quartiere coppede

sorry for the dearth of updates, but the past long weekend was well spent with a bunch of my university mates, just hanging out, visiting sites in rome and florence, complaining about the incredibly h0t and sapping weather and just having helluva’ fun. and i’m really starting to understand that the most important factor of travelling really isn’t the sites and sounds of a place, but who you are making the travel with – a mundane 3-hour train ride can be really pleasant what with multiple bouts of monopoly deal and long conversations to catch up on the missed months.

more on that with later posts, but thanks once again guys for come over to rome – life can get pretty lonely and tough at times so it’s a huge comfort to have close friends whom you do not have to put on any form of pretense, and whom you can talk shit about easily to accompany you for a few days. =)

anyways, the picture above shows a picturesque alley within the quartiere coppede, a quaint, architecturally interesting district that was largely designed by Florentian architect gino coppede. its not well known at all, considering that its not found in any guide books, and that i got to know about this only through a local colleague who casually mentioned that if i was interested in art deco-style architecture, i might want to walk toward this quartiere, which is barely 15 minutes away from my house.

gino coppede’s style is one of exuberant decorations – filling the facades of condominiums with playful putti, moorish arches, tuscan turrets and a whole mish mash of architectural adornments. the end result is a quaint, beautiful and playful piazza (piazza mincio) that is surrounded by these unique condominiums that is one of its kind.

fontana delle rane (fountain of the frogs) within piazza mincio

romans lament that the cultural progression in rome died off after the renaissance, effectively rendering rome as a city frozen culturally in time

well, methinks it’s not exactly the case, what with the occasional bursts of design and creativity in different pockets of the city. there’s still hope. =)

the lake experience

bella vista, as the italians call it

the past weekend was a blast for me on many levels – got to experience the weekend lake getaway at nearby lake bracciano, got to pretty much homestay with a really cool italian family and see how things really run on so many fronts, got exposed to so much italian, got time to just relax by the hammock and get all absorbed in the hunger games (book) which honestly is one. good. book. imo.

it’s hard to capture the sensation of tranquil relaxation, of sun-baked freshness on the body and of a callous and carefree disregard for any important in pictures. i mean, it’s really a unique experience – just to relax by the beach, head into the crystal clear waters and swim out as far as you can, go for a canoeing expedition with some adorable kids and see how the respond to everything. its highlights just how different the asian upbringing in singapore has been for me – somewhat of a neutered, conservative and protective approach that still resonates deeply within me.

not that i’m saying that my upbringing was a miserable experience. but it was different and it has made me who I am. and this weekend’s experience made me appreciate how different life could be.

and i learnt alot about myself by the comparisons. of how i do have a fear of exploring the unknown – being genuinely a little fearful of swimming too far out, or just a little squeamish to have seaweeds tangle at my feet. i learnt how i don’t exactly respond well out in the open – what with a sensitive nose that reacts everytime i emerge from the waters and allow the sun to dry me off. i learnt that i really really like kids, enjoy playing with them and i do want to be a dad that plays with my kids, teaching them important lifeskills and to love life and sports. i even learnt that whilst i do like little kittens, my nose doesn’t exactly agree with that at times. =)

and i also learnt how a normal italian family prepares for their meals, interacts and cares for one another.

so honestly, what a great experience. the spectacular view, and the knowledge that I could completely partake in the beauty, instead of just staring at pictures off some photographers lens conjures an incredible feeling.

[shots taken of lake bracciano, in the town of trevignano. much much thanks to enrico and his family for such a great, warm welcome. i can only wish to reciprocate in kind somehow.]

san carlo al corso

otherwise titled: things to do when you’re stuck yet again along via del corso/via condotti

one of the demerits of being an expat in rome is that when friends do come visit, all they want to go to are the done-to-death attraction sites like st peter’s cathedral, colosseum and well, shopping along via condotti (for the ladies hankering after luxury brands).

its kind sad, because try as I may to justify in my mind that my friend’s would love a side trip to tivoli, or to explore ostia, or even to venture into seedy san lorenzo for a drink or two, i have to reluctantly agree that well, the done-to-death attractions are worth at least one visit over these other attractions. well, with the exception of via condotti.

mind you, i have an intense dislike for the spanish steps and via condotti, simply because it reeks of utter consumerism and shows the extent of touristic decay (woah i just invented a new term).

for one, i have utterly no clue of what is the allure of sitting on the steps leading to Piazza Spagna besides the fact that the steps are masterfully designed in Baroque style.

for another, the streets of via condotti really do kinda sicken me at times, especially when I see perfectly coiffed, haughty looking young couples tottering around with tons of shopping bags containing LV, Gucci, Ferragamo goods and the likes. i mean, yes, there’s the whole notion that its an utter waste of money (but i can’t comment lest i slap myself with my prada purchase), but what saddens me the most is that i get the sense that alot of the tourists (eh-hem.. from a certain country) coming here to buy these goods are buying it not for the style, or for the assurance of long lasting quality, but just to make a statement and stamp it all over their bodies how rich they are.

ah well, anyways, for the hapless husbands, boyfriends and haha hapless expat that have to accompany people around via condotti and spend an inordinate amount of time there, one might be able to find respite at san carlo al corso, a beautifully decorated church along via del corso, closeby to via condotti.

its not a famous church – but it nevertheless is beautiful, and to be honest, were the church (or any other lesser known churches in rome) in any other city besides rome, it would be hailed as a masterpiece and thronged with tourists. that’s how steeped in art and architectural wonder rome is.

one thing i love about churches is how one can completely escape the din and bustle of the streets outside and find cool and calm respite within. everyone knows to be quiet and reverent within churches, creating the sense of peace that in essence really is how the church should function as at times. inside the church, you can contemplate on life matters whilst sitting at the pews and be guaranteed not to be bothered by peddlers and gypsies alike. at the lesser known churches like san carlo al corso, time literally stops because of the sparse amount of visitors, and you feel less harassed by tourist groups and so on.

then it’s off to the next bargain/pizza/monument again! =)

on learning italian

roadside shot in flaminio area

three months have really just flown past, and now i have with me a crummy certificate telling me that i have ‘graduated’ from the beginner Italian class from my language school, along with a handful of broken italian phrases and a genuine steely determination to speak better italian. =)

i think learning a language is so essentially to understanding another person’s culture, because you start to understand how people think and how they process information. case in point, i was casually commenting to my colleague how i found it interesting they essentially said “take a coffee” and “make a break” because essentially thats how its translated in italian.

language is so powerful because it constrains how one can express oneself — its like how in japanese one becomes ultra polite and starts learning all about kinship and “amae“, or the feeling of contentment one gets when he feels like he is exactly where he needs to be in life. i think in an american context the term would be “underachieving” or “easily contented“.

some other interesting titbits from my 3 months of language course:

– my sis mentioned how certain words are hyper-conscious within one’s culture, citing examples of like freedom and self-expression in an American context. in italy, i seem to be bombarded with words of “lavoro” (work) and “sciopero” (strike), which is a scary reflection of the current sentiments in Italy where unemployment is sky high. and coincidentally, there seems to be a sciopero planned tomorrow. -_-

– ya know how its wierd when you start frequenting a new place because of class and you tell yourself you will start exploring the nearby area after lessons and find some nice food but it somehow never works out? well, true enough, i ended up rushing home everytime after class to eat near my place and it was only today that i chanced upon a (finally!) healthy salads, sandwiches and fruit juice bar that doesn’t burn a whole through my wallet!

called Fa-Bio, it’s at Via Germanico 43 and sandwiches go for 4 euroes whilst fresh fruit juices go for 2.50 euroes! and what’s cool is that whilst i was there, there was a english-speaking tour guide chattering excitedly to the server (i think tour-guides frequented areas counts as a badge of good-food in its own right) and i was soon involved in the discussion as well, talking about.. well.. how rome is like. =) its gonna be such a waste that i won’t be heading back to the area that often anymore. =(

– and incidentally, the discussion was about the difficulties living in Rome. simply put it, my best advice to expats coming to Rome?

learn. the frigging. language.

then go make italian friends and see all the doors unlock for you. rome doesn’t work by accessing online blogs and recommendations (despite me wishing it would be) but rather through recommendations of friends who frequent so-and-so’s store and knows so-and-so.

yup. that’s the way it works.

ponte milvio

nope, the bridge in the shot is not ponte milvio, but rather, this shot was taken from ponte milvio

what’s the significance of a crudy old bridge you might say? well, for one it connects toward a swanky, fun, non-touristy district called Flaminio with cool bars serving aperitivos and nice chill out spots along the river. to be honest, it is probably one of the few places that I felt as though I was not at a touristic location, having to worry about inflated ‘tourist’ prices. part of the reason why this is so is that the flaminio district is quite far off from the centro storico and there ain’t any grandiose monuments or whatsoever in the vicinity to attract the maddening hordes. well, there’s the fascist regime built stadio olympico as well as the architectural beauty of the MAXXI museum around but I guess these don’t draw the mainstream crowds.

well, the second reason why ponte milvio is cool, is that this is the origin where the whole business of couples hanging locks along the bridge and throwing the key behind them into the river (Tiber in this case) started, apparently thanks to the book by Frederico Moccia called “I want you”. and this phenomenon has spread to multiple countries (i spotted locks in Paris and London), to the dismay of officials in those cities, because the locks create quite a bit of an eyesore to them, and well, cause some form of trouble, like causing a lamppost thronged with locks to partially collapse.

i think some locks (if not most) will last longer than the relationships that put them there, sadly

but still, it’s kind of a cool tradition, and roman officials have since given up dissuading people from placing locks on the bridge, but have allowed them to do so on custom made steel bars along the sides of the bridge. and some crafty business-minded people have also somewhat started a business of selling locks along the bridge. lol.

but still, ponte milvio is a nice place to chill. i’ll probably head back sometime soon.

lake bracciano

what do you do when it’s unbearably hot?

temperatures are soaring crazily over here in Rome what with the african winds, and what’s on the minds of every one on the streets (yes, besides the fact that Italy is through the qualifying rounds of the Euro Cup) is when they can tear themselves away from work and head down to the lake/beach.

one such destination would be lake bracciano, though to a lil’ city boy like me, this lake seems much more like an ocean, what with really choppy waves, windsurfers and sailboats aplenty. in my mind, all lakes ought to be as calm and serene as mirror lake. =)

climbing up the slope for a great view and to explore the ruins of a deserted fort. anyone remember the famous five series by enid blyton? i devoured all those books when i was young, frequently imagining myself exploring demon’s cove or some underground ruins of a castle. this pretty much rekindled those memories.

see what i mean?

more ruins.

flowers grow rampant on these hillsides 

restaurants around the lake serve (of course) deliciously fresh fish from the river, cooked simply with olive oil and pachino tomatoes but tastes amazingly good. seriously. i never eat a whole fish right off like that – usually i prefer a classy salmon steak or something that rids the hassle of digging out the bones but this fish was so good i didn’t mind working through the bones and all that crap to savour the goodness. =) ahh italian food is so simple yet so good…

but so so bad for losing weight. -_-

the ‘W’ curve

ya know, it has been roughly 3 months since i landed on the unfamiliar shores of rome and started integrating myself at work and with the people in the city. and by all accounts, it hasn’t been a walk in the park — truth is that you need the language skills, and you need the opportunities to get to know some italian friends well enough and comfortably enough so that you don’t mind hanging out with them and their friends. and you need to have enough diversity of friends so you don’t seem too clingy to one.

but whilst you struggle and attempt to integrate yourself, a time soon comes when you start feeling fatigued, and wonder whether it really is worth it. it is a time when you go on facebook (my friend and i called it “compare-your-life-with-other-friends.com” and see your friends happily living the life you left behind. and you start feeling awfully homesick.

my friend mentioned that his other friend who worked for a year here said that her emotions in the first year formed a sort of a ‘W’ curve – where the initially few months are a high of discovering new places, with a certain adrenaline that comes from new explorations and trying to just find your local grocer/hairdresser etc. then comes the crash – typically 3 – 4 months in, when things are semi-settled in, but still sorely lacking from what life was back home. and it’s also sufficient time that your friends back home have sufficiently moved on. =(

truth be told, i think i’m in that dip as well. i’m homesick. =(

i miss kaykayla to bits – seeing photos of her going to the zoo and kissing her mom. i see pictures of my cellmates heading to hong kong and so so wish I was there as well – not for the food (well, partially) but mainly for the company and camaraderie that amplifies the fun of travelling. i look at check-ins at my favorite watering holes and pictures of a ridiculous amount of wine bottles and i reminisce the crazy wine parties we had. i see familiar food stalls we went to after every tuesday dragonboat land training and think about the fun and pain training.

all these emotions are making me feel really compelled to buy a ticket home this august for a break. i don’t know.

italian cooking: spaghetti carbonara

that cheesy, eggy, bacon-laden goodness.

there’s something about carbonara that makes it so good (and bad for health at the same time) that you wouldn’t expect it to be simple to make. but trust me, if frank can make it, it must be something somewhat easy. i mean, i think that’s why italian cooking has hit it off so well with me — the fact that the emphasis is more on selection of quality ingredients and produce and not so much on the chef.

now french food is an entirely different matter…

spaghetti carbonara con funghi e salsiccia (for the bachelor)

ingredients: spaghetti (store bought suffices, but if you can, get the freshly made ones — yes it makes a difference) | 1 egg | parmiggiano reggiano (already grated) | garlic (chopped fine, about 3 cloves should suffice) | panchetta | mushooms (sliced) & sausages — both optional to add additional protein to the dish

1. cook spaghetti in boiling salted water (check timing, but taste to ensure it is al dente)

2. in the meantime, fry the panchetta for a few minutes, then throw in the garlic and fry till it is browned slightly

3. combine egg and parmiggiano reggiano, whisk till they mix kinda well.

4. in the meantime, fry the mushrooms and sausages in olive oil.

5. turn OFF the heat on the pan of panchetta/garlic, drain spaghetti before dumping the spaghetti into the pan and quickly adding the egg/cheese combination and toss/mix all ingredients to let the egg coat and cook using the heat of the ingredients (and not the fire, else u get scrambled eggs)

6. top with mushrooms and sausages.

the verdict? (hehe.. the food blogger judges his own food)

mushrooms and sausages don’t add to the flavor, but neither to they really detract from it, so its fine. i think i needed to be slightly more generous with the cheese to get a thicker consistency, and well, i think i want to try it with hand-made spaghetti to see if it makes a difference. but overall, it actually smells and tastes good!

oh.. one annoying thing that occurred to me was that I was struggling with the spaghetti (since it was the pre-processed hard type) – struggling to force the entire straight strand into my pot which was too shallow (as normal pots are..). methinks i need one of those industrial spaghetti pots or just.. buy hand-made ones =)

this dish is worth recreating and perfecting because its the perfect low-investment, high-payouts kinda dish. yum!

vinoforum 2012

image courtesy here

it’s time to pop the corks and drink ourselves silly!

one fine way to find out about events around town is really to walk alot, and peer at the many billboards along the streets. and boy does rome have a plethora of events – i missed the night at the museum (night where museums opened till 2am for free) and rome tennis open. but i ain’t gonna miss this –

vinoforum 2012, from1 jun to 16 jun

seems like more than 500 companies carrying 2500 wine labels have decended in Rome, in a 10,000 square metres wine village for people to sample, drink and be merry. count me in! =) tickets go at sunday – thursday (16 euros), friday (20 euros) and saturday (25 euros), and includes a glass, pouch and free tasting of the wines offered in the Village. err, does that mean wines from ALL 500 COMPANIES?

opening hours are sun – thurs, 7pm – 12am (hur hur..) and fri – sat, 7pm – 1am (wonder where’s the club after). avoid mondays though since its reserved for those in the industry (elitist!). its at lungotevere maresciallo diaz, near stadio olimpico (wah.. how am i gonna get home like this?)

victoria li, you need to fly over. like now.

rome sight-seeing: MAXXI

laundry day!

today was a company off-day because saturday is Republic Day, so yay to a long weekend! and what sweetened the pot was that I was completely clueless of it until thursday morning when one colleague asked whether i was going to capitalize on the long weekend to head off somewhere. one of the rules of happiness: if you don’t expect something good and it happens, you derive much more happiness. =) let’s all live with less expectations and consequently, more joyful experiences eh?

but well i didn’t plan anything fancy. just a trip down to the MAXXI, the museum of 21st century arts, which was a welcome change from seeing renaissance churches and ancient ruins. =) set far away from the maddening tourist crowd, MAXXI seems also slightly out of place in what is a really quiet, nondescript residential neighboring. but once you step in through the gates, you get a refreshing whiff of tasteful design and a beautiful exterior play space for kids to play and interact and for parents to lie back , bask in the sun and relax.

i love such a concept of a museum to be honest — to double up as a public space where the public can interact with exhibits and not treat “art” as merely something that is encased in a high security frame with ubiquitous “do not touch” signs. MAXXI exudes an air of friendly amicableness and lightness, which continues on inside the building, with ergonomic curves as the predominant architectural theme.

modern and sleek. i want those sofas in my house next time. haha

architecture aside, MAXXI showcases some really cool exhibits that makes you think. I think a part of the museum appeal is that you can go by yourself and not feel any bit lonely or ill-at-ease, because all the artworks are like friends wanting to talk to you and share their point of view. its an enriching experience indeed. my favourite exhibits would be doris salcedo’s plegaria muria and giorgio andreotta calò’s pitch black pinhole room.

plegaria muria (photo courtesy here)

both exhibits take up entire rooms and swallow the observer up within their art-spaces. plegaria muria is a sobering exhibit of multiple tables stacked on top of tables with soil in between and green grass growing from the top table, signifying the graves of the many “statistical” deaths in Columbia, in bid to restore some semblance of humanity to the lives, hopes and dreams lost. observers navigate through the haphazardly arranged tables, almost as though navigating through a maze, with the austerity of the design and just the repetition in pattern swallowing them into this art-space.

giorgio andreotta calo’s exhibit similar swallows the observer up, but this time in a completely black, dark room (unintentionally i guess), in order to create a gigantic pinhole camera (where the viewer is now inside the camera), projecting the scenery around the museum into this dark room, and using water below to create the righted-up image through reflection. it’s a truly immersive experience – its really pitch black initially and you have to grope at the railings the enter (guided by a guide) and there is a true ganzfeld sensation until u approach the main gallery and see the reflected image. to be honest, i initially thought the image was so drawing, and was astounded when it was explained to me that it was a actual picture of the scenery outdoors. pretty wild!

all in all, a fruitful day. enough to make cheewei (nate) ng seethe with jealousy i suppose. haha. =)