Haggerty In The Hague

On our second day in Rome, we woke up early to head to the Borghese Gallery.  This museum in the North of the city houses a large collection of Bernini sculptures, amongst other art.  We saw such greats as Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina.

Apollo & Daphne by Bernini

Closeup of the Rape of Proserpina, by Bernini

From the Gallery we walked over to the Spanish Steps - the large set of 138 steps climbing between Piazza di Spagna at the bottom and the church Trinità dei Monti at the top.  We spent some time people watching and relaxing here, and enjoying the nice day.  Next, we made our way towards the Pantheon and strolled along the fancy shops in the nice shopping area.

The Spanish Steps

The Pantheon was incredible.  This two millennium old structure was amazing, but tough to capture its immense scale in a photograph.  We walked around the inside of the structure and marveled at the how the top of the dome is open to the elements - which was evident because we saw the floor was wet from the rain earlier that morning!

View of the Pantheon dome

Next, we headed over to Piazza Navona, which was a larger scale of the Campo Di Fiora square we had visited the day before.  We made our loop around the area, checking out the several beautiful Bernini sculptures in the square.  All in all, we thought this area was a little too commercial for us, so we decided to head back to Campo De Fiori before dinner.

Bernini Fountain in Piazza Navona

Instead of going to a restaurant for happy hour, we decided to grab some Chianti, Pecorino Stagianato, and Salami Picante to enjoy while sitting in the square. Great relaxing time!

Lindsey in the center of Campo Di Fiore

Traditional Italian snacks in the square!

After a few hours watching the Italian kids try to soak each other with water balloons, we headed over to a pizza place for dinner.  The pizza was a great way to wrap up our fantastic Roman holiday!  We’ll certainly be back!

Italy, Summer, Travel

At the beginning of June Matt and I both ventured to Rome for a weekend getaway. We stayed right by the Coliseum so it was a perfect place for touring around the city. We had a great view of the Coliseum from our window!

We arrived at night and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. This was really cool as it was lit up at night and much less crowded than during the day! We got some good pictures, enjoyed the incredible architecture, and had some delicious gelato. All in all a good first night.

Trevi Fountain

The next day we woke up and went straight to the Roman Forum. The history and architecture of this area was amazing. We saw many of the old temples, remnants of old churches and government buildings including some great views of Rome from Palentine Hill. We also saw the Coliseum - a must do for a first trip to Rome. It was really humbling to be in a place that was such an integral part of Roman history.

Flexing at the Roman Forum :)

Looking over the Roman Forum

Lindsey and Matt at the Coliseum

After the Roman Forum we went and got one of the best panini’s I’ve ever had as we made our way to Vatican City. The cheese and meat tasted really fresh and the bread was to die for! This gave us energy to make the trek to St. Peter’s Square which is the entrance to Vatican City.

Lunch!

Since we arrived mid-afternoon, we had no problems getting through the security check point. We had to wait about 30 minutes to climb the steep flights of stairs to reach the Cupola (or dome) of St. Peter’s Basillica, but it was well worth it. There were some awesome views of both the inside of the dome and of Rome itself!

St. Peter's Square

On the way to the top of the dome!

Inside the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

The view from the top :)

After we descended from the dome (all 500 + steps!) we took in the beauty of the Basilica itself. We also visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel while in Vatican City. Although neither Matt nor I are practicing Catholics, it was still very cool to be in such a monumental place.

After a long day of touring we walked to Campo de Fiore to do some people watching and drink some wine. This was a really neat area as you could get a better appreciation of the Roman/Italian culture while sitting in this square. More on this place to come

Campo de Fiore

Our final adventure for the day was dinner at this incredibly good restaurant that was recommended to us by some Italians at Matt’s work. It was called La Spaghetteria L’Archetto and was situated on this little side street near the Trevi Fountain. We had pasta with mussels and clams and some delicious wine. I would recommend it to anyone!

Delicious dinner

After this exhausting day we decided to go back to our hotel and catch some zzz’s before another day of tourism!

Italy, Summer, Travel

This is the second article in the series about my Chamonix Valley Ski trip.  Although we were staying in the French Alps, the first two days of snowboarding were spent at the Italian Alps resort named Courmayeur.  A 25 minute shuttle ride had us through the 11km long Mont-Blanc tunnel, which connects the Italian and French sides.  The exciting part was entering the tunnel on a perfectly nice day on the French side, only to emerge in Italy to find yourself in a snowstorm.

Upon arrival I immediately knew we were in Italy with the multi-lingual “Welcome” signs (even though this picture is showing the English & French words).  The gondolas taking you up the mountain were standing room only and wow did they pack the people into those.  I think they crammed about 75-100 people into a 10 foot by 10 foot space.

Up on the mountain, avalanche homing beacon testers were placed throughout the resort, and many skiers walked passed these testers to hear the accepting “beep” that let them know their beacon was fully functioning.  Unfortunately, this didn’t do anything to calm my nerves, as I had no homing beacon and the avalanche danger was a modest 3 out of 5.  Fortunately there were no problems, even though the snow was great.  We made it up to the top piste that was open where we had powder up to our knees.

The most exciting part about the experience was going to lunch.  We made reservations at a small Italian restaurant on the mountain that served fantastic Italian food.  Between the two days there I sampled three types of pasta, sausages, pizza, and lasagna – everything was fantastic.  The owner was there both days, shouting loudly at the wait staff from the seated section above.

Food, Italy, Snowboarding, Travel, Winter