Three Coins in the Fountains

Here's my book entering its swank hotel on Via Veneto. This is a nice, historic location with easy walking access to the Villa Borghese, Spanish Steps, and Trevi Fountain. It's also the setting of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita.



The hotel had an indoor pool, and you know I love my pools. This one was done up to be reminiscent of a Roman bath. Noice!


Via Veneto starts at Piazza Barberini, which is where you'll find Bernini's famous Triton Fountain.


Via Veneto hasn't fully escaped the progression of time and consumerism since La Dolce Vita -- there's now a Hard Rock Cafe on the lower portion of the street.
But it is still fairly sweet with many "Dolce Vita" cafes and bars still around.


Via Veneto used to host the movie stars with all the hot bars and nightclubs in Rome to party the night away. The hot spots for nightclubbing are now the Ostiense and Testaccio area, though. Via Veneto's stylish nightclubs have been replaced with places like this. Dolce, indeed.


At the upper portion of Via Veneto, you pass through the Aurelian Walls and then can enter the Villa Borghese Park. It's pretty awesome, with lakes and fountains and the incredible Villa Borghese Museum. It's also a great place to just sit and relax and enjoy a lovely day in Rome.


Just about ten minutes from Via Veneto, you can find the Trevi Fountain. It is, of course, awesome. Both my book and I took a stroll there and tossed a coin in the fountain, which is supposed to guarantee a return trip to Rome. A lesser visited, but kind of cool place right near the Trevi is on a small side street leading away from the fountain. You can go into this one building and see one of the aqueducts that feeds it and hear the water rushing through it. The water in the fountain, Romans tell me, is actually drinkable. They also tell me that it flows through the Trevi and then gets recycled in the Triton.


Oh the streets of Rome are filled with rubble
ancient footprints are everywhere.
You can almost think that you're seeing double
on a cold, dark night on the Spanish stairs.

Bob Dylan, "When I Paint My Masterpiece"

From the Trevi, it's another short walk to the Spanish Steps. Here's my book in the Piazza Spagna getting ready to make the hike up the one hundred and thirty-eight steps..


Here's a better shot where you can see all the way up to the first landing, and then see the second plateau above it, along with the church, the Trinita dei Monti. The second pic here is of my book, taking a quick breather on the first landing, looking down at the Piazza Spagna square.



And this is my book on the landing, looking up at the church and checking out what's left to climb. We already felt like doing the Rocky dance at the mid-way point.


And, here my book has made it to the top. It is so exhausted it can't even consider doing the Rocky victory jog. It was so tired it couldn't even hum the Maynard Ferguson theme at that point.
In fact, it needed some support to keep from passing out and falling over the railing and back down to the Spanish Square. When in Italy, my book was rarely at a loss for a charming Italian gentleman to hold it. (YAY!) This particular fellow giving it a hand is an artist who shows his stuff on the upper landing of the Steps, in front of the church. This is common, and some of the artwork, including his, will blow you away. He not only held my book, but also gave me a lovely ink drawing of Piazza Navona.
He wanted a copy of AC, and I was a fucking idiot and wanted to take it a few more places, so I said I'd meet him on the Steps a few days later to give it to him. My book started getting bitchy, though, still pining for Gondolier who'd held it and read it so wonderfully and so it absolutely refused to walk back up the Steps. So I ended up screwing over this darling Roman. Real American class on my part, huh? I'll be sending him a copy of the book to make up for it, because that particular copy still refuses ownership by anyone other than Gondolier.


The ink drawing of Piazza Navona inspired me to visit there in the evening. The whole area around Piazza Navona is a great section of Rome, with wonderful restaurants and pretty neighborhoods.
And the Piazza itself is a great place to people watch. Here's Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain. Some say that if you throw a coin into the Fontana de Quattro Fiumi and make a wish, it could come true. But since my wish was only to return to Rome, and I'd already covered that by tossing a coin into the Trevi, I figured I was good. But my book, of course, pines for a return trip to Venice, so we chucked a coin in to try to cover that city, too.


There are cafes and artists and musicians all through the square, all with an amazing backdrop.


My blowing off of the Roman artist came back around and karma-kicked my ass nearly immediately. On the the day I was to leave Rome, I boarded my plane, but was then kept on the runway for over four hours before they decided to cancel the flight until the next day. After de-planing, we had to go through customs again and my passport was once again stamped as entering Rome. Because I am unsure about the technicalities regarding the Trevi Fountain return trip deal, I decided to not take any chances. So that night, I made a return trip to the Trevi to toss another coin. I'll keep you posted if it works out.


Ciao!

Salve!

Who loves American Cool? Roman Gladiators, baby!


In fact, all of ancient Rome digs AC!


Alright, seriously, I won't screw up every picture with my crass product placement. This is the Il Vittoriano in Piazza Venezia, honoring the first king of unified Italy and housing the tomb of the unknown soldier. It's enormous and all carved out of white marble, sitting at the start of Capitoline Hill, and it's not exactly beloved by most Romans, as it destroyed a portion of Capitoline and is also a large and obtrusive structure, rather garish. They often refer to it as the "wedding cake" because it's so glaringly white and ornate. But it does mark the official start of the Capitoline and right behind it you can begin your climb up the hill for a stunning view of the Forum ruins.


The Colosseum is most certainly the most identifiable symbol of Rome. Not as famous, but just as essentially Roman is the representation of Romulus and Remus suckling on the She-Wolf, signifying the founding of Rome. If you bothered with my Pompeii post, you know I mentioned the Lupanar, or brothel. Lupe is the Latin word for wolf, but was also the term for prostitutes. So the fable about Romulus and Remus being found by the "She-Wolf" and suckled and raised actually refers to them being taken in by a prostitute. How could you not love a city with such a charming beginning?
This particular piece stands at the entrance to Capitoline Hill.


And here is the view once you reach the top of Capitoline Hill, with the Colosseum in the distance,


The Colosseum with the Arch of Constantine to the right. No explanation necessary.


Now, if you're a bit of a history freak like me, I do suggest getting a ticket and going inside the Colosseum. You can go it alone, get audio guides, or take full tours through the Colosseum and then up Palatine Hill where you then enter into the site of the ruins and can walk around and explore. It's a lot more fascinating than you might expect, and really, just freaking cool.


I don't want to bore you with endless pictures and descriptions of the ruins, but I will mention this one, because it surprised me. In the Forum, they have the ruins of the Temple of Divus Julius, or Temple of Caesar, which was built upon Julius Caesar's cremation site in 29 BC by Augustus after Julius was deified.
It is not fully in tact, but the most unique feature of the temple remains -- a small, half-moon altar marking the funeral pyre. And people still, to this day, place flowers and offerings upon the altar.


Once you've spent a day climbing the Palatine and Capitoline Hills and checking out the ancient historic and archaeological sites of Rome, maybe you'll want to chill out with a trip south to visit the island of Capri for a day of sun and surf. However, if you think you're going to escape uphill climbs there, forget it. It's very similar to Amalfi (and parts of Como, actually) with its steep terrain and stunning views. I went to Naples and took a boat from there.


Capri, also like Amalfi, plays host to a lot of limoncello, which is always a good thing. It's also the setting of the famous "Blue Grotto." The Tyrrhenean waters around Capri are already gorgeously blue, but you haven't really seen blue until you've been inside the Grotto. However, to reach the Grotto, you have to use a rowboat. The entrance is only 1 meter wide by 1 meter high, and it has to be timed with the tides, and you have to lay down in the rowboat to enter. That's all cool, but by the time I visited, there was no way I was going to potentially sacrifice my camera, and all the pictures on it, to the god of the sea. So I did not take any pictures inside the Grotto. I hope you'll enjoy these pictures as poor substitutes instead. I should also mention that Capri has its own perfume factory, and that when I visited, there was wisteria in bloom nearly everywhere. I don't know how long this lasts, if it's a short blooming period like lilacs or not, but it made the island smell wonderful.



I didn't allow my book a trip into the Blue Grotto due to water issues. (First , it was still drying out from its ill-advised swim toward Villa GoodLooking at Lake Como. Second, though it got a quick fondle from that studly gladiator, my book was still sort of missing the cute Venetian gondolier that didn't just hold it, but opened it up -- his strong fingers grazing across its pages as his eyes inspected the words while he smiled in appreciation. Book liked that loving treatment very much. Therefore, I was a bit worried it would attempt to make a break for it and hurtle itself into the sea, hoping the tides would somehow push it back toward the Grand Canal, where it would reunite with Gondolier and place a lock of love around his... oar.) Therefore, I kept my book on a short leash for a couple days, though it did enjoy some safe views around Capri.


After Capri, it was back to Rome to enjoy some fountains and steps.

The Amalfi Post

My book decided to visit some (many) touristy/educational things while in Italy, and one of those places was the city of Pompeii. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79, it buried the Roman city of Pompeii under sixty feet of ash. Because of its rapid destruction/burial it was extraordinarily well preserved, so, when it was then found and excavated, it gave historians, and now visitors, incredible insight into the daily details of Roman life. Here's my book on a curbside in Pompeii.


Vesuvius in the background of the ruins.


I won't give you a detailed history lesson, but since I tend to focus on all things sex related here, I figured these details would be pertinent. So, suffice to say that Pompeii was a port city, and when the sailors came home, one of the main, and first things, they looked for was some company. The brothels (Lupanare, from Lupe for she-wolf) were clearly marked on the roads and building. Instead of using street signs, they used a fairly universal and recognizable symbol.


Once inside the Lupanare, you can see the rooms with stone beds and erotic paintings on the walls, very well preserved, still in color. It's not clear if the paintings are directly advertising specific services, or if they're just meant as inspiration.


Another thing that set me right with these ancient inhabitants of Pompeii? They had these bars all over the place. Good folks, indeed.


Once you're south enough to visit Pompeii, you may as well make a day or two out of it and go visit the Amalfi coast. The Amalfi coast is the southern side of the Sorrentine peninsula facing the Gulf of Salerno and it encompases many towns, including Positano. It is, as is much of Italy, mountainous, with narrow, spiraling roads and gorgeous cliffside scenery overlooking the Gulf part of the Tyrrhenean sea.
I wish I had another picture of this railing, because just off to the left you can see a large portion of the bars covered in padlocks. They're locks of love, which are also starting to pop up around Rome near the Trevi fountain and certain areas near the Tiber. Lovers come and afix a padlock to a gate or post and then toss the key into the sea or river, signifying eternal love. It's a cute theory, but in practice, the locks can accumulate to such an extent that they'll start bending and ruining the gates and railings and many of them end up having to be cut off anyhow. Kind of makes you wonder about the fate of the relationships whose lock gets cut. Also? Any other fiction writers out there reading this -- back off, it's my idea to use next for a book! Anyhow, the views from the coast just keep getting better than this.


The water, on clear days, ranges from gorgeous shades of nearly-clear cyan to azure.


One of the things they grow really well on the Amalfi Coast (and Capri) is lemons. At first, I thought they were bright grapefruits. This may seem like a dumb detail, but all will be revealed.


Once you've driven and walked down the seemingly endlessly winding downhill slopes, you get to the town of Positano, which is a big tourist destination for visitors and Italians alike, due to the beaches, boating, and awesome seafood.


When you turn around and look up from the beach, it's an equally impressive sight to see the buildings built into the side of the mountains. I couldn't wrap my mind around how they even were able to build the damn things, getting the materials where they needed to be.


Here's more of those lemons, which are highly prevalent. And you can get everything lemon: lemon candy, lemon chocolate, lemon gelato, lemon soap, ect.


But here's the best, and most ubiquitous, product from the lemons: Limoncello! Awesome! You can find all different limoncello shops, and many of them offer free samples!


And once you're socked on the limoncello, you can take boat rides to enjoy the views. Just, make sure it's a calm day if you do that, otherwise you may have lemon foam all over the side of your boat.



I know these posts seem to be going on for an eternity, but coming up next is the Eternal City.

Veni, Vidi, Vici -- Venice

So. Though I adore Bellagio and Lake Como, too much time spent there as a single gal can get stifling. So you'd think that while feeling hyper-aware of my single status, Venice would be a particularly poor choice to recover. Wrong! There are many happy couples strolling the alleys and riding through the canals in Venice. But there's also a whole lot more potential to, uh, exploit one of the primary advantages of not being a couple. In case you don't get the picture, here's the picture.


Venice (and this particular gondolier) loved American Cool (and me). And I loved them right back.

But let's step back for just a second to give you a better view of the city. Here's my book enjoying a sunny day, entering the city on a water taxi.


Baroque, Byzantine, and Gothic are most definitely the words for Venice. Not only for the nearly outlandish island/canal structure of the city, but also the architecture of the buildings. Truly, it's breathtaking at first sight.


For most people, the main landmark in Venice is St. Mark's Square. Me? Harry's Bar. Possibly best known as a virtual home for Hemingway, Harry's Bar is a Venice landmark and inventor of the delicious Bellini. (That's prosecco and peach puree.) However, it should also be stated that Harry's Bar is now primarily a tourist destination, which means you can expect to pay about 15 euro for a Bellini. And if you want to eat? Be prepared to pay more than you'd pay for a pair of designer sunglasses, and my book can tell you how steep that can be. And you will be tested in Venice if you have a weakness for shopping, as the main walkway to St. Mark's Square (and also Harry's) is crowded with ALL the Italian designer stores. But one Bellini, though pricey, isn't a bank breaker, and you can say you've been to Harry's.


And you will most certainly enjoy the surreal sights of Venice with a Bellini buzz going.


And how cool are Venetians? Cool enough to show off my book!


Book enjoying a view of the Grand Canal, a vaporetto, and across the canal, the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute.


As a notoriously bad picture taker, I'm considerably smitten with these next two shots, taken at sunset while riding the vaporetto.



Venice also hosts the world's oldest casino. I could only get a picture of the outside, because they're pretty strict with the security inside. It's a fancy affair, but also pretty small. But you get a free drink.


After the excitement of the casino and Piazza San Marco, my book decided to relax at night, not with a Bellini, but vodka.


After the success of the sunset pictures, a casino visit, and a couple vodkas, my book and I were inspired to try for some sparkly nighttime photography. The results were much less successful.


Much, much less successful.


Though this picture is a typical DiPlacido disaster, it does adequately capture the elements that would bring my melancholy about being single back to the surface. The vodkas, the full moon, the romantic setting. The scene left my book and me longing for some company.


Luckily, we knew where to find it. La bella luna! Vidi, Vici, Veni, indeed, in Venezia!


From Venice we (my book and I, not the gondolier) moved south to the Amalfi coast: Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi -- the setting for The Talented Mr. Ripley and home of the world's best Limoncello.

Feeling Good!

By all rights, this season of Idol should have had less suspense than I had walking into the movie Titanic. The same as I knew that boat was going down, it was pretty obvious from the first show of this season who would be the final two would be. But like James Cameron concocting all sorts of fun ways for Jack and Rose to swish and splash around that sinking vessel while others get creatively offed, I sat around to hear what Simon would say to the drowning, waited to see who'd they throw a lifeline to, and am utterly rapt, every week, waiting to see what Adam Lambert's going to do next.

I liked the kid anyhow, but by the time he busted out "Ring of Fire" I was willing to proclaim him one of the best (and by best, I mean most overall entertaining) contestants this show has had ever had. I missed a few weeks while away, but rickey.orged his doings, so I'm all caught up. And now, after his sateen take on the Travolta suit and, I'm convinced, breaking the "Feelin' Good" curse, I have no trouble saying that he's thee best contestant ever. I mean, I can't stand it! I wait, and I wonder, and then he comes out and does it again! Randy has his idiotic "too theatrical" comments. But let's face it, the unpreened performances of the "pure rock" era of the early 90's are so long dead, and we haven't had an over-the-top, theatrical performer with a set of chops like this since Freddie Mercury. And it's about fucking time we did!

Naturally, I was all stoked for Rat Pack week, and I got in the mood by making sure I was feeling good with a generous glass of vodka. (I need to do this, because I'm still a little sore about missing the whole Tarantino episode. That just pisses me off. Could someone at least tell me what his interaction with Lambert was like?) Things immediately took a very pleasant, incongruous turn when they trotted out Jaime Foxx as the mentor for this week. I, uh, I didn't even bother questioning it, because I figured Foxx would be interesting. He was. He was also nearly salaciously nice to everyone, but I don't really have a problem with that. Out came Kris doing "The Way You Look Tonight" and I thought he did fine but I was confused by the arrangement. I've heard this song done slow and swinging, and even with a slow opening that ended up swinging, but never slow and quiet for so long before a strange segue into a mildly uptempo section. It was just odd, to me. But Kris was okay. But, when I first watched Titanic and saw Rose being given a tour of the ship and a lecture by her mother. I found myself antsy and wondering when we'd first see that iceberg. This was the same effect here. As the judges were talking, I was already drifting off, wondering what Lambert would be singing.

Allison was next, and I kind of feel bad for her. She's got such a unique voice, and she's so likable, but she's just simply overshadowed this year. She did "Someone To Watch Over Me" and, frankly, she kicked ass with it. But Simon questioned her confidence, and though I don't know if that's exactly it, but she doesn't have a shot at winning anyhow. But, much like Jack drawing the nudie picture of Rose, even though she's not the main event, she gets my attention. Then there's Giraud; doing "My Funny Valentine" and this is sort of like Billy Zane as the villain. He's good, you know. Does the job, and everything works. But Billy Zane never parlayed that role into big success and Giraud just isn't really going to parlay his lifeline save into a win, either. It's decent entertainment, but I'm still waiting for that iceberg.

Gokey, is, definitely, my iceberg of the season. I watch him with as much interest as I watch Lambert, because he's the only one who could sink this gorgeous, outrageous ship named Adam. He comes out with that gravelly voice that I admittedly like and does "Come Rain or Come Shine," which is one of my all-time favorite songs. He's wearing his standard glasses, nothing too fancy for the evening. The best part was watching Foxx fearlessly get in his face (in his grill), like, RIGHT up in his face and making him sing. That moment right there was like that brief scene in Titanic when the ship first turns perpendicular, and Jack and Rose are holding on to the railing and that one poor guy doesn't get over the railing, so he falls and then bounces into the propeller. Shocking, cringe-worthy, and totally fucking awesome! That's a replay moment, for sure. He's going to get "bluesy" with it and ends up strutting and ducking and suddenly his movements are deemed to be no longer cheezy and cornball but confident.

Idiot Kara has a lovely line critiquing this by telling him that he was lacking swagger and suddenly tonight he came out full of swag. So...what? He attended a pre-show party and picked up a goody bag of expensive aftershave and a Swatch and he was wearing both and that was the swag? Personally, I love that she's there to make Paula look amazingly insightful this year. Because Paula HAS been the most insightful judge. Make fun of her shopping in the ladies' department comments but I knew what she meant. She's been coherent and entertaining and hasn't really lost her shit once that I've seen. All that is, of course, a bad thing. But it just shows that she's reached a higher level of functionality during intoxication -- choreographing those group dances and all that shit. Good for her! But it just makes Kara's sober stupidity seem that much more annoying.

Anyhow, by the time Gokey finished, it had been a decent show, even though I was wondering why they dubbed it "Rat Pack" night instead of just "Sinatra" night, because all four songs so far had been done by him. So I knew either Dean or Sammy was gonna take the shaft. (I guess we can consider Pauler to be Joey Bishop as the comic relief, and Lawford, who gives a fuck about him anyhow. Oh! Okay, Randy can be Peter Lawford.) Anyhow, the iceberg had hit, but there was still a whole WORLD of crazy shenanigans to come!

Enter Adam Lambert. Foxx is funny, telling him that Adam just doesn't even care who he is. And, just like Jack and Rose, running the opposite way of the crowd, he represents Sammy instead of Sinatra and does "Feeling Good" -- a song that sunk at least two other contestants that I know of. But, you know, they weren't LAMBERT. Out he comes in that shiny white suit, descending those stairs like a predatory Norma Desmond, ready for her close-up, hitting that crazy high note he's got. As this goes on, I'm like Kathy Bates in the lifeboat, watching the ship in its unbelievably, spectacularly dramatic death throws -- cracking and splashing and throwing off sparks before sucking under the waves as I sit there and say, "Dear God!" Except, in this case, Adam's not suffering a tragic death -- he's just being Adam. I just mean that the correlation, which I've now beat to death, is that I knew it was coming; I'd ended up waiting for it in anticipation; and it still managed to delight me with its extravagant showiness.

Randy had to assert his jerkwad heterosexuality by saying it was too theatrical for him. Fuck him, you know? Like Billy Zane and the Coeur de la Mer, he just doesn't get it. I'm sure there are others who agree with him. But for the rest of us? We know that Adam Lambert is, for this season at least, the king of the Idol world.