Real Life

So now that my Italian posts are over I guess I need to post about real life. It has been hit and miss for a few weeks in regards to everything. When we first got back we were excited that most of the snow had melted and it was starting to warm up. Then we got less excited when it basically snowed for a week straight. The snow didn't stick but it was still pretty miserable. Then we got the news that our visas are again delayed. If you have been following the "visa drama" - we sent them to Oslo to be processed quicker (7-10 days) but the Oslo office felt they were "complicated" and sent them to UDI, which is the national immigration authority. So now it will be AT LEAST another 8 weeks. No trip to England in mid-May for us! :( On the other hand - as long as the visa are eventually approved we may have an opportunity for a trip to Poland or Hungry and Dresden, Germany in late summer!

April 14, 2010

Jason has moved to the testing phase of his project which is exciting yet scary. If testing happens as scheduled with no delay we go back the US as planned in late August or so but if testing doesn't go well - then who knows how long we will be here. There have been a few hiccups and scary issues but fingers crossed they hope to begin full testing tomorrow which is only 3 days late. Meanwhile we have been living under a volcano ash cloud and Norwegian air space has been fluctuating between open and closed for about 2 weeks. No, we couldn't see the cloud and had no ash is our yard but we know several people who were stranded due to it. Jason also got out of a boring work trip to Bergen due to it.

This past weekend was beautiful and we were highly productive. We changed out the snow tires - which we will hopefully never see or need again! We also washed the car and my favorite - we washed the deck and patio furniture off! Saturday evening we went to nice potluck fajita dinner with our expat friends. Then on Sunday we took the dogs on a nice hike and picnic to the local hills and saw Clash of the Titans in 3D (for $25 each). Then yesterday it snowed. Oh Norway....

The Pope

Holy Week in Rome has to be finished off with a visit to see the Pope. I secured tickets with the US Bishops office in Rome in January. We had tickets to both Good Friday Mass and Holy Saturday Mass but we couldn't get to St Peter's in time for Good Friday. On Holy Saturday we got to St Peter's at 5pm to stand in line. Mass started at 9pm - yes that means standing in line for FOUR HOURS! The doors did open at 7:30pm though so we could get through security and seated for mass. The line was hands down the most intense line I have ever been in. People were eating, talking, sitting, standing, wandering, cutting, trying to buy tickets. The line eventually snaked all the way around the square!

The line stretch all the way around the square

At 7:30 the gates opened and the line suddenly got very wide - people were cutting in the front- grr! The best part was the people cutting included nuns and clergy! After getting through security we walked all the way around St Peter's to the back and entered through a back door. Our seats were in the right transept. We had a good side view of the alter and the Pope - we were maybe 150 yards away. We couldn't see the main aisle but it was still good. We received a program which was - kid you not- 87 pages. The entire service, except for 4 readings, was in Latin. The program translated the Latin into Italian only. Service was 3 hours long and we only saw one group of people leave early. The service was pretty cool. It started with them shutting off all the lights and the Pope entering with the "new light" and lighting people candles so the glow spread.

Statues inside St Peter's in the dark

Once he reached the front lights came back on. The Pope actually did a lot more then we expected considering he did at least one service every day during Holy Week including 2 on Good Friday. He did many readings, baptised a few people and did the Eucharist/holy communion (that's right I teach Religion!). We were super impressed with how well the Pope read Latin- he could read it out loud faster then we could read it in the program. It was a long service but a once in a lifetime experience and well worth it. Plus St Peter's is even more amazing inside at night!

We never figured out who these guys were but their outfits are so cool!

The next day was Easter and we slept in! It rained most of the day so we did a little shopping and had a great pizza lunch. In the afternoon we headed down to south Rome to check out the Appian Way - which is the original road leading into Rome. It was neat to see the original sections of road and some ruins. There were also some amazing houses there! We got quite a work out in (about a 3 hour walk) and then headed back to town - we also walked along with original city walls which are very well preserved. Then we had the best dinner of our trip at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel. We all had a different starter that was delicious - I had caprese salad, Chris had truffle gnocchi and Jason had carbonara. We all had rabbit for our main course and it was so good. I had tiramisu for dessert - I had to have it once in Italy! Chris was off early the next morning - we followed him shortly back to the cold north. It was a great trip!

Rome Part II

On Friday we planned to take the train back to Rome. Little did we realize so would everyone else for Easter Weekend! We did get on a train but had to travel first class which wasn't too much more expensive thankfully. We arrived back in Rome just in time to pick up our tickets to see the Pope. We had tickets from the US Bishop's office for both Good Friday and Holy Saturday mass. And no I didn't have to say we were Catholic!

But by the time we picked up the tickets (since I went to the wrong spot first) it was really too late to get to the Vatican in time to wait in line for service. Instead we checked out Trevi fountain again in the daylight (it's better at night) and went to the Pantheon. Then we headed over to Castle San Angelo (from Angels and Demons) but didn't go in. Instead we took a nice walk along the Tiber River to the Trastevere area of town and did a Rick Steve's walk. We saw the Church of St Cecilia, Piazza Santa Maria and Church of Santa Maria. This side of town is very quaint and cute and was a nice change of pace.

Castle St Angelo

River Tiber

Trastevere

We also walked back to old town across Isola Tiberina (also from Angels and Demons). We headed back to the hotel then wandered to find a place for dinner- we ended up at another wonderful kebab/middle eastern place. Good story from dinner- Jason points to a nice looking meat stew and says "that with rice" the man say "that's liver" Jason responds "not that then" - the man obviously knew Jason wasn't looking for liver! We also found a cool Italian bakery with lots of traditional Easter cakes and candies which was neat.

Easter Cakes

The next day we went to Borghese Gallery in the morning. You have to have a reservation, you are only allowed in for two hours and they only allow 360 people in at a time (and no pictures). It was a pretty place with lots of statues including some amazing Bernini. After that we walked to the Cappuccin Crypt which contains the bones of 4,000 monks. Then we headed to the Church of Santa Maria Vittoria to see Bernini's St Teresa in Ecstasy (also from Angels and Demons). We had a quick bite to eat then headed back to the hotel to rest up for our big evening with the POPE! First though we went to Piazza de Popolo and ate some pizza on the piazza. On our way to the Vatican we stopped at the Chigi Chapel (from A&D) which was in a church on the piazza. We arrived at the Vatican at 5pm to stand in line for the 9pm service. I think the Pope deserves his own blog post though so you will have to wait to hear about our experience.

Bernini's St Teresa in Ecstasy

Chigi Chapel

Piazza del Popolo

Siena and Florence

After climbing the Duomo in Florence we took a 1.5 hour train ride to Siena in the heart of Tuscany. The city is where the color "burnt sienna" come from in the Crayola box! After hiking a bit to find the center of town we had some lunch on the famous Il Campo square- the largest in Europe and the site of Palio, a famous horse race - also featured in a recent James Bond movie. We then toured Sienna Duomo church and wandered the city a bit. It was nice to see something smaller and slightly different. We headed back to Florence around 4pm and then had a wonderful dinner.

Il Campo

Inside Siena Duomo

Our next day in Florence we wandered the city's central food market with cows face and all. Then we went to an old leather factory and school in one of the churches, Santa Croce. We got to see master craftsmen at work which was interesting.

After a quick lunch we headed to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's famous David. He was pretty impressive! Then after a quick rest to avoid the rain storm we headed back to tour the Uffizi, which has the greatest collection of Italian paintings in the world. We saw paintings like this and this and this. Then we had the world's best gelato at Gelateria Corrozze and walked to the other side of the river to the Michelangelo Plaza to get some great views over Florence. On the way back to the city we stopped at a wine bar and had some nice crostini and I had a nice local Rosso di Montalcino wine. We saw some Maundy Thursday Mass in the town square which was interesting. We were a little tired of pasta so we found an excellent kebab place - which was exactly what we needed!

Florence

Ponte Vecchio - Florence's most famous bridge

On Tuesday we took the high speed train to Florence. It was an 90 minute trip through some beautiful countryside. We arrived and checked in to the hotel and then got a quick lunch at a bakery down the street from our hotel. We wandered the city and took in the sights. Florence is much smaller and compact then Rome and we noticed a lot of people speaking English which took us back a little. I finally found a cannoli, which is one of my favorite Italian treats. We went into the Church of San Lorenzo which was started by Michelangelo. Then we toured the Medici Chapels which were the family's crypt. They also had some Michelangelo pieces but were not nearly as interesting as I thought it might be.

The Duomo - funny enough all the Florence churches have almost the same facade

After that we headed back to the famous Duomo hoping for a shorter line and we were rewarded with that. We toured the cathedral with it's Gothic facade and cool dome. We wanted to climb the dome but the line was long so we will try again later. It looked like rain so we headed back for a nap at the hotel. We awoke to a thunderstorm! We don't get storms in Norway (even though we get more then our fair share of rain) so we were excited to see some lightning and hear some thunder. After that excitement we headed to dinner at a cute little place recommended by our hotel called Vecchio Mercato. It didn't disappoint! We had the famous Florentine steak and I had ribollita soup. Both were amazing and I am definitely going to try to recreate the soup at home.

The rainbow after the storm - this is the view out our hotel room window!

Tomorrow we went to Sienna for the day- which will have it's own post. But before we left we got up early and headed to the Duomo to climb the dome. There was no line and we headed right up. There is something like 480 steps but it was not as treacherous as I thought it might be but you do get to be inside the dome looking back into the church along with being outside the dome so it was well worth the workout! After that we caught a train. That evening we returned and had another great dinner at a cute place called Antico Fattori which was Michelin rated! Jason had an amazing Tuscan tomato and bread soup and some great sausage and beans. Chris had a really good mushroom ravioli and was adventurous and tried the pesto tripe which was actually pretty good. I had the ribollita soup again (yum) and a pasta with a wild boar sauce which is another Tuscan speciality. And of course we shared a nice bottle of local Chianti wine. We then walked off dinner and found some gelato!

Inside the dome - the Last Judgement from 1570

The climb up the the final section of the dome is vertical!

The view from the top

Vatican City

St Peter's Basilica

St Peter's Square

We started our day early today because we had a 9:15 tour of the Necropolis under St Peter's! There is a ton of history on it but basically St Peter's was built over St Peter's tomb but they never really knew quite were it was and didn't excavate. In the late 1930's they were doing work and found something so decided to excavate and found an ancient graveyard (with mostly above ground mausoleums) along with St Peter's tomb, which was empty. Later they found what they think are his bones hidden in part of the wall of his tomb. They don't want to have the bones tested though...but either way they are certain it is his tomb - bones or not. They opened this area to tours a few years back but only allow 200 people in per day in groups of 10-14 only. I got tickets about 8 months ago and I am glad I did. The tour was really neat for both the history, significance and architecture. Sadly no pictures are allowed. Another cool part is you have to request access to this part of Vatican City by speaking with the Swiss Guard...kinda neat since they don't really seem to interact with the public for the most part.

As far as our camera could go :(

After our Necropolis tour we went inside St Peter's - it was packed and not fully accessible due to all the ceremony set up for Holy Week. But after seeing many many churches - this one is impressive to say the least. It is huge and amazingly adorned. I was excited to come back later in the week and experience a service inside.

St Peter's Dome which 420 feet tall

Michelangelo's Pieta which is behind bulletproof glass thanks to a crazy man with a hammer in 1972

After our St Peter's marathon we headed to lunch then back to tour the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We had a tour arranged which was nice but crowded. We had a hard time seeing some of the art but circled back after it was over and the whole museum was basically empty so we got some great shots and got to appreciate the art a little more. The Vatican Museum has an amazing collection but the rooms themselves are super impressive. The Sistine Chapel is also pretty amazing along with the Raphael rooms that proceed it. One of the funniest things I found was that the guards in the Sistine Chapel were actually "shushing" the entire room - it was pretty impressive shushing! After all this history and culture we were in need of a beer and a snack. After a rest we headed out to an unimpressive dinner. Tomorrow we head to Florence!

Vatican Museum Hallway

Original Greek statue - Laocoön

One of our favorites :)

Raphael Rooms- One the right is the School of Athens, one of my favorites

Sistine Chapel - it is our bandit photo since photos are not allowed

Vatican Museum Gardens with a great view of St Peter's Dome

Italy!! In installments....

Installment #1

Chris arrived in Rome early Saturday morning so he did some sightseeing on his own. We didn't arrive until almost 10:30 that night. We had some quick gelato then headed to bed. On Sunday we got up early and headed down to the Roman Forum before the crowds struck. We toured the Forum with our handy Rick Steves' audio guide - Rick really helped us out on this trip! Next we headed up to Capitol Hill to climb the Victor Emmanuel Monument overlooking Piazza Venezia where Mussolini held his rallies. Now it was time for lunch at a cute and cheap cafe for paninis.

Roman Forum

View overlooking Roman Forum from Palatine Hill

Victor Emmanuel Monument built to honor Italy's first king

Then we ventured to the Colosseum - the crowds were out in full force now but it wasn't too bad. The Colosseum is pretty amazing in shear size and spectacle. After that we checked out the Arch of Constantine and then into Palatine Hill which was the Emperor palace for many years. Again shear size is amazing and we really liked Palatine Hill because it was less crowded and almost peaceful.

Palatine Hill - notice the umbrella pines! I want one in my next house!

The amazing restored frescos inside Emperor Augustus' home on Palatine Hill

Then we went to the St Peter-in-Chains Church where you may have guessed the chains that held St Peter are on display as relics in the alter. After all this walking we needed some refreshment so we got gelato then headed back to our hotel. We did make a quick pit stop at Santa Maria Maggiore church across the street from our hotel. It was our first step onto Vatican City soil since it is one of their churches.

St Peter's Chains

After we had a rest then headed out to dinner around 7:30. We headed to a Rick Steves' recommendation- Trattoria der Pallaro- where there is no menu - you eat what the serve. It was fun! The menu this evening was: Course 1 - lentils (that were amazing), salami, parma ham, roasted fennel, olives, fried meatballs and bread Course 2- rigatoni with butter, pepper and pancetta and rigatoni with a tomato sauce Course 3 - pork, fresh potato chips, fresh mozzarella, a green veggie (that was very bitter) Course 4- dessert that was a type of ricotta cheesecake (I think). The first two courses were our hands down favorites - it was a good deal since it included wine for 25E each. Then we headed out for a Night Walk of Rome from our Rick Steve's book. Our night walk included: Campo de' Fiori, Piazza Navona which contains the famous Bernini Four Rivers fountain that was sadly under restoration, the Pantheon, Piazza Colonna, Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps! Quite a walk - sadly the subway had just closed so we had to hoof it back to the hotel.

Trevi Fountain

We used a GPS tracker and we think we walked a total of 28K today alone! That is 17 miles for you Americans! Next up- Vatican City!!