I love traveling more than anything, but I'm sure as most of you know, it could quite possibly be the most mentally and physically exhausting thing on the planet. We were all pretty worn out from weeks and weeks of trips, so we decided to make this last weekend our Rome Staycation- which is just as amazing as traveling because Rome is one of the most amazing cities in the world. Night one of staycation, however, did include a slumber party and eating way more food than I'm proud of. I am proud of the fact though that we made homemade brownies, mozzarella balls, and teriyaki chicken. Hot tip on cooking here (or any foreign country)- before you go to the grocery store do your research on what the names of the items are called wherever you are or if that country uses an alternative to that ingredient. We failed to do our research for some meals and ended up a few times with a cart 3/4 full of a meal and then realized that the other 1/4 of the ingredients don't actually exist in Italy. Now we've gotten the hang of things and we have our own shared pinterest board of Rome recipes- so basically what I'm saying is that our kitchen is exactly like an episode of Chopped. Friday night included a lot of calories and our favorite movies, which was a perfect break from running around everywhere. Saturday morning we visited the area of Piazza di Spagna which is where the Spanish steps are located. This is also the luxury shopping district so yay for looking at really cool things that you'll never be able to afford. The afternoon was filled with finding lots of really cool hidden areas in Trastevere (the neighborhood we live in). Trastevere is filled with really quirky and adorable restaurants and shops but also some really famous historical sites are tucked away here. We saw Villa Farnese and Palazzo Farnesina- which are two of the most famous places as far as Interior Design goes. They both belonged to the super famous Farnese family, who commissioned Raphael to paint the ceilings. Napoleon even lived in the palace for a while. Sunday we took the metro out to the EUR district- which is where all of the really modern and Facist architecture is. It's really interesting to compare the monuments and buildings of Mussolini's Rome compared to ancient Rome. The area is also full of really amazing parks and museums so I would highly recommend a day trip to the area. We also went to the Roma vs. Milan soccer game at night and it was so incredible to see the olympic stadium and to witness Roma win in the most exciting game of the season.
Staycation 2016 was much needed and a definite success. I could live in Rome my whole life and still never see everything that it has to offer, so I've added a lot more weeks to my calendar to explore. It's easy to get caught up in traveling and wanting to go everywhere, but it really is so wonderful just to have a weekend to relax and explore your city. Next weekend I'm heading to Barcelona (which is one of my ultimate dreams) and I'll get to see some of my favorite works of architecture, the Picasso museum, and the Salvador Dali house so basically I am going to be freaking out all week. Also it's the International Food Festival in Rome so pictures to come your way of me being the champion of calorie consumption. Ciao, Liz
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AuthorI'm Liz Bixenman, an interior design student living in Rome for the semester. When I'm not doing schoolwork, you can find me wearing a cat shirt, reading a book, and most likely eating more carbs than I'm proud of. Archives
December 2016
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