Halfway Home

As part of my attempt to try and live like a local while I’m in Italy, I went to the movies yesterday. Ok, it was actually less about that and more about the fact that I desperately wanted to see the Avengers movie before I got spoiled AND it premiered two days earlier in Italy. But now, I have no one to discuss it with, so I guess I deserve this hit from karma for my smugness at seeing the movie before everyone at home. Anyway, the movie is fantastic and anyone who is even remotely a Marvel fan should see it and promptly text or email me so I finally have someone to fangirl with (and by finally, I mean in the barely a day I’ve suffered since seeing it).

The movie experience itself was kind of interesting, though. I went to a theater about 5 minutes away from my AirBnB in Trastevere, so I’m not sure if my experience is the norm in Italy or specific to this theater. It was tiny, at least compared to our 20-theatre, stadium-style multiplexes, with only 3 screens and half the number of seats for each screen. They don’t sell any food other than some bottled drinks in a vending machine and some snacks (popcorn in a bag in the vending machine…). The nice difference was the fact that each individual theater had its own bathroom. So if I hadn’t basically dehydrated myself in advance of the Avengers 3 hour run-time, I could have run to the bathroom quickly and not missed much. One drawback, which is definitely a European thing, was the lack of AC. It was pretty hot yesterday, and a whole bunch of people crammed into a room, getting increasingly stressed out as this movie went on, made for a REALLY hot room by the end. I do think there’s eventually AC but they just turn it on really late in spring in Italy.

I spent two of the last three days since Easter sightseeing in Rome and one day visiting the nearby town of Orvieto. In Rome, I saw a lot of Ancient Rome stuff – the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, random other ruins – and walked through the Jewish Ghetto. I’ve had a pretty bad cold since last Thursday, and it really knocked me out from a sightseeing perspective. I feel like I didn’t see as much of Rome as I would have liked because of it; I came back to my apartment pretty early on Monday afternoon because I just felt like hell and was exhausted. And I didn’t get to the yoga class I wanted to try either. So, stupid cold got in my way but fortunately, I’m feeling almost 100% now. I was luckily feeling well enough to have lunch on Wednesday with a former coworker who is also visiting Rome this week. It was nice to see Greg!

My day trip to the Umbrian hill town of Orvieto on Tuesday was one of the highlights of my Rome stay. I’ve really enjoyed most of the smaller towns I visited in Italy (except Padua, sorry Padua), and Orvieto was no exception. It’s an hour away from Rome by train, plus a quick funicular ride because its 1000ft above the valley surrounding it. The old town sits on a mound of tufa, or volcanic rock, and was first founded by the Etruscans a few hundred years BC. They dug this amazing network of caves, wells, and tunnels – over 400! I took a tour and it’s very cool to see. Plus, they raised pigeons for food because they would fly off and feed themselves, unlike livestock, and then return and be used as food. So they could house the pigeons underground (with little windows for the pigeons to fly through), the pigeons would fly out and feed themselves, they reproduce every month so they’re plentiful, and they don’t require grazing land. Gross, but you can’t fault the Etruscans for their logic and pragmatism. Orvieto also has a Duomo, because if you’re a town of any size in Italy, you get a Duomo. It’s got a colorful facade, but the interior is kind of boring. All in all, a nice way to spend a rain, then sunny, day.

Today, I left Rome and headed to Sorrento for my final stop in Italy. I’m using Sorrento as a base to see the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Pompeii, and Naples. My AirBnB is really nice, and not because my host told me I looked a lot younger than my age! (5 stars for you, my friend.) This is day 24 of my 48 day trip, and I can’t believe it’s already half over. Time feels like it’s flying by. I’ve had a couple people ask if I’m getting lonely or doing ok with being gone for so long (my longest trip was 13 nights prior to this one). I’m happily doing just fine. I haven’t really been lonely as I’ve been able to keep in touch with family and friends as much as I’ve wanted thanks to the wonders of technology. I also signed up for a VPN service, so I’ve been able to catch a couple streaming Cubs games and watch some of my favorite network shows. My days are pretty busy sightseeing and my evenings are either additional sightseeing/activities or posting these damn pictures or writing this blog, so I haven’t really had time to be lonely. It’s all felt pretty normal. The only thing I haven’t liked is the weird feeling of living in two worlds – there’s my day-to-day life here in Italy that has most of my immediate attention but there’s my Chicago life with friends/family and local news that is dividing my attention. I can’t fathom living abroad and feeling this way long term – the timezone difference alone would drive me batty after awhile.

And, as I mentioned last time, there are a ton of pics on Facebook if you want more detailed pictures of the sights in Rome and Orvieto. I put a lot of detailed captions there, and it’s too much to retype here.

Gelato Update: 56 scoops
lemon – 12, mango – 1, strawberry – 2, caramel cream – 6, dark chocolate – 12, chocolate – 6, chocolate chip – 1; cherry – 4; rum – 1; cookie – 1; chocolate mousse – 1; raspberry – 7; vanilla – 1; mixed berry – 1

As you can see, raspberry and dark chocolate became my favorite while in Rome. It’s really hard to find raspberry, it’s not a flavor you find at every gelateria unfortunately.