visitor time!

It's been so long since I've posted, I am so so sorry! India, Dad, and Zach are visiting so I haven't had much down time. Also my crazy insane honors midterm was today so FINALLY that's overwith and I can update yippee!

me and zach!

SO. Where to begin? I suppose we'll start with Friday. I woke up early to meet Zach at the airport. I squeezed in a nice yoga session beforehand, then took the train to the arrivals gate at Fiumicino. His plane was a little late, so I wandered around the airport a little bit. It was fun to see people reuniting - hugs and kisses and smiles galore. He finally arrived (YAY) and was a complete zombie haha. He walked out of the terminal and looked around like he had no idea where to go - I guess that was pretty valid though. It was so good to see him!! He exchanged some money, then we began the treck back to the apartment. After struggling a little with the ticket machine, we hopped on the train, transferred to the metro, and made it back in one piece. As soon as Zach hit the bed he was out. He took a nice long nap while I made puppy chow with the JIF peanut butter (YES) and chex that he brought me (i used nutella instead of melted chocolate - AMAZING) and watched Gnomeo and Juliet (cutest movie ever by the way). I got a little studying in for my midterm too.

For dinner we decided to walk to Storico Centro. It was an easy walk, just across the bridge. We ate at a nice restaurant right on Piazza Navona. It was sprinkling a little bit and had been raining on and off all day, but we were nice and warm with the heater beside us. The bottle of wine helped, too:) We both tried different authentic Italian pastas yum yum yum. Jet lag was still hitting Zach pretty hard, so we headed home after dinner and watched a movie before bed.

On Saturday, India and Dad arrived! They called us from their hotel once they settled in around noon, so Zach and I headed over to meet them. They were worn out from all the traveling, but we made it out to a nice lunch at a little diner by their hotel. They're staying near Termini, which is convenient because that's a main bus/metro stop. Perfecto! We split a couple pizzas and tried a cheese platter. Dad was pretty exhausted still, so he headed back to the hotel. India came with us back to my apartment. We wandered around Cola di Rienzo for a little while looking in the shops, then rested in the apartment until dinner time. The plan for dinner was a place that Dad had read about in his Rome tourist book. He was craving seafood and it was apparently the best seafood in Rome, so we headed that direction.

India throwing coins into the Trevi

Not only was this the best seafood in Rome, but it was the best FOOD in Rome. So. Amazing. The restaurant was right by the Pantheon, so we stopped by and took a few pictures there before making our way to dinner. The restaurant was called Quinzi & Gabrielli. I was so overwhelmed looking at the menu - everything sounded so amazing! We were all totally lost on what to get, so I asked the waiter what his favorite was. He smiled, picked up our menus, and told us he would make us very happy that night. He went over everything he'd bring out to us, but I didn't understand half of it. I hoped for the best. And the best is what we got. We started out with wonderful bruschetta, then came our first appetizers. I don't even know what we ate. It was just so so so so good. The 3 course meal included swordfish, seabass, prawns, lobster, calamari, tuna, oysters...literally one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Dad, Zach, and I split a nice bottle of wine and we finished off dinner with some sorbet, chocolate mousse, and champagne with a little coffee to top it off. Absolutely incredible. This is an absolute MUST if you're in Rome with a little money to spend. Check out their website: http://www.quinziegabrieli.it/index.html.

After dinner we wandered back to the Pantheon and circled around to the Trevi Fountain. We each threw in our 3 coins for our 3 wishes! It was freeeeeeeezing cold, so we hopped on the metro and parted ways. A very successful first day for the Butler Visitors.

dad, indy, and zach overlooking the forum at capitoline hill

Sunday we hit pretty much every tourist spot we could. Zach and I met the fam at their hotel at 10am and the plan was to go to the Carnevale parade a couple streets over. India and Dad were dragging (still getting used to the time difference) so we ended up not making it to the parade. Oh well! Once they finisehd getting ready, we made our way to the Colosseum. Lucky them - I just had my exam on il Colosseo and the Roman Forum so they got a personal tour! The line was way too long to go inside, so we just walked around and I told them random facts. From there we walked up Via dei For Imperiali to Piazza Venezia (the "wedding cake") and Capitoline Hill. We hung out for a little while on top of the hill overlooking Rome. It was a nicer day today thank goodness - finally the rain had stopped!! After resting for a little longer, we hit up Largo Argentina (I had to show India the cat sanctuary), and went back to the Pantheon to eat some lunch.

India likes to use Zach's camera for close-up artsy piczzz

Dad loved the Pantheon. We couldn't go inside when we had gone the night before, so we spent about an hour wandering around looking at it's beautiful structure and art. Zach is into geology, so he and Dad found out some cool facts about the marble in the walls - neato! After wandering through the Pantheon, we grabbed lunch at a little restaurant right outside for the pretty pretty view. India doesn't like tomatoes (in Italy, I know, insanity) so we had to ask for a special dish with just plain noodles and white sauce. Luckily they obliged, but other restaurants haven't been so willing. Hopefully her tastebuds will expand to new foods by the end of the week! We all got pasta or pizza and split a nice Pinot Grigio. The Spanish Steps weren't far, so we figured we'd go all out. We passed the Trevi again so they could see it during the day time, then walked to the steps.

SO MANY PEOPLE FOR CARNEVALE

It was really cool because they were having Carnevale events EVERYWHERE and Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps were two of the main event places. We stopped in Cafe Grecco (GREAT capuccinos there) to re-energize then sat on the steps and watched the performers below. It was so neat - there were tons and tons and TONS of people there watching and walking around. The kids are so cute. The all get dressed up like Halloween for the entire Carnevale week. We saw some pretty funny costumes. After resting for awhile, it was getting late so we decided to head home.

SINS door near carnevale
(this is for you, page/rohan)

We walked to the top of the steps then walked to Piazza del Popolo (where the metro stop was). We admired the view for a few minutes, watched some of the horse show in the piazza for carnevale, then made our way towards the metro stop. We parted ways with Dad and India for a few hours so we could all rest up for dinner. Zach and I walked home because my apartment's not too far. We got to walk through the main Carnevale festivities which was fun! We found our favorite costume of the events - a little boy was dressed in a full body walrus costume. That's legit. We had a nice late afternoon walk home, then I studied a little until dinner.

Dad and India met us at our apartment for dinner. I was pretty stressed out about my exam (because my professor is insane and expects us to know waaaaaaaay more than the capacity of my brain can handle), so we decided to go to the pizzeria across the street and just grab something quick. Unfortunately, we forgot that it was closed on Sunday!! Hmm. Instead we walked a few blocks to another pizzeria that I hadn't tried before. It was very very yummy, though! It was the typical Italian pizzeria - busy busy busy with lots of people trying to do too many things at once. We finally were seated and ordered. Zach had been wanting a calzone, so he got a football-sized (HUGE) calzone, Dad and I got yummy pizzas, and India's special request of plain pasta didn't fly here so she somehow mustered the courage to force down a plain cheese pizza. Phew! Everything was incredible. I took a card home with me - I'll definitely be going back there.

visiting the colosseum while i studied AH

I was a complete zombie all during dinner. I think I was overwhelmed with my exam and had just been going nonstop since everyone got here, so I decided to spend Monday studying and resting in the apartment. I got SO much done, which was nice. I finished up my fresco for class Wednesday then studied all day. I was feeling a lot better about the exam, although I still had a long way to go. Zach was so good about my panic attacks whenever I freaked out mid-studyage - he put on Dave Matthews and got me blood red orange juice. Yum:) quite a catch. The visitors explored all day Monday, went back to the Colosseum and Forum to explore the inside since the line wasn't as long on weekdays, then came back to the apartment around four.

zach's canolli

I had a little coffee break with them and took them to the canolleria that I love so much. It was a successful trip - we tried the pistaccio, original, and chocolate chip.  Mmmm Mm MMMM! Came back to the apartment and chillaxed for awhile. Dad and India headed back to their hotel and I continued the never-ending studying. For dinner we decided to meet at the Pantheon since we'd been there a couple times and then walk to the restaurant. I was a little nervous because my dad isn't the best with directions, but we were hoping for the best.

Zach and I got to the Pantheon a few minutes late, but Dad and India were no where to be seen. We waited for a little while, looked around some shops, shooed away the flower and toy vendors, did some foot dances to keep warm, and then finally they arrived! Apparently they got so lost getting here that they had to take a taxi haha. Oops! Luckily the restaurant wasn't too far of a walk, so we hurried there to warm up. I took them to Rossopomodora - the place I went to the first night with API that had the most incredible bruschetta. We all tried pastas and pizzas and appetizers and wine. Yippee! I've probably gained 10 pounds from my dad being here haha. So much food all the time. I'm DEFINITELY not complaining, though.

CONFETTI!!
(dad kept calling it graffiti haha)

Tuesday I had my on-site class. We went to a couple old churches near the Colosseum. I felt like I was in Angels and Demons - searching underground for hidden treasures. Actually there's one scene from LOST where they're underground in some old building. One of the underground levels of the churches we went into looked EXACTLY like that. At first I thought I was having a weird deja-vu, then I realized I had seen it on lost haha. It was so so cold though, because the church was 3 levels deep (from all the different centuries), so as you went lower it got colder and colder. brr!

After class I hurried home to meet Zach for lunch. The visitors were having a chill day since we'd been going nonstop since they got here. I got back to the apartment around 12:30 and he was just waking up - so jealous. We made some yummy pasta filled with cheese and nuts for lunch and had surprise visitors!! India and Dad came over and dropped off some flowers for me that they'd picked up at the flower market down the street:) Yayy! Tuesday was International Women's Day, so there were vendors selling flowers everywhere called "mimosas". These flowers are the special women flowers apparently. They're very pretty - they kind of remind me of forsythias (or as we were taught growing up forCYNTHIAs!). Dad and Indy got me a beautiful white orchid, a big plant of purple daisies, and a little baby green plant. I was so excited:)

confetti everywhere!

Zach and I rested up then wandered around Prati in the afternoon, checking out some stores. He's looking for a pair of selvage jeans (Travis knows all about these - follow his jean project blog at http://hoboventures.blogspot.com/ ), so we stopped in a few stores but didn't find anything. We grabbed gelato from a place I'd never been before - gelateria dei gracchi. I was a little nervous because it was by the ristorante that we went to once of the first nights I was here - I'm still intimidated. But they had really awesome flavors so I'll have to go back. I tried grapefruit and yogurt - yum!

I was super excited about Tuesday night because it was the final night of Carnevale so there was a big event at Piazza del Popolo - only about 10 - 15 mins from my apartment. India and Dad met us at the apartment then we walked over. They'd bought masks for us to wear, which i was SUPER excited about. India and I switched off wearing the cat mask and the dog ears/nose. There was confetti EVERYWHERE so we picked it up off the ground and had a massive confetti fight. It got everywhere - think I still have some stuck in my hair haha. There were some cool exhibits that we walked through, but we were most excited about the fireworks finale show. Ashley, Kaylie, and Debbie met us at Popolo. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, the fireworks began! (45 minutes after they were supposed to - what can we expect, it's Italy?). It was so beautiful. A fantastic fireworks show! We were freezing to death by the end of it, so we hurried to the pizzeria across from out apartment for dinner.

dog rawr

They were full for the night, so we ordered 7 pizzas to go to share with the roomies. Everything was wonderful! It was a long day, and I still had lots of studying to do, so Dad and India headed home and Zach helped me study - aka calmed me down every time I had a panic attack just thinking about EVERYTHING I was expected to know. Ridiculous.

bark bark!!

Wednesday was the exam day. I wasn't feeling well Tuesday night (sore throat, stuffy nose) so I had taken some benadryl before bed. It completely knocked me out. I couldn't keep my eyes open if I wanted to. Getting up was hard, but I forced myself out of bed to study a little more before the test. Ugh. It went okay. She expects us to know SO much. My brain cannot retain all of it. Whatever thank goodness it's over.

India, Zach, and Dad were wandering around the Jewish Ghetto for the day, so I met them at Campo to grab lunch after the exam. We ate at a nice place right by the Campo dei Fiori market while they told me about their morning adventures. Apparently they found an awesome vintage photo shop that they want me to check out. We'll definitely have to head back there. We wandered around Storico Centro, then came back towards my apartment area in Prati. Dad, Zach and I walked around the shopping street while India rested in the apartment and caught up on Cake Boss. We got home a little while later, watched some Glee, then headed to dinner!

Since my dad loves Mexican food so much, I had to take him to the Mexican place right by my house to see how it compared to Richmond. He actually approved! The queso wasn't up to India's standards, but everything else was awesome. We ate, relaxed, had some sangria/margs, then parted ways. India and Dad have been struggling with the public transportation - it never seems to work out for them. Every night something goes wrong. We were sure that everything would be fine since we finished up in time for them to take the metro, but Thursday we heard differently. Apparently they didn't get there in time and then the buses had stopped, and they finally ended up catching a cab an hour or so later. Boo!! Terrible luck. Maybe by the time they leave they'll have it down.

Zach and I had a nice night in the apartment, relaxing FINALLY after the crazy few days of exams. We watched Hot Tub Time Machine..I didn't realize it had so many famous people in it! It made me miss snowboarding.

What a week so far! I'm so excited for the weekend with everyone:)