Bonjourno!

Our first day in Rome was spectacular! Rome has more character than any city I've been to. The narrow streets are lined with historic buildings and apartments where renters display flowers and greenery on their balconies. The people are friendly, even to tourists who are so obvious as us. I never thought I looked much Italian until I came here. Of course my mom could come here and tourists would probably stop and ask her for directions in broken Italian - she could come here and not miss a beat.
The Borghese gallery was magnificent today. Statues, artwork, and paintings fill the mansion; everywhere you rest your eyes is beautiful! My favorite was a marble statue of Apollo chasing Daphne. As she is running she turns into a tree and the artist (Bernini) captured the transformation exactly in his work.
I've already had some genuine Italian lasagne and it really was incredible. We haven't gotten gelato yet :). We did however get terribly lost. The bus system is somewhat difficult to navigate. But taxis have been a godsend! Speaking of God, this is truly the center for Christianity. When you walk down the cobblestone streets it is not uncommon to run across nuns or stores filled with priest robes, goblets, and church accessories (including pope hats!).
Well I must be off to bed for our adventure tomorrow. We will see the Vatican and Sistine chapel and attend mass at St. Peter's Basilica (and hopefully try the gelato!).
Ciao!

Rome...here we come!

Wow - only 2 days until we fly to Rome. It hardly seems possible! Here is our itinerary:

Saturday:

• Arrive in Rome at 8:15am
• Drop off bags at hotel
• Brunch?
• National Museum of Rome (10am – 2pm)
• Snack/second lunch?
• Borghese Gallery (reservation required), 15:00, must be there 30 minutes beforehand
• Dinner
• Night Walk Across Rome (pg 71 Rick Steves book)
• Spanish steps
• Trevi Fountain

Sunday:

• Vatican Museum (free and packed) (8:45- 13:45). May do this on Tuesday if too busy
• Sistine Chapel
• Lunch
• St. Peters Basilica (Mass starts at 9:00, 10:30, 11:30, 12:10, 13:00, 16:00, 17:30) open 7:00-19:00. Cost €6 to climb dome
• Trajans Column (7:15 – 18:00) free and always viewable, 1 hr to tour if touring market as well – Closed Monday
• Capitol Hill Museum (9:00-20:00)– closed Monday
• Dinner

Monday:

• Colosseum (9:00 – 15:15), Guided tour €3.50, 45 min
• Forum (may want to do this first and purchase tickets at Arch of Titus or buy Roma pass) (8:30-18:15) Guided tour €3.50, 1hr
• Palatine Hill (9:00 – 18:15) Guided tour only once daily €4, 90 min
• Pantheon (8:30-19:30), free and 15 minute walk from forum. Rome's best gelato at Gelateria della Palma, two blocks in front of the Pantheon (Via della Maddalena 20).

Tuesday:

• Appian Way
• San Sebastian catacombs
• Dolce Vita stroll

We will miss Jenna terribly but it will be fun to go. I'm so excited - this trip will be a long awaited and much needed vacation. Jenna has driven me nuts all week with her terrible twos so I need this vacation. She's almost as bad as my students :).

In other news:

1. Check out this guy who does beatboxing with a flute - now that is talent! Forget American idol!
2. Finally finished the Dark Tower by Stephen King. Has a better story been written? Not sure. It was marvelous!!
3. Lent started today. I'm giving up candy. Bye Bye M&Ms, Reeces cups, etc. I will miss you. It will be good for me though! I eat too much candy.
   
4. Erik and I made new Everquest characters. I made a Warden wood elf namd Caedwynn and Erik made a Monk wood elf named Caedmon. I thought of naming myself something like Call so we could be Caedmon and Call but I thought that might be slightly cheesy. So I went with a name somewhat like his. I picked out his name this time. His other characters are named Kire and Karazduk. Need I say more...
5. I got 60 points on Quiddler today. A terrible showing since I lost the V which was worth 11 points. I did make the word bloat. That is how I felt after I ate too much biscotti and hot cocoa tonight :).

Toodles!

Happy Valentine's Day

To celebrate Valentine's Day Erik chose strawberries as my iron chef secret ingredient. It was an awesomely sweet time! Of course we ate a lot of sugar for this iron chef. I also lost 10% of my score since I finished in 1 hr and 10 minutes rather than 1 hr. Ouch - that hurt my ratings. Even so, I got a very high rating on the fruit salad I made as well as the other sweets. Here is what I made:

• Mixed berry fruit salad with cinnamon honey dressing
• Layered strawberry, ham and cheese sandwich
• Strawberry cream cheese stuffed french toast with strawberry whipped cream on top
• Strawberry white chocolate bars
• Strawberry lemon trifle

Everything was delicious but very filling. Wow - I was stuffed after that :).
Yum!
Well we've been snowed in these past two days andDevry's classes have been canceled. I was planning on going to Dayton today but the roads were awful. In the morning I went to Jen's house for a kids Valentine's party and got stuck on her road (they didn't plow it). That was fun.
Lately Jenna has been obsessed with playdoh. I've included a cute picture of her playing with Playdoh. She has been playing wth playdoh every day. She also loves to help dada with work. Here is a video of her putting stickers on dada's nose while he is trying to work. It was too funny. I just had to take a video.
Got 84 on Quiddler today. Who knew SOOEY was a word?

Break

I haven't blogged in almost a month! Time has flown quickly with Jenna's birthday party and then Uncle David coming to visit. It has been a fun month. I can't believe my little girl is now 2!! Time has flown. She has grown into a beautiful little girl who moves and talks constantly. She really always talks. Except when she went to the doctor - bug was stoic the entire time. I hope the doctor knows that she is not mute :). Here is a picture of Jenna and the bear. While Uncle David was here we had Iron Chef Beef. It was an awesome competition. It was a heated battle and I pulled out a victory 15.9 to 15.3 - just barely. I made the following:

• Orange, pear and beef salad
• Teryaki beef tartelets
• Basil pesto beef pasta

And David made:

• Beef stir-fry
• Barbecue beef pizza

Everything was delicious and I loved having a competitor. Well now that I'm back to blogging, I"ll try to be more consistent. And we'll have more competitions. Who knows, maybe Erik will compete.
I got 74 onQuiddler today with only one 5 letter word - clout.