Author: rinaz

A couple of weeks back, Cart stumbled upon a Magic the Gathering tournament and asked me a long to take have a look. Cart used to play MTG card games, I didn’t. But I thought that it would be interesting just to see what was going on.

Here we are at the Palazzo Dei Congressi where major exhibitions and conferences are held. There were people all over the world in the expo. The moment we reached there, I heard two Americans having a conversation with each other. And as soon as we entered the tournament hall, practically everyone was speaking in English.

We decided to take a look at the contestants at work.

I’m not too sure how the game goes, but I noticed that as they were playing, they’d scribble in a little notepad to tally up their scores.

There were SO many people playing. It was impressive. The hall, which was large by itself was full of contestants. And yet, there were other halls and levels that we did not manage to explore into. So many participants! A rough estimate would be about 4 thousand contestants in all.

As you see, the contestants came from all over the world. Which makes me wonder. Considering that many of the contestants are in their teens, and live overseas, how do they earn the money to come to Rome and stay here for about 4 days or so.

They could be rich, or according to Oharlie, earned a lot of money from these tournaments.

Exploring a little bit more, we came across a section where you could play Magic the Gathering Online.

Walking a little bit more, I saw this very nice conference hall. Cart postulated that this was the area where the winners will be announced. I really liked the place. It reminded me of the past conferences that I’ve attended like Interesthink and Nexus. I thought that it would be the perfect place to go to for a blog conference.

Not too far from the conference hall, we came across a long queue of people wanting to get their items signed by two of MTG’s artists – Jeremy Jarvis and Aleksi Briclot. Looking through some of their illustration online, I thought that it was gorgeous and something to be appreciated.

Breathtaking!

Towards the end of our exploration, Cart and I came across a small area where contestants could challenge the creator of MTG, Richard Garfield himself.

Personally, I think that Richard Garfield is a genius to have created a game out of something that he enjoys doing and made a lot of money at the same time. It’s hard to ignore the presence of MTG in daily life. It has been around since I was in school and even during my stint as an educator the past years, you’d see kids playing it.

Anyway, if you’re interested, here is a video about the event :

To end this post, I will put up something completely irrelevant.

Apparently Italy doesn’t sell the Gold red bull. But I don’t like the blue ones!

While I was travelling on a bus with Jerrick, I spotted a billboard.

Those were scratches on the glass on the bus I was taking if you were wondering.

I love cats, and thus, last weekend, I dragged Cartcart to take me to the exhibition hall, Nuova Fiera Roma to see the La Mostra Felina 2009.

It was such a pretty afternoon. With us being in Autumn, the leaves on trees were golden and red with many of the leaves fallen off.

Having already been to the Fiera di Roma some weeks ago, the exhibition didn’t look as cramped full of exhibition, but there were still a buzz of activity.

One of the first things that I saw was a demonstration for automated cat litter collector.

It looked very interesting at how inside turns around into a sort of filter which traps the cat litter. But it seems rather large and unsuitable for those with smaller houses.

And not too far away, there are several stalls selling a couple of cat trinkets from jewellery, cat printed bags, ceramics and others.

Initially when I was at the entrance of the the exhibition hall, I really wanted to get a cute cat balloon, but in the end, this cute cat scarf seems more practical. You like?

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There were also other segments where you could take pictures of your cats, complete with a light box.

I couldn’t get a clear shot because of the crowd though.

And there was a segment where the cat tournament was held. But I wasn’t too interested in it though as it was mostly a beauty contest where the owners show off their cats.

There were a segment for kids to watch a Punch and Judy show.

I noticed quite a number of kids having their face painted with feline decorations. And I nearly kicked myself for not having worn my Cat Hat.

Anyway, the main attraction would have to be the cats itself. There were so many cats but there probably about five times the amount the visitors. I was surrounded by a lot of people. So it was rather claustrophobic for me and at the end of it, I felt dizzy and out of breath.

At the same time, because of that, I had a number of bad shots with people’s body part in the way. But what bothered me more was that there were a number of people who took pictures of the cats with FLASH! And some were even poking the cats.

The poor cats. Being in a cage for two days with loads of people staring at them the entire time and the bright lights from the flash and the poking. I’m sure some were traumatised and confused. In fact I saw a few which were shaking. Probably very stressed out.

Nevertheless, there were a number of owners who were happy to chat with the visitors and showing off their cats.

This little girl is so cute, she held her British Shorthair for me and patiently waited for me to take a picture 🙂

I’ve never seen a tri-coloured sphynx cat before.

I quite like this picture and how happy the owner looks

One of the rare men at the exhibition, showing off his cat

Here are several cats that I think I know the breeds. These are the Birman Cats.

Some Winston looking cats :

There were some Sphynx. Personally I find them cute, even if they were mainly portrayed as pets by evil characters. So its very sad when I hear of recounts like these.

There were a number of Norwegian forest cats. They were really big and I reckon from what I saw, they are as large as a dog even.

Here are the British Shorthair. So cute!

And there were a number of interesting breeds, some of them I don’t even know their names. Can you help me out by naming them?

And I saved the cutest one for last

Isn’t she cute? I’m so in love with her.

All in all, going to my first cat exhibition was interesting – seeing all the different species of cats.

As much as I enjoyed myself though, after seeing all the cats behind the bars and coupled with the fact that there were the unthinking people with the poking and the flash makes me think “Poor things!” so I don’t think that I’d be visiting this exhibition again.

Monday arrived.

After spending the weekend with Cart, Jerrick and I had to fend for ourselves, roaming around Rome on our own. Cart couldn’t take leave and had to go back to work. It shouldn’t be difficult for us. I’ve done this before. Taking the public transportation here would be easy!

Before leaving, Cart advised us to explore the Colosseum, Vittorio Emanuale Monument, Pantheon and then the Fontana di Trevi in the order.

So I took my time scanning over Google Maps, and then poured over Atac which will calculate which busses and subways that we had to take and finally we were ready. We headed to buy our tickets and boarded on the bus before going to the nearest subway station.

Picture via Ron in Rome

When we reached the metro, I thought something was amiss when I saw the locked gates. Maybe it could be opened on the other side. But when the other side was locked too, was when I realised that there was something definitely wrong.

Turned out that there was a strike and all the subway stations were not functioning till later in the evening! All my research for nothing. And with no computer at hand, I was lost at what to do next.

Regardless, we went for a walk across the street to show Jerrick Viale Europa, where the entire road was filled with high end boutiques and shops. At the end of the road, there was a church.

It was then that Cart saved the day by checking for us which bus to take next. Luckily for us, it was just along the corner and the bus arrived very shortly after.

Our bus ride went all the way to a bus terminal which was right next to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument.

The monument was still as impressive as ever. The locals call it, “The typewriter” on account of the tall white pillars of the monument is. On top of the stairs in the middle, there were always two soldiers keeping guard.

As Jerrick and I were feeling rather peckish, and rain clouds were starting to form, we went to find a restaurant for lunch as well as to wait for the rain to subside, before heading to the next monument. Jerrick wanted pasta while I wanted Pizza. We didn’t want to go to a place which was too expensive or didn’t have the food that we want. We went to inspect the menu at least 10 different restaurants.

In the end, we decided to go to the very first restaurant we inspected. It was quite amusing.

At this point of time, I was feeling quite lucky that I knew a bit of Italian. Even if it was not very fluent, ordering food was actually quite surprisingly simple, compared to the awkwardness that I noticed across the other tables with the other tourists. I was really proud of myself.

The the skies were still unfortunately rather dark after we had our lunch. But we traversed on and headed to the Colosseum. A quick glance to the left and I noticed that the metro was still closed due to the strike.

It was so wet and dreary but we persevered anyway. There were so many tourists there. Which was strange to me, considering that it was Monday.  We reached the entrance when there was a huge crowd of people queueing in to buy the entry tickets.

That was when a tour guide came up to us and asked us to join in his group. “If you join my group, you wont have to queue to get the entry tickets and I’d give you a fully guided tour for only 20 euro each inclusive!”

That seemed quite expensive so Jerrick and I promptly left after that.

I’ve lost my sense of direction by this time and had no idea where to go to. So we walked about randomly and hoped that we were going in the right direction. We walked past a bookshop where Jerrick bought a nice Ciak notepad, several bars, a few clothes shop. But there was still no sign of the Pantheon.

It was still slightly drizzling and we huddled under my umbrella. But all of a sudden, Jerrick paused, gasped at something that he saw and promptly wandered off. Leaving me unsheltered and bewildered.

He entered a shop and I followed after him inside. It looked like a jewellery shop, with the beautiful display cases and the nicely dressed clerks. It turned out that I was in Valrhona – a high end chocolate shop. Jerrick looked enthralled looking for his favourite chocolate.

I didn’t have any intention of buying anything there. Unfortunately for me, the clerk started to entice me with some of their chocolate samples and it was so good that I felt compelled to get some.

At 8 euro for this tiny 75g box, this was probably the most expensive chocolate that I’ve ever purchased. I left the shop feeling excited and guilty at the same time.

We continued our search for the Pantheon. It was such a walk and at length, we knew we were in the right place with the amount of tourists conglomerating outside.

It was a little different coming here compared to the last time that I was here. For one thing, it was raining. As the top of the pantheon was an open dome, I saw little puddles of water on the floor.

There were also seats, meant for praying. But there were a lot of people sitting down, so we took the chance to rest for a moment too.

After admiring the architecture and the grand facade and wondering if people could climb up the pillars, we headed off to our next stop, the Fontana Di Trevi.

It wasn’t hard to get here from the pantheon as there were helpful road signs pointing to the right direction. We reached there with no drama.

But it was still super crowded even with the drizzle. With his back to the fountain, Jerrick threw a coin in the hopes that he will return back to Rome.

With all of the landmarks covered, I thought that it would be a good idea to head to the metro and stop by Feltrinelli, a big bookshop that had my Italian textbook that I needed for my class.

Looking at google maps this morning, made me believe that we could reach there by foot. Armed by the GPS on my phone, I confidently hoped that we could get there fine.

But then it was already getting dark at 4 pm due to sunset in Autumn. When we passed by the Pantheon for the third time, I was already getting disoriented. And tired. And feeling a quite stressed out.

Cart advised for us to take the bus at the main road.

Unfortunately for us, we took the bus on the wrong direction! I realised it as soon as we went away from Isola Tiberina. I tried to ask an Italian man who was standing next to me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fluent enough and could catch only half of what he said.

But the good thing about Italian transport is that they go in a loop and we stopped at a terminal. This time, I sat right next to the window to peer at the bus stop sign. I want to get out at the right stop!

A bit of walking after that, we finally reached the bookshop where I finally bought my book. And we took the metro which was finally functioning again after their strike. And then we finally took the transfer bus home.

By the time we reached home, I was so tired and so listless that I left the boys to fend for themselves for dinner.

They made from scratch, Ravioli with Spinach and Ricotta cheese by the way.

We’ve already seen a number of monuments in the city centre, so we thought that it would be good to have a slow and easy day. As I preparing myself to buy some groceries, Surpringly, Jerrick wanted to accompany me too.

So in the meanwhile, I showed him the neighbourhood – the duck pond, the cinema, the grocer, the supermarket. While we were in Conad, one of the supermarkets here, Jerrick looked fascinated by the different items that were there and got a couple of items to be taken back with him.

We stopped by a Pizza Al Taglio to take away some pizza and I made Pasta Al Ragu for lunch over an episode of Sex and the City dubbed in Italian. We were both feeling very very full after that.

Which meant that it was definitely a great idea to walk away the bloated feeling, so we headed to Monte Verde.

It was such a cloudy day. But the sky looked very interesting with the different cloud shapes and the sun admirably trying to burst through in the background.

We chatted trying to break the monotony in the bus, I scanned through the faces of the passengers in the bus. Eventually we reached the stop and we met my friend, Lynn, and we entered a bar for cakes and a cup hot chocolate. We spent the day having a nice, friendly chat.

Eventually, we decided to head to the area of Campo De Fiori for a bit sight seeing, like the Santa Maria Church where there was a mass going on.

And then later, we headed to Lynn’s favourite snack place, the Filetti Di Baccala to get some freshly made fried cod. It’s a very modest looking place. But its been around for a very long time.

With our hands holding the warm fried fish, we explored the area. We admired the architecture and imagined how it looked like in the past. The buildings were so old that the scene would be the same, just people in different clothing.

Lynn even showed us a little place where there was a swingers club.

Later on, Cart joined us for dinner in Trastevere for some Noms.

There was this option that you could have between two people that you can choose 3 different pasta together.

We reached home pretty late that evening and I was feeling extremely stoned out. It was about 1 am and I was about to pass out. And yet the boys were still energetic enough to whip up some Tiramisu!

Jerrick’s last day was on Wednesday

We took the treno to get to the airport. It was sad of course, to have a friend leave. And all through the train ride, I kept telling Jerrick that it was such a short time here.

But I do hope for him to return to Rome again. Anyway, he threw a coin in the fontana di Trevi, so he will be coming back in the future. 🙂

I first met Jerrick at Tech65’s 50th podcast about a year back. At that point of time, I already knew a number of their crew. After the recording, a tall, friendly and gregarious person approached me, inviting me to try the cakes that he made. We talked and I found him to be a very interesting person.

I’m surprised at how well we get along together on account of how very diverse we are. Regardless, I really do enjoy his company. I still remember having pizza together with his friends on his 20th birthday, he was my date in the Money No Enough event and even participated in my lipdub project.

Anyway, Jerrick stayed over our place in March and we had quite the splendid time then. And he decided to stay over our place again last weekend. I was naturally very happy. It was so nice having a friend over.

He arrived Saturday evening and off we whisked him to La Gianicolense, one of my new favourite place to eat on account of their fantabulous pizza!

It was a long long long wait for an empty table. I forgot that it being Saturday, it was a busy day for eating places. We didnt reserve in advance and had to wait almost a full hour outside. But boy was the food worth the wait.

Mmm … Tuna and Onion pizza. I’m totally hooked!

Here is Cart and his cakes

Here is Jerrick in my trademark pose

And this is me being all excited about my food. But its so wierd having such a large plate for such a small dessert

The next day we had a leisurely morning with the glorious cappuccino that Cart made. And that was when we noticed how very spikey Jerrick’s hair was after sleeping. He looked like a rock star! Naturally Cart took out his guitar for him to pose with.

In any case, we thought that it would be a nice day to spend the time outside of Rome and thus we headed off to Castelli Romani. We’ve already been there in August, but it was still a nice place to visit again.

It was a rainy day that Sunday. As we were passing through the bridge, Cart suddenly chimed out :

Cart : Do you know why this bridge was infamous for?

Me : What?

Cart : It was for jilted lovers to jump over

Me and Jerrick : What?! *horrified*

Me : Man, its so deep down. What a horrible way to go

Our first stop was at Trattoria dei Cacciotori – where we had really wonderful food the last time we were there. We were greeted by a little diorama which initially I thought was a nativity scene since it was getting close to Christmas.

But looking closer it turned out to be of a figurine of a man in a trattoria of the yester-years I suppose. I love trattoria! Here you don’t need to bother so much with the menu, while the waiter would recommend you what they were serving with what was in season.

By the time we were sitting down, I was famished and so looking forward to eating the food there.

By the way, do you like my brooch? My friend Lynn made it and I love it! Check out the other Rinaz stuff I have. If you can craft items, please let me know. I’d love to have more Rinaz stuff

So while waiting for the food to be ready. Cart decided to have a little fun posing like a mafia.

Cart’s nose looks sharp enough to cut a slice of cake.

Jerrick on the other hand was fingering his iphone

But at long last, our food arrived and I dug in.

This is Cart’s ravioli which is stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach and drizzled with tomato sauce.

While Jerrick had Pappardelle al ragù di cinghiale. Ehm. For sure its not halal. But it sure looks hearty though.

I don’t remember the name of the Pasta that I am having, I think it was the Piccantine ai funghi porcini which was listed all the way down the menu. Cart was hypothesizing that food listed at the top would taste the best since most diners come here mostly for the game. That made me wonder about my choice. But that’s the only few things that I could eat there since I can only eat vegetarian or seafood when I go out.

Anyway, it might look quite simple in the picture. But I love my pasta! The porcini mushroom was slurpiliciouslly wonderful and there was a dash of chilli in the egg pasta to make it interesting! Want MOAR! I loved gnawing on it.

We ended our meal with a nice plate of tiramisu. You have to be careful though and always ask, as some places like to add alcohol in their tiramisu which is strange as the original recipe shouldn’t have alcohol in it. But what can I say? I used to think that tiramisu is a Japanese food on account of how Japanese sounding it was

After our exceptional meal, we headed off to Nemi, which was just a few minute’s drive away.

Nemi is an interesting place to be. It is famous for its tiny strawberries and there is a picturesque lake near it. Its such a charming place with cobblestones. And everywhere you go, you’d see quaint little buildings.

I can visualise a cute little European girl wearing a bustle carrying a cute little embroided umbrella coming out of this door.

Alas, it was raining and too cold to stay outside, it was probably like 8 degrees C out, thus we had to find respite and we found a cosy little bar.

What a charming little place! While waiting for the rain to subside, we had a piece of strawberry tart and a hot chocolate each.

Om nom nom nom! Makan jer! Tak ada kerja lain! Yeah, I know that we probably ate too much, but what else was there to do when you are stuck with the rain out?

Regardless, the tart and the hot chocolate was spectacular. A little on the expensive side though, but the ambient was really lovely! There was a nice little fireplace next to our table and I happened to be wearing a red dress and the whole setup looked very xmassy.

I look like a taitai! Unfortunately, we are not rich enough to qualify to be one

With the rain easing out, we stepped out to admire the Nemi lake. Woah, it was totally my moment to see it in daylight. Since 2006, every single time I was in Nemi, it was either too dark from the nightfall or too crowded to even enter during the Ferragosto.

And I admired the beautiful scene in front of me. Breathtakingly calm. Even with the rainclouds forming in the distance.

That was when this friendly cute little cat came up to me and snuggled up to me. How adorable! I picked her up. She seemed so comfortable. And then she promptly clawed my scarf

I still love her though.

Its my first time experiencing fall after being in a tropical climate all my life. Its already quite interesting just walking outside of the house looking at the trees changing their colours from greens to goldens, reds, yellows and browns.

Cart thought that it would be a good idea to spend some time to admire the colours, and thus, a couple of weeks ago, we headed off to Bomarzo.

Bomarzo is a town out of Rome and it takes about an hour to reach there from our place. In Bomarzo, there is an attraction called the Bosco dei Mostri (Monster’s Grove) on account of the amount of large sculptures here.

Some of them interesting :

Like this mausoleum-like build which was constructed in the 16th century. I’m not certain if there are any bodies being cremated here though.

This statue was huge! The mouth was as tall as I am. Unfortunately the statue was fenced in so we could not get enter without climbing in.

Its much more evocative in real life to see the stone pegasus and the giant turtle in the background. All those moss makes it so much more charming. Like a real life Tomb Raider set. My pictures doesn’t do it justice unfortunately.

This is like the mouth of truth only much much much bigger.

Regardless, my favourite scene would have to be this one :

It’s a leaning house which you could enter. But once you are inside, your mind starts giving you this vertigo feeling.

Because inside the house, its hard to gauge which is a flat plane or not. After a while in the house, its easy to feel a little dizzy.

And then suddenly, Bomarzo reminded me of Haw Par Villa, a park of dioramas in Singapore. It might not be exactly the same, but it had the same nice magical feeling to roam around in.