A three-sentence history of Rome: The Roman Empire existed for about 1,000 years. It rose from (approximately) 500 BC to 0, was at its height until 200 AD, and fell until 500 AD. Toward the beginning of its fall, the Aurelian Walls were built around Rome to keep out invaders (not that they managed it well; Attila the Hun still broke through in the early 400s). These walls still encircle downtown and Ancient Rome, as well as Trastevere. Some sections have even been turned into apartments and stores.
We spent our last full day in Rome exploring beyond these walls, primarily to the north of the city. Our first stop was the Catacombe di Priscilla, 13 km (8 mi) of underground catacombs used from 200 to 300 AD. 40,000 bodies were, and many still are, interred there. Our tour through the catacombs covered about half a mile of these low-ceilinged, cell-phone-flashlight-lit underground corridors, where bodies were lain in locker-type cubbies, five or ten high.
Read MoreA note on the title: Whereas Paris is the City of Light and New York is the City that Never Sleeps, Rome is nicknamed "The Eternal City"--and aptly so.
This was the day in Rome I'd been looking forward to with the enthusiasm of a child at Disneyland: The day of old stuff. I've always loved anything to do with ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome, so the thought of seeing the remains of an ancient city (my first since Jerusalem and, arguably, St. Albans; Ryan's first since he was here in 2008) was beyond exciting.
We had breakfast on our hotel's terrace before setting off for the Colosseo on foot, armed with several downloaded audio tours from Rick Steves. We spent an hour wandering around the Colosseum, looking down at the arena from every angle, before heading through the Triumphal Arch and into the Roman Forum on just the other side of the hill. This was the political and economic center of Rome during its heyday, was the site of Julius Caesar's home and assassination, and saw Rome's rise and fall within less than 1,000 years. We wandered between the remnants of Pagan temples and Christian churches, snuck glances at tour guides' revisualizations of what each spot would have looked like 2,000 years ago. After a long, hot trek up Palatine Hill (Monte Palatino), we wandered through remnants of the emperor's homesteads, Roman baths, gardens, and guest houses. The grandeur of everything we saw, even in ruins, was incredible.
Read MoreI'm learning very quickly that we are creatures of caffeine-powered habit. We've traveled together across ten states and, prior to our honeymoon, four countries; and no matter where we go, we have to start each day with the most important decision we'll make for the morning: where to get coffee.
So we set off early Tuesday morning toward Country #2 of our honeymoon, and also the smallest country in the world: Vatican City. Our hotel is just down a long but straight drive along the Tiber River from the walls that separate the Vatican gardens from the rest of Rome, so after walking alongside those walls, we found Caffé Braccio. (This is pronounced BRA-cho--Ryan is getting increasingly bemused by my inability to keep the different sounds 'cc,' 'ci/ce,' 'ca/co,' and 'ch' separate...I default to the Spanish 'c'/'s'/'z' and Ryan is rolling his eyes behind me.)
After two (or three?) cappuccinos/espressos each, we moved along to the entrance to the Museo Vaticano alongside our private tour guide, Tommaso. All the shout-outs to David and Libbie, who made that private tour possible--because otherwise, and even with a ticket reservation, we would have been standing in a half-mile-long line the entire morning just to get through the entrance. Tommaso got us to the front of every line, and coupled every new room with historical knowledge and wit. He's an archeologist from Sapienza University (literally, "knowledge") on the other side of the city--the same archeology team now excavating part of the Roman Forum. Throughout the tour, Tommaso pointed out sly additions (or occasionally omissions) to frescoes and sculptures that were, hundreds of years ago, political or social statements against a particular pope, rival artist, or ruling family.
Read MoreGone are the days of being able to sleep on red-eye flights. Whether cross-country or cross-Atlantic, Ryan and I have done several together--and each time involves the same cycle from book to magazine to in-flight movie to Spotify, and back to book again. We'd glance at each other, confirm neither was asleep, and move sluggishly on. While Ryan was revisiting the newest Star Trek, I was powering through the first half of The Time Traveler's Wife. We paused at around 2 AM Italy time to stuff our faces in our new travel pillows (yes, we even invested in pillows for this), poked each other at around 3 AM to see if they were doing their job (they weren't), and kept on reading/watching/bemoaning our promised jet lag.
Read MoreJess is taking over writing this post because #obviously.
Before July 9th, I knew absolutely nothing about wedding dresses, let alone about shopping for them. I've still never seen "Say Yes to the Dress," so in my mind, the bride-to-be walks into a dress shop, finds the section with her size, and tries on whatever they have. If she likes one, she takes it home with her. I thought I'd want a mermaid-style "in-then-out" dress, thought icy white would be the best with red hair, and thought "bustle" was only a word that follows "hustle and."
So wrong on all the levels. So, so wrong.
Patricia, luckily, had seen "Say Yes to the Dress" and knew what to expect for our crazy weekend of dress shopping all over the Bay. She knew to prepare me for openness when it came to the shape and style I was looking for (because just like everyone told me, what I ended up with was the complete opposite of what I set out looking for), and she warned me about being industrial-clipped into dresses so big I could drown in lace and tulle and beaded bodices.
A few things I learned that weekend:
Read MoreThe grand question: How do you marry (no pun intended) two highly distinct cuisines in a single wedding, and from a single food vendor?
Why a food truck?
As offspring from a very, very long lineage in our respective states -- Ryan a fourth-generation Arizonan, Jess an umpteenth-generation North Carolinian -- we are very opinionated about good food. If it doesn't involve a spice factor that will make you cry, Ryan's not interested. And if flavorful meat and cured pork isn't involved, I'm done. In Arizona, "flavor" means "spice;" in the South, spice is nonexistent and readily replaced with vinegar.
When we set out to plan the food for this wedding, we could easily agree on one thing: We wanted a food truck. Full plates were far too expensive, and many vendors in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area start at around $90/plate. (We love our family and friends to the moon and back, but that's a lot of money for two grad students.) Even catering, typically around $45/person, ends up costing more than expected when you add in the prices for dishes, silverware, and cleaning.
But a food truck would solve both the per-head price and our fear of commitment (that is, to place settings).
Read MoreWe really love genealogy. If you've ever brought up ancestry with either of us, we've probably gone on a five-minute tangent about DNA tests and Ancestry.com and Neanderthal percentages (don't bring up this last topic with Ryan).
We've both gotten our DNA tested, established that we aren't remotely related (not that we were concerned?), and have had a fun time tracing various paths of our family trees as far back as the 1400s.
Read MoreEarly on in wedding planning, a coworker advised that Ryan and I sit down and separately -- without discussing our lists out loud -- write down the top three priorities we had for the wedding. What was most important to us? What could we not give up? What were we willing to splurge on?
Although our reception was a key part of both our lists (food and merriment in particular), we also cared about our photographer...a lot. These are the photos that will become our only tangible memories of one of the most important days of our relationship.
Read MoreWe got engaged while Jess was in San Francisco for an internship, which meant the first few months of our engagement were spent apart. Our schedules rarely lined up: one of us was available in the evenings, the other was a little more flexible in the mornings.
Slack
We ended up adopting a system of communication that worked from different states, and that could also be shared with other collaborators (our parents, members of our wedding party). Ryan all but demanded that we use Slack, which was still relatively "new" at the time. This became a depository for documents -- quotes and bills for various vendors, price sheets or details for food trucks and alcohol distributors, etc. Slack, unlike traditional texting, allows for searching through all content ever posted. (You don't have to constantly reload outdated posts.)
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