The end of 2008...

Well, after a week of vacation, I'm back working in the portineria. I can't help but think about what a memorable Christmas season it was. It's funny, looking back to last Christmas, I would have never guessed I would be spending Christmas 2008 in Italy. Goes to show that when you try to speculate the future, there are always surprises lying in store. What's next year? Iraq? This was the first time in my 23 years that I spent Christmas outside of home (and outside of the United States for that matter). I was far from alone this Holiday season, though. First of all, I had the people here in Rome: Friends at Sant'Anselmo and people I've met along the way. On top of that, my Dad and his wife, Donna, came along for 8 days over the Holiday. We had an awesome time. Let's recap:

Monday, Dec. 22nd: Tour Around Roma
I met my Dad and Donna at their hotel. Although they were jet-lagged and tired, I showed them around Rome. We walked a lot (you'll get that impression by the end of this re-cap). First, we walked by the Roman Forum and the Colloseum, then along the Tiber River to the Vatican. We strolled around St. Peter's square and went into the Basilica. After that, we took the Metro subway to the Piazza di Spagna (aka the Spanish Steps) where there was an outdoor Christmas concert going on with children singing in both Italian and English. We stayed for a couple of songs, then made our way over to the Trevi Fountain. I took pictures of my Dad and Donna throwing coins in for good luck. We had some authentic Italian pizza and vino, then walked back to their hotel near Termini. They needed to recharge their batteries for the next day. We never really got lost that night, but that would soon change...

Tuesday, Dec. 23rd: Ancient Rome
After meeting Dad and Donna in the morning at their hotel (they slept like babies), we made our way over to the Roman Forum again, except this time we went in and toured around. The Roman Forum is awesome and the best vision of what's left of the ancient city 2000 years ago. Then we toured the ancient Palatino (palatine aka royal palace). We hit the Colloseum next, going inside and walking around the ancient gladiator arena. We then walked by the Circo Massimo (my Dad's a big Ben Hur fan) and I showed them around Central Rome where we ate a late lunch by the Pantheon. We capped off the night at the Campo dei Fiori where we met up with some of my friends and had some vino.

Wednesday, Dec. 24th: Mass, Christmas Carols, and more Mass
I let my Dad and Donna sleep-in today. I met them at their hotel at 3:00 pm. We were planning on grabbing an early dinner and then going to a Christmas mass in English at 6:00 pm. A friend of mine who I had met here in Rome, Todd from Australia, joined us. He needed a family on Christmas, of course. Another friend of mine from Australia, Paul who is a student at Sant'Anselmo, was singing at the Christmas mass, so we had to check it out and get our Christmas Carols' fix for the year. We got on the wrong bus heading over towards the church, but thanks to the patience of my Dad and Donna, I finally got us all to a restaurant where we had a great meal, then to the church for mass. After mass ended at about 8:00pm, we headed over to St. Peter's square to stand in line for the midnight mass with the Pope. Did I mention I got tickets? Lukas, my German comrade, was already holding a place in line for us. What a saint. They started letting people in at about 10:30 pm. We found some seats about halfway back from the main altar (St. Peter's Basillica is massive), and settled in until mass started at midnight. It was a pretty interesting Christmas mass. Many parts of the mass were in Latin, but the readings and such were in a wide variety of languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, and more). The homily was in Italian. It was really cool. The mass ended at 2:00am. It was th first time I had ever gone to more than one mass on Christmas, let alone in one day. Lukas and I hopped in a cab and Dad and Donna decided to walk back to their hotel (all the way across town!). I was hesitant to let them do it, but they insisted. Map in hand, they treked back to their hotel. They made it.

Thursday, Dec. 25th: The Meal of All Meals
Dad and Donna met me at the Metro stop near Sant'Anselmo. We walked up the Aventino Hill to the university and had a small little Christmas pre-game in my room. Nothing crazy. We listened to Christmas music and I opened a few gifts. Then, at 1:00, it was time for pranzo (lunch). This was no ordinary meal for the faint-of-heart. This was the mega meal of all meals - The Big Kahuna. Before the meal began, we had an apperitivo (pre-dinner drink of champagne, gin and tonics, etc.). We stood around in the refectory, chatted in many languages, and I was able to introduce my Dad and Donna to the friends I had met since being here. Then, we settled down at the table and ate food for an hour and a half, probably longer:

Starter Course: Various cheeses, thinly sliced meets, artichokes, and olives. Also, there was this delicious fried dough I couldn't get enough of.
First Plate: Two kinds of pasta (I had both). One was a spaghetti with pesto and the other was a canneloni dish (long thick rolled pasta stuffed with cheeses) with marinara. Insanely good!
Second Plate: The biggest hunk of meat I've ever had in my life. An Italian version of a midwest steak. Seasoned Potatoes as a side.
Dulce (Dessert). Two kinds of cake, can't remember what they're called but both were phenomenal.

After Pranzo, we stood around again for a half hour drinking post-meal liqueurs and caffe. People broke out into Christmas Carols and we all laughed constantly while talking. Then my Dad and Donna showed me their wedding video in my room (since I couldn't be there) from last September. I walked my Dad and Donna down to the Metro stop and planned to meet them in the morning. We all vowed to never eat again...

Friday, Dec. 26th: Picasso and Exploring
It was a rainy day, so we decided to hit an art exhibit nearby. The exhibit was exclusively Picasso and it was incredible! It inspired me to a whole new level. Then we had lunch by the Pantheon again...yeah we were finally hungry 24 hours post-Christmas pranzo. Next, we went back to St. Peter's Basillica, then walked to the Villa Borguese which is a big park in the norther part of Rome. We caught a Metro from the Spanish Steps down to my neck of the woods in an attempt to find a place with good vino and Italian food. However, there is apparently this British/Australian holiday called Boxing Day that the Italians must celebrate. Boxing Day is the day after Christmas and things kind of just shut down for a day. We walked around for about two miles before finally finding a good Italian restaurant in Trastevere. I might have gotten us lost. We almost ate at this Indian restaurant, but my Dad put his foot down. The Italian restaurant was hoppin' at the end of the night and we left happy.

Saturday, Dec. 27th: Firenze aka Florence
Dad, Donna, and I all met at the train station to make our excursion to Florence. We bought the cheap tickets (not the Express) and after four unnecessary hours, we arrived in Florence. It was a lot colder in Florence than Rome. Florence is farther north and sits on higher elevation. I could feel my ears pop as we were in the train traveling. I had been to Florence before, so I was able to guide us a little bit. We spent the day in Florence walking around, going in churches, buildings, exploring piazzas and markets, and hanging out by the Arno River. We had a nice dinner then headed to the train station at 8:00 pm to head back to Rome. We took the express train and were back in less than two hours. It was a bold move, but we did it.

Sunday, Dec. 28th: Market and revisiting favorite sites
I took my Dad and Donna to the big Sunday morning market today. It's a market stretching for more than half a mile with everything you could possibly think of to purchase (clothes, electronics, crap, and more crap). It's quality crap, though. I've bought a nice running watch for 3 euro and a hoody sweatshirt for 10. Solid. Then we walked around the center of the city and hit some of our favorite sites: Piazza Navona, the Pantheon (not the Parthenon, Dad), Trevi Fountain, and more. Good day to take it all in again. We ate at an Irish pub that night...for the second time! I had forgotten what an American steak tasted like. It still tasted Italian.

Monday, Dec. 29th: The Final Day
There was still one, correction, TWO important things Dad and Donna hadn't yet seen in Rome: The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Today was the day to do it and it would be the perfect final day activity. The Sistine Chapel is probably one of my more favorite things to see in Rome. Word's can't describe. So, we waited in line for an hour and got in to the museums. After spending a couple of hours walking through the museums, it culminates with the Sistine Chapel. We spent some time in La Cappella Sistina and soaked it all in. Even after the third time I've been there, it still amazes me. We grabbed a quick caffe and dulce, then Dad and Donna went back to their hotel to organize things for their departure. I went back to Sant'Anselmo for a quick nap and shower. We met up again at 7:30 pm for dinner. Some friends of mine joined us at this Chinese restaurant with an Italian twist. Great food. We then headed over to Campo dei Fiori and enjoyed some Italian cigars and vino. First time I had ever had a cigar with my Pops. After some good conversation and a lot of laughs, I walked my Dad and Donna to the bus stop that would get them back to their hotel. We said our goodbyes and I promised to give them an in-depth blog post after such a great week. Ecco. Thanks for a great week, Dad and Donna. It went by way too fast!

So, now I'm back to my routine, which is good. Work will begin again and I couldn't be more excited for the next six months I still have in Rome. I sit here, on the last day of 2008 thinking about all that's led me here. Wow, what a ride. Here's to all of you readers out there. I miss you all and wish you the best in 2009!

Much love,

Brady