Bella Roma

I pretty much always knew that I would go to graduate school. My parents both have advanced degrees (which is pretty inspiring) and I was always a good student, so the question was not 'if', but rather where, when, and how. During my two-year stint working in "Corporate America" (at that most corporate of companies GE, but in that decidedly not corporate of places Boulder) I had discovered the concept of historic preservation and adaptive reuse in a romance novel (I kid you not). I embarked on what I thought was a pretty thorough job of researching and visiting grad schools, ultimately choosing to write my own degree through the auspices of the Humanities Program at the University of Colorado at Denver. Ironically, though perhaps typically, it was only after I finished my degree and started working that I was knowledgeable enough in the field to wonder if I really should have pursued a different degree, like perhaps a whole program in Urban Design instead of a handful of classes. Hmmm.....

Casting any doubts aside, however, easily the best part of my post-graduate studies happened right at the end when I got to spend my final, summer term in Italy. Due to the professors' personal connections with the program, to be eligible one had to be a student at Temple, Yale, or...CU Denver. Pretty sweet how that worked out. My wonderfully-supportive boyfriend at the time, one Troy Raarup, encouraged me to apply for the long program--a two-week historic preservation supplement following a month of study in international preservation practice, urban design, and architectural history. Seemingly before I knew it, I was flying off to Roma. I lived in a sixth-floor apartment on the Campo dei Fiori with 9(!) other roommates, and spent the summer touring, drawing, water-coloring, reading, and generally soaking up the architectural masterpiece that is Italy. After the program ended, Troy flew over to meet me. We traveled for two weeks and got engaged in the middle of our trip! As you can imagine, Rome holds a special place in my heart--it was quite the life-altering summer.

Since we've lived in Europe we've gotten to visit a lot of places, including Italy. But, we had not made it back to Rome until just recently. In January, we sat down with our 2011 calendars and realized that between houseguests, apartment hunting, moving, and, oh yes, a BABY we only had a few opportunities to travel. So, in mid-March we seized the moment and set off for a long weekend in Rome.

We stayed in our favorite neighborhood, in a cute B&B overlooking the Piazza Sant'Andrea della Valle. We set off to find old haunts, visit some new places, and generally rediscover the city.



This was the view from our B&B bedroom window! After getting checked in, the first stop was the Campo dei Fiori and my old apartment building.



At top, that's me 7(!!!) years ago, posing in the doorway of my apartment building. At bottom, it's the recreated shot. It cracks me up that I am (coincidentally) wearing blue-and-black outfits in both these pictures.



Top is the 2011 shot. My apartment was in the tangerine building just behind my left shoulder, on 2nd-to-top floor with the balcony. The shot at the bottom was taken from the living room. Notice the balcony railing?



Pretty views of the market, taken from above back then...





And pretty views down in the market today. I used to buy my fruits and vegetables here almost daily.



In a city as old as Rome, things don't change that rapidly. And yet I found it surprising, and somehow comforting, when we discovered a particular old favorite was still in business. Take, for example, the Blue Ice gelateria and the "Campo Panini" sandwich shop in the 'hood.



At top, posing in front of the sandwich counter. The paninis were as good as ever! At bottom, well, that's a reference to a particularly ridiculous/moronic/funny-only-in-hindsight incident wherein I foolishly wrecked a motorino in what amounts to a parking lot. Today, the little piazetta is a bicycle-share station.

In addition to personal favs, we also walked ourselves silly visiting the major sites, like the Pantheon...

(Quick aside, but after we got back we saw a very cool special on CNN about recent research that suggests that the Pantheon might have been built as a sundial to mark the Equinox and coincide with the founding date of Rome! Click Here to check it out. Once you see it, this picture will be even cooler.)



The Spanish Steps...



Bramante's Tempieto in Trastevere...



Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in the Piazza Navona...



The Galleria Borghese, with its collection of stunning Bernini sculptures, as seen at dusk...



The truly incredible ruins of the Roman Forum, as seen from the Palatine Hill...



The Colosseum, the Arch of Titus, and the Forum...



(Hilarious and perfect baby bump shot. This was taken as I was walking down some stairs on the Palatine.)



The Ponte Sant'Angelo with the Castel Sant'Angelo at back...



Chiaroscuro shot of a fountain in the forecourt of St. Peter's Square...



We even had the unbelievably coincidental sighting of my tour guide, Davide Macchi, from way back on my first trip to Italy! Seriously, I met this guy when I toured with my choir in 2000!!!

We arrived on Italian National Day, marking the 150th Anniversary of the unification of Italy; saw the running of the Rome Marathon; ate several delicious meals and copious amounts of gelato; and generally had a ball rediscovering one of our favorite cities in the world. And, like always, we threw our coins in the Fontana di Trevi to ensure our return...



Rome Photo Album - Click Here

Joyeuse Pâques

Unlike in years past, we stayed in town for Easter this year. We attended services at St. Andrew's, a lovely little Presbyterian church in our neighborhood. It was the perfect spring morning, and the service was very nice.



After church, we packed a gourmet picnic and our nice picnic accoutrements (a wedding gift that had been sitting in storage until about a week ago!). We walked across the street to the picturesque Parc Tenbosch and enjoyed our lunch amidst other chattering picnickers, soaking up the sunshine, blue skies, and birdsong.





We hope that your Easter was as wonderful as ours. Joyeuse Pâques!

The Move - One Week On...

Moving is one of my least favorite activities (right up there with washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, and having to deal with crowds). However, there were several compelling reasons for us to move, not the least of which is bébé. So move we did.

Our lovely little apartment was simply too small to accommodate stacks of packed boxes for any length of time. So the weekend before the move, Troy and our friend Josh took six car loads of stuff over to the new place -- stuff that was too fragile to trust to movers or was just easier to move ourselves. Then last Thursday morning, the movers arrived to handle the big stuff -- furniture, hanging wardrobe boxes, heavy dishes, etc...



Over the balcony and headed down to the truck below. I still find this kind of thing to be dramatic.



These shots also show you what a busy street we were living on, complete with construction site across the street. Belgian bureaucracy leaves a lot to be desired, but occasionally it can work out in your favor. The aforementioned construction project actually commenced work shortly after we moved in 3 years ago, but then the company got sued (allegedly over a 16cm variant in the foundation depth) and the whole thing halted...for 2 years. They started up again late last fall, and just as we were losing our view of the little park and Tree, we moved!



Now, talk about dramatic. This is the new building and that exterior elevator is going up to the top floor -- 6th European/7th American!



Our new building is a 1936 Art Deco beauty, albeit with its charming forms a bit hidden beneath the seemingly-requisite layer of soot and dirt that adorns many a building here in Brussels.



What is that mystery object riding up six floors? Oh wait, IT'S A PERSON! Apparently these movers do this all the time. I don't mind heights when I'm in a building, but riding up on a completely exposed platform? No. Way.



Though I wouldn't describe moving as fun, this one went swimmingly I must say. The truck arrived pretty well on time; the movers were cheerful, polite, and well-kept; nothing broke or was even scratched. Plus, the big win of the day was that they were just able to slide our armoires, sans doors, in the windows without completely dismantling them. (There was literally 3cm of wiggle room.) The Belgacomm guy arrived about 30 minutes after the movers left, and before you knew it, we had cable, internet, and Vonage once again. Finally, on Friday morning at 8:15, our little shipment arrived from the US (well, technically from Antwerp where it had been sitting in storage since January) and soon the dining room was full of stuff we hadn't seen in 3 years!



Our new apartment is long and rather narrow, making up one angle of a flatiron-shaped building overlooking a rondpoint and the Parc Tenbosch. Here's the view from the living room.





Even the bathroom boasts interesting views -- I love the wisteria and other flowers blooming in people's back gardens.



Troy has been working extremely hard with this move and all the unpacking, ensuring that I don't lift much of anything and making me rest. He definitely deserves the Good Hubby Award for this one (well, actually always). By last night, we had gotten our kitchen set up enough for me to cook a really good meal. We enjoyed it in the dining room, lit by candlelight and the sunset (we don't have many lamps or light fixtures yet). And wow have the sunsets been spectacular this week. A sign of good things to come in our new home...