Roman Holiday

I went to Rome in high school for a few days on the way to Israel, and Jenn visited when she was studying abroad in London and backpacked for a few weeks with her friend, Katy. I only slightly remember my time there. I remember liking the city a lot and thinking Pompeii was one of the most boring things I had ever seen. It was also the first time I had ever seen a bidet. It's weird the things that one remembers.

Because it is unbearably cold in Bratislava, we were looking for somewhere to get away to for the weekend that was warm, or at least warmer. There were few options, but we'd been wanting to go to Rome and since we don't know how much time we have left in Europe, we figured we might as well go while we had the chance.

WIA: After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we took a taxi to Felice a Testaccio, a small, traditional restaurant, for lunch. We each had a bowl of delicious house specialty, Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe. Jenn had hers with tomato sauce. We thought we were being smart by only ordering on main dish to share, but by the time we finished the pastas, we regretted ordering the beef roll. We still ate a little of it when the waitress brought it to the table, but the pasta was really enough. Everything was very good though and it was an excellent first meal.

We had our first taste of gelato at San Crispino, which was a stone's throw from Trevi Fountain. I had the stracciatella, which I usually really like, but thought this was one was okay. Jenn liked it. As we walked, we stopped for a small bite of pizza at Roscioli near Campo de Fiori. We liked that in the takeaway pizza places, you could tell them how much you wanted and they would cut (with scissors) a piece, weigh it, and you paid by weight. This allowed us to only eat a little to leave room for other things we'd want to taste as we walked the city at night. Later in the night, after walking through the gritty Trastavere neighborhood, we finally found 00100 (named for the type of dough they use) and shared pizza and a Trapizzini with meatballs. A Trapizzini is kind of like a small triangle shaped pita pocket, but made of pizza dough and then filled with deliciousness. This was a tiny place, a long hike from the city center, with only enough room for the counter to sell the food from and a few bar stools, but it's been written up on multiple websites and in magazines. It is very good and was worth the journey to get there.

On the way back to the hotel, we had our second gelato stop of the day at a more traditional place called Giolitti. I had chocolate (because I think you can really judge whether ice cream is good or not by the chocolate) and caramel. It was smooth and really tasty.

I'll file lunch on Saturday under WID, but for dinner we searched the city for a while to finally find Pizzarium, another Pizza a Taglio (pizza to go) place that has a fantastic reputation. It deserves every good word that is written about it and I don't care how expensive people say it is. If you only get a small piece, it's not a big deal, and it is terrific. The crust was the perfect balance between soft and crispy and the cheese and sauce tasted so fresh.On the walk home, we stopped in at Gelateria dei Gracchi, my favorite gelato on the trip. I still find myself salivating as I think about the apple cinnamon with raisins. It tasted like the inside of strudel (if it were ice cream).

Our last meal of the trip was an early lunch on Sunday right next to the Spanish Steps at the shabby chic Gina. Jenn had the caprese salad and I ate a club sandwich, because it is their signature dish, and I wanted a sandwich. We also shared warm goat cheese and honey that was so rich and so awesome. I had my last taste of gelato with a scoop of their chocolate. I don't know if they make their own or not, but it was good.

WID: We didn't go into any museums or sights, but we walked past and through all the big ones several times.

We briefly walked inside the Pantheon and Jenn gave a walking tour of the Jewish ghetto reading from the Rick Steves guide on the Kindle. Maybe I should have put this under What I Ate, but we spent most of the day Saturday in a private cooking class through Italy Hotline Tours. We met Francesca early in the morning and she walked us through a market near her home. She had already shopped for a lot of the food the day before, but we bought a few things that we would incorporate in the meal. For the next few hours, we prepared a lunch of way too much food for three people, but it gave us the chance to try lots of different things. We didn't cook everything. Francesca did a lot of it, but we helped where we could. The meal consisted of marinated anchovies, artichokes, spinach and cheese ravioli (because we had requested to make pasta), also this spinach and cheese roll-up that probably has an Italian name, sauteed kale, bruschetta, chicken cacciatore, risotto, and cannoli for dessert.

As I said, it was a ton of food, but it was all really good. We both felt uncomfortably full when it was all over and then spent the rest of the day walking to try and feel better. We walked to Vatican City in the evening. It was dark and quiet because there were hardly any people around, and even though we couldn't go inside St. Peter's or anything, it was kind of nice seeing it at night.

WIS: We stayed at the highly (and frequently) recommended Casa Howard, conveniently located between Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It is not a hotel, but also not necessarily an apartment. It occupies one floor in an unassuming building and there are five rooms. Our room was small and simple, but also nice and clean. It was kind of like a B and B, only breakfast wasn't included. It was overpriced, but something must have been going on that weekend because all the hotels were really expensive, and not just normal Rome expensive.

WAM: I remember from my first trip to Rome that the drivers were crazy and they are still insane.There appear to be traffic laws and I saw plenty of traffic lights and signs, but they are consistently ignored. It's a free for all. We walked everywhere and it is really scary crossing streets there. 

WTF: Walking around Rome brought back so many memories for me from my first visit. Granted, I was 16, but when I think back to that time, and remember all the things that I did that I'm sure I thought were so hilarious, I realize I was kind of a jackass. I don't think I am alone though in looking back and thinking I was a jackass as a 16 year old (I of course mean people looking back at themselves, not being alone in people thinking I was a jackass at 16, though that could be true too). There was me falling asleep during the service at the old synagogue, taking stupid pictures at historic sites, spitting out water all over Tivoli Gardens, and I'm sure there is much more jackass-ery that I can't recall.

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A Ride on the Riesenrad

Jenn's Aunt Marla and her three daughters, Shiri, Roni, and Arielle came to Vienna to meet up with us at the end of January. They live in Israel and were looking for somewhere fun to getaway to for the weekend. It unfortunately was extremely cold at that time, but it was really nice getting to be with them and we actually got to do a lot in Vienna that we hadn't previously done.

WIA: We take all of our guests to the very famous schnitzel place, Figlmuller, but it never disappoints. We ate lunch at the modern and trendy Orlando di Castello. The decor is in stark contrast to many of the more traditional cafes and restaurants in the city. The burgers were not only tasty, but smaller in size, which was perfect. Burgers are always way too big. They are also, to generalize, pretty crappy in Europe. On Saturday night, we ate at TGI Fridays which was better than I expected. Marla and the girls like to hit the American chains when they travel because they don't get that type of food in Israel. The portions were enormous and it's much more expensive than a meal should be at Fridays, but overall, the experience was okay. We never would have gone there on our own and truth be told, it's always good to get a taste of American food, so I wasn't too upset that we ended up there.

WIS: We slept in our own bed over the weekend and met them in each Vienna each day. We considered staying in Vienna for a night, but we're so used to taking the train or the bus, that it's just not a big deal.

WID: We hit a lot of tourist sites that I hadn't previously been to in Vienna, which was kind of fun. The clock museum and the Sigmund Freud Museum I could have done without, but I was just along for the ride. The State Hall of the National Library was very cool. It looks like a palace with statues, collections of random fancy things, busts, and frescoed ceilings, but filled with tons of very old (some comically large) books.

The highlight of the weekend was our adventure on the Vienna Riesenrad. We had never heard of it until Marla brought it up. She had read about it in a guide book. It's a big Ferris wheel, but instead of the normal seats or cages, they have huge boxcars, kind of like train cars. It moves incredibly slowly, so there is no real chance of motion sickness. One spin around took about 20 minutes or so.

On an extremely cold Sunday, we went to the Tiergarten (zoo), which is part of the grounds of the Schonbrunn Palace. It was pretty fun, though the animals and the zoo were a bit worn down. My most recent comparisons were zoos in New Orleans and Miami, which we visited with our nephews. They are also both really great zoos. Anyway, the pandas were entertaining, as were the penguins, who seemed quite comfortable in the freezing weather.

WAM: On Saturday evening, we walked to the big ice skating rink that they open for the winter in front of the Rathaus. I was a little nervous because Marla and the kids weren't that into going, but it turned out to be cool. There is one large open skating area and then a more narrow long route that winds around the park. We didn't skate because the line was really long and we were on our way to dinner, but it looked like a lot of fun. If we're around next year, we'll go.

WTF: After the Riesenrad, Shiri and Roni went for a ride on this big, crazy, spinny thing. I can probably list 100 reasons why it was a horrible idea, but I'll stick to four for now:
1. The rides in the whole fair area were pretty antiquated
2. Europe isn't exactly known for its strict safety measures
3. The temperature was hovering around 12 Fahrenheit
4. The ride literally lifts you in the air and swings you around in nausea inducing circles at an incredibly fast speed. Why is that fun?
The girls loved it.

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No Stranger in Moscow

I made a week long return trip to Moscow in mid January and though I was really busy with work, I did get to try some new restaurants and see some parts of the city that I didn't experience on my previous trip in December. January is not the ideal time to go to Moscow. In December, it was unseasonably warm, with temperatures in the range of -3 to 0 Celsius (26 to 32 F), but January was flat out, freeze your ass off cold. The highs were around -5 C (22 F) and the lows were a very low -16 C (0 F). When you add in the windchill, it was more like -10 or so Fahrenheit. It was the coldest I've ever been in my life. It unseated the time Jenn and I went and tried to hike to the glacier at the top of the Jungfrau in Switzerland when we were not in proper clothing and the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with my family when I was in high school and I refused to wear a coat. It didn't stop me from getting out at night for dinner and walking around on Saturday before my flight.

WIA: I ate lunch several times again at Tepemok for blinis, which are basically the Russian version of crepes. I went with my co-workers for Ukrainian fare at Taras Bulba one night. The decor was just as over the top as Shinok, where we ate on the previous trip, but didn't have farm animals in the middle of the restaurant, which I viewed as a plus. It also was much more reasonably priced. We enjoyed the ambiance, appreciated the service, and the food wasn't bad, so overall, I viewed it as a success. Pavilion felt like classic, old world Russia with chandeliers and the like. The setting was nice, overlooking a park and frozen over pond. The beef stroganov was decent, but nothing for which I'd rush back. My co-worker, Jaro, almost caused an international incident when he accidentally knocked his glass off the table, which then bounced off the balcony and down the first floor. It narrowly escaped hitting anyone and miraculously didn't even break when it hit the floor. We had a fun dinner the last night at Bar Strelka, a happening yet not too trendy feeling place on the other side of the river. All proceeds go to the Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture, and Design. It's owned by a Brit and it shows as the menu is pretty un-Russian. I had a burger. The big disappointment is that they didn't have any Russian vodka. This didn't deter us from having a few drinks to celebrate the end of our work week, but I don't understand how any restaurant in Moscow wouldn't serve some form of Russian vodka.

WID: The reason I was there was for work, and that is what I did. On Saturday, I walked around the city through the bitter cold and ventured to the river and the area we were the previous evening because I wanted to take pictures. It was peaceful strolling through the snow, listening to my iPod with very few people around. I slipped on the ice while turning a corner and wiped out on the sidewalk. For a moment or two, I thought I had broken my wrist and feared having to find a hospital and get treated, but I was fine. I walked down the river bank to get a good view of the impressive Peter the Great statue and also admired the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from multiple angles.

WIS: We stayed at the Sheraton Palace this time, which was closer to work, and still not too far from the center of the city. I walked with Jaro and Gabi to Red Square one night and it didn't take us much more than 30 minutes. The hotel was a really nice business oriented hotel. I stayed on the executive floor, of which I did not take advantage. They basically have a lounge with drinks and snacks at happy hour, but we never finished work in time to go there. The hotel buffet breakfast was good.

WAM: I bought a new jacket recently specifically for the trip back to Russia and though it wasn't the Prada that I've written longingly about previously in this blog, it did back up my belief that if a coat kept me warm, I wouldn't think twice about how much I previously spent on it. It was worth every penny. Though my hands hurt because of how cold they were (I have circulation issues), my upper body was perfectly fine as I walked around the city on Saturday.

WTF: I'd never seen an entire river freeze over before. It was really neat to see a layer of ice covering the Moskva on Friday night and Saturday.

Roommates

I used to be intimidated by New York City. It's big, I'm small. It's fast, I'm slow. It's aggressive, I'm timid. Over the years, I've gotten much more comfortable with it and actually kind of like the place a little now. It has a lot of the positive qualities I look for in a city: good food, green space, public transportation, and it's walkable. Jenn never had a problem with it. As the cliche goes, she loves New York.

We were able to find the time on our trip back to the US to spend a few days there and see our friends and their children. Jeff, my college roommate, and his wife, Michelle, recently welcomed their daughter, Lauren, into the world. Jenn's college roommate, Katy, also lives in New York with her husband, Darryl, and their two children, Audrey and Logan. Katy was pregnant with Audrey at our wedding.

It was really great getting to see our friends and spend quality time with them. It was also fun to be with Jenn's parents, who came up to meet us at the end of the week.

WIA: We had a nice dinner date at Market Table in the Village. It's a small, comfortable place that feels like New York. Jenn enjoyed the scallops and I had the braised beef short rib. It was good, but I'm finding that it's now a bit lazy and uncreative for any restaurant to have it on the menu and even lazier for me to order it. We also shared a delicious large bowl of french fries. I drank a Bengali Tiger Sixpoint IPA out of Brooklyn, that probably was just fine since I can't remember it being bad or good. We then walked all the way back to Midtown and took in the city at night.

On Friday, we ate lunch at Mario Batali's Eataly, which is a huge Italian food market with a couple of restaurants, a sandwich counter, a gelato place, and probably a few other things that I didn't notice. That evening, we had a pre-theater dinner with Allan, Sooze, and Katy at Daniel Boulud's DB Bistro Moderne in midtown. Everything we had was pretty good, but all I really remember from the evening is that I was upset because Jenn shared her burger with Katy. Usually, Jenn and I share dishes, but now that she had Katy around, I was out of the picture. It felt like college all over again.

We finished off the weekend with brunch at Blue Water Grill in Union Square. We ended up there because they were able to accommodate a big party. We met Katy, Darryl, and their kids, along with Jeff, Michelle, and Lauren. It's weird being with your college friends and feeling like you're now at different stages of life. I will always remember Jeff and Katy as they were in college and though I've been with them over the years and seen them mature (just slightly in both cases), it still all seems a little strange and out of place. The beauty of old friends is that it doesn't necessarily matter. You always have the times you shared together in the past that you'll never forget and can reminisce on together. When you're in the moment, sometimes it feels like no time has gone by at all, and other times when you see them as role models and parents, it's clear how times have changed.
We made a couple of stops during the trip at Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes and as much as I wanted to hate them because it's so overhyped, they were really moist and delicious. The banana pudding was also really good.

WID: We purposely didn't do much. We wanted to spend time with friends since we don't always get that opportunity when we come back to the United States. We went out to Long Island one night to visit with the Yanovers and then went out the next day to Chappaqua to hang with Katy and the kids. I was most impressed when at Katy's house, both of her kids ate brussel sprouts at lunch. Maybe they are as scared of  her as I am and do whatever she says or they are good kids and eat their vegetables. The jury is still out. Otherwise, we pretty much just walked around, shopped, and ate.
On Friday, we went with Allan and Sooze (Jenn's parents) to the 9/11 Memorial, which we all thought was really well done. It's understated, two big fountains where the buildings stood, but still makes an impact. I had never been to the World Trade Center before when the buildings were standing, but I've certainly seen enough images from television to appreciate the impact of what is no longer there and what you see now.

We went to the theater on Friday night to see The Book of Mormon, which was every bit as good as its reputation. It's definitely not for everyone. I was worried about Jenn's parents, and Sooze even said after the show that most of it was over her head, which I don't doubt. I thought it was hilarious and extremely clever. I will say I think they crossed the line in a few cases, but not as much on the Mormonism side, but more on some of the stuff with Uganda, where the show is set. It's interesting how Trey Parker and Matt Stone are basically untouchable in that they simply can say, "we're the Southpark guys" and people just accept however offensive and insulting they can be. I admire that. They are what they are and do not apologize for it. What I appreciated about the show is that even though they specifically focused on Mormons, it very easily could have been any religion. In this respect, I didn't find it to be mean spirited. We got to go backstage after the show since one of Jenn's family friends plays music for the show, which was cool.

WIS: We stayed in a tiny room that fit our bed and not much more at the Club Quarters in midtown. It was small, simple, and clean, which is all I need out of a hotel. The location was perfect. We were walking distance from everything.

WAM: On Saturday, before we left, I met my friend, Missy, from high school and we walked through the park. I mentioned this above about old friends, but I want to stress again that I love how even if you don't see each other much or talk all that often, you can always just pick up where you left off. It was great seeing her and catching up.

WTF: It was right after Christmas, so a busy time for shopping, but I found it incredibly strange that people were waiting in long lines that wrapped around the block for stores like Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister. I found it even more incredible that I waited in one of those lines with Jenn and her mom to get into the Ugg store.