I’m BAAAAACK!

Got home after a monstrous 23 hour day yesterday. Oy what a trip.

First of all, I am reserving a special place in hell for the baggage people at Alitalia, who managed to lose our bags TWICE in one trip. No bags when we got to Rome, and again last night on our trip from NYC to Boston.

No joke.

We arrived in Rome after a surprisingly uneventful overnight flight hot & sticky, as it was humid and in the 80s there. I was so ready to shed my work clothes for something more comfortable… until we figured out that our bags (and those of about 20 others on our plane) weren’t there. Devastated does not really do my feelings justice in the situation; all I wanted was to take a shower and put on clean clothing. We shopped for a couple of things at Rome’s Termini and hoped that our bags would arrive shortly.

We didn’t get our bags for FOUR DAYS.

I had actually gotten pretty good at washing my undies in the sink each night.

But the sights… and the FOOD… more than made up for it. Oh, the food. And the wine.

And because I said I was going to share pics – here they are. Of SOME of the sights. In Rome. Because we took like 150 pictures on the trip – I’m going to share some of the highlights of our stay in Rome with you. Florence and Cinqueterra will come in the next couple of days.

The Colosseum – during the day:

The Colosseum at night (one of my favorite pictures):

Trevi Fountain:

The Parthenon:

The Arch of Constantine:

More of ancient Rome (including pictures I took from inside the Colosseum. Because really, I HAD to go inside it):

And then there was Vatican City.

J and I agree that St. Peter’s Basilica was by far the highlight of our trip. We got there early on Thursday morning, when the crowds were at a low (because trust me, there WERE crowds. Everywhere).

What a beautiful church. And I’ll tell you – I don’t normally like to take pictures of churches. Because, well, I think that the best way to give them the respect they deserve is quiet contemplation. No flashes. Etc. But I HAD to take some pictures. Because first of all, everyone else was taking pictures (even in the Sistine freaking Chapel, where the signs were STRICTLY posted – “No pictures. Silence please.” In like 20 languages. Which apparently doesn’t stop people from taking pictures and talking.) And because St Peter’s was by far the most beautiful church I’ve seen.

So. Pictures:

This one is of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Literally the most beautiful sculpture I’ve seen – at one point I swore that Jes.us was breathing.

My favorite picture from St. Peter’s – we took this as we were climbing the dome.

And some more from the Vatican Museum – The Raphael Hallway:

Another random closed off hallway filled with gilt and frescoes and art:

Now. The FOOD.

Because on our first day in Rome, when were were walking about after an overnight flight, in 85 degree heat and humidity, in ill-fitting clothing because Alitalia had lost our bags… we were pretty darn miserable. (Ok, maybe *I* was. I took the loss of our bags personally. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I cried about it once or twice.) The first place we went to for dinner was near the Spanish Steps. And as we sipped our wine and munched on bruschetta at an outdoor table that spilled into the narrow street, I began to relax a bit.

And when they brought me my first dish – homemade fusilli pasta with black truffles in a cream sauce – well, let me just say that life looked markedly better.

I am a truffle girl. I LOVE both white and black truffles for the earthiness and fragrance. Whenever there was a dish which had a suggestion of “tartufo,” I generally ordered it.

This first dinner in Rome, though? The best truffle dish I had ever eaten. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip for me.

The second night we ate at a minimalist wine bar near Piazza Navona. It was pretty good – the risotto I had was second to none, and the wine was quite good

Most days we actually skipped lunch – something about the time difference made it so that I wasn’t all that hungry in the middle of the day. And since we had our once-maybe-twice-a-day gelato habit, we certainly never went hungry. I do like the gelato there – particularly the coffee kind. In fact, everything coffee was fantastic there – I’m fairly certain Italian coffee has ruined me forever. Star.bucks just won’t cut it.

So that was Rome. Next up is Cinqueterra. And then Florence.

I will be catching up on news with all of you today and tomorrow. Hope everyone had a fantastic week!