Candice's Take on the First Couple Days in Italy (5/7-9/2007

Finally! Day 5 of the honeymoon and I am blogging.

Day 1: Reed's account of the flight is in ample minutiae, so I will not editorialize. On our way to the apartment in Rome, we passed a harried drag queen that looked like Bruce Willis in a purple dress and black tights...stage wig in hand. Once we reached our building, an old-fashioned wooden elevator took us to the 7th floor. We rented a one bedroom apartment owned by an impeccable gentleman in his 60's, Signore Quagliato. The furniture was a bit dated and shabby, but in an almost intentional and quaint way. There was a kitchenette, a large bathroom, and a living room. The bedroom was small, but comfortable. Like true Americans, the first thing we did was turn on the TV. It appears Italian TV is just as ridiculous as American TV, maybe even more so. The game shows were almost identical, Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100 included. After we rested briefly, we were off to the Colosseum.

On the way back from Palatine and the Colosseum it rained heavily. The umbrella vendors appeared in every direction insisting we buy one; we did not. Reed had a nice rain jacket from REI, and I thought walking in the rain in Rome was romantic. Despite my being soaked through, the umbrella vendors persevered, shouting at us, "Half price!" I could hardly see the point of buying an umbrella once drenched.

After a quick change into dry clothes, we had dinner at Le 2 Colonne...which I THINK means the two columns. The restaurant was nothing to write about, but the service was decent. At any rate, we were famished and the delicious wine and average pasta filled our bellies.

Day 2: I woke up at 10 am, which was later than planned. After a breakfast of pastry and espresso, Reed and I were off to the Vatican. We took the Metro (city train - line A) to our destination. The ride was uneventful. The Metro in Rome is like the New York subway, only cleaner and fewer interesting characters. Reed and I were mentally prepared to stand in a long line, after the recent blogs by Rick Steves. We were incredibly fortunate, as we waited in no line upon our arrival at 12:30pm.

One of the first pieces of art we encountered was the Laocoon. It is an amazing, emotional sculpture of Laocoon (high priest of Troy) and his two sons being crushed to death by serpents. The gods punished Laocoon with this death for trying to warn the Trojans not to bring in the horse offered by the Greeks. The gods were clearly in favor of the Greeks, as was history.


We ended the visit at the Sistine Chapel. It was beautiful, and no words can fully express the impact it had on me. I am sure part of the weight of the work was simply based on its legendary elements; I had heard about it since I was a child. But most of the power came from the work itself. The Final Judgment at one end depicted Michelangelo’s version of the end times, when those bound for heaven and those bound for hell are called up and separated. One figure, a sagging shell of skin being pulled up by an angel and down by gravity (or darker forces) simultaneously is that of Michaelangelo himself. The famed ceiling is famed for a reason. The Creation of Man, the Creation of Woman, and the Expulsion from the Garden are exceptionally beautiful.

If you made it through all of that, you MUST be related to Reed or me.

Later that evening we went to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We were running out of time to have dinner. Rome basically shuts down at 11pm. At the Trevi fountain, I was accosted at every turn by men selling roses. They tried to force roses into my hand while saying, "Thank you" in English. Meanwhile, I insisted "No thank you" in Italian. Once I realized we missed a photo op (which was to include a sticker from my dad advertising Mel's Hotdogs that had been left back at the room), we rushed off to the Spanish Steps. Reed struck up a conversation with a friendly couple from Phoenix. Before we knew it, most places were closed and we had not eaten.

Luckily, one place we came across was willing to make us dinner to go. Reed attributes this to me, but actually it was just my ability to understand that they were offering to let us order "to go." We took pasta to go and grabbed a bottle of wine at a convenience store. We had a quiet supper back at the apartment. While maybe not an ideal end to the day, I think it is a story we will bore our families with for years. "Our second night in Rome, we had to eat take out and get a bottle of wine from the corner store..."

Although I prefer to bring you, fair reader, up to the current day in a single post, my new husband is insisting I publish now.