Weekend

Italians do celebrate il giorno di San Valentino. Afer work on Saturday morning, I took a little 2 hour nap, and was awakened by Sean with a lovely bouquet of flowers and yummy chocolates. We had lunch and went for a long walk. In the evening we watched a romantic Italian movie called, “Tre metri sopra il cielo,” which means, “Three meters above heaven.” It was a beautiful love story, and a happy, relaxing Valentine’s Day.

Sunday, we got up bright and early in the morning and headed out to the beach. It was another beautiful, clear, sunny day, accompanied with freezing cold winds. We discovered a new little city called Civitavecchia. The water was calm and clear, with a beautiful aqua color and hundreds of little white sail boats floating in the distance. We walked along the boardwalk, climbed the rocks out to the sea, watched the sailors and took lots of pictures. The train ride home was equally impressive, lining along the coastline just at sunset. I am constantly amazed at how green the world is outside of the city center surrounding the sea, and how much the beach will always make us somewhat feel more at home. Looking out to the Mediterranean Sea today, I couldn’t help but think how far we really are from home.

Tivoli

We went on a nice day trip outside of the city to this town called Tivoli last weekend. It was a sunny, crystal clear day, with a cold, windy chill to the air. The best way to describe this town is cute and charming. The streets were all cobble stone, and the homes were very old, typical Italian-looking flats sitting high above store shops or café bars, with the Sunday laundry hanging from almost every window. It seemed like everyone knew each other. Hundreds of children were dressed in costumes, colorful confetti completely covered the ground, sparkly balloon clusters flew in the air, and candy vendors lined the piazza in celebration of a carnevale. We wandered the streets of the entire tiny city in about an hour, and stumbled upon these huge amazing natural waterfalls surrounded by beautiful lush, green vineyards scattered in the distance among ancient Roman ruins. It was an incredible sight and an incredible day, topped off by an incredible slice of margherita pizza. We both dozed off on the hour-long bus ride back to the city tired from our enjoyable, little excursion.