Sunset in Sorrento

One of the most unforgettable moments I have had here in Italy was watching the sunset in Sorrento from the balcony of my hotel room. Watching the sunset over the beautiful ocean and seeing the sun fall over the city of Sorrento at dusk was absolutely life changing. I know at home in my everyday life I don’t take time to enjoy the simple things in life like watching the sun set. It is such a rare and beautiful site to see and I think many people take that for granted. Watching the sun set in Sorrento made me think about all the simply beautiful things in life that we seem to loose focus on because of our “hectic schedules.” I found myself reflecting on all of my experiences here in Rome while watching this gorgeous sunset and found myself shedding a new light on the past seven weeks. It allowed me to clear my mind and in a sense feel free. I am going to take what I got from this and always remember exactly how I felt at this moment in time and was lucky enough to capture some pictures of the amazing sunset that I will never forget.

Shopping by the Tiber

Like I had mentioned in one of my previous blogs about the fair by the Tiber River I also found the shopping there a special sight to see. Once the sun sets the place gets swarmed with people. The stands they have set up there are great to find unique jewelry, clothes, purses, candles, lamps, candy, and an array of home made crafts. This was a fun place to go and visit and created a new environment not only for shopping late at night but being able to do so by the Tiber. The people at these stands were very nice and a lot of the products were inexpensive. I spent a few nights walking along the river exploring these stands I felt like they could have gone on forever. I ended up finding a lot of great things to take home to my family and friends and it will be fun to tell them the story behind where their gifts came from.

Music,Fireworks, & the beach

I visited Sorrento just this past weekend and experienced a whole different type of nightlife at our amazing hotel, Mar Alimuri. This hotel offered everything from 2 pools, continental breakfast, 2 restaurants in the hotel, and a private beach. After dining at their buffet style dinner we sat out along the terrace that overlooked the ocean. There was a live performer who came out to sing and play the piano every night around eight. As the sun was setting we took a walk along the beach and found a rocky area where we sat for a while enjoying the sound of the waves splashing against the sand. Then back at the hotel we found an outdoor table to sit at where we could enjoy the live music. Suddenly from afar we heard fireworks. I looked up into the sky and they were right above our heads, and better than any seat you could stake out on the 4th of July at the Bryce Jordan Centre. We just sat there in awe and watched them go off over the beautiful calm ocean.

Rialto Sant' Amborgio

Rialto Sant’ Amborgio is located in Campo de’ Fiore and is a new and upcoming hot spot for Romans. It is an event that holds an array of entertainment over a few floors of a building including movies, dancing, plays, house and dubbed movies, book presentations, and a variety of different music. Although weekends are devoted strictly to turning the space into a night club it is a really good place to go that offers a lot and caters to many different tastes and interests of people. I also think that is located in a really good area that attracts a lot of people. It's nice to know that there is more to offer at this place than a typical bar. It is a place that can keep people interested and coming back.

This information and more can be found in the 2007 edition of Eyewitness Travel Guide published by Dorling Kindersley.

Fair by the Tiber

Now that the summer is beginning to kick in and tourist season is in full effect more of the seasonal restaurants and nightlife activities are starting to open up. I’m lucky enough to live along the Tiber River in Trastevere and just last weekend they opened up what I like to think of it as a mini fair. When you walk down the steps and reach the pavement along side the Tiber there are rows of restaurants, gelato stands, outdoor wine bars, activities, stands, and all types of people. They have live music and couches set up along the river where people gather and hang out. In better words it was like an up scale carnival. Everything was lit up and beautiful. It’s nice and close to my apartment so I’m sure I will be going back there a lot. It was a really nice place to hang out especially on the hot summer nights here in Rome and it’s a nice change of scenery.

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps at night is amazing!! Everything looks
completely different than it does during the day.
To start off it is far less congested with people and traffic. You can see the whole area lit up and the store displays from glowing from afar. There are a ton of people who go to simply experience the view and if you go on a beautiful night like we did you will catch and amazing view of the sky. It was breathtaking. It was a very lively scene. There were people playing music, singing, selling souvenirs, and just enjoying each others company. We climbed half way up the steps and found a perfect place to sit. The weather that night was nice and had a cool breeze. It was a nice summer night and a fun place to go and just relax and enjoy your surroundings. It was definitely the best view of the sky I have seen since being here in Rome and I am making it a point to go back again before I leave!

Movie Theatre

I have been wanting to go to the movies since we arrived here in Rome and I finally got a chance to do so the other night. We just happened to run across a movie theatre near the Vatican that not only had good movies playing but offered them in English. After viewing movies in Italian for five weeks now it was nice to go and sit down to a movie that I could kick back and relax to. The movie theatre was a little bit different than the ones in America but for the most part the same. The biggest difference was that there was a concession stand plus a cafe. You could come early and enjoy a pinini and wine outside at a table or take a big bucket of popcorn and a coke in with you. It was like a taste of home in Italy with somewhat of a twist. Another major bonus to the theatre we went to was that the seats were huge! they reclined and were extremely comfortable. They also had an intermission in the middle of the movie that allowed you to get up and go to the bathroom which they conveniently had located right in the theatre where your movie was playing. There set up and style of theatres were far more impressive than any that I have ever been to and I look forward to going back!

GELATO!

The other night while walking down the streets of Rome near our apartment a friend and I were on a search for a good place to get some Gelato. We ran into a small simplistic bar about a 5 minute walk from where we lived. We had no plans for that night so decided to sit down and get some gelato. We quickly realized how packed the place was getting. There were cute tables spread out all along the front of the bar and a ton of teenage to middle aged people sitting around together and eating their ice cream. This place was really cool because not only did it have gelato but it had gelato that you could add fruit and nuts to, or you could order crapes. This place was in a setting of almost a mini Campo de Fiore. There were your typical men carrying around flowers and flashing sunglasses to buy. But this bar seemed different, it was like a hangout spot for younger people who were just looking to sit outside and enjoy ice cream and good weather in a relaxed atmosphere. I'm really glad we found the place because we ended up chatting with some locals whose English was pretty decent and what we had planned to be a quick trip for gelato turned out to be our event for the night. I'm glad we found a nice place where people go to just enjoy eachothers company, and im looking forward to going back!