Rome Museum Overview

Capitoline Museum:

Pros: A really central location... in an area that you'll likely be in at some point. Some really inportant piece of art are located here. The collosal statue of Constantine (first Christian emperor) as well as the Capitoline She-Wolf bronze (see earlier blog-post).

Cons: Mostly classical pieces. More busts (statues from mid-chest up, than you thought possible in one location).

Recommended for anyone who's in the area and wants to check out an important collection.

Vatican Museum:
Pros: Vast collection of incredible art in a sprawling gallery; a visit here also includes a walk through the Sistine Chapel and some of the frescoed studies. One of the world's most significant and magnificent collections of art.
Cons: Very busy. An entry without a tour requires the longest queue you've ever stood in. The line can snake around the entirity of a country (Vatican City) in the blazing sun.
Recommended for those who really want to see the Sistine chapel or have a particular piece of art that they wish to see in person.
Borghese Gallery:
Pros: Excellent rennaissance paintings and sculptures. Reservations are mandatory and are timed. Much smaller and more manageable gallery than the Vatican.
Cons: Less of the famous works of art than the Vatican. Advanced booking is required which means you have to be organized and can't go at the drop of a hat.
Recommended for those who want to see some beautiful and influential pieces of art without a guided tour.
Villa Giulia:
I've never been here, so I can't give pros or cons. It is very close to our apartment, inside the Borghese Gardens. It's a restored villa which contains a collection of Etruscan art. It's meant to be one of the largest collections Etruscan artifacts in Italy.
Recommended for Lynne and anyone else interested in ancient pottery and metal work.
Montemartini Museum:
Pros: The collection is housed in an old power plant which is a cool and unique setting for a museum. It's a great collection of classical sculpture.
Cons: Not in central Rome so requires a bit of a metro ride to get there. From what I can remember, it's only classical art.
Recommended for those who want an unusual art-viewing experience.

These are definately not the only museums in Rome. They're a few of the ones that I've been to, some of them more than once.

Un caffe per piacere...

The Romans have unspoken rules about coffee...both how to order it and when it should be consumed. There are dedicated coffee shops that vary in their fanciness. Here are a couple of great ones:

La Tazza D'Oro - Near Pantheon - Beautiful and old-fashioned with delicious coffee granita (in picture)

Caffe Sant'Eustachio - Near Piazza Navonna - very busy and small but really good coffee

At a place like these you have two options, you can stand at the bar or sit at a table. Sitting at a table and being served will probably double the price of your coffee. If you choose to stand at the bar, you must first pay the cashier for your drink. Then, cooly walk to the bar and give the receipt to the barristo who will then make your drink.

In addition to dedicated cafes, many of the bars that serve drinks in the evenings do double duty as places to grab a coffee in the morning and afternoon. If you walk into one of these places and it's relatively quiet, as far as i can tell, you can just walk up to the bar and order directly with the barristo.

As far as what to order, there seem to be a billion different ways types of coffee:

un caffe = espresso

un caffe machiato = espresso with a little foam/milk on top

un caffe con panna = espresso with a swirl of whipped cream on top

un cappucino = exactly what you think

un caffe latte = exactly what you think

un latte machiato = hot milk with a dash of espresso

Sometimes you might have the option of getting something hot or cold. Hot is caldo and cold is freddo. I always get confused as to how to say hot and cold because caldo sounds so much like cold. However, I think that the Italian word comes from the same root as the English word scalding, so I now think I can remember.

Italians only drink milky drinks before lunch. If you order a cappucino after dinner, you might get an eye-roll.

Trastevere

Trastevere is a great neighborhood. It's not pristine or manucured, but it's really interesting. It's less crowded with tourists than other areas of the city because, I think, there are not really any major sights to see. In English, the name of the river that runs through Rome to the Mediterranean is the Tiber. In Italian, the river is the Tevere; so, Trastevere literally means across the Tiber river. Just as Paris is divided into the Left and Right Banks, Rome is a split city too. The main piazza is in front of the beautiful church of Santa Maria in Trasvevere which contains some really lovely mosaics. The easiest way to get here from the Centro Storico is to cross the Tiber at the Ponte Sisto. Really this neighborhood is a collection of tiny piazze joined by alleys. You never know what you might find which makes it fun to wander through. The picture here is a really old apartment building that I saw on one of my last wanderings there. As far as food goes, there are lots of interesting looking little places here. There's a little piazza on the Trastevere side of the Ponte Sisto which has a great restaurant called Trattoria Ponte Sisto that I've eaten at 3 times. There's some great pizza option all through the area. The Food, Wine, Rome, there's a place called Ivo A Trastevere for pizza that sounds really delicious. The place where Anthony Bourdain had Carbonara is in Trastevere at a restaurant called Paris. The cacio e pepe he had was at Roma Sparita, also here.