I still have many photos (several days) to post from the time we spent in Rome. In the meantime. Enjoy this Video from Frodo's trip to Ecuador. This video was made after they returned. Frodo did the narration as well as wrote the music (digital music) for the background. Hmm... looks like the cover photo was the day they ate guinea pig for dinner.... :D
I will be posting some pictures here from his trip but I don't have them yet... in the meantime, enjoy this lovely video. I thought it was touching.
We left for Rome about 11:45 am. We stopped for lunch (and a coffee - for everyone but me) at a "kwik trip" type place. Fast food means only about 1 hour for a meal :D This is literaly the food served, it was really amazing, all on glass plates!
We had seafood on a salad... octopus! No joke! And it was really fresh and really good. We also split some sandwiches. A sub with proscuitto (ham, not to be confused with cooked ham). People do look at me rather oddly for taking pictures in these places.
The caffe is always served in a tea party size cup :D
Fuel station. Fuel is very expensive and sold by the liter. It ended up somewhere between $8 and $10 per gallon. No joke. Seriously. I do not know how people function, I'd totally not be driving, ever!
Driving through a tunnel. The road to Rome was literally cut through the mountains/hills, it was really a neat ride!
Here you can see the road cut through the hill.
First real view of Rom was of Santa Maria Maggiore just down the road from our hotel...
... and St. Alphonsus which houses Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Since Mass was going on I did not get a picture this time (I do have some from our last trip but can't seem to find them on my computer... I'm so lame) so here is a picture of the image:
Next we ventured to Santa Maria Maggiore.
Relic of the Manger - Crib of Christ
We went to dinner at the restaurant right around the corner from our Hotel Amalfi. We went there 3 times last time and were eager to go there again as the food was so good. It was jam packed (and they didn't have "Riso con frutta di mare" *snap* as it was so good, however, this time they had it with spaghetti and a red sauce. Sill yummy. Anyway, it was packed and no room for us. However, some nice crazy-funny Germans invited us to sit with them.
I do not enjoy drinking and just don't. So I became known as the "nipper" because I took about 3 sips and I left most of the drink behind. Seriously, I'm not sure I buy that this stuff is good for digestion.
Here are our new "friends" from German. The 2 young ones on the next table over also joined in the fun. Albert was 21 and could drink like Legolas and perhaps just feel tingly (however, if you have not seen LOTR movies then you won't know what I am talking about). The girl whose name I have forgotten was 18.
Not sure if you can see at the top of the food case that there was a picture of the owner and family with the Pope and a picture of the pope on the mirror over on the right.
Afterwards these funny people wanted to go to the Irish Pub across the street.
The Germans
The Denmark boys.
The funniest part of the evening was when they asked how many children we have. You cannot even begin to fathom the level of shock. It was so comical we could not stop laughing. There was an odd silence as they tried to get the idea of 12 children in their heads. They could not figure it out. But then, because they were a lively, fun-loving group and very, very friendly, they started to make jokes and continue to enjoy life.
On this 6th day in Italy we made pasta. That is Eda made the dough and I watched. It is very much like I made pasta back when I actually did make pasta. They did use a finer flour "farina 0"
Then we went out shopping. We pasted "Paradiso del Gelato" where we had been getting the yummy gelato.
We went shopping. Their stores are much smaller than ours for the most part but contain everything. Kind of like a mini dollar general. I was able to find a set up mini cups to put the Mokah in.
Back at home we made pasta sauce (ok, I watched the process)
And it was time to take out the extra large pasta board.
She also pulled out her pasta cutter. The difference was the number of times they put the dough through the machine.
By this time Massimo and Aragorn were done with the business part of the trip and were home by lunch on this Friday.
Lots and lots of flour keeps the dough from getting sticky. And here is the plate full of the "raw" pasta before it was boiled. Usually, he said, they let it dry about an hour. I was greatly relieved as that meant we didn't have to "line dry" the pasta like I had done in the past (which is the main reason I quit making pasta)
More gelato! Pina Pinguino (for Valerio!), white, and chocolate.
Valerio working on his homework. I was able to help him a little with his English homework where he had to describ the rooms in his house.
For dinner that night we had sauteed zucchini frittata, leftover pasta, salad and cucumbers for dinner.
Delicious
That night on the news was the news that there was a sink hole in Rome, not all that far from the Vatican. It was not actually a sink hole but an issue with construction instability.
They often have after dinner shots. Not my thing.
Take a look at a shop in Seriate
This day marked the 5th anniversary of the death of Aragorn's dad. It was also the day they buried our friend Jacek. I was very saddened that I was not able to make it to the Requiem Mass and sing for it. But God had other plans. I was able to send a basket of plants/flowers to the funeral home and of course pray for his soul. May he (they) rest in Peace.
