ROME DAY 2 -- 9/9/06

Day 2 in Rome started with a visit to the Sisteen Chapel in the Vatican Museum. Although the museum itself is kind of crappy, the Sisteen Chapel is one thing we both really wanted to see. Of course they don't let anyone take photo or video once you're inside, but they didn't say anything about portable audio recorders! Listen to the recording and hear what the most beautiful room in the world sounds like.

Oh, and I forgot to remind everyone in our first entry that you MUST WEAR HEADPHONES while listening to these recordings. If you don't then you will not experience the 3-D effect, so please wear the cans. It's kind of the whole point.

After an amazing lunch in the Jewish Ghetto (which Liz will tell you all about in the food section below) we headed for the Spanish Steps. (We also stopped in the Pantheon and took some pictures of the giant dome which you can see below). We took two recordings at the Spanish Steps. The first is of a little guy we have to call the 'Besame Mucho Kid' because that's all he knows and that's all he does. He sings Besame Mucho (or his own version of it anyway) over and over again--forever.

It's incredible.

The second recording is actually of the BMK's friends who also play music. I caught a little bit of their performance before a cop lady came and broke it up. There is a picture below where you can see the cop and the kids walking away with their instruments. Enjoy!

NOTTE BIANCA

The night portion of our second day in Rome was completely defined by the Notte Bianca festival. We happened to be in Rome for the one day of the year when they celebrate this strange event. In short, all of the museums, clubs, bars and everything else stays open all night until 6AM. On top of that, public performances and other events are happening everywhere at all times. The people of Rome take control of the streets, thousands and thousands of them. The city gives way to what amounts to the biggest block party known to mankind. It's totally chaotic, drunken mayhem. Sounds excellent, right?

Hear for yourself!

We recorded some real gems during Notte Bianca. We didn't finish dinner until midnight, but that's when this party was just getting started. We headed for the San Angelo Castle on the river. We arrived just in time for an incredible fireworks display along the riverside. It was of some dance piece with fire and opera music. Really weird but beautiful. I managed to take some video of the fireworks and I have put the binaural recording with the video. This is kind of an experiment, I don't know if you will be able to watch this, or if it will take an hour to load but I figured it was worth a shot. Fireworks in 3D? You just can't beat that! Check it out.

The next recording is of a bizzare kind of theatric circus like performance we saw part of. It took place on a bridge over the river. It was difficult to get pictures of these things. Not only was it dark but you have to imagine an entire city jammed wall to wall with people. It literally was like if everyone in Manhattan just went outside of every apartment and every store and just started walking around all over the place. Anyway, here is the circus theatric thing.

The next one is from a performance that was going on underneath the bridge that the circus thing was on. It was a poetry reading/jazz concert. Here is a brief sample:

Later we found ourselves back near our hotel in Piazza Navona. There we captured an amazing recording of a guitar player. He was playing Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits. This guy is so good that I thought they had a boombox and they were just playing the record. There was a big crowd around him but Liz got some cool pictures of him. He plays this song note for note as good as Mark Knopfler--it's ridiculous. I had to put the whole song up out of respect.

Finally, we ended up buying a bottle of wine (this was at about 2:30AM mind you) in a little shop on a side street. To our surprise, there was a DJ set up inside playing Hip Hop. And as soon as we popped the cork a couple MC's grabbed a mic and started freestyling. I can't tell if the language is Italian or German, or maybe it's something else, but this one guy sounds pretty good. It was nice to hear some live Hip Hop anyways.

And now for something completely different.....FOOD!!!

It may seem like our day was completely filed with sightseeing and non stop activities. But have no fear, there was plenty of eating throughout. After all, we needed a lot of nourishment to keep us going!

We started with a light, typical Italian breakfast Cornetto (basically a crossiant) and an orange Fanta to wash it down. For lunch, we ventured to the Jewish ghetto where we dined at in incredible old restaurant called Piperno. Located in a side street, apparently in the middle of nowhere, the restaurant specialized in typical Roman Jewish Ghetto food. The fried artichokes (pictured above) were whole and pressed flat. Soft on the inside and incredibly crisp and flaky on the outside, they were truly the best fried artichokes you could ever have. We followed this with an assortment of meat antipasto, then Spaghetti Carbonara-spaghetti loaded with Pecorino cheese and egg, with thick pieces of crispy, chewy bacon (or "fried lard"). Yum. For dessert, we hesitantly ordererd Palle del Nonno ("fried grandpa's balls") which turned out to be wonderful balls of ricotta and chocolate with a tender fried exterior and a light citrusy flavor throughout. Wow.

Though very full, we had to sample what the guide book described as the best gelato in Rome. We walked over to Il Gelato san Crispino, a small gelateria located close to the Spanish Steps. We sampled the ginger and cinammon ice cream, as well as Straciatella (vanilla with chocolate flakes) and plum ice cream. All were delicious, but the plum was a real highlight; each bite tasted exactly like the ripest, sweetest, most incredible plum in the history of plums. We love Italy.

Between Gelato and dinner we of course had to sample pizza from Il Forno di Campo de Fiori, a legendary Roman pizza place. This was our first slice of Italian pizza and it did not disappoint. An extremely crispy, square slice of pizza, topped with luscious mozzarella cheese and a tangy, sweet tomato sauce. Delicious.

But dinner, oh dinner. We had a reservation at one restaurant, but decided to change our plans when we passed by Il Bacaro, located in a small alleyway and packed with locals and a couple of tourists. My dinner was great, starting with balls (more balls!) of ricotta cheese coated in crushed walnuts, with a piece of melon in the center. Then fresh pasta with a thick, pungent pesto sauce and chunks of sweet cherry tomato. My main course was unusual and wonderful, thin slices of warm beef carpaccio topped with a layer of paper thin truffle slices and light sauce, served on a bed of braised chicory. Dessert was wild berries with custard in a tender tart shell.

But Matt's dinner was truly extraordinary. Somehow, he managed to put together an incredible selection of dishes. Beginning with an eggplant tortino-large slices of mozzarella cheese layered between thin slices of eggplant with strips of chopped tomato. Then a mind blowing pasta dish with fresh Orecchiette topped with masses of Pecorino and Parmesan cheese and laced with pieces of smoked ham and crunchy red cabbage. The Main course consisted of slices of tender skirt steak, with a truly unbelivable broccoli sauce-a thick puree of broccoli that tasted like....heaven. Accompanied by a cold potato puree and a chicory salad, it was the perfect dish. Dessert was a "crumbled cake" over custard. A bottle of a delicious Chianti Classico from Toscana, and we were very happy!

p.s. We have decided to that these last two days was enough Rome for a lifetime so we are off to Florence a day early. Our next entry will be from Firenze! We hope you have enoyed the site so far. Please send us your comments by clicking on the link on the homepage to email us. Thanks. Arrivederci!

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ROME DAY 1 -- 9/8/06

WELCOME TO ROMA!!!!

'Welcome to Roma' is the title of our first recording that we will share with you, and it's a fitting one indeed.

We arrived in Rome in the late afternoon after a good two hour delay out of the Zurich Airport. We were tired, a little cranky,

and eager to get to the hotel, drop off our bags and get going. Our taxi ride from the airport was a thrill ride, twisting and turning down tiny alleyways at 100km per hour like we were shooting a scene from The Transporter or something.

But we finally stopped in one of the narrowest alleys in Rome's Centro Historico district and we were there--Hotel In Parione.

The following recording was taken just as we got out of the cab. You can even hear the taxi roaring away as the track starts.

Like I said, 'Welcome to Roma' is what we're calling this one, and this city really has a nice way of introducing itself.

Check it out!

Note about the recording: If you are wondering why the band seems to be floating around your head, it's because

I was so excited about the whole scene that I kept looking back and forth down the two streets trying to take it all in.

By the way, please send us your comments by clicking on the link on the homepage and let us know what you think of the recordings. Are they loud enough? Can you hear them okay? Is there distortion? We would be happy to hear from you, and we'll post the comments on a separate page for everyone to look at (it's kind of a makeshift blog). Thanks!

The next stop on our Binaural tour of Rome is Piazza Navona. This famous piazza is only a few blocks away from our hotel. For this recording, I walked from one end of the piazza to the other and Liz followed close behind taking pictures. You'll hear a little bit of wind from time to time (wind is a nightmare for recording). I tried to filter most of it out. Enjoy the walk!

From Piazza Navona, we went to the Trevi Fountain. Of course we got lost for a couple of hours inbetween but that's what you are supposed to do in Rome. This recording will show you just how crowded it can get at this tourist attraction. You will hear a lot of different spoken languages as we snuck our way through the crowd to get to the fountain's edge. At the end of the recording you can hear Liz and I say 'make a wish' just before we tossed our coins into the fountain. You can even hear my coin flip into the water!

Due to the fact that this website thing is kind of taking forever, we have to skip a few recordings and move to our final recording of Day One. This is of Campo De Fiori, which is a giant piazza near our hotel that apparently is the spot to be at night, especially if you're an 17 year old American student looking to get plastered. It was kind of like Rome meets Cancun. So really, Liz and I fit right in.

And now, the food.

Matt and I were in Rome for about two hours before we actually ate anything. By the time we sat down for our first taste of Italian fare we were almost giddy with anticipation-and those first bites did not disappoint. We sampled three complimentary bruschetta--tomato, cheese and onion, and roasted red pepper-while drinking a tasty Italian beer called Nastro Azzurro.

After walking around for hours, it was time for dinner. Exhausted, and too tired to do any major searching, we asked a nice Roman woman to recommend a place to us. And we are so glad we did! Right around the corner from our hotel we dined at an incredible, Roman homestyle restaurant. The restaurant was packed and when we finally got a table, the waiter brought over a large bottle of house white wine and sparkling water the moment we sat down. This was our kind of place. There was no menu, no choices of what you ate. A vivacious, affectionate old woman and her husband ran the establishment. For the next two hours, we ate course after course of incredible food--appetizers of tomatoes with basil, delicious stewed lentils, prosciutto, risotto croquette...Rigatoni with an incredible tomato sauce, tangy and sweet and laced with Parmesan cheese and Ricotta...and then sliced veal with a powerful pan sauce, with sides of mashed eggplant, bocconcini and freshly fried potato chips. And dessert! Though we had finished the bottle of wine, and were nearly bursting from that massive meal, we ate with gusto an incredible tart filled with what we think was sweetened mashed potatoes--but who knows? and who cares?! It was so delicious we almost couldn't believe it. And when the waiter told us the cost we really couldn't believe it--42 Euros for an unbelievable feast!

We walked for an hour or so after dinner, then sat down for another bottle of wine in the Campo De Fiori. And then, of course, it was time for Gelato.