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Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 24: Holy Toledo!

July 8, 2015/2 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

Did you know the expression “Holy Toledo” came from the hilly town of Toledo, Spain? It was one of the few places Jews weren’t persecuted in Europe. They thought of it as a holy town . . . hence, holy Toledo!

Well, holy Toledo, it was hot in that little town today! Katie and I took the high-speed train out from Madrid to Toledo. The ride only lasted 30 minutes, but Katie and I almost missed it. We had bought tickets for the 10:30 train and had stopped near Puerta del Sol for some breakfast first. We had planned to take the underground Metro to the high-speed train, but the nice people at the breakfast place told us about a faster train (Renfe), which would get us to the high-speed train in only one underground stop. Good thing because by the time we figured out where to catch the Renfe and then where to find the high-speed train we were running between stations with only minutes before our departure.

Murphy’s Law was in action as our train was, of course, on the very last track (Number 16, thank you), and our reserved seats were on the very last coach. We sat down in our seats just moments before the train took off.

Thirty minutes later, we were in Toledo. If you’ve been in any of the small hillside towns in Italy (Assisi, Siena, San Gemignano), you’ll have at least an idea of what Toledo is like.

It’s that old medieval town with the wall around it and narrow, winding streets that are easy to lose your direction in.

After grabbing a quick coffee for me and juice for Katie, we headed off to the cathedral. Toledo used to be the capital of Spain, so its cathedral was of upmost importance. Hence, it is extremely impressive and took over 200 years to build. Katie and I used the free audio guides that came with our admission tickets.

I love this statue of Mary with Jesus!

There is so much detail in every piece of artwork in this church that it’s hard to fathom how many people spent thousands upon thousands of hours creating everything for this church. Everywhere you look is something amazing to gaze at and contemplate.

After our cathedral visit, we stopped at a place Katie used to go to when she was a student here in Madrid. We had a light tapas lunch with a sangria-like drink and then snacks that included fries with ketchup and mayonnaise as well as little ham sandwiches.

When we walked out of the bar, it was so incredibly hot it felt like we were walking through walls of heat. According to our calculations, we believe the Farhenheit version of the temp we saw displayed outside was 106 degrees. Katie wanted to take photos of a bridge she remembered going over the river, but we couldn’t stand walking along the river for long with the sun beating down on us.

Finally, we decided to try another Rick Steves’s suggstion and take a city bus that looped around the city and offered views of the gorge around it. The bus stop was nearby so we hopped on, glad to have abandoned the heat for a bit.

Before long, we had circled most of the city and had traveled a bit south. We looped around a hospital and then started back on the route we had come down. One other girl had gotten on the bus at the hospital. Other than that, Katie and I were the only other two people on the bus.

In Spanish, the bus driver yelled back at us, “What stop are you getting off?”

Katie explained that we wanted to go right back to where we had started and that we were just taking pictures of the city. The bus driver made us each pay for another ticket. We only spent a total of 30 minutes on the bus, but had to pay twice!

After our bus ride, we decided to visit the Santa Cruz museum. It was another way to escape the heat. Sadly, only half of its exhibits were actually open, but we did get to see some more El Greco paintings (we had seen some in Madrid yesterday).

Then we got ice cream and did a little shopping. We tried to go to a Rick Steves’s suggestion for dinner, but it wasn’t open. Then we tried to find a monastery where they sold mazapan, but they were closed.

Hot and exhausted, we found a coffee and tea shop open and each had some iced tea. Then we tried the recommended restaurant again. The automatic door slid open when Katie stepped in front of it, but there was only one man seated at a table inside. There was a hostess standing near the back.

“Abierto?” (Open?) Katie asked.

Yes! They were open! As a bonus, the hostess spoke both Spanish and English, and we got a really good deal on a yummy tapas dinner with wine and dessert. A really nice final dinner for our trip!

Another 30-minute high-speed train ride, and a short Renfe ride, and we were back in the heart of Madrid.

It’s back home to Chicago tomorrow! I’ll have some wrap-up and bonus posts when I return.

Thanks to everyone who’s been following along!

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 23: Non ho le parole! (I don’t have the words!)

July 7, 2015/2 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

I don’t have the words to describe today, so instead I will just list what happened.

1. On our way to find breakfast, we saw Kermit the Frog walking through the Plaza del Mayor. I should have known right then that it was going to be a strange day.

2. We had breakfast. I ordered in Spanish: “Numero quattro. Cafe con leche.” (Breakfast #4. Coffee with milk.)

Numero quattro with cafe con leche

3. As we walked through Puerta del Sol, we saw Homer Simpson. (Maybe he should go hang out with Kermit.) A few minutes later, a bird po0ped on me. We went back to the hostel for me to clean my clothes and to wash my hair. Again.

4. We went to the Prado Museum. I didn’t know we couldn’t take photos until after I took this one of Fra Angelico’s depiction of the Annunciation. Interestingly, no one stopped me from taking this photo, but a few minutes later, when I was reading about a different painting from the Rick Steves’s book on my iPhone, a woman who worked for the museum came up to me and said in Spanish (Thank goodness for Katie’s translation) that I should hold my phone down near my waist while reading so that it doesn’t look like I’m taking a picture and then the guards watching on the video walkie-talkie her to stop me.

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico

5. After miles of art, we stopped at a bar for more coffee (we needed itto refuel for the next museum) plus some cake (I ordered the “pudding cake” recommended by a local. Note to self: always get what the locals recommend.)

6. Then we got to the Reina Sofia museum of modern art, where I was stumped once again as to why Picasso and Dali are so famous.

7. Then we followed one of Rick Steves’s recommended tapas routes. We went to three of his spots, but only one was good!

Calamari and sangria

8. Then for some unknown reason, we went to an Argentinian ice cream place he recommended. It was a twenty-minute walk away. We passed several other ice cream shops along the way only to discover the one Rick Steves recommended was closed, even though the sign said it was open. Third fail of the night, Rick Steves!

This store doesn’t look open. The sign lies.

9. We headed back to our hotel and stopped at a frozen yogurt spot along the way. It was actual yogurt, not the sweet stuff we think of as frozen yogurt.

Ugh!

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 22: El Domingo Ocupado (The Busy Sunday)

July 5, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

You would think that with temperatures in the 100s that Katie and I would be taking it easy in Spain. Despite drinking lots of water and walking slowly, we still managed to fit in a lot today.

This morning for breakfast we stopped at a cafe right next to our hostel for churros with chocolate and coffee (caffe con leche for Katie and cappuccino for me). The churros were not as sweet as the Mexican-style ones we see a lot in Chicago, and the chocolate wasn’t inside the churro. It came in a mug that you dipped your churro into. It was good, but after a while, my stomach told me I’d had enough fried goodness for one morning! I was actually glad the cappuccino was a little more bitter than the ones I had in Italy.

That’s not coffee. That’s a mug of chocolate.

This is a cappuccino in Spain. Not as good as Italy, but still better than Starbucks.

After breakfast, we walked through the Plaza del Mayor again on our way to church. This morning it had sort of a mini flea market feel to it. There were lots of tables of people selling collectible stamps and coins, as well as currency from various European countries before the Euro took over.

We arrived at church (San Isidro) about 20 minutes early, so we had time to walk around. It’s a beautiful church with lots of statues of Mary.

Two things I’ve noticed about churches in Spain so far:

1) They have a lot of saints that I don’t recognize depicted in their churches, which is not something I noticed in Rome. Why is it the Italian saints are well known, but the Spanish ones aren’t?

2) They seem to like dressing up Mary in a Spanish sort of style, which isn’t really surprising. Think of how many Renaissance artists made the holy family look like they lived during Renaissance times. Every culture seems to adopt Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to look like one of them.

After Mass, we went to the big flea market that’s only open on Sundays and just down the street from the church. It’s so big we didn’t even see all of it before we tired out and stopped for some fruit, snacks, water, and juice at a local supermarket. The flea market is pretty much what you’d imagine a flea market in Spain to be like. It’s hot, it’s crowded, you get elbowed from time to time, and there are lots of different tents selling goods, but a fair number of them seem to be selling the same kinds of things and you wonder if the guy at the next one is going to sell that folding fan with the flamenco dancers on it for less than the guy you just bought one from. Other things being sold: Spanish t-shirts, kids’ clothes, Levis jeans (no kidding), jewelry, paintings, key rings, magnets, and hats.

Flea market in Madrid

Then we headed off to see the Royal Palace. Along the way. we stopped at the cathedral, which is called the Catedral de la Almudena. Katie and I stopped in for a few photos and a little more time to pray. The church is really pretty and bright inside. Also, they had some recorded music playing (chanting kind of music), which I think helped maintain a prayerful attitude inside.

Interior of the cathedral

Then we headed to the royal palace, which is really just next door. They don’t let you take pictures inside, but we saw a lot of the old royal apartments. The current king of Spain (Felipe VI) became king on June 19, 2014, so he’s only been king for a little over a year.

After the palace, we got some tapas and sangria at a nice neighborhood pub. Basically, we had toasted bread with either salmon or tuna on top. Surprisingly good for a small establishment.

Then we walked the royal garden for a bit and sat in the shade fanning ourselves with the fans we bought.

Then we found a Haagan-Daz ice cream shop. We stopped in for dessert, air-conditioning, and the free wifi.

Finally, it was time to head out for flamenco dancing. Katie had ordered us tickets for the 8:00 show. We ended up with front-row seats in this theater that would remind a lot of people back home of a stand-up comedy club.

The dancers were really good. Their feet moved so fast they reminded me of a mix of Irish dancing and tap dancing.

After the show we visited the nearby park and then slowly made our way home. The sun stays up late here in the summer. Even at 10:00, it was still rather light out.

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 21: Hola, Espana! (Hello, Spain!)

July 4, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

Today is my very first visit to Spain! I am happy to be here with someone who speaks Spanish!

This morning in Florence it took at least 5 phone calls to different taxi companies to get a taxi to the airport. One company kept hanging up on Katie, and others kept saying they were busy and to call back in a few minutes. Suddenly, we got a hold of someone who said the taxi would be there in three minutes, and we had to run down the two huge flights of stairs with our heavy American luggage in order to catch it.

The airport in Florence is pretty small, so there was no concern about getting lost there. Our flight was pretty uneventful, too.

When we landed, it was around 4:30, so we had a late “lunch” at the airport. Interestingly, what we found at the airport was a place that specialized in beer, so (in a slight nod to missing out on Fourth of July celebrations back home), I had a burger, french fries, and a beer. Well, really only a little beer since I’m not a fan. It was part of the package deal (“Menu Burger con patatas”), so I just went along with it.

An American Lunch in Madrid

Our cabbie at the airport had a little trouble using his GPS system to find our hostel, and he and Katie had an amusing conversation in Spanish during our drive. If you know Katie, you can ask her about it sometime. I sat there speechless most of the time since I really didn’t know what they were talking about.

Our hostel is really nice. We have our own room with two twin beds and our own bath. It’s very clean and nicely but very simply decorated: wood floors, yellow walls, and red and yellow bedspreads.

Our small but cute little room

Around 8:30, we went out to find a bar/restaurant near us. We were directed upstairs for the restaurant where we found a small room with no one it. We took a seat and checked out the menu while we waited. Before too long, a waiter arrived and we ordered sangria, some ham, and some fried eggplant. We also got bread and water.

Mi gusta sangria!

Fried eggplant and ham

The food was really yummy, and the little upstairs room soon filled with two large tour groups. It got really noisy in that small space fast!

After dinner, we walked to a nearby church to check out the Mass times for tomorrow. The church was closed. Like a lot of churches in Italy, this meant that heavy iron gates were closed at the front of the church. Between the gates, we could see a sign with the Mass times near the door, but it was kind of hard to read. We hope we have it figured out correctly for tomorrow.

Then we walked to Plaza del Mayor, which is where they used to have bull fights. Like a lot of piazzas in Italy, this plaza is now ringed by restaurants with outdoor seating where waiters try to lure you to their food with whatever language they think you speak.

Plaza del Mayor

See what I mean about all the restaurants?

I’m getting a lot of Spanish spoken to me. I’m not sure if this is because I’m with Katie who speaks Spanish or if I look Spanish to them.

Tomorrow’s plans include Mass in the early part of the day and a flamenco show in the evening. What else? I don’t know yet.

Have you been to Madrid? Any suggestions?

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 20: Tre Cose Buone (Three Good Things)

July 3, 2015/4 Comments/in Spin Cycle, Travel/by AJ Cattapan

I was happy to see today that the Spin Cycle writing prompt for this week is about “three good things.” It was saving me from writing a post that would probably come out sounding unintentionally negative.

You see, this morning, I was mentally ticking off all the things about Florence that make it “less than” Rome. But do I really want to spend my last night in Florence talking about what I don’t like? No. That’s crazy. I’m in Italy. I shouldn’t be complaining about anything! And I don’t want to sound negative because I am enjoying myself here. (Of course, that being said, maybe someday I’ll write a post about why I prefer Rome to Florence.)

But in the meantime, let’s talk about three good things that happened in Florence today.

1. I took a test to finish off the “Intermedio 1” level at school and got a 97% Yippee!

2. Katie and I climbed to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo where we got awesome views of Florence.

3. For “dinner,” we had an aperitivo at a rooftop bar at a fancy hotel that Katie’s Russian classmate helped us find. We had fancy drinks as well as potato chips, formaggio (cheese), and olives (I let Katie have most of those). Then we found a place that makes yummy crepes with gelato and chocolate. (To my mom and Katie’s mom, don’t worry we had protein at lunch.)

Bonus good thing: We also spent a good part of this very hot day in an air-conditioned museum (Palazzo Pritti) with lots of cool art.

Where we hid from the heat.

Off to Spain tomorrow for the final leg of “Mi Piace, Mi Gusta”! (Yes, that’s right, we’re finally getting to the “Mi Gusta” part of the trip.)

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 18: Ciao, David!

July 1, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

We took it pretty easy today. After our classes this morning, we headed to a restaurant recommended by our school only to find out it was closed for repairs. So we just headed in the general direction of the Galleria dell’Accademia (where we had tickets for a 2:00 entrance) and along the way stumbled upon a nice little trattoria that was serving a delicious cold pasta dish with tuna for only 5,50 Euros. Not a bad deal.

Then we stopped by a gelato place that was okay. (We had found a much better one yesterday and will probably have to return there.)

Chocolate and coffee gelato

I ordered the coffee flavor gelato because it said the coffee came from Guatemala, and I thought that was funny since I’d just been there for spring break.

By then it was about 1:30, so we headed to the museum. Since we’d purchased tickets ahead of time, we thought maybe we’d get into the museum pretty fast, but what we’ve learned from the Uffizi and the Accademia is that the advance tickets get you in a slighter shorter line, but you don’t avoid the line completely. It still took us over 20 minutes to get in the museum. Katie and I took turns stepping out off line to shop at a Christian bookstore across the street.

I ended up buying this magnet, which I liked because I understood its meaning in Italian.

This I know, God is my help. The Lord sustains my life.

The Galleria dell’Accademia doesn’t have nearly as much art as the Uffizi (although they charge the same price), and the main attraction is really Michelangelo’s David. That meant Katie and I had plenty of time to sit and study this seventeen-foot tall statue, which just made me marvel at how Michelangelo could keep his perspective while working on an object so large. He must have been climbing on ladders and/or stools to carve the top parts, which I think would have made it really hard to keep the whole statue in mind. The more I contemplate carved statues, the more I admire the artists. It’s not like drawing or painting where if you make a mistake you can erase it or paint over it. Once you’ve chiseled off too much for the nose, that’s it. You can’t make the nose any bigger!

More angles of David shared on my Facebook page

The museum also had a ton of paintings and artwork depicting St. Francis. We were trying to figure out if this is normal or if they did this only after the current pope chose the name Francis.

Another part of the museum that amused us was this room full of white statues and busts. It was hard to get a good picture, but I took a video that I’ll share on Facebook.

It’s kind of creepy with row after row of heads staring at you.

By the time we’d had our fill of the art in the Accademia, we were tired. It was only mid-afternoon, but we both decided it would be good to go home. After all, we’d spent the entire day out of the house yesterday. A little “riposo” today sounded nice. Besides, I had three different homework assignments to do.

We had some of our leftover pasta from Monday night’s “fatto a casa” (made at home) pasta dinner, then spent some time doing a little planning ahead for Spain.

Around 9:00, we decided it was time for an evening stroll, so we headed out hoping to find a wine bar. The one near us was closed, so we headed back into the center of town. It took a while before we found a bar, but it turned out to be just a beer place. No wine. And it was really hot inside, so we headed down the street again.

After a while, Katie said, “So what are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking one more block, and if we still don’t find something, we head back home.

At the next corner, we turned left and saw the bright lights of a piazza just down the block. There were tents set up and lots of trattorias and such surrounding the square.

We found a place that would let us just get drinks and dessert (one place had told us: “This is a restaurant–for eating. Not just drinks!”

In Italian, I asked the waitress which dessert she recommended. For the second night in a row, I was really glad I’d asked for a recommendation. We ending up getting this really yummy apple torta with a homemade cream sauce. Hard to explain, but really yummy.

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 17: I musei (museums)

June 30, 2015/2 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

Florence is a lot about museums, a lot about art in general, so last night Katie and I began making plans for how to cover it all without wearing ourselves. Ha! That may be impossible.

Of course we had class in the morning first. The walk to school is a smidge longer for me than the walk in Rome, but Katie was used to only a twenty-minute walk to school and now it’s a good 30-35 minutes.

In my class, we’re now working on the conditional verbs, which is basically subjunctive in English. Think: I should have finished this book or one day I would like to travel to Hawaii. It’s not easy to wrap my head around when exactly to use it because we don’t talk about subjunctive much any more in English, and there’s not one direct translation between languages.

After class, Katie and I ate some lunch that she bought at the grocery store yesterday. We had tomato and mozzarella sandwiches and fresh peaches, which tasted really good!

Then we headed to Galleria degli Uffizi, one of the major art museums of the world (not to mention Florence). Our plan was to become “Friends of the Museum,” which would get us into a whole slew of museums for 60 Euros. Expensive but cheaper than buying individual tickets at each museum. However, when we got to the museum, the lady at the desk said that during the summer those memberships don’t work and our 60 Euros would only get us into the Uffizi, not the 20+ other museums. So forget that plan!

To get into the Uffizi, it’s best to have reservations, so we went to the next desk and bought tickets for a 4:45 entrance. Then we walked up to the Galleria dell’Accademia, where Michelangelo’s David stands. (You can see the replica of David in the piazza just north of the Uffizi).

Like the Uffizi, you need advance tickets for the Accademia, so we bought tickets for tomorrow afternoon.

Then we headed to the Medici Chapels. These were built as a mausoleum of sorts for the famous Medici clan that ruled this area of Italy for centuries. When we walked in, Katie spotted a young Italian guy sitting at a table with a sign that read “Free guided tours” in English. Katie read it aloud, and a woman nearby heard her and said to her husband, “Hey, they’ve got free tours here.”

Next thing I know, this college-aged Italian guy is walking the four of us around the mausoleum, the upstairs chapel, and even some of the back sacristy area and explaining things as best he could in a heavily accented form of English. My guess is that the chapel is letting him give free tours so he can practice his English. We had to help him with some words now and then, but the kid did a really good job. Plus, if he hadn’t brought us to the sacristy area, I wouldn’t have realized we could go back there.

And can you guess what they have back there? Tons of relics of saints! Including a finger from St. Catherine and a heart from some poor saint whose name I didn’t even recognize! It was crazy!

St. Catherine’s finger?!?

All the other woman in our little group wanted to see were the Medici tombs designed by Michelangelo.

After the Medici Chapels, we tried to go in the nearby San Lorenzo church, but we got yelled at by an Italian woman telling us it was closed even though the sign said it was open until 6:00 p.m.

Next, we stopped for gelato. We hadn’t had any in two days, so we were way over due!

Salted caramel and chocolate chip–Yummy!

Then it was finally time for the Uffizi. Tons of art! I’ll give a small sampling here, but there will be more on Facebook and Instagram.

After the museum, we had an early (by Italian standards) dinner and did our homework.

We’re worn out now. We’ll see how far we make it through the Accademia tomorrow when we get to see the real David.

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 16: Siamo stanche e sporche (We are tired and dirty)

June 29, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

Last night, I left off with our leaving Siena, so I’ll start today with a quick recap of our arrival in Florence yesterday afternoon.

The bus from Siena to Florence took a little over an hour and dropped us off at the main train station. We were told by our school that we could take a taxi to our apartment, but we couldn’t seem to find one on the street. There was no obvious taxi stand, so Katie researched taxi numbers on the travel ebook on her phone and called two different cab companies. One never answered, the other hung up on her. Finally, we found a cabbie who had just dropped off someone at the train station.

Katie wanted to make sure he started the meter running so we could watch the price, so she said something like, “Quanto deniro?”

The cabbie laughed. “Deniro?”

“That’s espanol,” I said. “You want soldi–money.”

The cabbie laughed again and started the meter. When we got to the street with the apartment, the cabbie turned left, but our apartment was to the right, so he ended up driving backwards across the intersection!

Katie tried to tell him he could stop and we’d just walk the rest of the way, but she said, “Andiamo, signor,” which can mean “We go, sir,” but it also has the meaning of “Let’s go!”

The cabbie thought Katie was telling him to drive backwards faster! Ha! Then he started saying in no-uncertain Italian that we should not say that. It was “brutta” (ugly) to say that. He took it all in good humor, though, and even gave us his card and a free map of Florence when he dropped us off.

The apartment is two floors up in a building without an elevator, so just like in Siena, we had to drag our luggage up a bunch of stairs. The cleaning lady met us at the apartment. She was still cleaning the place, but showed us around in a mixture of English and Italian. If you haven’t already seen the photos I’ve posted, the apartment has a bunch of books in it, which is perfect for a high school librarian and an English teacher/writer.

Books, book, and more books!

After we unpacked, we decided to walk to Il Latini for dinner. It was recommended by my Italian teacher back home and in my guidebook. It’s the busy kind of place where they seat you wherever there’s room, so Katie and I ended up next to a couple from New York who had just spent a week in Florence for a friend’s wedding. We had really good gnocchi with rabbit (that’s right, I ate rabbit) and then some roast chicken, which wasn’t that great, but the nice couple from New York let us sample the very expensive steak they had ordered, and it was amazing. (We shared our wine bottle with them in exchange.)

Gnocchi with rabbit was the special pasta of the day

For desssert, we had zuppa inglese, which was good, but we wouldn’t have ordered it if we’d known that the waiter was going to break us biscotti and Vin Santo (cookies that you dip in sweet wine) as well as some limoncello. Mamma mia!

A recap of our meal at Il Latini

By the time we got home, we were exhausted. I finished my Siena blog post and went to bed.

This morning, we headed to the language school in Florence. My map app didn’t give us the best directions, and we got there a little late, but that’s okay. They immediately gave me a short written test (different and shorter than the Rome location). Then I headed to the interview room. A guy immediately took my written test, corrected it, and asked me some questions. I also showed him my book from Rome, so he could see what I finished.Thenn I was immediately whisked off to a classroom. It was a little after 9:00 at this time, so class had just started. At thiss point, I had no idea what had happened to Katie. She had been in line behind me at the desk.

The Florence school has different books than the Rome school even though they are the same company. I’m not exactly sure how the levels compare, but I’m in the middle of their “Intermedio 1” book, and we’re working on passato prossimo and imperfetto verbs and prepositions so it seems to be right where I was before. This is fine because I need lots of practice with all of these. Prepositions are really hard because different languages don’t have exact translations and synonyms between them. I’ve noticed this a lot with my students who speak other languages. I even made my teacher laugh today when I let out an exasperated, “Ugh! Preposizioni!” while trying to write a story in Italian.

Katie and I met up at break time. She didn’t have to take a test. They just put her in an early beginner class because she’d had only two weeks of instruction in Rome. We followed the students (and my teacher) to a nearby bar to get our morning coffee (cappuccino for me, caffe latte for Katie) and some chocolate croissants.

Eating breakfast just like the Italians do!

Back in class, we worked on more exercises with verbs. There are only seven of us in this class, and they all seem really quiet. There’s a girl from Ireland, a girl from Japan, a girl from Australia, a boy from Germany, and a couple others I’m forgetting!

After class, Katie and I went to the Mercato Centrale, which reminded me of that big French market that’s in downtown Chicago. Lots of different stands with fruit, veggies, meat, fish. Katie and I bought some sandwiches, dried fruit, and bottled water, which we took to a park that’s on our way home and had a little picnic lunch, which probably sounds really fun, but it was hot out and the pigeons were after our food!

In the afternoon, we wanted to go to a laundromat because we were both running out of clean clothes, but we were so tired that we both ended up napping for a bit once we returned to the apartment. Katie napped longer than I did, so I had time to work on my homework.

Finally, we headed out to the “Wash and Dry” (yes, it was in English), and Katie and I learned how pricey laundromats in Florence could be. The good news was that it included the detergent, and our clothes smell really good now.

Wash and Dry, anyone?

Too bad we still can’t seem to get our feet clean. Ha! I woke up this morning with these black marks on top of my feet. They were even dirtier than the day we’d made the trek around the dusty ruins of Ostia Antica. I’m not sure how that happened. They are doing reconstruction work on our apartment building. (There’s scaffolding right outside my window, so I can’t even open it, but I think the sawdust or whatever is still working its way into our apartment.)

While our clothes were washing, Katie and I took turns going to the local supermarket.

After our laundry was finished, I made a pasta dinner back at the apartment with the goods I’d bought at the store. Last year when I did my Speak, Pray, Cook tour, one of my original goals was to cook in Italy like a real Italian woman. I never got to cook in my apartment because the landlady didn’t seem to want me using her kitchen other than to store a few things in her fridge, so this year I can say that I checked another goal off my list–I made an Italian dinner in an Italian apartment!

Dinner!

For dessert, we had cherries that Katie bought. They were really yummy! (And my dad will be happy that we’re having fruit for dessert–real Italian, right, Dad?)

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 13: Roma è la mia “montagna.” (Rome is my mountain.)

June 26, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

When people think of Rome, they often think of its seven hills, but after today I will always think of it as a mountain–my personal mountain. This may make you think of my post from Monday when I was talking about the uphill climb I’m having learning Italian, but I have a totally different meaning in mind this time. As Fraulein Maria would say, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”

This morning I told my landlady that I could not believe it was my last day at school in Rome. As I walked the familiar streets to school, I thought about what I would do on my last afternoon in Rome. Perhaps I would go to visit the churches I couldn’t see with Katie a couple nights ago. She had gone with some friends yesterday morning while I was in class. Maybe I could take some time this afternoon to make my own visit. It’s always nice to go back and visit old friends.

But when I got to class this morning, I quickly discovered that my plans would have to change. Only one other student was there. By the time the teacher arrived, only three of us students were in the room. The teacher then explained that there was a strike going on today for bus drivers and Metro operators, so probably a lot of students would be late or not show up at all.

Uh oh. So much for visiting those churches on the other side of town.

During our morning break, I got my last Roman cappuccino at the best bar (a.k.a. coffeeshop) near school. After downing it quickly (it’s a very busy place during the school’s break time), I walked to the piazza in front of school to eat a snack. I was kind of sad. My plans for the day were ruined.

Suddenly, a voice deep inside me said, “You don’t have to run all over. You can find me close by.”

Oh.

Right.

Visiting old churches is like visiting old friends, but I don’t have to go to them to find God. He is everywhere–in the churches far from me and in the churches close to me; in the people I see in class and in the people I pass on the street; in the museums and in the coffee bar.

Then I began to wonder if this meant I shouldn’t have traveled to Italy at all. I can meet God at home, too. But then I remembered that even Jesus had to take time away from his friends and family to go off alone on a mountain to pray. He needed to be away from the ordinary, away from the crowds that always wanted his attention in the cities or along the shore, away even from the people He loved so much. He went to the mountain to talk with His father, to have that close relationship that comes from time dedicated solely to nourishing that bond.

Rome has become my mountain. It is the place I go to when I need to reconnect with God in a way that is different from my ordinary prayers. I can’t spend forever here, just like Jesus couldn’t remain on top of the mountain, but it is good for me to come here occasionally (and I’m extremely blessed to be able to do so), so that I can have that experience away from the ordinary.

In the months leading up to this trip, all my free time outside of work was spent on marketing for my book. I’d been warned that the real work for authors comes *after* writing the book. It was exhausting to be sure and consumed much of my time. This trip forced me to take a break from all that marketing, a break I think I really needed. It’s easy to get caught up in Goodreads reviews and Amazon rankings.

Today’s bus strike forced me to take a break from playing tourist, too. I spent a long time in Chiesa Nuova this afternoon (a church near school). Partly I just sat, partly I prayed. I wrote a good amount in my prayer journal, and for a while I just listened to some music on the “meditation” playlist on my phone.

Chiesa Nuova

When I hit “shuffle,” the first song that came up was “Oceans” by Hillsong United. It was a song my spiritual director had recommended to me last year when I was learning to trust in God’s plan, and it was the perfect meditation song in the church. And God was there–in the church near school. I’m sure if I had traveled to those other churches, I would’ve found Him there, too. But it’s nice to know it’s okay if I don’t make it to the Scala Santa or Santa Maria Maggiore on this trip.

Tomorrow I head to Siena, and God will meet me there, too. 🙂

Mi Piace, Mi Gusta – Day 12: Il Tempo Vola (Time flies)

June 25, 2015/0 Comments/in Travel/by AJ Cattapan

How could it possibly be that I have only one more full day left in Rome? Where did the time go? I’m sure to my mother it must seem like I’ve been away forever, and while I miss my family, I still feel like the time has flown by really quickly. These two weeks seem a lot shorter than the two weeks I spent here last summer for the Speak, Pray, Cook tour.

This morning’s class was on family relationships and the “ne” partitive. It’s difficult to explain because we don’t have any exact synonym in English. It’s like a pronoun and can be something like “any” or “of those.” For example, if someone asked you how many apples you wanted, you could say, “Ne prendo 6.” (Of those I’ll take six.)

After class, I headed to the Musei Capitolini, which is a pair of museums on the Capitoline Hill. I only ended up visiting one of the two museums since I like to appreciate my art in smaller doses. Here are a couple things I saw. (Hopefully, the pics turn out right-side up.)

Romulus and Remus and the she-wolf:

Medusa:

Caravaggio’s Gypsy Fortune-Teller (Notice how she’s pretending to read his palm. Apparently, she’s actually stealing his ring.)

The views from the museum are pretty nice, too.

Then I stopped by the Trevi Fountain to discover that it is still under renovation.

Then I bused it out to the train station Katie and I will be taking on Saturday to get to Siena. I’m really glad I went there ahead of time to get the tickets, because it’s a major station with inter-city trains, Metro trains, city buses, and inter-city buses. I’ll be much more relaxed Saturday morning knowing that our tickets are purchased, and I know right where to go.

After class today, I met up with Katie and some of her classmates. Someone in their class had brought up Giolitti’s, which is a famous gelato place I’ve been to many times in the last year. I had told Katie we should go, and when her classmate brought it up again today, she asked if today could be the day we visit it. Why not! We don’t have much time left in Rome!

So six of us headed out to Giolitti’s with me leading the way since I’m the only one in the group who had been there before. When we turned the corner, I said, “Uh oh, this doesn’t look good.”

There was a film crew blocking the street right in front of Giolitti’s. Those of you around for Speak, Pray, Cook last year, might remember the day I walked across Ponte Sant’Angelo while they were filming a TV show. I wondered if this was another TV show or a movie.

We couldn’t see much of what was going on, and we debated where we should go next since Giolitti’s seemed out of the question. But then one of the crew guys told us they were leaving, and we’d be able to get in soon.

Sure enough, they lifted the yellow tape five minutes later, and there was a rush into Giolitti’s. (It really is popular and always crowded.)

So there I am, fighting the crowd to get my limoncello and raspberry gelato, as the film crew wraps up their cables and picks up their dolly tracks. As soon as I get my cone, I turn around and see two of the other girls from our group.

“You just missed Ben Stiller,” one of them says.

“What?!?”

“He was seated right over there.” She points to a table just a few feet from us. “And then he walked right past us.” She holds up her phone and shows me a picture she snatched with about 60% of Ben Stiller showing.

Yep. I was so distracted by gelato that I missed the fact I was standing within feet of Ben Stiller.

After our gelato escapade, we headed to Campo de’ Fiori to check out the action, and then had dinner at my favorite wine bar, Mimi e Coco. Last, but not least, we found a liquor store handing out free samples of limoncello. Only in Italy.

Tonight I’m back at the apartment where I spent a few minutes out on my balcony overlooking the northern Roman hills. I can’t believe my time here is almost over. It seems like I waited for so long to return here, and sometimes I need to nearly pinch myself to realize I’m really here. I’m actually typing my blog post at this ancient little desk while the Roman teenagers hang out in front of the school across the street.

While I’m sad that my time in Rome is nearly at an end, I can comfort myself that I still have adventures in Siena, Florence, and Madrid to look forward to.

Buona notte, tutti!

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