A Busy Day

Let me start by saying that anyone traveling, especially to Italy, needs to carry Tide to Go (stain remover) with them at all times. I am constantly dripping, splashing or spilling yummy, oily thing on myself. Tide to the rescue!!

This morning we went to Piazza Vitorrio, which has been the central element in my migration class. It's located very close to the train station, and a very large population of immigrants. We spent our time in the market and got tons of fruits and vegetable, such as cauliflower, tomatoes, peaches, apples, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, peppers, etc. Yesterday we got some free spices at the Rome Center so we made curry, and plan to do it again.

Lots of rice at the Market in Piazzo Vittorio.


After the market we bought our train tickets to Florence! Kristin, Melissa and I will take the fast train and will have 12 hours to spend in Florence. The majority of the people in my program will be going as well, but there's a wide variety of people taking the fast or slow train, and spending the night or only staying for a day.

This afternoon, we had two sessions of art history. We first went to the Capitoline Hill where we spent a couple of hours in the Musei Capitolini. My most favorite part of the museum was was going down underneath the courtyard into the ancient tabularium - the place where ancient records were housed. From here, we had a great view of the Roman Forum. Next we visited Castel Sant Angelo which is an ancient castle and prison. Interestingly, this was originally commissioned by Emporer Hadrian as a mausoleum (tomb) for Hadrian and his family.

A Roman classic - Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf.


View of the Roman Forum from the tabularium.


Castel Sant Angelo, an old prison located on the Tiber River.


A gorgeous statue, also known as a seagull perch.


The second century bridge (ponte de angeli) leading to Castel Sant Angelo.


Gelato
So a big update on the gelato front! My roommates and I got gelato before class - it was almost 90 degrees out (!) - and then we got it again with our prof. between visiting sites. I only repeated coffee, so I have 4 new flavors to comment on.

Pesca (Peach) - a little disappointing because it wasn't particularly flavorful. There were pieces of real peach in it, which was comforting. I'll probably have to try this one again at a different place.

Yogurt - essentially frozen yogurt. The particular one I tried wasn't incredibly creamy, but it was still very good and refreshing.

Crema Catalana (vanilla caramel) - this wasn't especially flavorful, but I combined it with tufola and coffee, which was a great combination. And, it was definitely better than the previous caramel type I tried.

Tufola (sp?) aka 4 types of chocolate - sooo good! Definitely the best chocolate variety I've tried. It had chunks of fudge and other chocolatey chunks in it. For all of you who know that I'm a fan of chunks in my ice cream, I'm sure you're not surprised that this was a hit.

And...I figured out that mela verde is apple!