Roming

This last weekend Rachael, Beau and myself took a trip to Rome and saw one of our good friends, Dan Wexler, and Rachael's sister, Maddie. This was my first time in Italy and my superficial expectations of Italian lifestyle was people blathering: "ba-ba-DE-boopeyyyy" (with exaggerated hand motions), eating only pizza/pasta, and men hollering at women. Though my stereotyping didn't prove me completely wrong, I found myself in a constant state of awe walking around the 1,000 year old streets and ancient ruins. After seeing the history and significance of some of the sights, I really understand the advanced development and grandeur of ancient Rome, and its rightful place at the center of the world. Our first night we got in late, and went to a micro brew Italian pub with a wide selection of European beers. Rachael met an American beer rep there. As the conversation began and she announced that she was from Minneapolis, the rep asked her if she knew the restaurant Bulldog Northeast, who carries a lot of craft brews, and Rachael works at. And to say she works there is an understatement. Bulldog Northeast is this woman's life. In our daily conversations about life or food, Rachael will always go into detail about a certain dish at the bulldog, leaving our mouths watering. I guess you could say she was excited. 

The first day we went to the Vatican City, though we didn't go inside St.Peter's Basilica, we went inside the Vatican Museum and toured the grounds. In addition to its stand alone architectural beauty, and incredible artifact collection, it had some of the best views in Rome. Every room we walked in had magnificent murals done by the most famous artists in history. After the first 20 or so rooms, I stopped bothering to take pictures and just enjoyed the structure itself (plus all the pictures starting looking the same). We stopped in a restaurant not too far from the city wall for a late lunch, where I had a veal dish and salad (shockingly not pizza or pasta). In contrast to Paris, we received lots of free additions with our meal. As we sat down we had a complimentary pasta dish to share, then came the bread and oil, the olives, our main course, a kind of a undone cannoli dessert (nommmmm.. so good), and chocolates. (note: All I paid for was my 7 euro veal). Because of my depleting funds and bottomless stomach, Italy suits me quite well.

On Saturday, we went to the Wedding Cake (absolutely no idea why it is called that), the Colosseum, and the Trevi Fountain. The entire weekend was rainy, so some of my pictures may be a little distorted, but yes, I actually looked like that. With the wind and rain, I ended up giving up on my hair and just enjoyed the city in that state, and it was beautiful. In most of the 400 and some odd pictures I took, most everyone of Maddie, Beau, Rachael or myself was of us trolling. I don't know why, but when I'm in front of a beautiful, historical monument, I can't help but act stupid.

Maddie also took us to some amazing places to eat, where I got my fill of pizza and pasta. Though going into the trip we agreed we'd try to eat-in and make food at Maddie's apartment, that quickly didn't last and we ended up using the excuse, and I hate myself for saying this but, "when in Rome". [at least its not YOLO]

I am currently in the middle of Paris Fashion Week, so just wait for the next post! :)

(I had to)

Beau's new Italian mother

getting spicy

I had to stop in a vintage shop. :)

Happy Rachael