Day 3

Jenna:

Buon Giorno Tutti!

Today was our third day in Italy, and we may have thought it was Friday yesterday, and so we were very excited to learn that we had in fact been confused about which day it was here and that today was really Friday. We tried to be as efficient as possible with our new day and so we worked to squeeze in as much as possible. I can understand why everyone takes a siesta here, we come home each evening around 5 and collapse into bed with aching feet. My Mom was able to drag me out of bed around 10 to do a little night sight-seeing, and I am so glad that we did because we ended up getting some really gorgeous shots. But I am getting a little ahead of myself…

I know that no one would believe it, but we have actually been doing a really great job of waking up early. 7 AM two days in a row now! I am loving the free breakfast we get, mostly because I never let myself indulge in the beauty that is Nutella at home, and all of those refined carbs somehow leave me feeling full throughout the entire day. Maybe it is all of that prosciutto patte we keep eating. Or it could be the really yummy applesauce. They even set out what looked like yogurt today, but we were done eating by then and so I didn’t try it. Maybe tomorrow. We can sleep in tomorrow, but I will probably end up waking up at 7 am to get to breakfast when it opens. I really love it that much.

Once we made it outside we headed for an open air market called Campo dei Fiori. I had read about it in this fantastic little book called 1000 Places To See Before You Die, and although I wanted to get there really early in the morning to see all of the chef’s bargaining for their produce at the market, it was still hopping when we got there around 10:30. The fruit and vegetables looked amazing, all natural and most of them giant sized. Some snap peas as big as mini cucumbers! I bought some ginormous grapes, and Mom went around stalking little old ladies buying their groceries for the day.

The pantheon was next on our list of must see places. As I am sure anyone who has seen it in real life will tell you, it’s difficult to describe the immensity of this building. The dome is so huge you can’t even begin to capture how huge it really is on camera. Mom and I have a fun series of pictures including us attempting to take a self portrait with the dome in the background. Most of the good ones (the good ones were the ones that made Mom look a little crazy) were deleted by Mom, but that was one of the funnest things we did all day, and I can’t believe they didn’t kick us out from laughing so hard. There were actually people taking pictures of us attempting to take pictures of ourselves.

Lunch was “squisito” as we like to say here in Italy. Brushchetta, foccacia, and lingiuine. I never thought I could finish my mozzarella and tomato pizza, but I ended up licking my plate clean. We have only been eating one meal a day here, the free breakfast in the morning, and a big late lunch every afternoon. Food is expensive, and this system has been working really well for us.

On our way over to the Vatican we kept our eyes peeled for a gelateria (I have a once-a-day quota that must be filled) and we found “Gelateria del Teatro” with the best gelato so far. I had this fantastic flavor called millefoglie, which means “Thousand Leaves” mixed with a pure chocolate flavor. Mom got coconut and the pure chocolate. We just might need to go back and visit that place tomorrow.

We crossed over the bridge to the Vatican to discover a line that wrapped around the entire interior of the piazza. It was intense, and as non-Catholics neither of us felt a particular urgency to see the Sistine Chapel right that second and so we decided to choose another day and come back in the morning. As we walked back over the bridge the peddlers were like 4 deep selling their knock-offs and other such illicit material. All of the sudden they were bending over and wrapping up their goods and sprinting away. It was probably my favorite experience we have had so far. I laughed and laughed, and kind of felt like cheering for the poor cop who was sent to chase them down.

On the way over to the Piazza Navona we hunted down a few nuns to get some pictures. I am convinced I have some kind of nun-dar. I just love nuns. The Piazza was very fun, with a darling little accordion player filling the square and really making it sound like Italy. We found a few perfect pieces of art by the street vendors to commemorate the trip with, and we made sure to grab a few shots of an Asian bride and groom wandering through the square looking for photo opportunities. Mom made sure to take the opportunity to conspicuously grab some shots of them as well.

We stumbled back home and fell asleep for a few hours, and then Mom dragged me out of bed so that we could do a little bit of scouting for locations for the dress shoot tomorrow. I was pretty close to making her go by herself, but I am glad I decided to drag myself out of bed because Rome needs to be experienced at night! We found some perfect spots for tomorrow night, and I was able to do a little polishing up on my posing. Tyra, you’ve taught me so much! It is because of ANTM that I now know how to look fierce.

We aren’t doing as much sightseeing tomorrow, we have a lunch scheduled with a friend of my Mom and then the dress shoot tomorrow night. I hope you made it through this really long post. I’m sure we will have much more to tell you tomorrow, including some vivid descriptions of what it is like to wander the streets of Rome in the middle of the night while wearing a huge wedding dress (while attempting to speak Italian and explain what you are doing!)

A domani.