License to Dance (Cha-cha-changes..)

File Under: Wacky, Tacky, True Laws

I bet you didn't know you can't just dance anywhere you feel like it in Rome. For example, say you're at a bar and suddenly the mood to dance strikes you. Beware! The staff are fully within their right to ask you to stop dancing. Some places even go as far as posting signs prohibiting dancing.

Exhibit A:



(Calling Kevin Bacon, we need you stat!) In Rome you need a license to dance. So you wanna dance? Well than you need to take yourself to a nightclub or "disco."

Items Accidentally Frozen in the Refrigerator (Part III):

• Pasta leftovers
• Ground meat leftovers
• milk
• Mozzarella cheese

Moment of the Week (possibly the trip ...): Rachel and random taxi driver singing along to the Grease song 'Summer Lovin', while speeding past the Colosseum. It is important to note that no drinking inspired this outburst.

And now on a more serious note.  Courtney and Rachel made the decision to move to Rome, and six weeks later stepped off a plane and onto Italian soil. You've read our experiences on this blog, and gotten a glimpse of the amazing sites we've visited on our photobucket page. It's been a fabulous few months, and we've used the trip as an opportunity for self reflection.

That being said, as many of you know, Rachel chose to return to the States. She's has had an amazing, life-changing few months, but realized Philadelphia is where her heart is. And so, at the end of September Rachel and Courtney packed up Casa Cousine and returned to the States.

That's it? What about Courtney? Well... I've decided that I haven't gotten my fix of Rome just yet. So after a two-week 'holiday' at home, I am returning to the Eternal City, this time for a solo Roman adventure. That being said, you'll now be able to follow my journey via a new blog: Writing from Rome.

Thanks for following us this far... hope to see you on the other site.

xoxo

C & R

Hello September!

It's finally September (!!), which means stores will be opening and jobs will be starting. Since our experience here is more than just getting lost and eating, we have decided to celebrate September's arrival by focus on a few other aspects of our life here. 

Notes on Driving:

The other day we found ourselves in the back of a taxi, going over cobble stones, and fighting against whiplash as our driver put the gas pedal to the floor, followed immediately by grounding the break pedal into the floor. Luckily he also seemed to have no understanding of how to drive  stick shift. This is really an impressive feat since our driver was about 75 years old, makes his living driving, and has been driving in a country where 95% of the cars are stick shift. It was between launching forward and slamming back against the seat that Courtney felt we must address driving in Italy.

If you know nothing else about Italy, you know that Italians are notorious for being the worst drivers. Traffic laws are created but never followed or enforced. Every time you leave the safety of your home you are taking your life in your hands.

It's a coin toss what is more alarming: being a passenger in the car or a pedestrian crossing streets. When you're in the car you're able to see how close pedestrians get to being run down by an inpatient driver. A while back we saw an elderly woman crossing the street and we swore that she was going to be hit. The driver clearly had no intention of slowing down or stopping, and the woman had no intention of running towards the safety of a sidewalk. The most alarming part is hurtling through the streets of Rome and knowing that quite often you are that person millimeters away from getting hit. Sometimes you aren't really sure the drivers don't want to hit something or someone.  You learn quite a bit about yourself when sitting in the back of a taxi. For example, Rachel has discovered that she can get car sick. Even our first Italian friend confirmed that traffic laws are suggestions, theories if you will, not laws in the typical sense. To date our biggest concerns are crashing into a bus in a misguided effort to get around the bus by entering the opposing traffic lane, and internal injuries inflected by the g-force acceleration and logic defying catapults forward while breaking. This brings us to life as a pedestrian.

The first thing you will learn is that cross walk signs have the same green-yellow-red system as traffic lights, however they are paid attention to a bit more. Don't however make the mistake of following the cross walk sign blindly- it'll get you killed.  This point is reenforced but the actual cross walk light, which spends most of its time on yellow. The green light is only on for about 2.3 seconds, with the purpose of telling you if you're gonna cross now it the time to think about doing it. The majority of the time the light is on yellow, which means 'go, but very carefully.' Finally the light goes to red, though it should probably have turned red 20 seconds prior. While the light is red, it's a good time to try and calm your nerves before crossing the next street. The temptation to run for your life is common, however if you relax and try to make eye contact with the driver, we're told they'll make a special effort to avoid hitting you.

Tourists are easily identified as they are typically the people stranded on a medial stripe. They are also known to stand on corners looking confused and scared, with eyes searching for alternative routes.  The culmination of  our experience with Italian traffic involves one very brave young man and his terrified girlfriend.

The Cousines were on their way to the American food store when we were stopped at an intersection that doubled as a great photo-op for tourists....

 The light is red. Across the street we see some commotion. We see a young man that clearly is getting ready to make his move across the street. He can't be bothered with traffic suggestions, and with that he confidently steps into the street and strides across. His girlfriend remains on the other side, unsure of the next move. She doesn't want to cross, but riding high off his victory, her boyfriend is anxious to continue their journey. To her right, 300 feet away is a motorcycle.  The street is narrow; she has plenty of time to cross safely. Totally freaked out the girl takes a deep breath and runs across the street., but in her panic she begins to run on an angle, recklessly out of control in the middle of the  street. Like this:

She finally comes to her senses, but not before her eyes practically fall out of her head...

and she emits this  hilarious sound... Finally she sprints to the safety of our side of the road.

If you are planning a trip to Rome, here's a great article that will teach you how to cross the street in Rome.

Visit to the Castel Sant'Angelo:

Should also be known as the ultimate phobia fighter. Seriously, the place has  the scariest stairs ever. We actually had to negotiate who would go down first. If it wouldn't have drawn attention, Courtney wanted to go down the stairs toddler style. It's incredible that people  were walking up and down these stairs and not falling to their death. Even with all the safety railings, we were still moving as though we were new to walking.

You're not claustrophobic are you? If you are, you may have a problem. So many paths lead to areas that require you to walk sideways through the space, or get on your hands and knees to crawl through doorways. Maybe these obstacles wouldn't be so bad if you weren't painfully aware of how far below ground level- under many many layers of concrete and brick- you are while performing these gymnastics.

Okay, so you're still good? How about heights? Because when you get to the highest point of the Castel, with the iconic bronze Saint Angelo looming directly above you and spectacular views of the city around you, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Please don't let there be a strong wind." It's directly after this awe inspiring experience that you are required descend what are surely in the top 5 of steepest stairways in the world.

Additional Observations: The biggest point of going on the night tour was so Courtney could see the secret passage way that connected the Castel Sant'Angelo to the Vatican. (The Vatican used the Castel as a refuge in case of attack). A lover of all things secret and mysterious, this was to be the highlight of Courtney's experience.  We did not get to see the passage. Apparently it was a separate ticket (the difference of one euro) to get to see the passage. No one mentioned different types of tickets. In fact, it wasn't even until halfway up that we learned of the situation. If we hadn't already climbs about a million steps we might have gone back to get the proper ticket. Or maybe if we had cried the woman blocking our path would've felt bad and let us in. Luckily are resolve is even weaker than that. When faced with three pigeons perched on the rafters of one particularly lonely path, the Cousines turned around rather than walk under them. That's right, we were afraid of the pigeons. Courtney has developed an irrational fear of pigeons flying into the apartment).  After the pigeons took up residence on the balcony, with their ill-fated eggs, we didn't want to attract anymore negative pigeon karma.

Comrades in Complaining (a.k.a Cha-cha- changes):

It's no secret that while we're having a fabulous time in Rome, every now and then we long for the company of fellow English speakers, and a menu that isn't limited to pasta and pizza. With this in mind we keep a handy list of pubs in Rome for when we're having one of those days. 

Without a doubt, Scholars Lounge is our favorite pub. It is owned, run, and frequented by Irish, who absolutely could not be nicer. It was while sitting at the bar that we learned the Cousines aren't the only ones put off by certain attitudes from the Romans. (In our case it is confusion and slight annoyance. In the case of the staff at Scholars it resembles a much stronger dislike.. which might be why only one staffer speaks Italian or even makes an effort to understand).

We thought the bartender was joking when he asked what made us decide to up and move here; he was serious. Courtney's highlight was this exchange:

Bartender: Is this your first time in Rome?

Court: No, I studied here.

Bartender: And you came back?! How long ago?

Court: Seven years.

Bartender: Have you found much has changed?

Court: Not really. I mean some things seem different- hard to say really.

Bartender: I'm sure nothing has really changed, and I can guarantee you that anything that has changed hasn't been for the better.

Lost in Translation:

"This is definitely not a sleft left" -Rach (In English: This is definitely not a slight left.)

"I have sesame seeds all over me!" - Court (No explanation... just randomly said.  We haven't had anything with sesame seeds)

Things We Accidentally Froze in the Refrigerator  (Part II):

• Bananas
• Tomato Sauce
• Iced Tea
• Tuna Fish
• Orange Juice
• Potatoes 

Attacked by Little People (a.k.a. Items Rachel has been hit with by children):

• Stick- while walking in the park, a child playing in an empty fountain, turned, saw Rachel and threw the stick.
• Pipe like Lego- while babysitting for one of her families, the oldest child repeatedly hits Rachel with aforementioned object.

Places Courtney has locked herself in or out of:

• Bathroom at Mercato- somehow managed to lock herself in the bathroom. Seriously contemplated trying to break the door down.
• Door to Apartment- could not unlock the front door. Effectively continued to be locked out while locking Rachel in.

Dreams Do Come True:

Rach: I had a nightmare and woke up all scared that something was in my room. Not a person.
Court: Like a bug?
Rach: No, like a creature.
Court: What kind of creature? An animal?
Rach: A furry little person
Court: A furry little person? And you were still dreaming?
Rach: No, I was awake. I guess it was a furry midget.

Days later..... Location: Scholars Lounge

Court: Did you see that guy over there?
Rach: Who? Where?
Court; The little weird one.
Rach: You mean the furry midget? Wait!! Just like in my dream!!!

Rachel's Theoretical Analysis of Directions:


Court: What's the difference between a slight left and turning left?
Rach: A slight left means move to the left side of the road to prepare for a left turn.
Court: So a slight left means cross the street?
Rach: Correct. You are going to the left, only slightly.
Court: So a slight left always precedes a turn left? Does this rule apply to rights as well?
Rach: Yes. I think so.

(Rach taking out directions)

Rach: It says slight left, then make a right.... oh... well than I have no clue what the difference is.

Things We've Learned:

•  We are unable to properly plan an entire excursion. Just like there is no perfect crime - the criminal always forgets something essential that seals his fate- the Cousines are totally unable to organize a day-trip without missing some crucial part. Some examples:
• Forgetting the directions to the restaurant we'd been dying to go to (note: still haven't made it there)
• Attempting to follow directions and still managing to get off track.
• Continuously having the Aurelian Walls block our path. The walls might have been built to keep enemies out, but they are doing a great job of keeping us in. (Though with our tendency towards getting lost this may actually be a blessing in disguise.)
• Getting lost inside a park. The Cousines have adopted Sundays in the Park into the routine.  After our enjoyable little excursion quickly turned into a reenactment of the Blair Witch Project as we attempted to get out of the park before it closed at dusk.

Frozen Foods

Well it looks like the Cousines have made it through their first month in Rome. We've also quite proudly made it through August, the month when everything (read: our entire neighborhood) shuts down and people go on vacation. We might be the only people in the entire world that are thrilled for September. Every day we awake to more sounds of our neighborhood coming alive. It's like bears coming out of hibernation.

It hasn't been all bad though, and we've found ourselves enjoying some of the quiet. We also seemed to have figured out where and how to get the inside scoop on Rome and its must-see (off-the-beaten-path) places. Our series of night tours has continued with last Saturday's tour of the Colosseum at night. It was amazing to be standing in a place with all that history. Rachel's pictures of the Colosseum at night are beautiful.

On Tuesday we had an art and garden day, visiting the new National Museum of Modern Arts in the 21st Century (MAXXI), the National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Villa Borghese gardens. Both museums were incredible. The architecture of the MAXXI is a piece of art in itself. After a wonderful day indoors looking at art, we decided a stroll through the gardens at Villa Borghese was a must. The gardens, actually more like a park at 148 acres, is almost too beautiful for words. As Rachel said, the pictures we took don't do it justice. (Pictures from all the day's activities are now posted on our photobucket page). The park is the perfect Sunday activity when the hum of the city quiets down.

We will be visiting the park this Sunday since we have become old ladies. Court sketching and Rach reading and taking beautiful pics. We'll be feeding pigeons in no time.

Now onto the highlights...

Taco Night at Casa Cousine:

Prior to leaving for Rome, Rachel had expressed a very strong interest in bringing taco seasoning. Her rationale was that at some point she would want tacos for dinner, and since we'd be in Italy it might be difficult to find taco seasoning. She was reluctantly teased into not bringing it. So imagine her surprise when we find soft tacos, tostitos chips and salsa at the supermarket. We get the ingredients, excited by the discovery, and begin planning our upcoming taco night.

Several nights later we decided to break out the tostitos chips and salsa. That's when we discovered the "salsa problem." For whatever reason every sauce like product (i.e. salad dressing, salsa, etc) is oozing with tomato and sugar, whether it should be or not. So what does just a heavily sugared tomato based salsa taste like? Exactly like sloppy joe sauce.

You would think this discovery would have lead us to use the taco ingredients in another way, but no, we said we're having tacos, so by golly we're having tacos. Since you're not going to find anything but Italian cheeses here, we decide to go with provolone, which we shred ourselves. Already we've accepted that these will be Italian "inspired" tacos. But as you know, we don't get discouraged easily, so on we go. Next, Courtney, who because she bought three spices and a hot pepper plant thinks she can fix anything, decides to alter the sauce in an attempt to remove the sweetness. Sadly, despite Courtney's best efforts, the sweetness prevailed; all she did was give the sweet additional ingredients to taint.

Through out the meal, Rachel was sure to point out the lack of sour cream. She doesn't seem to be able to accept that fact. Courtney is always in various states of alarm regarding the lettuce, so Rachel cuts it and Courtney continues to pick the pieces apart and throw most of them out.

So to recap... Taco Night consisted of tacos that tasted like Italian inspired sloppy joes, with no lettuce and no sour cream. On the bright side the soft tortillas were very good.

Things We've Learned:

• When searching for a major historic attraction you should follow the crowd. Finding oneself the only person opting to take the left when everyone else is going right isn't a good plan. Although if you're trying to:

1. Get hopelessly lost
2. Find yet another part of the city that is completely shut down or..
3. Make even the simplest directions the longest, most painful journey ever, including serious risk of heat stroke and dehydration then ignore this lesson.

• Italy is not the place to get pickles. Like all other "recognizable" food products, the pickles here are way too sweet. We're not even talking gherkins pickles. This is hard core sweetness with a touch too much dill. Sometimes the "pickles" are simply soaked in wine; sometimes they are stuck in a jar with random and barely identifiable herbs and vegetables; and sometimes you don't even want to think about what's in there. After three separate pickle purchasing attempts Rachel has finally accepted defeat and abandoned her quest for pickles.
• Understanding Italian dining etiquette at a restaurant is equivalent to planning your next chess move against Bobby Fischer.  Upon entering a restaurant- any restaurant- you are faced with the immediate dilemma of whether to seat yourself or wait to be seated.  Typically the answer is seat yourself. If by chance you have selected the wrong table, someone from the wait staff will immediately run over and explain in great length why dining at that table would be a traumatic experience. (i.e. "You can't sit here, it's way too hot... bad for digestion").  It often leaves us second guessing whether we should be seating ourselves, a feeling that takes several dining experiences to get over. Then of course you have the times when you seat yourself and everyone around you turns and stares at you. General paranoia sets in.. "Did we do something wrong? Is it my hair (Courtney)? Do we seem obviously American?" The wait staff is never really helpful in gauging whether you've followed protocol or not. The tendency is to believe you have made some sort of social misstep and are being ignored as punishment. In reality waiting about 25 minutes is just part of the dining experience. Just make sure that when a server does arrive you are ready to give your entire order, otherwise you'll be waiting a long time for anyone to come around again. Finally, you've finished your meal and are ready for the check. It doesn't matter how politely you ask, how many times you ask, or how long you've waited to ask, the server will give you the check when they want to. On several occasions we have been told we haven't sat long enough and therefore weren't ready for the bill. So now we just sit and wait.... 10, 20, 30 minutes....

Communication is Key:

"I can't tell if you're just hot right now, or pink."- Rach

"They like to big large." - Rach (translation: They [the Romans] like to build big.)

"Let me take a sign of it." - Rach (translation: Let me take a picture.)

"Don't ignore that.." - Court (We have no clue, but we know it wasn't right)

"I fell off the curb." - Court (She actually did fall off the curb)

"I just need to..I might need to.. I mean I might need you to...oh forget it." -Court (Trying to ask Rach to take her bracelet off)

Some things seem like they should be common sense: "Oh look! An Ita....oh nevermind." - Court trying to say "Look, an Italian flag!" Then she realized we were in Italy.

As you remember from previous posts, everything here is either all or nothing for the Cousines. In the beginning we couldn't seem to get anything cold enough in the refrigerator and now...

Things We've Accidentally Frozen in the Refrigerator:

• Cantaloupe
• Personal Watermelon
• Orange Juice
• Lettuce
• Eggs

Injuries, Disabilities, and Other Ailments:

• Rachel's feet, ankles, and legs (lets just say the lower half of her body)
• Courtney's left ear (days..)
• Rachel's left ear (today, Thursday)
• Courtney's right ear (today, Thursday)
• Rachel's right ear (yesterday, Wednesday)
• Courtney's left wrist
• Rachel's head (migraine on left side)
• Courtney's right thumb
• Rachel's sour stomach
• Courtney's left shoulder
• Rachel's bug bites (which are reminiscent of chicken pox)
• Courtney's lower back
• Rachel's right shoulder
• Courtney's left ring finger
• Rachel's left knee (she specifically asked that this be noted separate from the above)

Observation of the Week: A sidewalk closed due to falling figs.

Word of the Week: Kerfuffle- n. commotion; disorder; agitation (British/Scottish slang)

        Ex. Before the kerfuffle that erupted we thought things were going quite well.

Question of the Week: This week's question was provide to us by a fellow Colosseum at Night tour attendee.... "Why is the Colosseum oval?"

(It should be mentioned that the man asking the question was toting a rather large bag on wheels).

It's Closed

Every learning experience is an evolutionary process. Of course typically there is some type of progress or at least evidence of improvement.

It is said that insanity is defined by the repetition of the same action expecting a different result. Below is an overview of our week. We'll let you decide where we rank.

This week has been a test of the wills. Last Sunday was a national holiday here, so we planned accordingly and stayed in. We had it on good authority that after the holiday people would be returning and stores would be open. With this knowledge we planned our entire week, packed with sightseeing and places we wanted to check out. We were, as usual, wrong. Instead of people returning,even more places have closed. Most painfully our new favorite "dollar store", fabulous bakery, and most practically the cell phone store (more on this one later).

Today for example we planned a nice day in our neighborhood including: visiting the hair salon, checking out what is supposed to be a fab accessories store, and getting our phones fixed. Unless we have been in the city center where it's a tourist mecca, everything has been closed for August, yet we continue to make plans rationalizing that of course THIS place will be open. The biggest problem is that there is no warning that the store will be closed, or for how long. One day you just show up and the gate is down. Or more annoyingly most stores have their names inside the gate, so you're never even sure if you've made it to the right place.

Discovering why a store is closed is like a multiple choice game:

Why is the cell phone store closed?
A. Siesta
B. Holiday/Vacation
C. National holiday
D. Didn't feel like opening


This afternoon we were 0-3. We walked five plus miles, spent 35 minutes zigzagging amongst parallel streets, and 15 blocks trying to turn right. Which brings us to the next issue.. directions.


We previously mentioned constantly arriving at our destination during siesta. Well now it seems we need to start out before dawn to FIND the place before closing time. We'll be getting ready to go out, and suddenly Courtney is a maniac about getting on our way. We could have five hours before a place is set to close and somehow we'll still be sweating getting there in time. (Of course it's probably been closed all day anyway). The main problem is that you'll be walking along and next thing you know the name of the road changes. But it doesn't change just once, if the road is long enough it could change dozens of times.


Google Maps is no help because they use things like addresses, street names, and instructions, in order, to get from Point A to Point B. Street signs are hard enough to find, let alone an address. Walking yesterday we literally passed a store whose address was 25, the very next store was 28. Okay, so odd and even numbers on the same side of the street, check. (But wait... where did 26 and 27 go?) Directly across the street, the building's address was 452. Huh?! There also seems to be a miscommunication between Google's definition of a right turn vs. a slight right and Rome's definition. Arriving at our destination is always a surprise because we normally can only understand half the directions, and whichever side Google tells us the store will be on using those directions, we arrive from the opposite direction.


Our new rule is that if somewhere is extremely important to us to get to, and we're taking a taxi anyway, the taxi is to drop us off at the exact place we need. Unfortunately, the most important place -our apartment- seems to be the one place the taxis never know how to get to. A few nights ago upon handing over our address...


Driver: Via Anghiari?
Us: Yes.
Driver: Are you sure this is right?
Us: Yes.
Driver: You've been there before?
Us: Yes, we live there.
(5 minutes spent looking at map)


 In their minds we are so far removed, they take the fastest way possible to drop us off and return to the city center.


(Same taxi, upon arrival at our destination)


Driver: You sure this is right?
Us: Yes.
Driver: But the building doesn't have a door.
Us: The door is right there.
Driver: Have you been in there before?
Us: Yes.
Driver: You sure you want to go in?
Us: Yes.


The city's taxis are getting quite the education from two little American girls. At the very least their city maps are getting a workout, We love watching drivers' facial expressions upon receiving the address. Yesterday we spent 15 minutes in the back seat of a taxi, while the driver looked at various maps, which he continued to consult throughout the journey.


While walking in circles or arriving at our destination only to find the gate down, Rach has had to hear many times, "I am about to have a fit!", from Court. Her outburst is similar to this....

In an effort to avoid Courtney's own supermarket meltdown, we're keeping our daily goals modest. Tomorrow's goal: get paper towels.


Observations:

• Italian cherry soda is not like American cherry soda. Remember the last time you were sick and needed cold medicine? You know how 'cherry' is the flavor that is supposed to make the idea of drinking the medicine better-- and it doesn't? Well that's Italian cherry soda. 
• Courtney is totally unable to eat gelato without getting it all over her hands. Courtney now carries hand wipes in her purse in the event we decide to get gelato. Just the other day Courtney pointed out a child who was crying. The mother gave her daughter hand wipes to remove what Court refers to as 'the sticky' and she immediately stopped crying. Court's point was that 'the sticky' is a serious thing. Rach sees this as an example of how getting gelato all over you is only supposed to happen to children. Italians always eat their gelato in a cone, Court can't even master the cup. Cones will not be in her future.
• Recharging the minutes on your cell phone is supposed to be one of the easiest things to do here. You can charge it online, add minutes from the ATM or various vending machines, just to name a few. So far we haven't been able to get any option to work. Why not bring the phones to the store? Yes, we've been planning on it. We've gone 3 times this week- closed every time.
• While doing research for sightseeing we learned (according to the web) that Rome's Piramide is man-made. This came as a shock since previously we had been under the impression they sprouted from the ground. 

Thoughts from Rachel:

• "You know, when I'd be driving at home sometimes I would get so mad at certain traffic laws. Like why did I need them? Having now spent time in a place where there are virtually no traffic laws, and the few there are aren't enforced, has given me a new found appreciation of traffic laws."
• Found written in her notebook, in her own handwriting..."What are we talking about?"

On the Upside:

• The food here is- as imagined- fantastic. Sure it's a lot pizza, pasta, and gelato, but every place puts their unique mark on it. We've been having a great time eating our way through the city and comparing. The fresh produce markets are the best. The cantaloupe here is literally the best we've ever had. Not to mention the tuna fish- delicious!
• We did find the American store, where peanut butter, hot sauce, and mustard were selected to come home with us. We've also been fortunate enough find several Irish/English pubs to fulfill any burger and fry cravings.

Communication of the Week: "What...I couldn't hear you, I was in the refrigerator" - Rach

Sight of the Week: Dinner and a Show, 60+ year old man "exercising" outdoors. This included: climbing street signs, balancing on bike racks, doing hand stands, and fake jump roping.

Song of the Week:  See you in September by The Happenings

Also for those of you keeping track of our shower struggles.... after nearly a week of successful showering, today a major setback. Rach's overflowed the tub.

Onions Out the Window

Quite a lot has gone on in the world of Cousines in Rome. When last we saw the Cousines they were adjusting to their new lives in Rome. The last few days have been action packed in and outside of Casa Cousine.These adventures include our ongoing battle with beverages and wandering around in circles.

Last Friday we decided to make it a walking tour day. After seeing the sites and grabbing dinner at an English Pub, in the historic center we decided to take pictures of the Trevi Fountain at night. First a little background.

Piazza di Spagna branches into three streets. Many of the historic sites such as the Trevi Fountain are on or between these streets. Leaving the pub we were on one of the outer streets. The Trevi Fountain is located on the center street (the famous via del corso). Between these two points is Piazza Navona. Logic would dictate that to get from point A (the pub) to point C (Trevi Fountain), one needs to go through point B (Piazza Navona).

Once we left the pub we headed towards via del corso and the Trevi Fountain. When we arrive in Piazza Navona we are pleased with our sense of direction. As it's Friday night the Piazza is filled with musicians, artists, street vendors, tourists, and locals. We stroll around taking in the sights and sounds, before continuing on our way. The next leg of our walk has us exploring tiny side streets and hidden treasures. Surely our destination is just ahead. Suddenly we see a crowd of people, which must be the tourists and locals appreciating the fountain at night. We rush the rest of the way.... only to discover that we have arrived back at Piazza Navona. In fact, we've entered through the exact same entrance we had used 15 minutes before. The next two and a half hours were spent trying to find our way to the Trevi Fountain, only to turn up at Piazza Navona again. (To recap, we were lost between point B and C, only occasionally returning to point A).

In fact several times it seemed virtually impossible to enter the Piazza from the direction we did. Wouldn't one recognize if they had walked in a huge circle? Each time we spotted the 'Too Much' candy store in the distance we knew it was time to turn around. Unfortunately that did not prevent us from again returning to Piazza Navona. As delirium set in, we gave up the search for the fountain and turned our attention to finding a bar. Cousines:0 - City of Rome:1

Dining with the Natives:

We were lucky to become friendly with a young Italian who speaks nearly perfect English. In fact we were actually under the impression he was British. (Courtney finally just asked). After several meetings, "Drea" invited us over for a traditional Italian meal.  I will preface this by saying the meal was lovely, as was his family's home. And now some shallow thoughts:

• First we were unsure of attending dinner at his house. Both of us were sort of picturing a harem. We each thought this separately, which is especially funny since we both weren't convinced girls were his thing. Due to this uncertainty, when Drea was late meeting us, we took the opportunity to walk away. Unfortunately every which way we turned led us to another dead end. When we finally had walked back and forth across the highway, we decided it was time to give in and go to dinner. Also, Rachel was experiencing extreme pain of the foot, which she took as our punishment for trying to escape dinner.

• Once at Drea's house, he arranged two kitchen chairs so we could both watch him prepare the meal. This "demo" was like an episode of Hell's Kitchen. Drea insisted on speaking throughout the cooking process, exclusively giving directives of how to prepare pasta. Clearly Courtney's response to "Do you know how to make pasta?", "Haha... yea, boil water and put the pasta in," was not the way to go. Throughout the lesson, we were quizzed on the process, to ensure we remembered that red sauce is the only acceptable sauce to have with pasta. (No alfredo?!)

Drea: (Holding one onion) 'Now you use a white onion when making the suace, right?"

Court: Well-- I mean... I guess... Actually my parents normally make the sauce....."

Drea: (Interrupting) "But they use a white onion, right?"

Court: "Sure."

Drea: "You must always use a white onion. And always dark green olive oil."

• Drea seemed unsympathetic to Rachel's now infamous foot injury.
• And of course the title of this blog references where Drea put the bag of onions after using one.
• Other Highlights:
• Being forced to eat seafood with oobleck sauce (hey- at least we get good house guest credit)
• Not being able to turn off the bathroom light
• Being subjected to music that was popular multiple decades before our birth. Quite possibly before our great-grandparents birth.
• Sitting in the car, in the middle of the street- in silence- waiting for Drea to find the "perfect" cd to drive to. (It was Pink Floyd)
• Learning that the next generation of Italian drivers also believes Italy has no traffic laws.
• When asked if we could help clean up, Drea said "no, don't worry about it. Leave everything. The maid will come tomorrow and clean it."

Cousines Go to Hospital:

After several days of intense foot pain, multiple trips to the pharmacy, several ice packs, and bandaging, Rachel finally agreed it was time to get her foot checked out. So off we went to Rome Amercian Hospital. Courtney had chosen this hospital because the website boasts an English speaking doctor on duty 24-hours. Also, the use of American in the title was reassuring.

We make the trek out to the hospital, and let us just tell you... it's in the middle of nowhere. Once we arrive and enter to hospital, we are greeted by a guard that most certainly does not speak English. Luckily Courtney had written down the situation in Italian to be able to explain the problem. We were then told the 24-hour hospital did not have an emergency room. We'd need to go elsewhere. In the guard's defense he was very apologetic and even called us a taxi.

The taxi arrived and the guard told him where to take us. Of course instead of heading back towards home, or the city center, we drove even farther into the land of nothing. It was once we saw the highway signs for Napoli that we began to get concerned. Surely all the ambulances zipping around aren't taking people all the way out here... and well if they are, that seems an even bigger problem.

We arrive at the hospital, which actually seems to be only an ER. Just another example of Italy's extremes. Nothing in the middle. Everything is either way too small or way too big. So it shouldn't be a surprise that you must choose between an ER and a hospital. With well wishes from our taxi driver, we enter the realm of Italian medicine. 

We immediately check in, have a brief overview visit with the nurse at the check-in desk, and are directed to the waiting room. The waiting room is packed. Courtney's immediately angry she forgot her book, because it looks like we'll be spending the weekend here. Once we sit down, we begin to notice an even more curious thing. Everyone is totally transfixed by the television. It's amazing- young and old, male and female, all watching with the same intense, glazed over look. Taking roll of everyone in the waiting room it becomes clear there are two distinct groups: those that clearly  lost the battle with their motorcycles, and those that seemed to just be there for the TV. In fact, our suspicion was further raised when Rachel was called not long after sitting down.

We enter the hallway beyond the waiting room and down to another waiting area. This one seemed to have the distinction of leg injuries (or as Rachel says, it's the gimp waiting room). We watch as several boys brag about their scooter accidents; one with his leg bandaged on thigh to ankle, the other with both arms completely wrapped and extended at 90 degree angles. The other concern was the gurneys randomly placed through out the corridor. If I were a 90 year woman with an oxygen mask on, I think I'd like my own room, or at least not to be on the main corridor.

The hospital had some pretty high tech stuff as well. The most impressive being the huge sliding doors for the examine rooms. Rachel and I were pondering the benefits of these doors....

Scene 1: Courtney and Rachel sitting in waiting room 2. The examine room is to their left. The sliding door begins to open, with a patient in a gurney being moved out of the room.

Court: I'm not sure if I like those doors or not.

Rach: Huh?

Court: I'm not sure if I like those doors or not.

Rach: Yea, I know

Both turn and look at the door. Suddenly the door slams closed on the gurney.

Court & Rach: Don't like.

Scene 2: Our friend with the leg injury is now called into the exam room. Ten minutes goes by and the door opens, yet no one is emerging. Suddenly...

Boy: SCREAMING

Then silence as the door quietly closes.

At some point in waiting room two, we hear the beginnings of a fight occurring in waiting room one. We are both amazed to see how quickly everyone jumped up and ran to watch the fight. Especially since they were all there for leg issues.

Rachel finally goes in to see the doctor and is told it was just stress on her ligaments from excessive walking. (Hehehe...). Her foot gets wrapped up before we are then led to another waiting room. Waiting room three is an interesting cast of characters. We're not really sure what we're doing there, let alone why anyone else is there. One guy has spent the entire night chasing the nurses over his injured thumb. They had yet to tell him that it would stop bleeding if he stopped playing with the bandage. Courtney suspects they were overlooking his cries for help and attention. Or maybe just ADD.

When it's Rachel's turn we meet with another doctor that explains what the two doctors in the exam room had said. When he's finished we stare blankly at him. We wait until he finally says "Ok, that's it. Stopped. You can go." We're frozen. How could this be? They haven't asked for our address. They haven't asked for insurance. We stammer "Uhh... you're sure? We can just go home now?" With a firm yes we left the hospital without having to pay a cent. Thank you blanket healthcare.

A note about the birds:

For those of you who were concerned about the pigeons residing on our balcony, we are sad to report the pigeons have abandoned their eggs. After several days of spying on the eggs for signs of mama pigeon we realized the eggs have been abandoned. They were dead. Rachel had the unenviable job of disposing of the eggs. R.I.P. Baby Pigeon Eggs.

Lesson of the week:  All roads lead to Piazza Navona. (Unless it's a highway).

Object of the week: Hearts. Italians love hearts. Heart shaped ice trays, heart shaped stickers, heart shaped crackers... just to name a few.

Observation of the week: Italians will take an exorbitant amount of time to do even the most menial task. This is most often done while you are waiting for them. Rarely-if ever- do you get an explanation of what they are doing, or when they will be finished. And it's never easy to just figure it out what they are doing by watching. Interestingly the question you ask yourself while standing awkwardly is not 'what are they doing', but 'what am I standing here.'
Neighborhood Lesson of the Week:

What we were hoping for...

What we got....

A Typical Day for Cousines in Rome

Now that we have a week under our belts I think it's safe to say a typical day in Rome has emerged for us. Technically the day starts the night before when we plan the next day's goals and establish how early we need to get up to get them accomplished. As they say, the best laid plans...no matter how early we get up, eat breakfast, get showered, and leave the house, we always arrive at our destination during siesta. For those of you who don't know what siesta is, it is roughly the time between 1 pm and anywhere from 5 to 7:30 pm that everything closes. Everything.  A Plan B to achieve your goal is always necessary since you have a 50/50 chance of having the store re-open. In our neighborhood there are whole blocks we know solely by the graffiti covered grates.

A prime example of our problem is the bread bakery that is literally attached to our building. The closest we've ever gotten is seeing the bakery through the closed glass doors. It's become our personal challenge to get bread from that bakery. Courtney's window is geographically the most likely to draw in the smell of fresh baking bread. She spends most mornings in a half sleep sniffing for signs of baking bread.

Then there is the on going shower situation. It's nearly impossible for us to remember to put the water heater on in enough time to allow both of us to get a hot shower. One of us (normally Courtney) must sacrifice themselves to a shower that mimics get caught in freezing rain. This only heightens the other potentially hazardous shower challenges. The size of the shower is equivalent  to a port-o-potty. Sudden movements are not encouraged, and escaping the experience with fewer than a dozen run-ins with the shower doors is considered a success. Because your feet get so dirty walking around the city, you have to make a special effort to clean them when showering.  If the cold water or the size of the shower didn't get you, than the rapidly filling shower base might. The majority of your shower focus goes to finishing the shower before you flood the bathroom. Thus balancing on one foot, while trying to avoid direct contact with the pelting freezing water, and watching the rapidly rising water for signs of flood is quite literally taking your life in your hands.   It's not unusual for us to ask each other if everything is okay as soon as we hear the water go off. We're just grateful  the shower doors are plastic.

Okay so now we've gotten up, eaten, and showered, it's time to leave the house. We can't take the elevator to the lobby because we can't figure out how to get out of the elevator once we get there. We're on the third floor so getting off at the first floor is just silly, but because the stairs are granite it takes us 10 minutes to get downstairs for fear of falling. Next is the 45 minute walk to wherever we're going. After multiple days of extensive walking Rachel's left knee is destroyed and the right side of Courtney's back and right leg are ruined. This pretty much doubles our walking time. By the time we're halfway there we are sweating profusely and need another shower. On yesterday's excursion Rachel was quoted saying "I'm sweating in my shorts." A little while later.. "Hold on!..I'm falling out of my pants."

And after lunch:
Rach: I have to get up in a certain way.
Court: Because of the gimpness? (not the first reference to Rachel's injured knee)
Rach: No because of the sweatness

But fear not we're problem solvers.  Rach has been scoping out canes to address the walking problem. ("I saw the canes at that little store. Next to the mops.")  Court's still looking for a back brace. We've also invented personal canopies in an effort to reduce the sweatness.

We have a great balcony that we've been so excited to sit out on. To date that's not been possible... a family of pigeons has set up house on our balcony. The mother spends most of the day sitting on the eggs nestled in one of our flower pots. When we approach- typically to try and put laundry out- she stares aggressively. The situation has gotten our attention so much that we're constantly running into other rooms to make sure a pigeon hasn't come in.

Another daily challenge is our ability to communicate. Not with the Italians, but with each other. In English. We also suffer from nonsense thought processes. Some examples:

• "My stomach still feels weird. I don't know if it's more hunger....- or just sick."- Rach
• Courtney spent 2 days without her fan before realizing the fan isn't going to turn on if you keep hitting the off button.
• "I just stayed awake so slowly."- Courtney
• "I need to move myself into the big bag."- Courtney
• "I feel like we fell asleep in a poppy field..... you know like Dorothy and her animals" (referencing our random 8 pm nap- Dorothy and her animals is commonly known as The Wizard of Oz)- Rach
• "I know! That's what I always worry about when I watch the movie." -Rach (When asked if it was meant to be a poppy field how did anyone ever wake up to make it to the Emerald City)

* Special Note: the above phrases and situations occurred without the influence of alcohol.

On Taxis:

We have yet to get in the taxi that we approached. When we ask to be taken somewhere we are constantly told "It's far." Well yes, thank you, that's why we've decided to take a taxi. (Unfortunately that rationale didn't dawn on us until last night). Once we've established that we will be taking a taxi, the group of taxi drivers gather to discuss who will take us and which route to take. In fact this process takes quite a long time, seemingly to give other taxis within a 10 mile radius to arrive and contribute to the discussion. Often when we're in the taxi Courtney's ability to respond to questions posed in English disappears. But she does try to answer. It's just to answer a completely different question. (Example: "Would you like the air conditioning on?" Courtney: "You want to set a price instead of the meter?")  When you're walking you absolutely always wish you were being driven, but there are many times where you are made to regret that wish. I'm fairly certain there is nothing worse than being in a taxi with a broken seatbelt.  If you have any sense of self-preservation this is the worst thing that could happen to you.

Sight of the Day: One toed pigeon while eating lunch near the Vatican.

Word of the Day: Oobleck (def. sticky green substance invented by  the good Dr. Seuss) When used in a sentence: "I don't like walking through tunnels. I don't want oobleck to fall on me."

Situation of the Day: Typically Italians only shop for the food they will eat that day. As Americans we're used to stocking the fridge. As we checked out today the cashier asked us if all that food was just for the two of us.

The Arrival

Ciao!!

Well, we're finally here and settled into our apartment. It's been a fun, hilarious, and long few days.

Since arriving we have seen the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum (Question of the Day, provided by Rachel: What's the Colosseum made of?), and the Spanish Steps (Or what Rach likes to call them: The Stairs). We've also spent quite a bit of time walking around and exploring the various neighborhoods in Rome. If you want to see pictures and videos of our adventures visit our link photobucket page

Some things we've learned:

• Our hotel was not near anything....

              Us: Can you recommend any places to eat around here?

              Receptionist: There's one about a kilometer away.

              Us: That's it?

              Reception: Well you can eat at the hotel restaurant.

             Taxi: I know exactly where your hotel is, I used to live there. There's nothing to do.

             Us: Nothing? As in there isn't anything for us to walk to?

             Taxi: Correct. How did you even find that hotel?

             Us: (Rachel looks at Courtney... Courtney turns and looks out the window).

• After a few days, your English- even amongst other English speakers- begins to fall apart, making communication difficult.

          Court: There's Dior

          Rach: There's Dior (what Court heard: where?)

          Court: Right there.

          Rach: Yea (what court heard: where?)

          Court: Straight ahead, Dior.

          Rach: silence...

          Court: (exasperated) Yea, RIGHT THERE.

          Rach: I KNOW! I said, there's Dior.

          Court: and there's Gucci

      -----PAUSE----

         Rach: Where's Gucci?

      

• If you want a hot, or even warm, shower you need to plan hours in advance.

               I can tell you with great certainty that Rach and I took the coldest showers of our lives yesterday. You'd think with it being so hot here that it'd be refreshing... yep, not so much.

• Doing laundry is an all day activity. 

                And when you do use the washing machine it sounds like a plane taking off.... for about 4 hours.

• Public restrooms can be a prime location for getting yelled at.

            While I was getting us gelato, Rach was busy getting yelled at by an old woman posing at the bathroom attendant. The yelling continued well after Rach had left.

• Waiters tell you when it's time to leave.

                 Our second night in the hotel we again ate at the their restaurant (see above). After we finished our meal, we relaxed a bit before asking for our check. When we politely asked for our check, our waiter said no. He apparently felt that we need to sit and relax longer. So we quickly finished our beverages in the hope of getting the check. Then we just waited another 45 minutes until our waiter felt it was okay to give us the check.

• Going green hotel style.

                  In an effort to go green, the hotels now require that you place your room key into a slot within the room in order to work the lights. After removing the card you have approximately 30 seconds before all the lights go out. How did we discover this? Well Rach went to get bottles of water. Court was in the bathroom getting ready to shower. After a few seconds all the lights in the bathroom went out. With no other source of light, Court spent the next 10 minutes walking into everything in the bathroom and knocking everything over. It wasn't until Rach returned that the lights were restored and Court could make it out of the bathroom. Though extensive clean-up was required.

• Air- conditioning is more important than you think.

                 Host: Good afternoon ladies. 

                 Us: Hello. We'd like a table for two.

                 Host: Sure. Inside or Outside?

                 Us: Inside.

                 Host: Okay, it'll just be inside and downstairs. (what Court heard: it's downstairs and has no air)

                 Court: No air conditioning?!?!! (horrified)

                 Host: Haha... Of course we have air conditioning! (Responding as though Court's absurd).

•  The Italian perception of Americans perception of distance is hilarious.

                   Taxi: Wow... you know that's far right? Like 20 minutes in traffic.

                   2nd Taxi: Your neighborhood is really far from the metro. It's a 10 minute walk.

                   Interviewer: Where do you live?

                   Us: Pigneto

                   Interviewer: Where? Pig- what??

                   Us: Pigneto.

                   Interviewer: I have no idea where you are talking about.

• Court can fall asleep at anytime, while continuing to talk nonsense and not remember anything later.

                      I took a shower while Court was writing in her journal. I got out of the shower to find Court passed out with her journal still open and the pen in her hand. Court turned to me and began talking. She continued to mumble nonsense and have no clue what was going on. When questioned later she recalled nothing.

           Another time I ran out to make phone calls. When I returned I found Court asleep. As I was closing the room door, Court said "oh I didn't you came in already." I said, 'I didn't, I'm just coming in now." Court was sleeping across the bed.I told her to sleep the right way. She insisted that I sleep across the bed as well. So there we were facing each laying across the bed. I tried to set the alarm on Court's phone. I couldn't figure it out and asked for help. Court grabbed the phone and claimed to have changed the time zone and set the alarm. An hour and a half this obnoxious noise is blaring and Court is telling me to turn it off, even though her phone is right next to her. I finally realize it is my phone going off across the room, because I set it for 10:15 am US time. Court's phone went off at 10 pm- claiming it was 8 am and it was set for 8:30 am. 

• We've settled into our odd couple roles quite nicely.

                  I make sure Rach takes her vitamins everyday, and Rach opens things and makes sure I don't get sticky hands. It's working out quite nicely.

        

In our first four days, we have eaten pizza and gelato at least six times, and pasta twice. Last night we forgot to get bread. It was a sad and lonely meal that involved salami, cheese, and mustard. Today we slept in, which meant that by the time we left the apartment everything was closed. On Sunday's if you aren't closed all day, you close for siesta and never open again- so no bread again.