SHEEP

I don't know why but I find sheep hilarious. So naturally I had to take a video of them whining as the are herded across the road.

A Few Pics from the Appian Way

The Appian Way is one of the oldest roads leading to Rome. Along the road are the catacombs (the ancient christian burial site), the tomb of Cecilia Metella, the Circus of Maxentius and many other landmarks. The sheep were on the land just above the catacombs of San Calisto. Saturday was a fantastic day weather-wise, so I spent most of it just relaxing and walking up and down the Appian Way.

Cooking Class

Friday I took an Italian cooking class from an Iowa State professor who used to be a chef. It wasn't too hands-on but it was still a good experience and I got to eat some awesome food. Ravoli made from scratch, onion fritata, some potato/goat-cheese creation, brandy-glazed chicken in a pear sauce, an awesome dessert and a lot of wine.

The Effigy

This was the only effigy I saw so I am assuming that this is supposed to be the Pope. Kinda close I guess.

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More More photos

This is by far my favorite picture so far - Best Cupid ever

I think this was Joseph and baby Jesus

More photos - Poggio Mirteto

Carnevalone Liberata - Poggio Mirteto

All these photos are from people we met through couchsurfing. The top picture is all Romans (don't remember any of their names). Below is Serica from Austrailia/New Zealand (same thing) and Kobuta and Dana in the last picture (Canada and Detroit). Pretty much all of the other 60 couchsurfers who went were Italians.

Me as God(above) and Clark as the devil (below). The hearts came from some Roman hippies.

So Clark (my roommate) joined Couchsurfing and joined the Rome group. Thursday night we met up with some Italians for aperitifs. Couchsurfing also was having a sign-up for a bus that would take a group to Poggio Mirteto for their Carnivale celebration. The celebration was for the anniversary of the liberation of the city from the Papal State. So every year the small town has a big party with music, costumes (we were supposed to dress like biblical characters), parades, wine and burning effigies of the Pope. It was a great experience to see the celebration and meet a lot of new people from all over the world (and a lot more Romans).

Twitter

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AaronMFoley

Perugia

Perugia is an old hill town north of Rome. The old core of the city on top of the hill is where we stayed and it has changed very little in the last few centuries. To get to the top we had to take a series of escalators that had been constructed fairly recently. The town was beautiful and we spent about half of a day just walking around and sketching. It was amazing to look out over the city in the morning when there was fog coming through the mountains. It was wet and rainy all day but I still had a great time.

Three-wheel Truck

I see these all over Italy. They are tiny trucks used a lot by people at the markets to bring food into the city. They are pretty awesome but I don't quite understand how the three wheels are better than four.

Villa Farnese

The Villa Farnese is located in a small town called Caparola. It was built for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese who eventually became Pope. It is a huge Renaissance Villa that served as a place to entertain guests and throw parties. Our tour guide/security lady kind of rushed us through the building so I didn't get a lot of photos of the interiors. Each room is covered in paintings that cover things like tales of Alexander the Great, ancient Roman myths, and important moments for the Farnese Family.

Villa Lante - Not Fountains

The Villa Lante was commsioned by a Cardinal and is famous for its fountains. We stopped by this villa and the Villa Farnese before going to Perugia.

Villa Lante - Fountains