Rome’s Nickname

Rome's nickname.
Source: http://www.hackedarcadegames.com/online-game/2492/Pizza-City.html

Welcome to Rome - a.k.a. Pizza City - where they happen to have 8-bit arcade games named after life in the city.

Ok, I admit it.  I'm lying.  Some respectable nerd art historian who I happen to know pretty well told me Rome's nickname is "The Eternal City".  Now raise your hand if I had you going even for a second.  Thanks for being honest.

I was having a light snack of a black plum then some fresh bread which I happily dipped in some of the freshest tasting olive oil I have ever had.  While eating, I began pondering what "The Eternal City" really means.  Why is it considered eternal?  Then I remembered a recent morning where my expert and I went to Rome's Ghetto just to walk around and see what the area had to offer.  About 5 minutes into our walk, I knew exactly why this ancient city had that nickname.  I saw this:

Loved this photo.  The Temple of Apollo Medico.

I had stepped onto grounds that were occupied since before the year 0.  That's right.  Zero.  

Welcome to the Theater of Marcellus and the Temple of Apollo Medico. If you want to get really specific about age, the columns shown belonged to the temple which was built in 433 BC!  From what my expert tells me, the theater which lies to the right of the columns was started about 12 B.C.!!!!  In case you didn't catch that considering how many exclamation points I added, to me, these are astounding thoughts.  

I know one of you doesn't really care if it's old or not.  I can imagine someone reading this right now and has these thoughts with a snarky tone to it. "Big whoop?  Some dudes lived there a while ago."  For some reason, I can easily imagine Sylvester Stallone saying that in his classic voice.  

"Big whoop?"
Source: http://www.celebitchy.com/70321/is_sylvester_stallones_face_melting/

Well to me, Sir Snarkiness, it's impressive seeing even those columns because I imagine trying to build insanely large temples or theaters with huge columns like these and arches as supporting structures for ceilings and not having a crane, an elevator, electricity, wide format plans to review, etc to help make the project complete.  That's a serious endeavor!

Can anyone explain to me why it's called the Temple of Apollo Medico?  Most of us hopefully remember that Apollo is a deity from the ancient Greek religion.  It's not because it's his last name.  A quick fun fact from my expert about the Temple.  Often, Romans made more than one temple for the same deity and this particular one is dedicated to Apollo as a healer, hence the Medico addition.  

It should be noted that in the picture below, the arches on the right side of the center path are the originals.  Notice how they are reddish, almost of brick color?  The connected "outer" wall has the newer, marble-look to it because that part was added in the 16th century. Crazy to think that this place is over 2,000 years old and what's just as noteworthy is that it was planned by none other than the infamous Julius Caesar.

Theatre of Marcellus.  

After a visit to the past, we head back through the ghetto and see a monumental synagogue.  

A gorgeous front entrance.

And then we pass by various shops, restaurants and random piazze to finish our day out.  Some photos are definitely worthy of just VASGO.

This is actually a door to a restaurant which our books say has a cult following.  I thought the look was so unique.

Nice face on the fountain.  

Space is limited, so why not make your building over the street?  Problem solved!

Ciao from Pizza City!

Gelato Time

Seriously, I can't get enough of this stuff.  This time the flavors are as follows:  Left cup - Sage and Raspberry Gelato on bottom, Blackberry on top.  Right cup - Yellow Plum on bottom, Sicilian Pistachio on top.  Both bottoms were absolutely our favorites.

The caption says it all.  I love it, and I can't get enough of it.  The colors are bold.  The tastes, to die for.  The ordering experience, stressful because you want to try too many flavors,  yet always rewarding because you really can't order a bad flavor.

Gelato is one of a kind and makes me wonder which came first, the gelato or the ice cream.  Kind of like the age old question about the chicken and the egg.  But for my friends out there who think they know what gelato is but really don't know what gelato is all about, I look to one of my favorite magazine articles in Bon Appetit from the April 2011 edition.

I'd just like to mention a quick thank you to Bon Appetit for publishing this article and to Hugh Garvey for writing it.  Please let me know if I am infringing on any copyright laws.  Click the link for the whole article if you are interested since below is my favorite part of it.  http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2011/04/best-ice-cream-in-rome.html

"The Scoop: Gelato vs. Ice Cream

The romance of Italy isn't playing tricks on your mouth; gelato is substantially different from American ice cream. Here's why:

1. Air Supply: Gelato is richer because less air is churned into it, which makes for a denser product.

2. Temperature: Served at a warmer temperature than ice cream, gelato melts immediately upon tasting, giving instant flavor.

3. Low(er) Fat: Although there's no hard-and-fast rule, on average gelato has about half the butterfat content of ice cream."

It's surprising how much you can learn from reading a food magazine, isn't it?  I am fascinated by these interesting facts.  


The place we went to was in Food Wine Rome by David Downie.  Although it didn't make Hugh Garvey's list in the Bon Appetit article, Gelateria del Teatro should have been for its product as well as ambiance.  As you can see, it has a beautiful entrance.

I'm guessing this person just noticed I was taking a picture of her.

Near the entrance you can see about 6 clippings from various travel books giving their approval of this gelateria.  The commendations were well deserved.  Take a look at the creations.

This was the right half of their showcase.

This was the left half of their showcase.

Fun Fact about this place.  What's the main difference in the photos other than the gelati flavors? Check out the handles.  White means it was made with latte, milk.  Green means there is no milk in this product.  Eat your heart out lactose-intolerants of the world!  The fruit gelati is just as good as the milk gelati.


Take a look at how very natural the yellow plum is that I got.  Is it just me, or can you see the flakes of real fruit and skin of the plum too?  Simply awesome.

I took a chance on ordering it as Mora was the owner's preferred flavor, but Prugna Gialla easily wins my affection after tasting it.

Alright!  Enough gushing over the gelato!  We all know it's delicious.  To help mix things up, take a look at what was on the way to the gelateria.  No matter where you go, there's something always picture worthy.

I liked this picture not only because it showed the river, walls and buildings above, but because directly to the right of center building, you can see St. Peter's Basilica located in Vatican City.

We had to cross this bridge leading us away from Castel Sant'Angelo.   Too pretty to pass up a picture .

First Day Sights in Rome

Yum.

Forget the jet-lag!  You're not on vacation!  You are starting day 1 of living in Rome for two years and unfortunately, you're on a budget!  Time to use that left-over espresso in the cabinet from the apartment renter before you.  Grab the stove-top percolator, turn up the heat and it's espresso time.  Oh excuse me, I forgot to say good morning.  Buon giorno!

Bet you Americani can't find this cereal in your grocery store.  Today, we decide to have my wife's favorite Italian cereal - Kellogg's eXtra.  This crunchy delight happens to be the kind with Cioccolato belga e Nocciole.  That's right.  My breakfast cereal has pieces of Belgian chocolate and actual hazelnut halves.  Does yours?  I didn't think so.

After a most delicious breakfast it's off to the center of Rome.  Our goal is to see the free sights.  So we head to the Vittoriano.  Some know it as the typewriter.  Others know it as the wedding cake.  I'm not sure why but some art historian told me it's true.  Anyone know why? Let us all know in the comments.

The Vittoriano... definitely as vast as it appears in this small photo.

Going up there led to some fair views of neighboring buildings.  It also connected us to something called the Capitoline, which led us to a great view of the Roman Forum.  I'm pretty sure I took the exact picture you see in all those post cards venders sell here.

My expert's favorite location in Rome, the Roman Forum

Then off to the Pantheon for a quick look around followed by a very nearby favorite gelateria of our friend.  She claims this may be the best fruit gelato in the city.  Can't speak for the rest of the gelato makers around town ... yet, but this seems to be excellent gelato.

Inside the Pantheon.  

The left cup has Mixed Berry on bottom and Peach on top.  The right cup has Banana on bottom and Mixed Fruit (Macedonia) on top.  The Macedonia was made with fresh kiwi and peach among other fruits and combined with Banana, really made that cup into tropical paradise.

Talk about a busy morning!  Maybe we should go home for lunch soon.  Or maybe we should do a few more nearby sites.  Sleep can wait.

It's on to the Piazza Navona.  A beautiful tourist trap full of vendors who will try to hand you toys, roses, gadgets, whatever and demand payment for them as if you wanted their junk.  Luckily that didn't happen to me.  Nor did I witness it.  Only going off what my expert says happens.  For those in love with Dan Brown books (and the resulting movies), and I promise you I will not need a spoiler alert warning, this is one of the last locations where something happens to someone in "Angels and Demons".  Hope that was specific enough for you.

Much of the Piazza Navona is shown here, give or take a fountain or two

Let's zoom in on the center of the piazza for you

And zoom in even more.  What a fantastic sculpture.  My expert tells me the center sculpture in this photo, ie, the topless dude with the beard, is a personification of the Ganges River.  10 points to the first person who tells me where the Ganges River is without googling it.

Then it's a quick walk to Campo De' Fiori where the outdoor market is a daily draw.  I would have taken more photos of all the booths, but I was too in love with my surroundings to take more pictures.

The outdoor market in Campo de' Fiori, a true feast for the eyes

Close to there is one of the favored stops for breads in my newest favorite book, Food Wine Rome by David Downie.  Simply fantastic if you like food.  And if you're in Rome.  So we stop by Marco Roscioli's Antico Forno and grab a daily special to accompany our lunch of Prosciutto Crudo, fresh Mozzarella and garlic and parsley infused extra virgin olive oil.

I named this bread "Super Crackle"

The bread was a little more than I'd like to pay but after trying it I'd say it was worth it.  It had an excellent, hard crust.  The kind of bread you can only tell is perfectly baked when you put your ear next to the baguette and slowly break off a piece to hear the crackle only a super hot oven with perfect moisture distribution can create.  If you don't know that sound, make sure you hear it sometime in your life.  It's sometimes the simple pleasures that make you realize life is good.  Oh, and the crumb (the stuff underneath the crust) was so moist, chewy, air pocketed with various sizes of holes.  Based on the taste, to me it was obvious the baker let the yeast do its magic overnight, possibly for a couple nights to transfer all the natural sugars contained in the flour into yeast-food.  In the baker's world, it's a refrigerated fermenting technique which slows down the yeast's sugar consumption and ends up bringing out the most flavors from the flours used. It clearly had no additional sugars like the white table stuff you put in coffee at home.  That bread was as simple and natural as it gets.

And with my fresh bread, salted meat, flavored oil and mild cheese, my expert and I were in extreme happiness after a jet-lagged full morning in Rome.

Almost to Rome

Buon giornio my friends!  Good day indeed.  Now that I've arrived in Rome, it's time you experienced what I have as well.  If there's anywhere that promotes the lifestyle of just VASGO, it's here in Rome.  So let's start from the beginning.

Now close your eyes, slow down your thoughts, breathe deeply and let your aura slip away from your body.  Step into my shoes.

You arrive at the airport after a two hour drive.  You stand in line for awhile to get your tickets.  You've just had TSA explain to you that this is the last time you will be able to touch or see your animals until you arrive at your destination.  Now this is not really a good thing to hear, especially if you are attached to your animals, but you grudgingly accept that you have no power over the situation and watch them take your loved pets away.  20 hours to go.  At least you're not stuck in a cage.  Then again, you realize your "cage" is just bigger.

Through security you go and after that comes an urgency to call as many people as you can to say goodbye since Sprint doesn't have cheap service in Italy.  Hold back as many emotions as possible, particularly those with your immediate family and finally it's time to board the plane.

Six or eight hours go by, snap a quick photo of the sunrise and you land.  Welcome to Copenhagen!

You are impressed with how many wind energy farms are visible from the airport, those giant pinwheels steadily rotating second after second.  On the way to your next gate, you are people watching while passing the cafes and notice two older gentlemen enjoying their light gold colored bubbly beverages and tell yourself- color is good, no haze, even from a distance you can see the carbonation, geography makes sense - must be a pilsner beer.  But you are no expert, so you withdraw and tell yourself - could be a lager too.

Then you look down and realize it's 7:30am Danish time.  A quick thought passes through your mind... well, when in Rome.  But this is Copenhagen.  It's not time for a beer.

Four hours go by and it's time to board the plane to Rome.  The pop tarts aren't sitting well in your stomach and you can barely keep your eyes open.  The second you sit in your seat, you pass out from travel exhaustion.  Two hours later, you wake up right before the plane lands.

Finally, the worst of the travel is over!  But it's not over 'til it's over, you remind yourself.  You mentally prepare for the customs troubles.  Bringing animals across the ocean must be a terrible pain.  Bringing 8 pieces of luggage on top of that must be even worse to bring through customs.  You envision being asked to step to the side so they can go through all your belongings, check the veterinary forms you had to send to the Department of State back home to verify with an official apostille that your cats are healthy and in good working order, no diseases, etc.  You can only imagine the questions you will be asked about your stay and why you are even trying to enter the country.

So you take a deep breath, wait for your luggage, get your cats, put all on a luggage trolley and make your way to the customs line.

It's short.  Too short.  You can choose which line to go through, items to declare or no items to declare.  We ask the guard if we have to declare our cats.  To my surprise, he says no and to continue right through.  That can't be right.  Continuing right through leads to the exit.  But after 20 hours, you aren't about to question anyone, so you just keep walking with your gear and kitties.  You sense a couple guards look at you as you reach the exit, but you refuse to make eye contact.  And then... it's all over.

Negotiate a price, take a taxi, benvenuti a Roma!  Welcome to Rome!

And of course, a little teaser to help you come back for more.  From the first day out in Rome... I promise you it tasted as good as it looks.

Sweet dreams for the Sweet life

The countdown is on! Less than two weeks and my feet will touch Italian soil.

That's great because it means soon I will be living la dolce vita,  the sweet life.  And that excites me because things will slow down and I can really live just VASGO.  Imagine taking in all the sights, sounds, smells of that crazy-old city called Roma.  I close my eyes and easily visualize beautifully old buildings with its grand architecture and aesthetically pleasing surroundings.  I see nonne, grandmothers, wearing handkerchiefs tied around their heads walking to the nearest family-owned single-location grocery store which is so unlike that mega-walmart you just bought 2 pounds of salmon from.  Then I see myself following them, but not noticeably, so I can soak it all in - see what they buy, hear them order meats and cheeses, learn the ways of the wise.

I also see a tangent experience developing.  One where my following a nonna ends up with me being noticed for following too closely and I get screamed at in a language I hardly understand. The other shoppers peer around the aisles to see what all the noise is about and all I feel is my face getting red and I'm wondering what the italian word for "stalker" is.

I also envision her grabbing the nearest baguette and hitting me with it until she runs me out of the store.  My Italian skills = your two year old nephew.

Tranquil or comedic, what I envision has yet to come because I'm still in the city of brotherly love and it's a madhouse trying to move.  One of these days I will put up a full HOW-TO section on moving abroad so people who try to move and still keep their assets in their former lives can have a little better idea of what to expect.

But for now, please don't hit me with these.

Arrivederci my friends.

Anyone ever try to flee the country?

Leaving your home country can be a difficult thing.  I don't just mean taking a vacation for a few weeks.  I mean truly packing up all your belongings and leaving all that you've known to basically start a new life.  Few people do it because it's not easy.

I have been approached with quite the unique opportunity.  My wife is a nerd.  Not the embarrassing kind of nerd like in that tv show you secretly like.  She is the respectable nerd.  I'm talking about those ingrained with impressive ambition to stay focused on that oh-so-ridiculously-far goal.  For example, all of you who are in the process of getting your masters degrees or doctoral degrees, I applaud you.  I also think you're crazy.  :)

Me?  I'm Corporate America Sales Guy.  Or at least was.  My path started with an independent company which was bought out by a Fortune 500 company.  Then I transferred to another region within the company.  Then I jumped from that Fortune 500 company to another.  Oh how sweet life can be when you are young and hungry.

So when smart girl gets a two year award to live in a foreign country, as The Clash put it, Should I stay or should I go?  That's exactly the question I have been faced with.  What's better - two years of Skype or two years of culture shock?

My vote?  Goodbye corporate America, buon giorno Roma!