apollo and Daphne). I couldn't get enough it so a few of us went back to spend our last day in Rome there. This time, we were surrounded by families riding bikes, rowing boats, having picnics, walking their dogs, and just loving life! It's such a beautiful place and I WILL return one day. Before I forget to tell a quite interesting story...
         Next to the gardens is Piazza del Popolo which leads you to many shops and restaurants. A couple of friends and I were on our way to shop our little hearts out when we see everyone looking in one direction. Some pointed...some covered their eyes...some laughed...it was strange...so obviously we looked. To our surprise (or should i say disgust), we see a lady with a shirt on. And some shoes. AND THAT'S IT. Luckily, her belly had some extra rolls of skin that covered some of her anterior "treasures" but still...that's not ok in my book. I'm all for people feeling confident about themselves and their bodies but I personally would prefer not to see EVERYTHING you're working with. I will say it did get worse but I won't go there...you can ask me about that another time.

2. This may be a shocker...GELATO. I find it funny that our conversations revolved around

              1. where we were going to get gelato each day, flavor recommendations e.t.c.

              2. boys and relationships (we definitely have some great love stories in this group...

              I really gotta step up my game)

 I'm not exactly sure why we started eating gelato like it was our job but I'm guessing the fact that are 9123074524903 gelaterias has something to do with it. This and the "when in rome" mentality that all the girls kept reminding each other about. Even when I didn't really want any, I always had one of the girls by my side to provide some justifications for why I should get some...I can't decided if that makes them good friends or bad friends haha. After carefully reviewing the ones I devoured, my favorites were:

Mango and Blueberry from Flor
Oreo Biscotti from Giolitti
Blackberry from San Crispino

If you ever want the 411 on gelato in Rome...I'm your girl!

3. The Hotel Concierge/Staff at our hotel. Imagine walking into your hotel everyday and seeing a tall, chiseled man with brown hair and blue eyes, straight out of a Calvin Klein Catalog. Alessandro is his name and yes he was our first Italian love. I say our because we kinda had to share him. There were definitely days we fought over who got to ask for the key to the rooms or who he made eye contact with. My roommates even had me go find him at night to ask how we could fix our air conditioning but ALAS he was gone! Eventually, I moved on to the new boy named Giorgio. Shy men are just not my forte and Alessandro got nervous the second a girl made eye contact with him. Giorgio was at least capable of a charming smile and a"ciao." I can't finish this without mentioning cute baby faced Daniele who helped serve our dinners and "Haymitch" (looked like the guy from Hunger Games) who also served our dinners and scared me to death with his stern face and serpent eyes. I bet they are still sad that the cute, loud and giggly American girls are gone! (Or maybe relieved we are not there to mess with the wi-fi).

4.     My best souvenir so far... Breakfast at Tiffany's, or in this case Colazione da Tiffany! I figured this would be a very enjoyable way to improve my Italian skills  (my 2 year break from my last Italian class is kinda taking its toll on me). What a classy way to become more educated right?

5.       Attending church in Rome was such a great experience. We went to a local branch for two Sundays and the members were so welcoming. My favorite part of the meetings was singing the hymns in Italian because it was great pronunciation practice and music just moves me. It's true...No matter where you are in the world, you can feel at peace on the Sabbath day.

If you haven't been to Rome...have I convinced you to invest some time and money yet?! I hope so. The possible adventures are endless and don't worry...most people wear pants :).


xoxo,

Rita